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Italeri 1/32 Mirage IIIO - Brick's A3-10


AndrewDoppel

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Time for another update.  As a result of Sean's pick up on the handle I have scribed it into the bottom panel however in the image it is very faint so I may have to deepen the panel lines so it can be seen.

 

20161011_201542_zpssruyxavr.jpg

 

As a result of the generosity of Eric G, I received some of his E-Resin parts for the cockpit but because of Auspost to get them to me in time I had to do other work on the Mirage.  You will observe in the image below that I have moved that dimple down by just shaving it off and re-placing it where it was supposed to be and re-riveting where they were removed.  The shock cones and intakes are together as is the front bay.  The U/C legs and well has been painted as has the airbrake wells.

20161011_201517_zpsrfhuwrpi.jpg

 

Yesterday the E-Resin parts made it so I quickly cut off the resin moulding blocks and hit the panels with Revell 9 (Anthracite Grey) as I find this to be a good scale of faded black, let it dry then sprayed it with Tamiya gloss this afternoon in preparation for detailing.  Below is just after the gloss was applied. 

20161011_201559_zpsqf7wcloo.jpg

 

.....and here we have the detailed tub just about ready for assembly into the fuselage.  The decals were from the Italeri kit decals punched out to size and Airscales Decals.  I wonder if Brick and Sean will find fault with two of them???????

20161011_221112_zps9cmlm4fa.jpg

I have some minor touch ups to do but essentially it's time to start putting this bird together.

 

Regards

 

Andrew

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That cockpit definitely looks awesome ! (I even want to say "Aires quality" when i look at the IP and sidewalls !)

I know Eric already has a a job, but if one day he doesnt know what to do, he can easily move into master designing and resin casting with success !

Edited by Zero77
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Just chiming in to report that I am now out of winter hibernation and finally paying attention.  

 

Nice to see the fastidious attention to detail in this build, Andrew.  I'm certain that this will be a stunning model, and I'm now following along with keen interest.  It was the same with Eric's build log of my Avon Sabre:  just following along is triggering off some memories which hadn't re-visited my conscious thought for many years, the chief one being how greatly I enjoyed flying the "French Lady", as we used to call her.  French elegance and sophistication personified.  What a gal.

 

I must say at this point that I am absolutely chuffed by your decision to choose my No 3 Squadron flagship as your subject.  First, Eric's build of my No 77 Squadron Avon Sabre, and now this.  My cup seriously runneth over.  All this means a heck of a lot to a grizzled old "knuck" in the twilight of his life.  I mean it.

 

The cockpit is looking just great.  I simply can't fault it, and there's nothing like a highly-detailed "front office" to bring a fighter model to life.

Edited by Brick
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Glad to see you are checking in, Brick.

 

 

I must say at this point that I am absolutely chuffed by your decision to choose to my No 3 Squadron flagship as your subject.  First, Eric's build of my No 77 Squadron Avon Sabre, and now this.  My cup seriously runneth over.  All this means a heck of a lot to a grizzled old "knuck" in the twilight of his life.  I mean it.

 

 

Now all we need is for someone to release a 1/32 Westland Wapiti and the collection of aircraft you flew in the RAAF will be almost complete eh? 

 

Eric.

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Followers of this build may be interested in some interesting reading on the subject of the Mirage in the Royal Australian Air Force.  

 

This is a PDF of a book published in about 1989:

 

http://www.radschool.org.au/Books/the_raaf_mirage_story_opt.pdf

 

I particularly recommend the article beginning at page 49 titled The Edge of the Envelope by Air Commodore G. W. Talbot, AFC.  Geoff Talbot really was the RAAF's "Mr Mirage", having been the first RAAF pilot to fly the type (in France in 1959) and, later, having flown every IIIO produced at GAF as a production test pilot.

 

Some rather hairy stuff went on in the early days, including "Stu" Fisher (a former No 77 Squadron colleague of mine) suffering a shattered canopy and consequential explosive decompression at Mach 2 in a IIID on its second production test flight.  Another very bad incident was a last-second supersonic ejection by test pilot Tony Svennson which resulted in the loss of A3-1 and horrific injuries to Tony, who somehow survived.

 

As you read this article, you could be excused for reaching the conclusion that in 1960 the RAAF had, in effect, procured a half-developed prototype that wasn't yet ready for prime time - at least in our particular operating environment.  Consider, for example, Geoff Talbot's description of the problems that had to be solved when operating the beast in a tropical atmosphere:  "In-flight cockpit conditioning problems occurred in three areas; the pilot was too hot in high speed, low level operations; because of cold soak at high altitude, the pilot's instruments fogged up (internally) during descents; and, most critically, the windscreens and canopy, for the same reasons, clouded over with condensation during descent to the extent that all external vision could be lost. Thus, in the worst case - and it happened in service - the pilot could be faced with total loss of external visual reference when making an approach to land in bad weather conditions and at the same time be denied the use of essential flight reference instruments in the cockpit. The aircraft was usually short of fuel at the same time.".

 

And as for Geoff's dissertation on the matter of taking off a Mirage with two 374 gallon external tanks and one 286 gallon external tank (page 58), I still question the advisability of attempting such a feat - and feat it was.  I mean, you could have held a gun to my head and ordered me to do that on pain of death, and I would still have refused ;-)

Edited by Brick
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Now all we need is for someone to release a 1/32 Westland Wapiti and the collection of aircraft you flew in the RAAF will be almost complete eh? 

 

Eric.

 

Harsh, Eric.  Exceedingly harsh ;-)

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Followers of this build may be interested in some interesting reading on the subject of the Mirage in the Royal Australian Air Force.  

 

This is a PDF of a book published in about 1989:

 

http://www.radschool.org.au/Books/the_raaf_mirage_story_opt.pdf

 

I particularly recommend the article beginning at page 49 titled The Edge of the Envelope by Air Commodore G. W. Talbot, AFC.  Geoff Talbot really was the RAAF's "Mr Mirage", having been the first RAAF pilot to fly the type (in France in 1959) and, later, having flown every IIIO produced at GAF as a production test pilot.

 

Some rather hairy stuff went on in the early days, including "Stu" Fisher (a former No 77 Squadron colleague of mine) suffering a shattered canopy and consequential explosive decompression at Mach 2 in a IIID on its second production test flight.  Another very bad incident was a last-second supersonic ejection by test pilot Tony Svennson which resulted in the loss of A3-1 and horrific injuries to Tony, who somehow survived.

 

As you read this article, you could be excused for reaching the conclusion that in 1960 the RAAF had, in effect, procured a half-developed prototype that wasn't yet ready for prime time - at least in our particular operating environment.  Consider, for example, Geoff Talbot's description of the problems that had to be solved when operating the beast in a tropical atmosphere:  "In-flight cockpit conditioning problems occurred in three areas; the pilot was too hot in high speed, low level operations; because of cold soak at high altitude, the pilot's instruments fogged up (internally) during descents; and, most critically, the windscreens and canopy, for the same reasons, clouded over with condensation during descent to the extent that all external vision could be lost. Thus, in the worst case - and it happened in service - the pilot could be faced with total loss of external visual reference when making an approach to land in bad weather conditions and at the same time be denied the use of essential flight reference instruments in the cockpit. The aircraft was usually short of fuel at the same time.".

 

And as for Geoff's dissertation on the matter of taking off a Mirage with two 374 gallon external tanks and one 286 gallon external tank (page 58), I still question the advisability of attempting such a feat - and feat it was.  I mean, you could have held a gun to my head and ordered me to do that on pain of death, and I would still have refused ;-)

Interesting read Brick.  The Mirage in question in the bold paragraph was Mirage A3-105, for which I have the front instrument panel after finding it in a scrap menchant's shed.  It is now completely restored.  As a result of this incident all twin seaters had the canopy reinforced from midway down the back of the canopy to the hinge.

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On to building.  Silly me forgot to take a picture of the tub together but if you refer to Eric's it ain't much different.  I had today off so it was time to check the fuselage against the Mirage IIIO bible and correct a few little missing items but firstly the angle of attack probe needed to be moved back slightly as it is too close to the nose cone and a little to wide.  The dimple is where it needs to be.

 

20161014_152617_zpsnw8k0e5i.jpg

 

The relocated angle of attack probe location.  I'm thinking about drilling out the Crash Tow area and filling it with a clear disk as in some images I have seen there is actually a tube behind the lens. 

 

20161014_161624_zps8hxhkanj.jpg

 

Here you can see I have pre-painted the shock cone in Olive Drab. Where the circle is penciled on is actually an electronic access panel. 

 

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Here the panel has been scribed in

 

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On the rear port side of the fuselage there is also two other access panels which have been omitted marked with pencil

 

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These access panels as they should look.  The bottom one is only on the port side.

 

20161014_161710_zpsiwg7q857.jpg

 

On the starboard side the top matching access panel is omitted and has been scribed in, and there is another square panel just before the larger rectangular one that was also omitted.  You will also notice the fin fillet in place in preparation of the tail which at the time of writing was drying in position.

 

20161014_162904_zpsptzrembk.jpg

More tomorrow

 

Regards

 

Andrew

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I'm done for the night as my son's about to go out, but here's the office together

 

20161014_203134_zpsctkjendb.jpg

 

Bet you've never seen a Mirage like this before?????

 

20161014_210917_zpstwgzzpcv.jpg

 

Ready to be joined together

 

20161014_211909_zps1cb4tja1.jpg

 

.......and together.  The fit was better than the IIIC but there's still some filling to do.

 

20161014_215347_zpsmwuxif77.jpg

 

I've even put the supersonic tanks together and the Matra 550.  I also found the way I have built the nose this time has taken some of the nose cone fitting issues away.  I did this by fitting the windscreen faring onto the top fuselage half before joining the upper and lower parts and opening the locator hole of the nose where the pin in the cone fits.  There's still a step but not as bad as that on the IIIC.  The front windscreen even fits!  Eric I think we both had this issue.

 

Regards

 

Andrew 

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