Italeri RAAF Mirage IIIO. FINISHED

[dodgem37]

I wish I had your skill-set.  You do everything unbelievable well with anything.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

[Iain]

Looks great Eric!

 

Iain

[ericg]

More work.

 

I modified the nose gear leg to sit 2 or so mm further forward, looks better that way. I also raised the small nose gear door that is attached to the leg, as Italeri have it far too low. The changed position of the leg required an extension to the hydraulic actuator, which I changed out with some brass rod.

 

 

Some further work has been occurring on the inner canopy frame. The kit canopy lacks internal framing and really looks quite light and flimsy and needs a bit of a boost. I cut up strips of thin plastic card and have started making an internal frame to beef it up a bit by glueing them into place. Needless to say, any wrong moves here will result in disaster. Some Mr surfacer can be seen on the edges of the frame as I have started to fill in the gap between the clear part and the new frames.

 

 

The wheels have a flat spot already moulded into them. They are a bit underwhelming and deserved a bit of attention. All three tyres had a new flat spot milled into them. Modified on the left, stock on the right.

 

 

I recently aquired a new microchisel, the smallest of my collection. It was put to good use scraping the ejector pin marks from the inside of the nose gear door. 

 

 

Some more work on the OM6 seat. I have decided that due to being a bit over committed with projects, as well as recently getting back into guitar playing, that this will be one of a kind, Ie; I wont be making copies. Several more parts have been added since its last appearance.

 

[Guest Peterpools]

Eric

Fantastic update and your skills at missing nothing are simply amazing.

Keep 'em coming

Peter

[F`s are my favs]

Pretty awesome! And these tires - I wouldn`t expect that some1 could sometimes make the flat spots that way. And the seat - mmm...

[ericg]

Some more work. I forgot to order decals for the tail fin, so whilst they take their time getting here it is allowing me to get stuck into the detail work that I reckon this kit needs.

 

There is a small blade on the outer skin of the flipper door that needs to come off depending on the year of Mirage modeled.

 

 

I then detailed the inside of the door, adding the wiring and fittings for the round style IFF antenna. I also added the up lock rollers.

 

 

I started wiring up the main undercarriage legs.

 

 

 

You will notice that the wheels have been painted. I whipped up a set of custom masks for the nose and main wheels. (If you dont have a Sillhouette Mask cutter, you really need one!)

 

 

I decided to compare this model to an earlier Revell one, of which I was reasonably happy with the colours. I thought the contrast wasn't quite stark enough on the Italeri model, so went back and sprayed a thin mixture of lightened base colour over the gray, mottling on to give it more depth. (seen here before respray)

 

 

I then applied the clear gloss coat over the model. I used a 50:50 mix of Tamiya clear and Mr Levelling thinner, sprayed with a nice wet coat ot 20PSI,

 

 

Getting close!

 

 

[alaninaustria]

Very nice and innovative work mate!!

Cheers

Alan

[Whitey]

It's a Miracle.  Great work mate, especially love the sheen that the X22 and Levelling thinners creates. 

[Guest Peterpools]

Eric

Just need to keep myself strapped on my easy chair or I'll fall right off - the details are brilliantly done. Can't believe you went back and lightened up the gray portion of the cammo - but it looks perfect.

I've switched over to X22 but have been thinning it with Tamiya X-20A. Next round, I'll try the self leveling thinners.

Keep 'em coming

Peter

[alaninaustria]

Eric, what are you using as straps for the hydraulic lines on the gear? Is it bare metal foil??

Cheers

Alan

[spyrosjzmichos]

Excellent progress Eric! Fantastic detailing on every part and wonderful camo! 

[ericg]

Thanks guys. No update for tonight, although I have been doing a fair bit of work modifying some other stuff. More soon.

 

Eric, what are you using as straps for the hydraulic lines on the gear? Is it bare metal foil??
Cheers
Alan

 

This stuff mate!

 

[TTail]

Australian Cowboy Pilot !

 

So successfully got through 2OCU and was posted to 77Sqn for a short period then off to Butterworth and joined 3 Sqn.

Flying in Butterworth was fantastic ... far enough away from home to getaway with minor flying misdemeanors. A time before Mobile phones and Youtube.. even regular Friday afternoon "Gold top" beat ups went unscathed .

 

Alas not everything went unnoticed. We were allowed to fly supersonic over Malaysia with certain rules regarding Altitudes and deceleration points etc. I forget the exact rules but there wa a caveat that you had to be Subsonic I think 20nm before Butterworth or Singapore.  Around 3 times a year we participated in Air Defence Excercises (ADEX) this involved RAAF,RMAF,RSAF,RNZAF and occasionally the RAF. Basically Butterworth attacked Singapore or Vice versa .... though the Malaysians wouldnt allow the Singaporeans North of the KL Kuantan line ..."They cant be trusted" as quoted by a senior RMAF officer at a briefing in Butterworth !! Though RAF,RNZAF and RAAF aircraft could go anywhere. Any way ADEX's were lots of fun and generally the normal day to day rules were relaxed a little.

 

So Along comes the ADEX. 3SQN in Butterworth were the Aggressors. ADEX tasking was planned and issued by IADS a joint service multinational HQ Air Defence command. These tasking orders comprised a series of Lat/Longs altitudes and time to be at each waypoint. In the task I had I was clearly to be a "High Energy Target" I plotted the turn points and the respective times. The track called for a high level transit to Singapore a 180 degree turn then back to Butterworth. Looking at the timings the required ground speed for the last Waypoint into Singapore and out required a Mach number of  at least 1.2. Okay no probs its an ADEX so I thought so no issues with the Mach number and supersonic rules.

 

Supersonic Fuel flow data for the Mirage was a little rubbery in those days coming directly from a French IIIE figures. so I planned based on these and if the fuel was going ok I figured to let the French lady have her head of Steam.

 

I dully arrived at my planned acceleration point on time and commenced the acceleration. M1.2 came nicely fuel was good so let her continue. I arrived over the final waypoint (Singapore) doing a very comfortable M1.4ish.... having successfully out run at least 2 intercept attempts.(Their contrails seen) so over the final waypoint lets start the turn. I rolled into a 60deg left bank looking down at the island below. I was fascinated at the Shock wave sitting around the aeroplane its presence being visible by a subtle change in refraction at the wave boundary. It was also even more fascinating that when you varied the G the wave moved with the stick input ... giggle giggle this was fun. Anyway played with this throughout the turn until on the way home. Got to my Bingo fuel value so decelerated transonic and cruised back to Buttewrorth very chuffed, On time on target not intercepted good stuff.

 

Landed and back to the Squadron crew room. On arrival I am told to go to the CO's office immediately ... Oh O ! I politely knock and enter gulp there is the Boss and the Commander of IADS present. "Where were you Boggy at 0937 hours this morning ?" "Exactly on TOT over Singapore Sir" ... I said proudly. "Yes we and the whole bloody island know that ....You have boomed the hell out of the place !". "Whats more it would seem you targeted the CBD !"....  Err Sir I was there at the required time as per the ADEX tasking .... "Really ... what are the rules reference Supersonic Flying and Singapore ? " err It was an ADEX sortie Sir with specific timings that required Supersonic flight to achieve the TOT's. Commander IADS now looking a little perplexed/sheepish. Either way I was Pilot Officer so I was going to cop it no matter what. "No Boggy the rules apply at all times you stuffed up" "Yes Sir" I reply smartly. Then he says what exactly did you do as the Boom was way more than can be expected at the altitude you were flying at. I explained the turn and playing with the shockwave. "You ever heard of focused boom Boggy ? " ....... clearly I had NFI .... "No Sir" I replied enquiringly. "Well Boggy when you turn a turn can have the effect of focusing the boom a little like a lens, increasing the intensity of the boom at the surface" So I had learnt another amazing fact about Supersonic flight .... A weeks Orderly Officer was my reward for my Transgression/completing the mission precisely as tasked. Though anonymous castigation continued in the Singaporean press. ...As it turned out I had picked the time and day that Mr Lee Kuan Yew was stepping aboard his VIP jet for an overseas tour. Mr Lee was apparently not impressed. A week later I receive A paper cutting from an Aussie newspaper Headlined "Aussie cowboy pilot sonic booms Singapore" The narrative going to say that the cowboy pilot was going to be sent home for his misdemeanor ....well I didn't and the weeks orderly officer was punishment enough for doing my duty....On time on target. Never did find out if some IADS boggy task planner got matted over his planning.

 

I did store away my new found knowledge of Boom focusing might be able to use that one day

Edited April 10, 2017 by TTail

[ericg]

Thanks alot for the input Sean, it is a pleasure having you on board this build.

 

Sometimes when something doesn't look right, it cant be `unseen', especially by the builder. In order for me to be 100% happy with this model when it is finished and in the display case, I needed to slightly tweak a couple of areas. This meant going back and doing a bit of damage to the model, and adding some extra time to the build. I visited a real Mirage last weekend and was able to see the areas in question for myself, further increasing my determination to get things right.

 

Despite the extensive modification to the the brake chute housing and the streamlined panel in front of it, I needed to get in and re-do some of it. Once the model was in a gloss coat, the light wasn't bouncing off it right and it looked just a bit wrong and certainly wasn't doing the full modification any justice.

 

Here it is before I got stuck into it. 

 

 

The real thing was a bit `faster' looking, and tapered down more than I had done it from the panel line directly underneath the gap between the A and R as can be seen by the photo that I took.

 

 

I cut and sanded the fairing to fix the issue.

 

 

After a respray, I am alot happier.

 

 

Another area that I wanted to fix was the nose. I had already spent a considerable amount of time on it and was preparing the Master Pitot tube for painting. I have built 2 Mirages already and whilst the aftermarket tube is OK, I wanted to improve it. Seeing the real thing on the weekend convinced me to  want to capture the one piece look of the nose/pitot tube. I was surprised by how thick they really are.

 

Here is the Master Pitot fitted (although I make these removable for transport)

 

 

 

The real thing. It is very thick and slightly tapers into the profile of the nose

 

 

I cut the aluminium Pitot tube up and slipped larger diameter tubing over it, before blending the whole assembly into the nose cone.

 

 

I also made the end part of the pitot removable. You can just see the small piece of aluminium foil that I wrapped around the end of the removeable part to thicken it.

 

 

The other main undercarriage leg got the same treatment as the first, with brake lines and fittings from plastic card, copper wire and the plastic part from a cotton bud, stretched as per the stretched sprue method.

 

 

Part of the trip to see the Mirage at the museum was about spending time with my oldest boy, and partly to take some reference photos. I am sure one of the volunteers there was a bit shocked to hear about 5 year old Hayden's plans on flying a Lancaster when he grows up!

 

 

The field trip pics put to good use.

 

Edited April 10, 2017 by ericg

[Victor K2]

Good luck to Hayden and his aspirations to fly a Lancaster, he may yet be able to fly "Just Jane" here in the U.K. as there are plans in place to make her airworthy again. I look forward to both occasions.  

"T Tail" many thanks once again with regaling your exploits during your service career. May your musings long continue in entertaining we mere earth bound techies.

 

Oh, lets not forget, another brilliant build Eric