Aussie Revell Mirage 1/32..one more before I finish, promise!

[dodgem37]

Unbelievably good, Eric. Great work.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

[Nessus]

Interesting solution for the wing. I used the stainless steel inserts for car window wipers and superglued them to the inside of the wing as spars. Solutions present themselves in all shapes and sizes.

Edited April 20, 2013 by Nessus

[cch4530]

finally...and update!!!!

[ericg]

Now that I have the Hawk out of the way, it is full steam ahead with the Mirage. Looking at it with a fresh eye, I noticed that Revell have left out a few curves. I am assuming that was to prevent too many kids from falling for the French lady in the 70's (although I know a few guys that did!!)

 

Where a year and a half ago I may not have considered doing some of this type of work to a kit as I felt I wouldn't have been skilled enough, it is a whole different kettle of fish now. A while ago someone emailed me about the subtle curve of the spine behind the cockpit. I did fix this by scribing it and splitting the spine, and then bending it into position and gluing it. This curve actually extends forward through the canopy and in front of the windscreen. Here is how I did some of it.

 

Here you can see that there is a rather flat profile of the bump just forward of the windscreen.

 

 

I carved the new curve with the hobby knife and then sanded it smooth. It is a very subtle yet quite pleasing to the eye change to the kit. I have done the right side and haven't touched the left for comparison.

 

 

 

Here is the spine fix that I did a little while ago. Scribe the line until you break through the plastic and then squeeze the spine inwards, glue some plastic behind the join, and you have a new, curvier spine!

 

 

Now to tackle the canopy. With these kits becoming rare and somewhat expensive, this is something you don't want to #$% up, so slowly goes with this. First, the problem. Fixing the spine means the canopy will have the wrong profile. It is obviously going to look odd with the canopy closed, and probably wont really be that noticeable with it open so it is somewhat of a risky move to do this to an otherwise minor fix. I guess the final result will really depend on your own view and how badly you want to do this.

 

 

Here is the problem:

 

 

 

Here is the solution. I filled the canopy with blue tack to make it easier to handle and less prone to breakage.

 

 

Scribe a line using dymo tape to guide the scriber. This will give you a reliable straight line in which to guide your razor saw.

 

 

Get the razor saw out (I am using the JLC saw sold by UMM-USA) and cut until you are almost all of the way through:

 

 

I then used Radu's excellent scriber to scribe through the cut. This leaves a V shaped cut.

 

[ericg]

Break the canopy piece off:

 

 

I then glued the piece back on by holding it together and wicking Tamiya extra thin cement into the join. As you can see it is a very clean join.

 

 

Problem solved.

 

[ericg]

Here is the completed Instrument panel. There are 115 extra parts that I have added to Harolds pit to turn it into a reasonably accurate RAAF I.P. There are a few switches that I have had to leave out which may be noticed by a certain ex Mirage pilot, but I had to compromise somewhere!

 

 

 

[mikkod]

Here is the completed Instrument panel. There are 115 extra parts that I have added to Harolds pit to turn it into a reasonably accurate RAAF I.P. There are a few switches that I have had to leave out which may be noticed by a certain ex Mirage pilot, but I had to compromise somewhere!

Wait WHAT!!!! 115 pieces? Damn...gotta love your skills Keep it up...

[Harold]

Looking really good indeed. Keep up the good work.

[Guest]

WOW ! Impressive.....Harv

[Pete]

I'm so happy you're back on this one Eric

[imatt88]

eric,

 

Just tried to send you a PM to inquire about some parts....Bounced back..

 

Cheers, Ian

[scvrobeson]

It looks really good Eric. Those subtle little curves are what will probably make this thing look just like a real Mirage. It's amazing how many subtle little shapes there are on aircraft that just can't be pulled off in the molding process. I really like your work though, I think it's cool that you can add the cockpit at such a late stage after the fuselage is closed.

 

 

 

Matt

[Kagemusha]

I'm so happy you're back on this one Eric

 

Me too!

[Troy Molitor]

Me three! I almost forgot about this terrific build. I don't even like jets, but the Mirage looks so cool. You just have to pay respect here even if RLM colors won't be sprayed! Just Kidding.

 

Thanks for sharing Eric. She's looking fantastic.

 

Regards

 

Troy

[ericg]

Well folks, I am back into it! 

 

I recently purchased a house and have now finished the renovation to the workshop and have plenty of room in my new mancave, so I thought I would celebrate by getting back into the Mirage, hopefully till the finish this time.

 

First up was to make a copy of the panel in resin, mostly because a good mate keeps on nagging me to do a copy for him. Came out pretty well. 

 

 

 

The start of the painting and detailing process:

 

 

Still fits!

 

 

It feels like I am digging through ancient history re-starting this build but once I have the cockpit glued into the fuselage and the windscreen on, then it will be ready for paint very quickly and shouldn't take too long from there.