Cheetah11

Eventually finished and before the deadline !! The old Hasegawa kit went together surprisingly well. The tanks, pilot and tail from Tamiya. Academy Hornet supplied the AMRAAMs and the Pythons scratchbuild. Enjoy Nick

Hi Chuck Another crazy good build. Just a thought on the AI since we are splitting hairs. If it was suction driven it won’t be erect as depicted till the engine runs and most likely not with the red flag in view. Nick

Fantastic build Malcolm. well done Nice to see correctly sized and shaped SAAF castles on a model. Nick

Typical fuel cost for such a sortie would be about 2500 to 4000 euro depending on mission profile.

Hi Alain Thanks for the compliment. I used paper masks to try and simulate the sharper demarcation of the painting of the later F-16's . The early F-16A had more of a feather between the colors. A small correction was needed . I realized the side antennae of the Block 30 aircraft were slimmer than the one of the Sufa I used. So a small adjustment from plastic card needed. I also think the recess for the antenna needs to be filled on this particular model. Nick

Threads on jet tyres normally wear away quickly so maybe it is not a big issue. I would try and find a good photo and see how much thread is on a typical aircraft.

Glad the repaint worked. It looks great.

After an interesting masking and airbrushing session the basic cammo is done. A few more touch ups to do. Cheers Nick

Hi Gary Here is a photo for you if you don't have one yet. I would recommend everyone to take a trip to the Italian Air Force Museum on a visit to Rome. I still regret only budgeting two and a half hours during my visit in 2014. Cheers Nick

I think it is a posed photo. All the RBF tags are still in place, no bombs are going to drop.

After almost a month of no progress on this build but I am still hopeful of finishing it before the deadline. Because of conditions at work I had to bring forward my annual hunting trip, so all free time was spent on reloading and range work since the usual stuff is unavailable due to shipping delays. That is done now so I managed to get a bit of paint on the F-16. I decided to do the difficult part first and finish the tail. The canopy took a few attempts to get a smooth color coat on and is now too dark. Fortunately I have a spare so I will fix that. Cheers Nick

Hi Alain I am going to limit the AM to Quickboost seats and AB nozzles (have not decided which ones yet) and of course the decals Jennings designed. In my F-4E I used the Black Box cockpit and after seeing not much is visible I only used resin seats and an Eduard PE IP on the F-4J. It all depends how far you want to go with AM.

Magnificent build and paint job Ivan. Well done

Yes and no. I want to do Robin Olds's aircraft during operation Bolo but need some AM stuff to continue. With the current postage situation( 250 more post offices are closing in the country) I will only resume this build in a year's time at the earliest. Nick

Hi Alain So you are doing a Phantom. Great! I can't wait to see you do the painting and finishing on an F-4. Three more things apart from those mentioned which are known errors but which are easy to fix are: Outer wing panels should have 12 deg dihedral. The kit has way too much dihedral on these panels. The rear bulkhead in the cockpit should be vertical. I don't think any AM cockpit has this right. The outer wing pylons need to be moved inwards. Rear Cockpit should look something like this. New position of the outer wing pylons Cheers Nick

Brilliant paint job and an outstanding build Alain, well done. Not an easy build but you really did the Mirage 2000 justice with its build Cheers Nick

Ha Ha Malcolm now you are asking the impossible. The original cammo on the Saaf Mirage III CZ conformed to the well published BS Standard colors with light grey undersurface. Also the cammo Sabres) The Mirage III EZ aircraft were painted locally in gloss finish and were close to the D2 also with light blue undersurfaces. The change to satin/mat without national markings darkened the Green and lightened the Buff when the aircraft were parked next to each other but by how much? The best advise is to look at Mirage 857 which was delivered in the original gloss(maybe NATO Green ) and then with the fin and other parts repainted in later colors. (I think the museum have repainted it since) Here you can see the difference in green between two panels (Panel left of photo) Also good study of the different 09K-50 intakes. Difference in greens and buffs I would mix what looks right to your eye. I know photos are not always good references but look at as many photos and go with that. BTW I think the U/C bays might have been silver but I am not sure about that. Cheers Nick

Hi Alain Thanks for the heads up. I missed this and see the part no is also not in the instructions. Bad Kitty (Hawk) Cheers Nick

Hi Malcolm The Mirage is looking great. Just a small but interesting fact on the colors. The Mirage III D2Z and R2Z aircraft were painted in gloss colors in France before delivery. French equivalent colors were used which created a small variation on these aircraft compared to the rest of the SAAF Mirages. Cheers Nick

Sorry to disappoint Derek All the Hellenic Block 30 aircraft had the wide mouth intakes, so it will be an Israeli Block 30 for me. They had the small intakes except aircraft no 360. The Israeli Block 30 F-16 aircraft all have numbers starting with 3. You could find someone who has done a Sufa and ask for the unused wide mouth intake. It should not be too difficult to graft onto the Hasegawa kit for a Hellenic Block 30. Cheers Nick

Hi Tim The SAAF decals that came with the kit were printed by Microscale. They might crack up after all the years depending on how they were preserved, so test it and you might have to used Microscale Decal Maker to salvage them. The Springbuck roundels were the right size for the 30 inch roundels on the wings but the fuselage were 36 inches, so you will have to adjust it a bit. If you need a photo of the aircraft just let me know. One thing that struck me when I researched it was how few of the stencils were visible on the photo. The code 'A' aircraft 602 was the mount of the OC of the Squadron Maj Gerneke. The name SHE was incomplete as a photo of it was taken during painting. The complete name was SHERDANOR II. (SHERDANOR was a Mustang) The name is made up of the names of his children Sheryl, Dan and Nord. I don't know if you are going to cut the wings, but there is a solution around it. One replacement aircraft supplied to the squadron had the 6-3 extension wing. I think it was GLOW WORM coded G but if you are going that way I can find the details for you. If you need more info just ask Cheers Nick

Thanks for all the compliments gents. Hi Alain Of course yours will be different. It will have a stork on the tail I can't wait to see what you have done to the Mirage with your painting skill. Cheers Nick

Terrific build with a difficult kit Chuck. The metal finish is just awesome. Well done

This one is eventually finished. I still need to get a figure and base before posting it. In the mean time a few photos with the iPhone. Enjoy Nick

Hi Alain No, I am just playing with a few photos to get e new avatar. BTW is your Mirage finished yet? Cheers Nick