RAAF Dassault Mystere Falcon 20 - 34SQN

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

I shall be joining with the good old Mach 2 kit of the Mystere Falcon 20.

 

The decals, I found 2 sheets in the stash so if I stuff them up I have a fallback.

 

Here is the old girl in the late 1980s when I worked on her (A sneaky late shift hangar shot)

 

And when she had her markings removed for retirement from RAAF service, she eneded up with a buyer in the USA and was registered N6555L

 

[Rabbit Leader]

A lovely subject there Ray. The Mystere 20 is such an elegant jet, I just hope the Mach 2 kit behaves itself for you. I’m sure with your extensive track record, you’ve got all the tools in the shed to tame it either way. 
 

Cheers and best of luck with this build.. Dave 

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

I've read about the issues others have had building it. I'll just hack and slash my way through this one as usual until I get something acceptable  

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Hello Ray … Mach 2 hmmm ? You sir a steely eyed model making man ! 

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

11 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Hello Ray … Mach 2 hmmm ? You sir a steely eyed model making man ! 

 

I have 2 Mach 2 'monsters' under the belt Dennis and they turned out to an acceptable standard for me, so this will be a walk in the park 🤞

 

 

Should I add to my difficulty level and try an AIM vacform BAC1-11 as well??  Maybe not this time around, perhaps for the ANZAC III GB when it happens.

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

And we are off in the land down under. But allow for a short pause

 

 

 

Lest we forget 

 

 

The comprehensive instructions

 

I have started by removing the larger parts from the sprue for a clean up as there is a lot of flash to clean up

[Vingtor]

This will follow this build with gret interest. I built the model back in the 1990s when the kit was new. More or less out of the box (if that can be done with a Mach 2 kit). The model was donated to the local aircraft museum, from where it was stolen.

 

My next attempt was 12-13 years ago. I never came further than studying the parts. As you probably know, the fuselage halves are not symmetrical, making the windows and (worse) the wings unlevel.

 

 

 

So I did not get any further... A friend addressed this issue by cutting out the wing root on one side and repositioned it.

 

 

I will build my model one day, though. I have even made my own decals for it.

 

Nils

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

13 hours ago, Vingtor said:

This will follow this build with gret interest. I built the model back in the 1990s when the kit was new. More or less out of the box (if that can be done with a Mach 2 kit). The model was donated to the local aircraft museum, from where it was stolen.

 

My next attempt was 12-13 years ago. I never came further than studying the parts. As you probably know, the fuselage halves are not symmetrical, making the windows and (worse) the wings unlevel.

....

So I did not get any further... A friend addressed this issue by cutting out the wing root on one side and repositioned it.

....

I will build my model one day, though. I have even made my own decals for it.

 

Nils

Thanks so much for that Nils, I can't "unsee" all that now and will have a go at correcting it.

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

So after a 'little' hacking and slashing this morning I have dropped the starboard wing root about a mm or so and squared it up. I also finished cleaning up the main parts and squared up the windscreen slot.

 

 

Filler for the upper section above the windscreen piece to offset the area removed underneath. I still need to tidy it up and file it down.

 

Wing insert test, the slots were too small and had to be widened and the port slot was a tad high so I lowered it about a mm to get the lower part of the wing more flush with the fuselage

 

Wing roots look OK now, still some work to do to fix up the windscreen slot

 

Cockpit going together and seeing if it will fit

 

Test fit of major parts, looking Falcon 20ish

 

It also scales out pretty well with some plans I have

[TheyJammedKenny!]

You're a modeling ninja, Ray!  The more steely-eyed among you will see that the windshield needs to take a dip toward the nose, something you can probably achieve through masking or careful cutting.  The A-Model Falcon 50 has a similar shortfall--it's hard to make the windshield look right.

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

Thanks Alex,

 

I managed to assemble the engines. from my drawings and this head on shot they look undersized and too rounded. I could try and flatten the top bottom and sides of the nacelles, but I may also live with it.

 

The windscreen is a mess, I may also replace the clear sheet if I can't tidy it up enough.

 

And finally a shot with its replacement in RAAF service, a Falcon 900, I will attempt to resurrect that build and finish it during this GB.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Well thats coming along nicely. Outside of very specific and small communities not many would see anything wrong with the engine pods/nacelles. 

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

Back from my trip up north and got some time on the bench.

 

Having a look at some photos there are a few little fixes I can make to the kit.

 

The RAAF's Falcon 20s were delivered without APUs but when I was posted into the squadron in 1987 they all had APUs installed. I wanted to model the aircraft as I remembered it.

 

So a bit of shaped card, some glue and a drilled hole later the APU was 'installed'. I also noticed the exhausts were a bit undersized so I added some card to to the exhaust section to beef it up a bit and filled behind them with some sprue glue. I also removed a small section of the tail cone for the fitment of the brake chute canister assembly.

 

Finally I have filled the cabin windows as they will be painted over and decals will be used.

[Grandboof]

Great work as usual 

Martin H

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

Time for some interior paintwork.

 

I won't be worrying about too much detail since the transparencies are so poor you won't see much. I'll add the sheepskin covers to the seats and do a little dry brushing on the instrument panel and centre console, that should be enough work there.

 

The wing fences are added as well as some more sprue glue to the engine nacelles

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Wow!  Brake chutes on these things?  I presume they were needed "just in case."  Did you ever need to repack them?  

 

This is a beautiful job so far.  Well done on getting the wing roots at the same level.  Is there a cutout at the tail base leading edge?

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

Yes, brake chutes Alex! I believe they were fitted for use on shorter runways. Not sure if they were ever used away base.

 

The chute wasn't deployed very often. Though it was cool to see it deployed when it was due for servicing. They would pop it on the return from a task/sortie and the airframe guys would have to drive out to the runway and retrieve it after it was released. 

 

It wasn't my job to fit or pack them, the framies did that, I was avionics.  BTW it was the same type of chute that was used on the RAAF Mirage IIIs.

 

Here is a shot of one deployed and this is actually the tail number I am building.

 

The leading edge of the base of the tail has optional pieces that can be fitted for the DA20 or Guardian versions, hence the cut out.

 

I have got the fuselage together with a lot of persuasion. The tail leading edge fin fillet had just been attached and when the sprue glue sets it will be faired in. I had to use a fair bit of sprue glue as a filler all over and then followed that with some Tamiya putty. More sanding required....

 

The windscreen will be tidied up, polished and masked before any paint goes on.

[Wings unlevel]

Nice progress Ray, the  Mystere’s elegant lines are showing through.

[Robin-42]

33 minutes ago, Wings unlevel said:

Nice progress Ray, the  Mystere’s elegant lines are showing through.

Is that a CF 700 in your avatar? If so, what aircraft is it fitted to?

 

Edit : Answered  my own question CJ 805 in a Convair. Pretty cool, if ultimately unsuccessful.

Edited May 23 by Robin-42

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

8 hours ago, Romeo Alpha Yankee said:

Yes, brake chutes Alex! I believe they were fitted for use on shorter runways. Not sure if they were ever used away base.

 

The chute wasn't deployed very often. Though it was cool to see it deployed when it was due for servicing. They would pop it on the return from a task/sortie and the airframe guys would have to drive out to the runway and retrieve it after it was released. 

 

It wasn't my job to fit or pack them, the framies did that, I was avionics.  BTW it was the same type of chute that was used on the RAAF Mirage IIIs.

 

Here is a shot of one deployed and this is actually the tail number I am building.

 

The leading edge of the base of the tail has optional pieces that can be fitted for the DA20 or Guardian versions, hence the cut out.

 

I have got the fuselage together with a lot of persuasion. The tail leading edge fin fillet had just been attached and when the sprue glue sets it will be faired in. I had to use a fair bit of sprue glue as a filler all over and then followed that with some Tamiya putty. More sanding required....

 

The windscreen will be tidied up, polished and masked before any paint goes on.

Judging from your last photo, are the nose gear bay doors of different lengths  ? Or is that a trick of the lighting/model kit ? 

[TheyJammedKenny!]

That is awesome work, and I love the photo of the pilot popping his chute before he puts the nosewheel down.  Excellent results so far!

[Wings unlevel]

22 hours ago, Robin-42 said:

Answered  my own question CJ 805 in a Convair. Pretty cool, if ultimately unsuccessful

Yep, from the CV-990 gate guard at Mojave. Beautiful aeroplane, if not as elegant as the Mystere 20!

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

On 5/24/2025 at 12:15 AM, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Judging from your last photo, are the nose gear bay doors of different lengths  ? Or is that a trick of the lighting/model kit ? 

Dennis, it is a funny arrangement with the rear door attached to the strut and a single forward door that opens when the gear retracts/extends. The forward door is not a parallelogram shaped like most nose doors.

 

Picture and another

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

The wings and fences are attached, preparing to prime, hope to move this one along a bit faster.

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Nice! Will you use window decals to replace all the clear parts, including the windshield?