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Mirage IIIS Swiss Air Force


MatterOne

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It is my intention, to build an early Mirage IIIS based on the Italeri Mirage IIIE 1/32 scale kit released in 2016.

 

Since there have been some builds on LSP with the subject oft he Italeri Mirage IIIC & E, I plan not to report on every rivet but rather to point out the differences to the S. This said, I will also answer questions to the best of my knowledge.

 

In July 1961, the Swiss Parliament ordered 100 Mirage IIIC - to be license build in Switzerland. However, the decision, that the Cyrano I radar would not do it, had already been taken and in October oft he same year, the Hughes TARAN System was selected. Now, the TARAN (Tactical Attack Radar and Navigation System) was in development for the F-102, a much bigger aircraft. To a great fortune, Dassault already worked on the Mirage IIIE with a fuselage stretch and more space for avionics. Swiftly, the order was changed and the Mirage IIIS started to take shape.

 

 

J-2301.jpg

 

The 1st Prototype of the Mirage IIIS J-2301 (first flight  December 12th, 1963).

 

The whole Mirage acquirement was plagued from the beginning from budget over shots. In September 1964, the situation was so severe, that the parliament reduced the order to 57 aircraft (36 Mirage IIIS, 18 Mirage IIIRS, 2 Mirage IIIBS and 1 Mirage IIIC).

 

I have not decided, what tail number I will build. The first prototype J-2301 and the last Mirage IIIS J-2336 are hot favourites. While the first two prototypes were build by AMD and were very French, J-2336 reflects a lot more the Swiss Militia System – all  the warnings in German, French and Italian language etc.

 

side-view.jpg

 

Information:

 

I have two sources of information in printed shape: “L'Histoire des Mirage Suisses†by Luc Leonardi and Laurent Baudillion and what I call my Mirage Bible – “Mirage – das fliegende Dreieck “ by Olivier Borgeaud and written by Peter Gunti. While the former title is in French, the second book is in German only. And then… there is the Internet  :) 

 

books.jpg

 

 

best, Robert

 

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Hi Robert

look forward to this build

I bought one of your exhaust set for the Mirage III O (still haven't started it but it is beautiful quality)

 

cheers

 

Michael

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Thank you very much. It feels like I just arrived in Mirage heaven. I had a look today at some of your Mirages - this is the place to be.

 

 

Michael - Greetings to Canberra.

 

Alain - I really have the feeling that I can pick up a lot from your work.

 

About 259... I'm just very quiet...

 

 

Robert

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Cockpit

 

The first difference that pops up when looking into the cockpit of a Swiss Mirage IIIS or RS is the color. It is not black.

 

In the evaluation programme, Swiss test pilots also flew the Swedish Saab J-35 Draken and one thing that that was taken over into the specification for the Swiss Mirage was the cockpit color. Not exactly the same green, but rather a green gray variant – and metalized.

 

I do not want to go into detail too deep. Of course I thought that I could get away with some small modifications of the provided IP panel from the kit, but I soon realized, that new radar screen and moving map display changed everything. While the left half of the IP panel is almost identical to the Mirage IIIE, the huge radar display takes a lot of space in the center of the panel – the moving map display below is even bigger. Both instruments were angled to face the pilot. Then – there is no comparison at all on the right side of the IP. The kit part will simply not satisfy.

 

 

Mirage-III-IP-late.jpg

 

Mirage-III-IP-early.jpg

 

 

 

To illustrate the situation, I have to pictures – of the Mirage IIIS IP. Please keep in mind, that the coaming on top of the instrument panel has been removed. The first picture reflects the late cockpit after the modification programme – but it is in color and gives you an impression of the ‘green'. The second picture in bw is what I need for my project. (Source: Mirage - das fliegende Dreieck)

 

 

Here we have the kit part. 

 

Italeri_IP.jpg

 

 

 

And this is a drawing I made to lay out the different parts I have to scratch for a new IP.

We will see, how this works out.

 

Mirage-IP.jpg

 

 

that's were the work begins.

 

best, Robert

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Hi

 

are you Robert from............????? since I bought the big decal sheet about Swiss Mirage , I plan to start the S version ( late) , I have already the master of the new nose cone , but for now this project is " sleeping " , it's a time consuming build ,,

Alain

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Hey Robert,

 

great to have you here! I have all your Mirage Decals and they are amazing :-) We already talked about the late Swiss Mirages via Mail and I hope that you make some masters for the new parts ;-) And I also hope you are doing the last Mirage :-)

 

Cheers,

Stephan

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Hallo Marcel

 

 

you may remember, I asked you to build a Swiss Mirage not too long ago... looks like I have to do it myself. Of course I regret this.

 

While I learned in the past years how to draw decals, my modeling skills got rusty. This might turn into a hit and miss... or I learn a bit or two from others in the forum. The way I see it Imagination is the limit and I will work hard to achieve what I can picture in my mind.

 

Great - we have a first vote for Geronimo. Thank you Stephan!

 

Of course there are many other options that could be done and I'm open to suggestions since no plastic has been cut yet.

 

 

meet Geronimo:

 

Geronimo.jpg

 

 

best, Robert

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