Luke1199 Posted May 9, 2023 Share Posted May 9, 2023 Hi all, I did intend on building a few Mirages for this GB but ended up not building anything for a while- recently finished a skyhawk and built a mustang for the blitzbuild so I'm back in the swing of things. Was planning on building this for my Israeli Adventure project but its just sat in the stash for a while now, I'm wanting to build it so thought why not try and get something done for this GB. I'll be building this in the air superiority grey scheme (should be faster than the desert scheme), the kit decals were created with input from Isradecal so look fantastic. I do have a fair few spare decals and numbers so I'm leaning toward building this as a Smashing Parrot Squadron Kfir. Made a start today, painted the cockpit and assembled the wings and intakes- some minor difficulties with fit, definitely going to be some filler needed with this kit but nothing too bad...yet. Thanks for looking in! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Posted May 9, 2023 Share Posted May 9, 2023 (edited) Hey there @Luke1199 Welcome! Nice that you managed to start here, with a cool jet. I have the F-21 Lion boxing of it, I expect it to be pretty much the same as yours, just with a few of those typical Kinetic panel insets to swap out. Have you glued on those intakes yet or is there a chance you can remove them easily? In my Mirage IIIS build (Kinetic 1/48 as well), I sanded the inner part of their mating surfaces to avoid those big gaps on the outter side of the fuselage, and by doing so did not have to use any filler at all. Have fun! Sam Edited May 9, 2023 by Sam 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke1199 Posted May 9, 2023 Author Share Posted May 9, 2023 Thanks for the tip Sam, I have glued them unfortunately so i think it'll be a filler job- it was just with a drop of liquid poly though so I'll see if I can get them off easily next time I'm working on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted May 9, 2023 Share Posted May 9, 2023 3 hours ago, Luke1199 said: building this as a Smashing Parrot Squadron Kfir Nice, that’s such a great looking scheme! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEMPESTMK5 Posted May 10, 2023 Share Posted May 10, 2023 Good morning Luke1199 Welcome aboard with this very interesting subject have fun with your build .. Best regards Patrice 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke1199 Posted May 10, 2023 Author Share Posted May 10, 2023 Hi all, nice bit of progress today- fuselage is together now and the fit was pretty nice. I'm leaving it to set overnight then tomorrow I can hopefully get the wings joined to the fuselage. I have the Vallejo USAF greys paint set arriving soon which has the greys I need for this kit (also covers my RF-4E in the recce GB) so fingers crossed I can begin the paintwork early next week. Thanks for looking in! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke1199 Posted May 11, 2023 Author Share Posted May 11, 2023 Another nice chunk of progress today as the wings and fuselage are now joined up. Leaving overnight and I'll get the elevators added and see about filling any gaps (the intakes being the big standout). Also began assembling the wing tanks, always leave them to last and end up waiting on them to finish- think I'll just be running 2 x AAMs and 2 x wingtanks on this. Thanks for looking in! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke1199 Posted May 13, 2023 Author Share Posted May 13, 2023 Got around to finishing the wing assembly today, next job is to tackle the seams and clean her up a bit (especially the gnarly one on the intakes). Leaving the canards off until I've sorted the intakes, then theres a few small parts to add and its on to the paintwork. Hoping paint won't take very long considering it is just two shades of grey to paint. Thanks for looking in! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke1199 Posted May 16, 2023 Author Share Posted May 16, 2023 Hi all, finally got around to sorting the seams. The intakes took a while but they're much nicer now, may still need a little more if the seam is too noticable once it's primed. Needed a little along the wing roots too but nothing major. Just need to sort the nosecone seam and its ready to be primed. My Vallejo paint came so I'm looking forward to airbrushing the base grey- should easily get this completed in time thanks to the extension. Thanks for looking in! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke1199 Posted May 17, 2023 Author Share Posted May 17, 2023 Hi all, absolutely flying now! Primed it last night, laid down the light ghost grey earlier and just began painting the dark ghost grey now. Need another coat of dark grey and need to clean up the lines a little as when the dark grey is wet it is the exact same shade as the light grey and its hard to see where has been painted 😅. I forgot just how easier an airbrush makes things! The Vallejo paint has been fantastic too. Thanks for looking in! 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Posted May 17, 2023 Share Posted May 17, 2023 Well, that was fast @Luke1199! Looking good! What needle size and pressure did you use? The paint straight out of the bottle? Sam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke1199 Posted May 17, 2023 Author Share Posted May 17, 2023 Thanks Sam! Its a 0.3mm needle but I have no idea about pressure its a bit of a frankenstein set up we have going on- definitely need to invest in a good airbrush, the one I use is very basic 😅. Just a few drops of thinner for the base grey, I'm brush painting the dark grey and that went on lovely straight out of the bottle, two coats should be all thats needed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted May 18, 2023 Share Posted May 18, 2023 This is looking brilliant, those colours work very well for this scheme, maybe I need another one of these sometime. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke1199 Posted May 18, 2023 Author Share Posted May 18, 2023 2 hours ago, stevehnz said: maybe I need another one of these sometime. Steve. Can never have enough Kfir's Steve! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Posted May 18, 2023 Share Posted May 18, 2023 15 hours ago, Luke1199 said: Just a few drops of thinner for the base grey, I'm brush painting the dark grey and that went on lovely straight out of the bottle, two coats should be all thats needed. Got it! Your handbrushing is very good, I only brush paint very tiny surfaces. Have you tried the bluetac method with the airbrush? It‘s less repetitive and the result would be even better, with less effort. Just as tip, not as criticism 👍🏽 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke1199 Posted May 18, 2023 Author Share Posted May 18, 2023 47 minutes ago, Sam said: Got it! Your handbrushing is very good, I only brush paint very tiny surfaces. Have you tried the bluetac method with the airbrush? It‘s less repetitive and the result would be even better, with less effort. Just as tip, not as criticism 👍🏽 I've been wanting to try it for a while now, I'll definitely give it a go sometime- I just like brush painting sometimes, it's relaxing to me 😁 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke1199 Posted May 22, 2023 Author Share Posted May 22, 2023 Hi all, began applying the decals, just some more stencils left to apply tomorrow on the wings especially. They look great, the kit decals were designed by Isradecal and the spare squadron insignia and numbers are also Isradecal. Thanks for looking in! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wings unlevel Posted May 22, 2023 Share Posted May 22, 2023 Looks terrific! Powering home to the finish line! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted May 22, 2023 Share Posted May 22, 2023 That looks way smart. I'd better rattle my dags on my one, really just decals to finish now & like yours, they really do make the job look the goods. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke1199 Posted May 24, 2023 Author Share Posted May 24, 2023 Hi all, almost there with the decals- just the wing stencils to go but oh my god do these thin red lines terrify me! I managed to get them down on the left wing but the stress nearly killed me 😅 Just the right wing to go but I'll leave it for later then I'll do the wash and some light weathering. And just to think I have two Mirage IIIs in the stash with these exact stencils too... Thanks for looking in! 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hook Posted June 7, 2023 Share Posted June 7, 2023 Looking smashing! On 5/9/2023 at 8:32 PM, Luke1199 said: building this as a Smashing Parrot Squadron Kfir. (See what I did there? ) Cheers, Andre 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke1199 Posted June 7, 2023 Author Share Posted June 7, 2023 Small update- finally got around to finishing the decals. Just the gear and ordinance to go but first a panel line wash. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke1199 Posted June 7, 2023 Author Share Posted June 7, 2023 Some more progress tonight- applied a wash to bring out the panel lines, maybe a little over the top but the kit has very nice lines so why not use them hey? Also did a little work on the canopy so it sits a lot nicer on the fuselage. Just the gear and ordinance to go now, may have it wrapped up tomorrow if all goes well. I don't have a good blue for the Python 3s which is a shame but I'm sure a standard light blue will do the job. Thanks for looking in! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hook Posted June 8, 2023 Share Posted June 8, 2023 7 hours ago, Luke1199 said: maybe a little over the top Looks good to me!, those grey Kfirs could get rather grotty. Cheers, Andre 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke1199 Posted June 9, 2023 Author Share Posted June 9, 2023 Almost wrapped up now, on her feet and I'm finishing painting the ordinance. The instructions were very vague when it came to the gear but I got there in the end, unfortunately the pitot snapped (shock!) so I've used one from a little hasegawa Kfir sat on the shelf of doom- just need to glue it on to the remnants of the original tube, but that'll be the last thing I do for sure 😅 So just the ordinance, canopy and landing lights to go then its a satin coat to seal it all up. Thanks for looking in! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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