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A fourth Four


IanHx

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Typical, you wait ages for a Dassault Mirage 4 to feature in a group build, and then four turn up at once :)

 

2020 has been a rubbish year so far in terms of modelling output for me, so doing a nice easy mojo-restoring out-of-the-box build

of the Heller 1:72 Dassault Mirage 4.

 

IMG_20201010_115401173

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by IanHx
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Nice one Ian, hope you have better luck with this one.  Catalogue number 351 from 1979 originally.

 

I've said it before but it's worth re-iterating, that upper spine joint is very long and prone to flexing, I would recommend some reinforcement.

 

Welcome to the GB.

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Fuselage together, wings on.

Now for the fiddly landing lights in the nose.

And hours and hours of second guessing whether I should have left

that front fuselage aerial on after all.... :)

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It’s a lovely aircraft, so the more Mirage IV’s on display here the better. Yes, I agree additional WIP pics would be great when you get the chance Ian. 
Cheers.. Dave 

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Pictures ? <cough> <splutter> you want PICTURES ?!      oh alright then....

 

Vaguely triangular thing.  It's a Dassault to the eyes !

Given that it's going to be a closed cockpit job, with very little visible, I didn't waste much time on the interior.

IMG_20201013_192641205

 

 

Underside of triangular thing after the joins have been sanded a little 

IMG_20201013_194139112

 

 

Close-up of the spine . And some filler in the wing root for good measure.  A pack of clamps has found a defenceless trailing edge and bring the mirage to ground...

IMG_20201013_194216450

 

 

Edited by IanHx
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So far its gone together remarkably easily.  Fit was generally good, the only particular care needed was when fitting the rear bulkhead to the cockpit tub, to do it while dry-fitting the cockpit tub to get the angles right.

 

Now the nose on the other hand, needs a bit of planning ahead.

Looking at the photos in the walk around section of BM  (Thanks, great resource !)  I can see

that I might need to paint round the side landing light hole before fitting the light.

 

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What's this, another photo in IanHx's thread ?  Can't be real, it's a Mirage i tell you :)

 

Latest fun and games has centred around the nosecone, specifically the embedded landing lights.

To try and get a sense of depth, I painted the holes black , put the clear transparencies in as indicated,

and then painted the backs of the transparencies white.

 

Or at least that was the plan....   shame it was executed by a ham-fisted ape !

 

 

IMG_20201018_123435602

 

 

Will try to clean up the seam in a bit.

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Time for some more close encounters of the blurred kind :)

 

IMG_20201024_150535841

 

Currently fitting airbrakes and assembling the landing bogies.

One thing to watch out for - get rid of those ejector pin marks on the inside of the airbrake. Not just bacause they're unseemly, but because they stop the airbrakes sitting flush.

 

The front landing gear strut will get a mention in Ian's Book Of Unnecessarily Complicated Modelling Parts !

 

For the moment leaving the round thingy ( radar radome ? )  on the underside off, in case I need to put a bit more weight in there to stop it tail-sitting.

 

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Hi,

 

Looking at my 1982 Heller catalogue, I have just noticed that they show two versions - a green grey camo one with the little aerials at the tip of the nose, and an NMF one without the aerials. My boxing only has instructions etc for the camo one so I presume the earliy version did not have the aerials and that they were added later on? I think your boxing is similar to mine. Looking at videos of the IV in later life and at the Yorkshire Air Museum, I cannot be certain but I suspect the airbrakes may no longer have the yellow outlined red panel on them, at least on the under wing which just appears to have a dashed red outline - there may be the same on the upper wing and certainly not the patch provided with the kit decs.

 

Pete

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  • 2 weeks later...

YAYYYYY !!!!!!!!   :thumbsup:

 

( it's not a tail-sitter )

 

IMG_20201103_210527798

 

 

 

 

ok, progress update :

 

wheels on.

undercarriage doors on (  the large ones in the middle of the underside were surprisingly tricky, as there's nothing to support them in place )

paint selected ( as per instructions - Humbrol 27 and 102 )

 

Spent ages agonizing over whether 27 was too dark and not blue enough,  but its fine in natural light.

 

 

Next up : fuel tanks, more painting,  and a nuke

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Hi Ian,

 

Coming along nicely. In a review I read it said that the canopies were a lousy fit, so I will be interested to see how you do. Supposed I had better make a start on mine soon - don't suppose you remember how much weight you put in?

 

Cheers

 

Pete

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1 hour ago, PeterB said:

Hi Ian,

 

Coming along nicely. In a review I read it said that the canopies were a lousy fit, so I will be interested to see how you do. Supposed I had better make a start on mine soon - don't suppose you remember how much weight you put in?

 

Cheers

 

Pete

 

Filled the nose-cone with fishing weights.  Not the most scientific of measurements, sorry :)

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To glue, or not to glue, that is the question.....

 

Grown-up me says, yes glue the nuke in place.

5 year old me says "use blu-tac so you can run round the house and nuke your desktop"   :)

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Grrr this Mirage is proving expensive.....

 

Had to get some Humbrol 54 for the radar radome.

Better stock up on black & white while I'm there.

Glue's running a bit low.

Shipping £6 ?  Better get something else to make it worthwhile.

Oh, how did an AH-1Z get in the shopping cart ? :)

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  • 1 month later...
On 12/11/2020 at 1:23 PM, JeroenS said:

Hi @IanHx, how's that Mirage coming along? It was starting to look pretty good! I hope we'll be able to see it in the gallery soon!

 

Coming along nicely, hope to get some pictures up before long.  Work and the 'B' word keeping me away from modelling desk at the moment.

 

Everything glued together except for the 2 tiny aerials that go on the nose probe (part 49?)  which I can't seem to find on the runners !!!

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13 minutes ago, IanHx said:

 

Coming along nicely, hope to get some pictures up before long.  Work and the 'B' word keeping me away from modelling desk at the moment.

 

Everything glued together except for the 2 tiny aerials that go on the nose probe (part 49?)  which I can't seem to find on the runners !!!

Great. 

 

Though you do have me wondering (as a non-native speaker) what the "B" word might be! 

(insert brain flash here)

Oooh! I know 🙂 ... Right. This is not really top of mind for us on this side, hope you don't mind 😉 

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1 hour ago, JeroenS said:

Great. 

 

Though you do have me wondering (as a non-native speaker) what the "B" word might be! 

(insert brain flash here)

Oooh! I know 🙂 ... Right. This is not really top of mind for us on this side, hope you don't mind 😉 

 

Thats the one  :)

Have to say that the giant blue muppet your side use to advertise the 'B' word raises a smile every time I see it :)

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Progress picture

IMG_20201214_130300972

 

 

The canopy was a right PITA to get on right - ended up having to add some filler on the right side to fill in the gaps.

Still haven't found the aerials to go on the nose probe, going to have to plasticard some instead.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Decals on. one side varnished.  Waiting for it to dry so that I can pick it up to varnish the other side.

Proceedings somewhat delayed by the child-proof  ( and apparently also Ian-proof) cap on the bottle of Humbrol Matte Cote !

 

IMG_20201226_140427850

 

Oh,  and the nuke fell off ...   💥

 

 

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