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

[alain11]

Hi 

 

As you are looking for these small access panels , or hatches etc , maybe you have noticed these two rectangular hatches just in front of the wheels well ( missed by Italieri) , they are often , if not always open when the gear doors are open , note the T shape handle 

Alain

 

 

 

 

thank you Bob V 

 

  

Edited October 14, 2016 by alain11

[AndrewDoppel]

Thanks Alain.  These are usually represented by decals which I will use anyway, but I'll have a look to see if they are easily scribable given everything is together now.

[ericg]

Thanks Alain.  These are usually represented by decals which I will use anyway, but I'll have a look to see if they are easily scribable given everything is together now.

 I think our resident Mirage expert will probably chime in very soon with info on those panels.... I think they are open with the handle pulled down before the jet launches mate. 

 

Eric.

[AndrewDoppel]

Nose job is the title of this update.  I noticed on my IIIC that there is a big step in the nose if lodged where required and the IIIE has the same issue as can be seen in the first image.  Eric is going down a different path but what I found is that if you rotate the cone 180 degrees and cut the notch out in the corresponding section on the other side the fit is much better as can be seen in the second image.  Although there is still a small step it's not as bad as the original fit.

 

 

[AndrewDoppel]

Hi guys,

 

A bit of an update of Brick's Mirage.  As you can see below I have masked and sprayed the canopy frame.  Pretty boring I know but it will help later when the paint goes on. 

 

 

The rocket tank is lacking some detail compared to the images in Motty's book so I spent some time correcting this as you will see.

 

 

Below the rocket tank is dry fitted to calculate where the missing horizontal panel line needs to end.  The pencil mark is visible for where this panel line should be applied to both sides of the tank.  Apologies for the blurred image.

 

 

Below is where I scribed the missing panel line.  Same on the other side.

 

 

Time to add some depth to the fuel window by drilling it out 

 

 

....and back filling with plastic card.  This will be painted silver later and a clear screen installed.  On some Mirages I have seen this a bluish color but the image in Motty's book (Near top) shows it silver.

 

 

Once happy with it, it was fixed to the bottom of the fuselage with the Matra 530 centre-line pylon

 

 

To add some depth I also drilled out what appears to be some form of drain instead of leaving the stamped panel line.

 

 

On to the Matra 530....

 

 

Brick's bird carried an inert 530 so the exhaust unit needs to go

 

 

Gone.....and drilled out so that I can re-create the rear of the unit as can be seen in the next image of the real thing 

 

 

 

Thanks for looking in.  There's more to come later hopefully including the AIM-9Bs with their rollerons cut out as can be seen above and maybe some more paint.  I have tomorrow off so there's hope for a productive day.

 

Regards

 

Andrew 

Edited October 27, 2016 by AndrewDoppel

[AndrewDoppel]

I'm Back!  Had some issues with Photobucket last night not loading, but it's okay this morning.  So, after cutting off the exhaust from the R530 I drilled out the base.

 

 

......to replace it with the sensor end as depicted in the last image in my last post.  Here the disk has been punched to size and you can see the pencil marks as to how the end will be painted. 

 

 

Below, the glass lens has been punched out (just left of the disk)

 

 

Here it is fitted to the end of the R530

 

 

It should look like this (below) when painted and fitted. 

 

 

On to the AIM-9Bs.  This is how they come in the kit but they're not quite right, so some corrections will need to be made particularly the main fins with the rollerons removed as according to Brick, they were inert dummy AIM-9s and the rollerons didn't assist them as they were never launched.  The port one was fitted with a sensor, but I have other plans in mind......if it works.

 

 

Here, the left sidewinder has been drilled out at the end to give depth and although the rolleron section is not correctly defined on the kit parts compared to Eduards AIM-9Bs I have images of from Brick, having razor sawed what would be where the rollerons were has made them look just about right.

 

 

The first AIM-9B corrected compared to the kit part.

 

 

Here the two 9Bs and R530 are painted gloss white as are the launch rails which compare nicely to images I have of them except that the pin hole for the RBF tag is omitted.  I have added these but will need to place a drop of aluminium around them to give it that little extra detail.  There is also a small data plate about half way along the launcher that I will also add. 

 

 

Again, hopefully more later today.

 

Regards

 

Andrew

[LSP_Kevin]

Nice progress, Andrew! It sounds like Photobucket has had a few issues of late.

 

Kev

[AndrewDoppel]

Thanks Kevin.

[glidingbob]

Hi 

 

As you are looking for these small access panels , or hatches etc , maybe you have noticed these two rectangular hatches just in front of the wheels well ( missed by Italieri) , they are often , if not always open when the gear doors are open , note the T shape handle 

Alain

 

 

 

 

thank you Bob V 

 

  

The T handels in the small panels in front of the wheel wells are used to open the main doors of the wheel welles when plane is at rest. My pic is from a Swiss Mirage III RS photographed in Florennes Ab (belgium) during a Recce Meet in 2002

[LSP_K2]

Excellent photos here, thanks a bunch for posting them.

[AndrewDoppel]

Thanks again for the pics but it's time to move on.

 

Here the Matra R530 has had some further painting and the insertion of one of four cables that gets plugged into the rear of the launcher.  The recessed section is not a sensor but where the motor would be screwed in on a live version.

 

 

Sidewinders painted, ready for gloss and decals

 

 

I decided to drill out the crash tow window which will have some clear disks inserted later

 

 

Sanded and ready for paint

 

 

The Supersonic tanks have raised detail which is over exaggerated and needs to be removed,  The left one has started to be sanded back.

 

 

Both tanks sanded and ready for paint

 

 

The kit provides you with only one front main U/C door but the aerial wasn;t present when Brick had 10 so off it comes to be replaced with the kit decal which is good for his jet.

 

 

Here's the examples of the two types of doors.  Bricks will have the circular decal.

 

 

Wheels painted and detail started to be picked out.  There's some rust on an image in Motty's book so I'm going to try and replicate this for some extra detail.

 

 

Also did a little work on the kit seat and front U/C leg.  The seat will be replaced with a Musthave resin Mk.4 seat the same as what Eric used in his SAAF Mirage IIIC.  You can see the extra rust in the brakes of the main wheels.

 

 

......and finally the first coat of paint is down.  As I only have four images of Brick's jet I'm going to have to refer to Motty's book again for the port side tail area of Brick's bird as it's the missing link for the majority of the camo demarcation of the port wing and tail section.

 

 

Regards

 

Andrew

[AndrewDoppel]

Two colours done, two to go

 

 

[Whitey]

Nice job Andrew. What paint did you use for the gey and green please mate?

[Brick]

Coming along nicely, Andrew.

 

You know, I never met a Mirage jockey who didn't have a really soft spot for the French Lady.  It was that kind of aircraft - the kind that, through a happy combination of pleasing lines, handling properties, performance and, yes, character makes you want to go out and fly the thing every day of the week.  I mean, how could any young pilot worth his salt not have been entranced by an aeroplane that looked like this:

 

 

Even so, looking back on it after the passage of all these years, I am struck by the realisation that there really were ample reasons to develop a thorough loathing of some aspects of the beast, and it's all related to the delta wing planform that gave it such pleasing lines.  Yes, the airframe designers would have loved that particular planform because it enabled them to design a very light and strong structure with ample room for internal storage of fuel, etc.  And the aerodynamicists would have been overjoyed by the benefits to be gained in the transonic and supersonic areas of the flight envelope.  But the downside was that, at the low speed end of the spectrum, the delta planform made the aircraft an absolute flying speed-brake, thanks to its ability to generate massive amounts of induced drag at higher angles of attack.  

 

Nowhere was this "flying speed brake" characteristic more evident that in the engine-out forced landing pattern. Consider this: in the Avon Sabre, if you flamed out at 40,000 feet, you could glide at the minimum drag speed of 185 KIAS for 92 nautical miles in still air, which meant that, if you lost your engine over Sydney, you could make it to a landing at Williamton (near Newcastle) with the greatest of ease.  The Mirage, however, lost all faith in itself as a flying machine when the engine failed.  It didn't glide in the usual sense.  The minimum drag speed was 300 KIAS, and it dropped like a stone.  The forced-landing pattern required that you hit a "high-key" position directly over the airfield at 15,000 feet heading 30 degrees off the reciprocal of the landing direction.  Your vertical speed, as I recall, was about 8000 feet-per-minute.  Your final decision point was at "low key", which was at 5000 feet abeam the runway threshold.  If you were not happy at that point, you consulted Mr Martin-Baker.  If you were happy, you lowered the gear and began the turn onto finals, the lowered undercarriage causing your vertical speed to increase to about 12,000 feet per minute.  Because of that eye-popping rate of descent, you had to commence your flare at about 400 feet in order not to create a rather large smoking dent on the runway.  I looked at that procedure just once during my conversion course and decided that Mr Martin-Baker was the best friend I ever had.

 

Why didn't stuff like that turn you off the beast?  Well, I guess because she was the French Lady.  She'd spend all your money, always keep you waiting while she finished getting ready, flirt with all your mates, and total your Citroen DS, but you'd forgive her for anything ;-) 

Edited October 31, 2016 by Brick

[AndrewDoppel]

Hi Whitey,

 

I used Humbrol enamels 125(EDSG), 129 (Light Grey) and 163 (Green)