32nd Cheetah E (ScaleWorx resin conversion set)

[IainM]

27 minutes ago, Mistral said:

 

I just love the SAAF Mirages / Cheetahs. The nice thing about the Mirages is that they saw real combat ops. However, my favourite SAAF aircraft ? The F1AZ !! Why, oh why, is there no 32nd scale model of this most attractive of all aircraft ???

You nailed it! The F1AZ was beautiful. And our boys knew how to fly those aircraft. Loved them. I don't really build jets (more of a prop guy), but if I had to build a jet, it would be a 1SQN F1AZ.....

Your work here is outstanding. Following with great interest!

[Out2gtcha]

4 hours ago, IainM said:

You nailed it! The F1AZ was beautiful. 

 

Had to Google that one!  Only to realize its a Mirage F1...............definitely some interesting schemes out there for the F1...........

 

 

 

The undercarriage reminds me of a Jag.

 

 

Apologies for the off topic.  Now back to your regularly scheduled Cheetah E!

[Renegade]

On 8/13/2020 at 1:10 PM, Cheetah11 said:

 

Very nice start Malcom

 

I am glad John has started doing 1/32 . Hopefully he can get the Fi and a Kfir conversion out soon.

 

Cheers

 

Nick

Hi Nick,

I'm still new to 1/32 and enjoying it so far . A bit unnerving with a few former Cheetah drivers around, and hope I don't disappoint... Regarding the F.1, it should hopefully be done by the end of September. My heart is loyal to the SAAF birds, and I'll get to the Kfirs 

 

 

 

Malcom, I'm very impressed with your talented skills in this test build, and it's very rewarding to see the Cheetah E coming to life. 

 

Cheers,

John

[Mistral]

Thanks Iain and Brian 

 

John, glad you've moved onto 32nd. If you hadn't done this set I'd still be busy carving a nose 

 

Here are some piccies of the dog teeth - first one - loose fit :

 

IMG_6022 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

 

And one glued into place :

 

IMG_6025 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

 

Will need some filler but nothing serious. Glad to report that the thickness of the resin part is a good match to the kit wing thickness where they meet.

 

Oh yes, those chord wise reinforcing strips will need to be removed - the Cheetah E (and if I'm correct, the Mirage IIIE) didn't have them. The leading edge slot will also have to be filled in. Then comes the small wing fence.....

Edited August 15, 2020 by Mistral
added text

[Mistral]

Wing dog teeth sorted and panel lines re-scribed. Need to add the wing fences :

 

IMG_6026 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

 

IMG_6027 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

[Mistral]

More goodies arrived from John at ScaleWorx - balance of resin parts including canards, vertical stab and refuelling probe. Casting is excellent with no pin holes / bubbles. Surface detailing is good - parts individually packed in small ziplock bags :

 

IMG_6028 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

 

Canards - restrained panel details look correct based on photos I have of #842 :

 

IMG_6030 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

 

Decals printed by MavDecals in South Africa - interesting to see high vis castles - at least the spingbokkies are gold as they should be - so  many kit manufacturers who provide SAAF decals don't get the gold bokkies correct :

 

IMG_6029 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

 

 

[Marcel111]

Following with great interest! Super clean cuts so far, John’s resin looks excellent also!

 

Marcel

[Madmax]

21 hours ago, Mistral said:

 

 

Decals printed by MavDecals in South Africa - interesting to see high vis castles - at least the spingbokkies are gold as they should be - so  many kit manufacturers who provide SAAF decals don't get the gold bokkies correct :

 

IMG_6029 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

 

 

 

Those castles look good Malcolm, a big improvement on previous ones. The Cheetah's wings are looking great too!

[Mistral]

There are various ways to bring the fuselage and wing parts together. The wings to fuselage fit is actually rather good - both on the upper and lower surfaces. All you need to do is a bit of scraping away of excess plastic and test fit. I've built two 32nd Italeri Mirage IIICs and one R and have not had fit problems with wings to fuselage - the problem area (as seems to be the case with all Mirage models) is around the intake but more of that later. So I went for the following assembly sequence. Glue wing uppers and lowers together and fit the dog teeth outboard resin inserts as shown elsewhere on this thread. Make sure the wing halves are not glued to each other along the trailing edge and the wing root edges. You need some play to adjust the final fit. Then take the wing sections and glue these to the bottom fuselage section. This eliminates any gaps. The wings take on the slight anhedral angle so characteristic of the Mirage III. Then glue the two upper fuselage halves together, trapping the intakes and engine inside. Finally, glue the bottom section with wings to the top halves. Glue one side, wait to dry and then the other.

 

Here are the wings glued to the fuselage bottom section :

 

IMG_6031 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

 

The little white rectangle on the rear underside is a plate fitted to the Cheetah E where a small antenna was located on the Mirage IIIE. Something to do with guidance for an AS-30 air to surface missile if I recall correctly.

 

IMG_6032 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

 

The white portions on the upper wings at half span are the reinforcing plates for the wing fences. The wing fences will be installed just prior to painting. The two round thingies on both wings have something to do with the wing tank pylons on the real aircraft.

Edited August 21, 2020 by Mistral
text add

[Marcel111]

On 8/13/2020 at 1:42 PM, Madmax said:

Although I am very much a Cheetah C fan, the E had something going for it. As with the old Mirage III BZ, it had no radar to weigh it down and thus accelerated beautifully.

 

Lekker, bakgat en iets moers,

 

Sean

 

That’s interesting, I had always assumed that with the not too impressive 9C engine and loads more drag incl. the refueling probe, the E was more of a Shane Warne than a Vinnige Fanie. 
 

Cheers,

Marcel

[Mistral]

On 8/22/2020 at 7:09 PM, Marcel111 said:

That’s interesting, I had always assumed that with the not too impressive 9C engine and loads more drag incl. the refueling probe, the E was more of a Shane Warne than a Vinnige Fanie. 
 

Cheers,

Marcel

 

Vinnige Fanie !!! Those were the days 

[Mistral]

More works in progress : today's work was on the really awful intake area of this kit.

 

The Cheetah E had a different arrangement for the dorsal access panel aft of the cockpit - here's 842 - note that there are two access panels which can be opened versus the single large one on the Mirage IIIE :

 

125_2525 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

 

IMG_6041 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

 

Note the nasty gap at the top of the intake. Filled with a piece of plastic card and faired in with Tamiya light curing putty. Similar treatment for the panel line. The forward access hatch was also lengthened. I could not accurately scribe the dorsal access panel latches so I added these with thin plastic card rectangles which were then sanded down to stand just proud of the surface :

 

IMG_6048 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

[Mistral]

In the photo of 842 above, you can just discern the reinforcing strip around the intake blow-in door. This was part of the structural reinforcement for the intakes to take the loads imposed by the canards - I replicated this with thin plastic card which was sanded down to an appropriate scale thickness :

 

IMG_6061 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

 

The whole forward fuselage treated to a nice coat of Tamiya grey primer to show up any defects :

 

IMG_6063 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

 

Resin intake loose fitted - just checking. This will only go on once the wings have been attached to the fuselage :

 

IMG_6069 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

 

The mid dorsal fuselage area where the moulding step was - treated to Tamiya light curing putty and sanded smooth - no sign of the step left :

 

IMG_6064 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

 

Here you can see the shortened length of the Mirage IIIE / Cheetah E intakes versus the longer kit boundary layer bypass ducting walls which are sticking out - simple work to cut these shorter :

 

IMG_6047 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

 

Each intake has three prominent reinforcing rods between the intake inner surface and the adjacent fuselage - similar for the Mirage IIIE and Cheetah E. This is the centre rod glued into a hole drilled into the intake inner surface. The other two will be installed once the intakes have been glued in place :

 

IMG_6072 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

Edited August 23, 2020 by Mistral
text correction

[Mistral]

Talking about fillers - I've started to use the Tamiya UV light curing putty. It is amazing stuff. Place in the sun and it cures in a couple of minutes. It sands at a consistency very similar to the kit plastic. First I rough sand with a course sanding stick and then fine sanding with 1000 grit wet and dry paper. Final polish with Tamiya polishing pad (2000 grit). I've seen lots of debate on the various modelling forums regarding filler. Lots of folks swear by cyanoacrylate as a filler. I've tried this before but it hardens way to much making sanding down a chore with the risk of unwanted erosion of the surrounding kit plastic. This Tamiya putty works a treat and there's no shrinkage. An added advantage is that it scribes similar to the kit plastic.

 

IMG_6062 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

[Mistral]

Rear ventral fuselage detail - the four little drain pipes were hollowed out and a fuel dump pipe was installed using plastic rod :

 

IMG_6073 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

 

Good fit between the resin vertical stabiliser and the kit fuselage. John has modified the kit part by correcting the dimensions of the rudder and has added the diagonal panel characteristic of the SAAF Cheetahs just ahead of the rudder. This feature was only found on the port vertical stabiliser surface :

 

IMG_6067 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

Edited August 23, 2020 by Mistral
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