Mistral

Thanks Alain. You need one to go with your Cheetah C

Thanks Sean . Did you ever fly these ?

Thanks Jenshb . Hopefully John has a Cheetah C up his sleeve. The sexiest of them all in my opinion

With friend - Mirage IIICZ : And with Cheetah E :

Some closer details :

OK, another one done. Like I said in the build sequence above, I've kept it clean as they were in a gloss finish and well maintained by the SAAF : Had to lighten these two to show the undersides. The blue in the photo is a bit too turquoise .....

Hi Vic. Would love to answer for John but I'm afraid I can't . All I'm doing is a test build

Oh yes, and the tail hook....

And now it's finally on it's legs. The odd thing with this camo is that the sweeping up of the buff on the port side just aft of the nose antiglare panel makes the nose look like it's pointing away form the camera. I've checked : it's straight.... Now to complete the canopy masking and paint that, add the interior bits and bobs (seats, joysticks, rearview mirrors, canopy actuator arms and blast screen for the rear cockpit), the JL-100s, drag chute cap, pitot probe and exhaust and its done.

Ja meneer. Have you placed your order ??? If I may ask, who is Theo and where did he see this ? He may have been at a Jix model evening but I don't know all the guys.

Thanks Sean

Thanks Kev and BlackB. I really appreciate the positive sentiments. Thanks Marcel. Always good to know that someone else likes the finish. I'm very critical of my own work and was a bit concerned that the wash would not work out.

Excellent ! Or as we would say in South Africa, Bakgat ! Look forward to seeing your rendition !

Merci beaucoup monsieur ...

Looks like it's going a 600 knots

Wash applied to upper surfaces. I used MiG Starship wash for the buff areas and a reverse wash (lighter) for the dark green areas using MiG Pacific dust : Base wash : Excess removed with cloth : As noted elsewhere, I'm keeping this pretty clean. They were high gloss and didn't tend to weather too much - SAAF ground crews were renowned for their pride in keeping these beauties nice and clean. That said, I did add some subtle mottling using the Uschi mottle template - so subtle, it doesn't show up in the photos but it's there. It's only when they introduced the soft edge matt camouflage that they started to look a bit more tatty.... Upper surfaces done :

So then, after a good coat of Tamiya X-22 gloss varnish, time to wash the aerie Starboard wing receiving wash. I used MiG Starship Wash for the underside - it makes a slightly grimy finish : Wash wiped off with soft cloth - excuse the variability in the photo colours . You can see the difference between the starboard wing and the port wing which still has to receive the wash : Port wing getting the treatment : Undersides done. I intend to leave it as such. The SAAF Mirages in the gloss buff/green camo were kept nice and clean :

Thanks Brian Gives an idea of the fit :

The canopy, being vacformed, needs some work on the inside of the frames to provide a semblance of detail. Not entirely accurate but it'll do : Tamiya tape to protect it from modeller's finger prints ...

Main landing gear legs in process of improvement - kit parts are a bit crude and need work. John also provides lower sections which are reinforced with wire. With these you can cut the oleos to the correct length : Then adding plastic card discs : And then hoses using fisherman's fly tying lead : Painted and wash applied :

Thanks John Some more piccies - undersides :

Appreciate the positive comments, thanks

Thanks Kev and Piprm - I assume we'll be seeing an Aussie IIID then ? .

Thanks Tom So, a little more progress. Painted the orange and blue stripes on the rudder : How she'll look with JL-100s :