351- Dassault Mirage IVA - Beautiful, fast and **FINISHED**

[PeterB]

Dave will be pleased - another Mirage IV, original ref 351 in 1979, this 1996 boxing is 80351.

The first of only 3 Heller kits in my stash that will be eligible, I think I first came across this plane in a publication called "RAF Flying Review" back in the late 1960's. No longer have it but I rmember the article suggested it was built for a one way trip, not like some said of the British "V Force" because there would be no base to come back to, but because it did not have the range for a round trip. That may have been true initially, but then they got In Flight Refuelling - more later once I start.

 

Pete

[Wez]

Pete,

 

Welcome to the GB with another 1/72nd Mirage IV, excellent!

 

Such a good looking aeroplane.

 

Good luck in the GB

[Rabbit Leader]

I knew you wouldn't be too far Pete! Thanks for showing your hand and I do conquer, very happy to see another one of these big beasties on here. I’m sure you'll find something else to build after this one is done, surely you can’t limit yourself to just one! 
Cheers.. Dave

[PeterB]

Didn't realize the list was open yet Wez - bit earlier than usual?

 

Only have 3 planes Dave plus maybe an AMX 30/105 tank issued in 1976 so I guess it would be eligible, though my boxing is from this century - shifted the other 3 earlier this year in the Nordic GB.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

[Rabbit Leader]

Yes Pete, was about to comment on the other two of your GB threads when my iPad died! On the phone now, however I’ll get to those a little later. 
Cheers.. Dave 

[JOCKNEY]

Great to have you with us Pete

Do you have any parallel DIY projects to run concurrent with this GB ?

Obviously we were previously treated to the Great Wall of Wales, just wondered if there was an opportunity for the Hanging Gardens of Haverfordwest ?

Cheers Pat

[Rabbit Leader]

That’s right the Great Wall of Wales... those kittens must be the size of Lions by now Pat!!

[JOCKNEY]

1 minute ago, Rabbit Leader said:

That’s right the Great Wall of Wales... those kittens must be the size of Lions by now Pat!!

He has trained them to sit either side of his garden gate and frightening the postman by moving when he gets close 🦁

[PeterB]

Hi you two,

 

No more projects planned at the moment but I dare say my wife will think of something given half a chance. As to the cats, they still look like this.

just filled out a bit and got even more muscular. Off to the left of the above pic is a gap in the garden fence caused by storm damage, Yesterday, my wife was bending down picking some raspberries by the gap when the less fit of the two decided to jump from the end of the fence onto the shed roof over the top of her! It is 8ft from a standing start on a 2" wide fence strut and he only just made it - ending up hanging from the roof edge by his claws - I suspect the other one would have made it clean on to the roof as he is one h*ll of a jumper, as the local wild life has found out to its cost! Still, the rats are staying in the back alley these days - have not seen a live one in the garden for over a year. My daughter's description of them as "mini panthers" is about right!

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Edited September 29, 2020 by PeterB

[jean]

Have they got the gas man cornered inside the shed?

Scary sight!

JR

[PeterB]

Hi Jean,

 

I don't know if you have any of the big cats in your part of the world (do I remember you saying you rescued your Mongoose from being cat food?), but I believe some of them (Leopard/Panther?) like climbing up into trees and waiting for some unsuspecting prey to walk past, then fall on it like the proverbial ton of bricks! Up there on the roof they have a good view of anything on the ground and are also at a better height for trying to catch birds I guess. Our only really good hunter was our first cat but now numbers 6 & 7 are running him close. Hopefully, like him they will grow out of it after a year or two, but I hope they don't then start bringing live mice into the house like he did!

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Edited October 2, 2020 by PeterB

[JOCKNEY]

Hi Pete

 

We used to have a Bengal cat ( not the tiger !) he would bring live rabbits in through the cat flap and then devour them in the kitchen leaving only the intestines. Picture a scene from "Reservoir Dogs" and you have it perfectly !

His other party trick was waiting under the kids bed for a bare foot to touch the ground before pouncing and sinking his teeth into the back of the ankle.

The resulting scream was used by my wife and I downstairs as an indication of which twin was up and getting ready for school.

 

Our current cats are both Ragdolls, so are far less exciting but much more affectionate.

 

The kids still check under the bed before getting up in the morning 🐯

 

Cheers Pat

[PeterB]

Before anybody decides to give me a prod, yes I will build this - just waiting for the time and also to see what some of the others come out like as I still have not decided on the paint scheme..

 

Pete

[Rob S]

On 10/3/2020 at 8:59 AM, JOCKNEY said:

We used to have a Bengal car ( not the tiger !) he would bring live rabbits in through the cat flap and then devour them in the kitchen leaving only the intestines.

 

Never heard of a Bengal car but have heard of a Tiger Motorcycle. 

 

The Bengal must be a tiny car if it can fit through a Cat Flap and very fuel efficient if it eats Rabbits instead of needing fuel. 

 

Scotland must be a very interesting Country!  I wonder why Dad’s Dad left such an interesting place to come to a such a boring and sunny place as Australia?  

 

[jean]

On 10/2/2020 at 10:53 PM, PeterB said:

Hi Jean,

 

I don't know if you have any of the big cats in your part of the world (do I remember you saying you rescued your Mongoose from being cat food?), but I believe some of them (Leopard/Panther?) like climbing up into trees and waiting for some unsuspecting prey to walk past, then fall on it like the proverbial ton of bricks! Up there on the roof they have a good view of anything on the ground and are also at a better height for trying to catch birds I guess. Our only really good hunter was our first cat but now numbers 6 & 7 are running him close. Hopefully, like him they will grow out of it after a year or two, but I hope they don't then start bringing live mice into the house like heCheers

 

Pete

Hi Pete,

I still don't know how I missed your post! Apologies for my blindness.

Yes we do have big cats here: lions and leopards who regularly walk by the house. And we do find various body parts belonging to baboons, antelopes and a while ago of an antbear that had been indeed pounced upon by a leopard: the tail and limbs with the massive claws were all that was left...

If you add to that the painted wild dogs and the hyenas that come here too on a frequent basis, you'll understand that our six cats are kept indoor at night. 

We lost a few when we first got here many years ago. No more.

Waiting with trepidation for your Mirage IV!!!

 

Cheers

 

JR

[PeterB]

Hi Jean,

 

Won't be long now - my Spitfire is ready for decals and hopefully the Mig-19 will get sprayed this week. I am wondering if the grey primer I use will be OK for the grey colour or if I need to go a bit darker - I believe the instructions say Humbrol Hu27 "Sea Grey" so maybe I will use RAF Dark Sea Grey. For the green they suggest Hu102 Army Green.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

[PeterB]

The sun finally came out yesterday so I was able to put a second coat of NMF on my Mig 19 and Su 9 - it was gloomy the first time I sprayed them and I found I could not see how it was covering the primer so missed a bit. I also managed to get the final coat of varnish on 4 other models including the Spitfire and AMX 30 for this GB so once the sun comes out again they can have their picture taken and go in the gallery. Having got that out of the way I made a start in the cockpit of this kit, then realised I had not yet posted a sprue shot, so here it is, less the cockpit bits.

and here is the cockpit - not too bad and it won't be seen anyway!

Heller say it was black throughout except for the seat cushions so I have followed that. I had to make a replacement for the rear bulkhead as I had somehow managed to lose the original - I will have to be more careful from now on! So far so good. I have been looking at the other builds and noticed that @PaulT 876 spent some time thinning down his intake parts. I did a dry fit on this one and found that the parts were commendably thin and fit well, so it looks like I am lucky - his is the first boxing available from moulding in 1979 until the Heller Humbrol reboxing in 1984 whilst mine is a boxing existant between 1996 and 2011 so I wonder if Heller made some changes along the way? If so I hope they sorted out the canopies because the only build review I have seen said they don't fit! In point of fact the plastic is almost too thin as the fuselage is rather bendy - lining it up could be fun. This will be OOB so providing everything fits reasonably well it might be fairly quick - it is not as big as I imagined and there are not all that many parts.  Of course, being made by Heller then on past experience the fit will either be very good or terrible. Detailing is in the form of very fine raised lines but it looks pretty good.

 

Ok, here is a little background to the actual plane. I have no really reliable sources so this is mostly from Wiki - please feel free to correct/add to it.

In the early 1950's France began development work on its own nuclear weapons, the first of which was tested in 1960. In May 1956 the French government issued a requirement for a supersonic bomber to carry a nuclear bomb with a range of 2000km and 3 companies responded. I am not sure what the Nord Aviation proposal was, but Sud Aviation proposed a larger version of their Vautour bomber, and Dassault offered an enlarged, twin engined version of the Mirage III fighter. As the latter seemed to offer relatively rapid delivery, Dassault were awarded a contract in April 1957.

 

Although superficially similar to the Mirage III the Mirage IVA was bigger in all respects and effectively a new design. The first prototype flew in June 1959, followed by 3 more. After various modifications including a slight shortening of the vertical tail coupled with a considerable increase in chord, the first of 62 production versions flew in December 63, and deliveries commenced in Feb 1964. The first unit became operational in October of that year, and it eventually equipped 3 Wings, each of 3 Squadrons of 4 aircraft. It had a crew of 2 and was fitted with two pylons on each wing, one of which usually carried a fuel drop tank and the other would normally carry ECM/chaff pods. Under the fuselage was a recess to house either the AN 11 nuclear weapon which entered service in 1964, weighed 3300lb and had a yield of about 60Kt, or the later AN 22 introduced in 1967, which had a similar yield but with improved safety measures, a parachute retarder, and weighed only 1500lb. In theory it could carry 4 large conventional bombs on the wing pylons instead but this does not seem to have happened very often.

 

Because De Gaulle insisted that all components were made in France, the aircraft initially had no Inertial Navigation System, but it did have a slightly unusual oblique scanning bombing radar mounted under mid fuselage behind a large circular fairing. In 1966 the “Force de Dissuasion" aka "Force de Frappe” came into being to operate the French nuclear deterrent and De Gaulle decided to leave NATO as he felt it was too dependent on the US, who he believed might not be entirely reliable partners. For some time 36 Mirage IVA were on armed alert with 12 in the air, 12 on 4 minute standby and the other 12 ready to get airborne in 45 minutes.

 

More next time.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Edited November 28, 2020 by PeterB

[jean]

Hi Pete,

 

good start! The cockpit is more than sufficient as nothing will indeed be seen!

Interesting background story as well.

Hard to know where France would be nowadays without the Grand Charles legacy... Looking forward to your IV.

 

JR

[PeterB]

I glued in the cockpit and got 1g of lead in front of it, another 1g under it and 7g behind it which should be enough, but if not I can get a bit more in the nose cone I think. The circular radar thingy is a pain - not sure why Heller did it this way, but it has a flange that means it is meant to go in before the fuselage is joined and it is a pretty poor fit. Although they have moulded it as a frosted transparent part it has to be painted radome cream/tan so I glued a support over it to try and keep it in place.

Then I glued the fuselage halves together - that was fun!

As expected it does not fit too well but nothing I should not be able to sort out. The radar thingy has ended up slightly sunk into the fuse but it is a sod to get at. However I bent an old knitting needle and managed to push it as far down as it will go, but it is still about 1mm shallower than the fuselage so I may end up having to fill it. It would have been far and away better if Heller had just moulded it as part of the fuselage, or better still as part of the underside of the lower wing centre section where it could have been put in place and aligned a lot easier. It once more raises the question of whether or not the designers ever built kits themselves! I will see if I can find any pics first just to confirm whether or not it was actually flush. The good news is the canopies fit - they are perhps a little narrow at the bottom edge but I can live with that. In fact it looks like all the clear parts are a little undersize - perhaps they shrunk as the mould aged? This kit reminds me a bit of the French Rugby team - when they are good they are brilliant, but sometimes it just not quite seeem to work - mind you the same could be said for allthe other teams I guess. To make things easier I just fitted the air brakes, which are often a problem, but these fit just about perfectly!

 

So - part 2 of the background.

Powered by 2 SNECMA Atar 9K-50 engines each producing 11020 lb thrust dry and 15870 lb with afterburners, in a clean condition the top speed was around Mach 2.2, falling to around Mach 1.85 loaded, and the unrefuelled combat radius with drop tanks was about 770 miles. This was barely enough to reach the borders of the USSR, so until in flight refuelling became available it was planned that the crews would press on to their targets, drop their free fall weapons and then try and land in a nearby neutral country – it was argued that by then there probably would be no French airbases left anyway. This is what gave rise to the “one way trip” theory I mentioned earlier. Of course the French, like everybody else, hoped the threat of retaliation would prevent a nuclear war ever happening – their published view was that allowing for losses they could destroy a minimum of 10 Soviet cities.

 

Dassault did propose an enlarged Mirage IVB with longer range but it was never produced. Once a refuelling probe was fitted, they usually flew in pairs with one aircraft having a buddy refuelling pack, and later the French bought 14 KC-135 tankers (12 operational and 2 spares). Initially they flew high level missions, but once the threat of SAM's became apparent they switched to low level at around 680mph – a good 200mph slower than the F-111 at sea level, which explains the comment of one of the other modellers about Aardvarks overtaking Mirage IV low down. The last 12 built had improved controls and avionics together with some structural improvements to make them more suited to low level work and the rest were then given the same modifications. As no terrain following radar or control was fitted it was hard and uncomfortable work for the crew I gather. Australia expressed an interest in buying the IVA, as did the UK after TSR 2 was cancelled, but once the latter decided instead on the F-111, so did the Aussies, so none were ever exported.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

 

Edited November 29, 2020 by PeterB

[PeterB]

Like the real thing, this build is going fast so far. Filling done and sanded - at least until I see what the primer shows up.

I have not bothered putting the 3 circular camera? windows in the nose cone as they looked problematic, 2 being on the joint line, so I will use Krystal Kleer nearer the end of the build. The underside radar thingy was a right mess. I think with hindsight I should have ignored the instructions and just put a couple of braces in the fuselage to stop it falling in, and then filed it down to reduce the "flange" slightly so it woud fit from the outside as Paul @PaulT 876 seems to be doing. As it is I have ended up filling it with Milliput superfine. At least I don't seem to have had the same problems with the intakes and wings that he appears to have had - it is almost like we are building different kits so maybe Heller did improve the moulds.

It should perhaps bulge out of the bottom of the fuselage slightly but tough! The intakes fit well - the black line you can see is mostly paint. I just need to fit the various gear doors which are closed except when the gear is travelling and then it will be ready for priming. And now on to the "Raison d'être" of this plane-

I am not sure if it is the AN 11 or AN 22 version but the thing in front of the drop tanks is the nuclear weapon. I know it is more like a Blue Steel missile or something carried on Russian Bombers, but unlike US and UK early bombs which were fat and had somewhat blunt noses, this is designed to hang under the fuselage in a semi-recessed position, rather than in a Bomb Bay like on the B-52 and the V Bombers.. The later US and UK bombs were lighter and smaller, and both longer, narrower and more "pointy" than the originals and could be mounted on external pylons, but nowhere near as streamlined and sexy as this - well after all it is French! One curious thing - Heller provide 3 fins and slots for all of them but you only have to fit the 2 lower ones it seems. Perhaps like the Blue Steel they had a top fin which retracted/folded when it was mounted under the fuselage and Heller were allowing you to display it seperately?

 

Anyway, final part of the history.

The first French nuclear Ballistic Missile submarine entered service in 1971, and as more followed, coupled with the problems of penetrating increasingly more powerful enemy defences, the Mirage IVA fleet was reduced in numbers with one wing being withdrawn in 1976. Meanwhile, in 1972, 12 were withdrawn and modified to carry a photo reconnaissance pod as an alternative to the nuclear weapon, re-entering service as Mirage IVR, and in 1984, 18 were converted to carry the ASMP (Air Sol Moyenne Portée) stand off missile with a speed of Mach 3 and a range of around 300 miles, becoming Mirage IVP. In 1996 the surviving Mirage IVA's were replaced in the nuclear role by the Mirage 2000N carrying the ASMP missile, and all were retired except for 5 Mirage IVR operated by EB 1./91. These were also eventually retired in 2005 and were conserved and stored at Bordeaux Méringnac. where they could be seen on Google Earth until quite recently – they have blurred out the base now but there is at least one Mirage IV standing near the entrance. A total of 1 prototype and 16 production models are currently preserved in Museums. Comparisons with the TSR-2, Vigilante and B-58 Hustler are inevitable. The first of course never entered service, the Vigilante was very quickly converted to the Recce role although it could carry conventional bombs, and the B-58 was only in service for around 10 years I believe, so the Mirage outlasted it in the nuclear role by a considerable margin. Other comparisons might be with the F-105, the 2 seat version of which is almost exactly the same size,  but although initially intended to carry a nuclear bomb internally, it was mostly used as a fighter bomber with some residual nuclear capability, and the F-111, or perhaps more accurately the FB-111A bombers  of SAC which lasted almost as long before being replaced by the B-1B.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

 

Edited November 29, 2020 by PeterB

[Johnson]

21 hours ago, PeterB said:

they have blurred out the base now

Nice bit of history Pete! And I was intrigued that the French seem to have been able to use their influence and obscure detail on Google Earth that they presumably don't want the rest of the world to see. AFAIK the UK gave up trying to do that when commercial satellite imagery became widely available and told our military to hide things they didn't want seen...

[PeterB]

Sometimes you can see some very interesting things on Google Earth, such as all the planes at the storage dfacility at Davis-Monthan AFB in the States and when prowling around the Russian coastline I found what might be the derelict hulls of a number of ships/subs , together with some in active service, and no effort was made to hide them. In fact I don't remember the French base being blurred out prior to the most recent update to GE, but if you walk the little Google man along the perimeter road it looks like fog in front, but as you approach the gate you can see a Mirage IV as gate guard! Anyway, apart from the wonky radome and the over flexible fuselage it has gone together pretty well. I primed it earlier today and got some paint on.

Heller say Hu27 Sea Grey - probably Dark Sea Gray in fact and Hu 102 Army Green. I have used the acrylic version and they went on well - 1 coat of grey and 2 of green and I am down to touching up. It needs a red line round the intake lips, an orange/red panel on the main u/c doors and a black anti glare panel and it will be just about done. The paint is matt so it will no doubt change once I varnish it. The grey looks a bit dark, but if you have seen a Shackleton or perhaps a Vulcan in open storage you will know that it fades badly, particularly the grey! I have managed to find a couple of films of them in service and the colours were quite dark so I will leave it as it is. I have a question for anybody who knows about post war French planes. Heller give decs for 6 Mirages, numbers and two letter codes - CA, CC, AC, CE, CH and AX, but do not say which units they are for  - I would be interested to know which Squadrons they relate to?

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Edited November 30, 2020 by PeterB

[PeterB]

All the basic painting done so I will make a start on the decs once I have put a coat of gloss varnish on.

I will leave off the wheel doors, aerials and probe until later. Painting the bomb in white does seem a little strange as it will clearly compromise the camo scheme, but then so does the tan radome I guess. Also, the speed brakes both above and below the wings were painted red until quite late in the Mirage IV's service life when they switched to just a red/yellow striped outline, and as Heller provide the decs for them I might as well use them.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Edited December 1, 2020 by PeterB

[PeterB]

Here is another little piece of useless useful information for you. When I was young my parents bought me a book on planes for one Christmas. The book is long gone but I still remember 2 articles that were in it - one on the Ju-388 Night Fighter (which I had never heard of) and one on the Dassault Mirage III. Most of us know that the Mirage family are products of "Avions Marcel Dassault", but did you know that at the end  of WWII the French aviation designer Marcel Bloch (as in the Bloch MB 151 series of wartime fighters) decided to change his name to Marcel Dassault when he set up his new company. I thought the article in the book said that Dassault was his alias when in the Resistance, but it seems it was actually the  Resistance name of his older brother General Darius Paul Bloch, so presumably he did in in honour of his brother and is apparently a play on "char d'assaut aka Tank"? Bloch himself was sent to a concentration camp for not cooperating with the Germans I gather, but was not technically in the Resistance, unlike his brother. This build reminded me of the article so I though I would share the info.

 

I have just tried a couple of spare decs from the sheet that came with the kit and they seem OK, so I will start putting them on.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Edited December 1, 2020 by PeterB

[TonyOD]

@PeterB Bloch, I mean Dassault was quite a guy. I seem to remember reading somewhere that the reason the Germans were so hard on him (and they were very hard on him) was that he refused to design planes for them.