32nd Mirage IIID2Z (with ScaleWorx conversion set)

[Mistral]

As you may have seen elsewhere on the "in progress" forum, Renegade from ScaleWorx is almost done with his first castings of the Mirage IIID2Z resin conversion set for the Italeri / Revell 32nd Mirage IIIE/R kit :

 

 

 

So, hopefully I'll have this resin set in hand shortly to tackle this conversion. As a biiiig fan of the Mirage III series, I'm really looking forward to adding this to my 2 IIICZs, one RZ and Cheetah E conversion. As I always say, one cannot have too many Mirage III kits. I must say, the Mirage III two seaters were very elegant and sleek looking indeed. The South African Air Force took delivery of 3 Mirage IIIDZ (serial numbers 839 to 841) and 11 Mirage IIID2Z (serial numbers 843 to 853) trainers. The main differences between the two was as follows :

a) The D2Z had two blade antennae on the upper vertical stabiliser, the DZ did not.

b) The DZ had a doppler antennae forward of the nose gear, the D2Z did not.

c) The D2Z had a tail hook, the DZ did not.

Contrary to what has been written on some websites, the D2Z retained the Atar 09C, just like the DZ.

 

Here is a photo of the contents of the Revell version of this kit - thankfully, top opening, but box 30% too big and very flimsy. But what the heck, it contains the parts for a 32nd scale Mirage so all is good !!

 

 

[Mistral]

While waiting for the resin bits, I started to fiddle with some of the components which will not require modifications i.e. the wings. The surface texture is rather pebbly and needs a good scrub with Tamiya sanding sponges. This is just good enough to get a smooth finish without losing any of the recessed panel line and rivet detail. The reinforcing strip on the upper wing surface needs to be removed through some careful knife work - it's the one chordwise behind the slot.

 

 

 

After 4 builds of the 32nd Italeri Mirages, I think I have the wing to fuselage assembly down pat. I first glue the bottom wing halves to the center lower fuselage section. Some careful sanding and scraping to remove any mould flash helps to create a perfect joint. The added bonus is that the wings take on the typical wing anhedral of the Mirage. Once this is fully dried, the lower surfaces are glued to the upper surfaces to ensure a tight leading edge fit. Then the fuselage halves are glued together and, once dry, these are brought together with the wings to provide a really good wing to fuselage fit. The images below show this with loose taped fit for illustrative purposes :

 

 

 

 

The forward fuselage joints however leave a lot to be desired but those will disappear with the D2Z resin nose.

 

[Mistral]

Another trick is to glue the two rear fuselage sections to their respective upper fuselage halves to get a good fit. This will not be the case if these are glued together before adding to the fuselage - there'll be a pronounced step. The method above results in a really good fit with a 1mm gap on the undersurface which can easily be filled with a strip of plastic card - in the images you can see that I used the kit vertical stab taped in position as a guide :

 

 

 

End result after a swipe or two with the Tamiya sanding sponge :

 

 

 

 

[Mistral]

This is the subject - tell me she's not pretty 

 

 

[BLACK MAMBA]

Popcorn out and looking forward to what will surely be a masterpiece! Remember to take notes for the Cheetah D2...!

[alain11]

hi 

I take a chair at the first row ,I presume that John entrusted you his conversion ,in the aim to be the " pathfinder " I will follow , and take notes .. I didn't know till now , the difference between the DZ , and the D2Z 

Alain   

[Madmax]

You are a sucker for punishment Malcolm! 

 

Italeri should donate you a free 1:32 Mirage III of your choice for doing so much to promote their kit. Can't wait to see how this turns out...

[Uncarina]

Great tips for building this kit! Thanks, and I will be following along.

 

Cheers,  Tom

[Kagemusha]

Thoroughly looking forward to this.

[Cheetah11]

Hi Malcolm

 

Here is a bit more inspiration. (Not that you need more) Sadly Mirage 848 was lost in 1984 along with Maj JP Wessels.

 

 

Cheers

Nick

[Mistral]

On 3/8/2021 at 9:27 PM, BLACK MAMBA said:

Popcorn out and looking forward to what will surely be a masterpiece! Remember to take notes for the Cheetah D2...!

Ja well no fine - I'm looking forward to the D as well  Thanks Black Mamba !

[Mistral]

On 3/8/2021 at 9:40 PM, alain11 said:

hi 

I take a chair at the first row ,I presume that John entrusted you his conversion ,in the aim to be the " pathfinder " I will follow , and take notes .. I didn't know till now , the difference between the DZ , and the D2Z 

Alain   

 

Put it this way,  got my order in first for the "test build" 

 

You can actually build a DZ as well. Just add the kit doppler antenna and leave off the vertical stab blade antennae. And this certainly opens up the realms of possibility for the European and Latin American two seaters, even the ones fitted with canards (as John has made those for the Cheetah E conversion already). Some of the European two seaters had fillets at the leading edge of the vertical stab similar to the IIIB/C. I'm sure John will do these as well.... And he has the MB Mk.10 seats for the Belgium ones...many, many possibilities have been opened with this set. Good times for Mirage fans 

[Mistral]

Thanks for the kind words Maru, Uncarina, Kagemusha and Mr. MMax.

 

Ja Sean, I'll rather Italeri takes my suggestion (sent via email to them and receipt acknowledged that "they'd look into it") of a 32nd MB326 Impala MkII 

[Mistral]

Thanks for the piccie Nick. Good chatting to you at Jix last week.

 

So anyway, let's carry on then. Looks like good old South Africa courier services are working like a bomb in these days of Covid nonsense. Looky here what I got today - hot off the press - or out of the moulds I should say...

 

 

 

Both boxes are quite solid and protect the parts inside nicely. This is ScaleWorx standard packaging. Inside, each set of parts is protected in their own plastic resealable bags, like so :

 

 

 

[Mistral]

Why the JL-100 pods ? Well two reasons :

a) this was the main "weapon" of choice for IIID2Z training sorties in the SAAF and 

b) the kit JL-100s are not correctly sized, but more on that later

 

More prettiness  :

 

Piccies from Daan Conradie's collection. Daan is an ex-Mirage and Cheetah jockey - thanks Daan !!

 

 

 

Edited March 11, 2021 by Mistral
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