Whitey Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 (edited) Here is my version of Eric's excellent copy of a RAAF Mirage IIIO control column grip. The grips are so well moulded that I bet they start appearing in museum jets around the country and nobody will be able to tell that they are a model. There aren't many photos of these around the traps so I had to try to make it look a bit used without overdoing it. I also wanted to have working switches but they are too hard to get so I left them as is. The screw for the hat switch is a real screw though. I removed the original base and attached the very well detailed connector base to the main grip. I started by sanding the one casting seam back and then filling the scratches and nicks that are present on the real version that was used as the master. It just looked a bit too bashed up for my purposes as I wanted a grip that was fairly new but showing some signs of use. I then sprayed an undercoat of Tamiya Light Grey Primer followed by Tamiya Gloss Aluminium. The switches were painted in their blue and red colours and then an overall coat of Tamiya Semi Gloss Black was sprayed direct from the can. With most of the stick masked off, I then applied the red underside to the gun safety switch area and masked off the yellow spin recovery reference stripes and got stuck into the "weathering". I took a Flory models polishing stick green side and just rubbed the black paint in areas that would have worn, until the Aluminium paint underneath started to show through. Screws were painted and rubbed to give an effect of being "screwed" during servicing. I have not attached it to a stand as there is some superb detail inside the connector and it can be "played with" as is. My photos of the inside of the connector are pretty ordinary and I just noticed that the gun button needs some attention, so stand by for further updates in the next day or so. Edited December 28, 2013 by Whitey Pfuf 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gregair Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 Wow what a great job you have done! Whitey 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 Yup - pretty convincing!! Iain Whitey 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 Great job Peter! Kev Whitey 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peterpools Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 Sure looks real to me ... beautiful work Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SinuheH Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 That looks real! Whitey 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winnie Posted December 29, 2016 Share Posted December 29, 2016 Gloves need more wearing in! lol. awesome though! Whitey 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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