MatterOne

Hi Alain No - this Mirage is not dead! But... I was busy with some other builds that are small scale... Matterhorn Circle is also a Club in Switzerland and we have 10 members. As such, we do themes for our shows - and it was not surprisingly RAF for the Basler Modellbautage that took place the past weekend. Therefore I build this: and this and this on the side (not RAF) apologies to all offended LSP Members - I'm aware that I'm in the wrong scale. Now I need a vacation - but upon my return, the Mirage thread will continue! best, Robert

What a great summer. Tempratures in my hobby room are near plastic melting point. The Mirage makes only slow progress. In a previous post I had my focus on the wing and the differences between the E and S. Of course I want to reflect the 'Swissness' in this built. However - before I glued the wings together, I blanked off the holes for the speed brakes. I also added some colored plastic pieces for the navigation lights. After some light sanding, the seemingly deep and wide panel lines from the kit become very neat and fine - perfect. I'm afraid, this sanding process must be done for the whole aircraft - also to get rid of the somewhat pebbly looking surface structure of this kit. Fit wise, I'm pretty pleased so far - but the truth will show when I have to mate the wings to the fuselage. For the 'Swissness' modifications I prepared a drawing and defined the panel lines that had to be filled with superglue and the layout for the new ones. This done, out came the needle.... and then more superglue and repeated efforts with the needle, superglue and sanding paper.... in any sequence. This is not really my strong part, but it had to be done. For the time being, I'm happy with the result, but latest when I start to paint the plane - all my misdoings will brightly show and give me away. with a coat of primer this will look better, but I will save that until the fuselage and wings are joined. best, Robert

Almost a month since my last update. I must admit, that I was a bid baffled by learning, that the Swiss Mirages have a strengthened wing and fuselage, but by no means surprised. But it took me some time to come up with the facts - and now it seems logic. The reason for my absence is the summer – I offered myself a vacation – a great one. A bike tour from the Netherlands, back home along the river Rhine. Who needs soccer? The other welcome news is, that during my vacation, the minions fixed the errors Italeri built into the kit. length of the air intakes – done increased rudder height – done rudder actuator fairing – done brake chute housing extension - done this said – I can continue with the required modifications that make the difference between E & S While working on the tail section, I removed the two drain masts on each side of the fuselage that was easy - filled from the inside with some Milliput A study of the wing and fuselage from below I will continue with the wings... best regards, Robert

Dear Alain. Obviously I came to the rare conclusion, the E had a different wing than the C. This is true as far as the position oft he wing tanks is concerned, but otherwise, the Italeri wing is correct. This renders the wing of the Mirage IIIS / RS 'unique' and one wonder's why? Wikipedia gives the following explanation: „The Mirage IIIS was with considerably strengthened wings, airframe, and undercarriage as the Swiss Air Force had required robustness comparable to that of carrier-based planes.“ If I hade done my research properly beforehand, my approach to this topic would would have been certainly different and not so misleading. Thanks again for setting this straight! Best, Robert

The wing Thanks to Cheetah11 for pointing out the changed location for fuel tank hard points on the Mirage IIIE. His pictures are an excellent explanation. Now – since Italeri uses the same plastic for their wings either for the Mirage IIIC & Mirage III, one may ask, what else is in the bag? I try to make my point with some pictures. But first some hints: The Dassault engineers implemented the Withcomb Area Rule by use of the Coke Bottle design for the fuselage when viewed from the top. One would expect, that the wing to fuselage joint would follow the curved fuselage. Of course, this applies to the Mirage IIIC as well – silly me. The re-location of the mentioned hard points must be reflected on the topside of the wings. While most is hidden in the wing structure, the panel lines, riveting and access panels will follow that. Off we go to the pictures: who can spot the differences? First the Italeri plastic ​Second - line drawings for the Mirage IIIC & S ​These drawings have been created by Michel Ansermot and have been extracted from the Mirage Book by Peter Gunti and Olivier Borgeaud. ​and finally pictures I include a high resolution version (8MB) of the last picture: J-2302 Please keep in mind, that this is the second prototype - this aircraft has been painted in France and the Swiss Crosses are not up to specifications. Now... this tells you, that if you want to built a Mirage IIIS, you will have to sharpen your needle for the new engravings. However - I have not been able to find out, if this is true for the Mirage IIIE. Best, Robert

Nose Job For those of you who decide to build a Mirage IIIS, I provide the .STL file required to print out the nose with a 3D printer. Download: Mirage_3S_Radome_ultrtafine.stl best, Robert

„The engraved details are correct for the E and the location holes are correct for the C's underwing stores“. Hello Nick Are you suggesting, that the Mirage IIIE has a different wing than the Mirage IIIC? Or do you already know? When the hard points for the underwing stores are different, the internal structure oft he wing must be different – that said, you want to look at the panel lines, access panels, dimensions etc. etc. etc. ... the can o' worm... I think you just opened a new topic! cheers

Air Intakes The reason for these pictures is the question if I intend to do the corrections the kit requires - or not. For me this is not a simple yes or no. It's like this: 'believe nothing you hear and only half you see'. This is really a huge advantage of the Forum - especially because I'm not the first to build this kit. I can learn from the observations others made. However - I do want to look at the issues and make my own mind. I do agree, that the air intakes of this kit are slightly too long. BUT, I do not buy the 3mm even it the calculation sums up to that. On the top picture, when extending the red line up from the lip of the air intake to the cockpit frame, you end up at the start of the curve - reverse this on the kit and you find yourself on the panel line engraved on the intake. Let's say max. 2mm back from the intake lip. Maybe this picture clarifies the explanation. Dear Nick - I do not tell you, that your figure is wrong - this is simply about making it look right. The makers seem to have build in a whole can o' worm in this kit. Now - as Eric did - I will sleep over this and try to find out if I can live with this sin or not! On my next kit, the intake gets shorter before glue touches the plastic. By the way - did I already mention how much I love sanding the inside of the air intakes? best, Robert

Hi Alain I'm extremely happy with your helpful picture - now everybody gets the idea! thanks, Robert

Radom While I blend in the new nose and keep myself busy with sanding, I might as well pass on some additional information. Size matters! Everybody knows that. Originally the order was placed for the Mirage IIIC and then changed to the E (resp. S). Now, one may ask what the S stands for…. it might be Switzerland, or simply ‘special'. The selected Hughes TARAN System certainly made the Mirage IIIS special and extra expensive but also longer. The radar was larger and needed more space. This created a new problem. The caverns of the mountain war bases were not wide enough to turn the Mirage around once she was inside. For this purpose, the radom was made foldable and this solved the problem. The new nose has a fold line, and the radome was actually attached with 4 bolts only. Of course, an external adaptor had to be attached before the radom could be released and folded back. This could be done in very little time. I hope that the pictures support my explanation. By the way – this is J-2311 wearing an experimental scheme. NFM was still en vogue these days. Note the extended position 'Surgonflage' of the nose gear. Experimental schemes could make a whole chapter - I got sidetracked again. Point is, that on two of these pictures, the holes where the hinge adaptor will go can be clearly seen. I will have to engrave the panel lines for the TARAN Radar module and the fold line as well as two access panels on both sides. Then there are the 4 little covers for the attachment bolts located as a X when looking from the front. On the r/h side there are 5 holes where the fold adaptor gets attached. This is it for now. best - Robert

Hi Nick I'm aware, that this kit has some issues. However, I have not yet decided, if I will do every modification I have seen so far. I did not shorten the air intakes as it has been suggested - but certainly will correct the rudder actuator fairing. I do know about the rudder height and read about the fairing and dimension of the drag shute... My rule is, that if it looks right, it is right. Of course, the more you know about a particular aircraft type, the more work you have. Robert

Bravo - does she also fly? This looks so real. The work of a Master! I hope to see this bird in future.

This is the tale of a great kit. Fantastic detail and excellent fit. Just some glue – no filler, and with some light rubs using fine sanding paper, the joints will disappear completely. … but it is just a tale. Of course, we all know, the better the fit before gluing, the easier it will be afterwards. When I started to dry fit the cockpit tub, I realized, that I might have some difficulties to avoid gaps around the cockpit rear wall. It did not take much to make the decision to glue the cockpit into the fuselage, before painting and detailing – well aware that it will get fiddly later, but knowing myself, I would destruct more during assembly and cleaning up. Also – I still plan to include a pilot in the cockpit and therefore might get away a bit easier. I will see… However – the other truth is, that I wanted to see the 3D printed radome installed. The cockpit fitted actually nicely, but I had to shim and fill the gaps on the cockpit rear wall with thin stripes of plastic. Liquid glue and some force helped and I'm pleased. Then the nose gear bay… very tight. The lower fuselage part refused to align at the nose resp. tail and I was forced to remove all the locating aides for the nose gear bay. The instructions suggest to glue the cockpit / nose gear bay assembly first to the lower fuselage and only then join the upper and lower fuselage together… but I do not see an advantage in this. Of course I also added the air intakes and ducts… and this area loves filler and plastic card to fill gaps. Especially if you aim for seamless air intakes, extra work is required. Shape wise… actually the fit is pretty good. What surprised me, the new Nose actually fitted nicely. For a strong joint, I used 2 component epoxy glue. Everything would have been good, If the nose section of the fuselage would be round. This is not the case… the fuselage is an eclipse – higher than wide. My next Mirage will get a spreader before I attach the nose… sanding is ok… but this I could have done better. I will continue with the fuselage. All the surfaces need to be sanded and some panel lines restored. The new nose requires some details and panel lines. These I will point out in detail after I'm done with the surfaces. By the way - the metal conus at the point of the 3D printed Radome is part to the Pitot Set by Masters for the Italy kit.

YES!

I got a bid sidetracked by Davids question how I plan to do the radome. For a while I have put the cockpit aside and present you today one sugestion, how a new rose for the Mirage IIIS could be created. As previously stated, I followed the modern route of CAD design and 3D printing. With some help the drawing for the new nose was actually completed in very little time - compared to the printout. I must admit that I do not possess a CAD programme - therefore the file was created online with some freeware. This has the advantage, that the new Mirage 3s radome hangs somewhere in 'the cloud' and everybody who is interested, can access the file for free. The next step was the printing. Lucky as I am, I have a friend who owns a desktop 3D printer. Of course, I'm aware the these surfaces will require substantial sanding and a nice coat of surfacer, but I have a shape, that looks the part. Now.... more work lies ahead. Somehow I have to prove, that the new nose fits the model and second, that it looks correct compared to the references. best, Robert