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French Colours in an African Sky - Mirage IIIRZ


Madmax

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The South African Air Force must have been in quite a hurry.

 

In 1966/1967 the SAAF took delivery of four Mirage IIIRZ's, all wearing French camouflage, and even French stencils. They managed to get South African castles and fin flashes on, and that's how they stayed for years to come. It is a very distinctive colour scheme.

 

Inspired by the pioneering work of a certain Australian contributor to this site, I too tackled the odd collection of parts that is the Italeri Mirage IIIE/R. I did have the advantage of having built a Mirage IIICZ first.

 

Some of the parts of this kit are actually for the Mirage IIIC, and many are somewhere in-between. It is a good basis however - for as much work you want to put in. I virtually only used the kit parts, save for a Master pitot probe and some Aires seat belts. The Isracast Atar 09C exhaust does deserve a special mention here, as it adds much to the build. There are very few accurate SAAF castle decals available anywhere, and my son managed to print a lovely set for me on white decal sheet. Teenage technology rules!

 

This is what the "Miracles" actually looked like.

 

Mirage%20IIIRZ%20WKLF%202-XL.jpg

 

I added some detail to the kit. The Instrument panel and "dashboard" need a lot of attention.

 

IMG_5908-XL.jpg

 

The nose-wheel well is almost correct for a IIIC, but doesn't come close to the intestinal plumbing of the real thing. Lots of extra attention here.

 

IMG_5868-XL.jpg

 

IMG_5877-XL.jpg

 

I discovered that the lower leg of the main undercarriage is quite a bit too long, and truncated it like this. Much better!

 

IMG_6136-XL.jpg

 

IMG_6186-XL.jpg

 

The cameras are an important aspect of a recce machine, so I let them hang out.

 

IMG_5802-L.jpg

 

And of course the bang seat - vital.

 

IMG_6245-L.jpg

 

 

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Amazing ! And that's very nice to see the recce version.

 

The added details are impressive. What did you use for the plumbing in the nose wheel bay? (i mean the big white pipes).

Edited by Zero77
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Beautiful!  Many years ago I built a IIIc as a South African NMF, I still want to build another.

 

What are your impressions of this kit? What are problem areas to look out for?

 

Thanks 1to1scale,

 

This Italeri kit is certainly worth building. It has many niggles, but the final result is very pleasing. One word of caution - the canopy in the IIIC kit is rather brittle and doesn't like being manipulated. This nearly landed my first Mirage in the bin!

 

You would do well to go to school on this build http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=64010&hl=%2Bmirage+%2Biiio , as well as his earlier Mirage IIICZ build.

 

 

Amazing ! And that's very nice to see the recce version.

 

The added details are impressive. What did you use for the plumbing in the nose wheel bay? (i mean the big white pipes).

 

 

Glad you like the recce machine Zero77,

 

I used Evergreen styrene rod, which I bent after heating them like this.

 

IMG_5879-XL.jpg

I made a lot of pig's tails in the process however. There is probably a better way...  :rolleyes:

 

 

Thanks Kev and Bill - much appreciated!

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Gaz, Gerhard and Kagemusha - thanks for the kind words!

 

I flew out of Maputo early this morning, and had a good look at what appears to be an old SAM site just north of the airfield. I couldn't help but wonder if this Recce Mirage ever took photo's of the same site when it was active? If so, I bet he was going a LOT faster than we were...  :huh:

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Wow, that looks wonderful!   The nose gear, MLG and nose gear bay were certainly worth the time you took to add the mods and upgrades, they look amazing. 

 

 

Thanks for looking at the gear in detail Out2gtcha - one of my favourite areas of attention.

 

 

 

Hi Madmax

 

Another stunning Mirage.  :m0152:

 

The markings look spot on. a Great idea to print a photo of the marking on decal film. 

 

Do post your Mirage IIICZ as well.

 

Nick

 

 

Hey Nick!

 

Thanks for visiting. Once the forum is a little less saturated with Mirage III's I'll post the real "Mad Max"...

 

Sean

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