Mirage III E

[mgbooyv8]

Hi guys,

 

A classic 1/32 jet of Revell, which has been reissued many times is the Mirage III.

It was first released in 1973 and I remember how impressed I was seeing a built example in several Revell catalogi of the seventies.

 

I'm going to build the boxing with the Australian decals, which I got very cheap several years ago.

According to Scalemates, it was issued in 2005, followed by one other reissue before the moulds were retired.

The current Revell Mirage III is the Italeri kit without photo etch parts.

 

Let's start with the box, sprues and decals.

The box:

 

The big decal sheet which this issiue is all about:

 

The sprues:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

... continued in next post...

[mgbooyv8]

...continued from previous post.

 

We all know the kit is basic and surface detailing consists of a mix of raised and recessed panel lines.

And, no, i'm not going to detail it much.

 

For a detailed Mirage III a much better starting point is the new Italeri/Revell one from 2019.

And rightly so after 47 years!

 

The only aftermarket I will use is a resin ejection seat to dress up the cockpit below a closed canopy and a Master metal pitot tube:

 

And a few things of the new Revell/Italeri version of this boxing:

 

The excellent decals for the box top version:

 

 

 

This will look splendid on the old girl.

Appropriately, one of the options in my box of the old tool kit is a photo reconaissance version of the same squadron.

The Aussie decals will find a home on the new kit, but not in this WIP.

 

Also, the big drop tanks which come with the new kit will be used.

 

The old moulds are really showing their age in my issue.

Work started with carefully sawing the big parts from the sprues wit a razor saw and tidying up the sprue nubs.

 

The plastic is soft and their edges are thin, so the wing halves were glued in steps, using a small piece of wood (paint stirrer) as a guide.

First the trailing edges:

 

And after one night drying time the leading edges:

 

To be continued...

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

[MikeMaben]

[Martinnfb]

This is going to be epic , I can feel it

 

[mgbooyv8]

Thanks guys!

 

The fin got the same treatment as the wings:

 

 

In parallel, the cockpit was assembled:

 

Without control stick and aftermarked ejection seat, in all its 4-part glory!

 

The Mirage also comes with an engine, consisting of a whopping 5 parts.

Life was easy back in 1973!

The afterburner ring is located too far aft, so the locating ridges were removed and it was glued in much deeper inside the exhaust tube:

 

And here is the engine completed, but without paint:

 

The outer intake parts had some ejetcor pin scars neatened:

 

There will be no attempt to make intake tunnels.

My modelling friends who have built this kit in the past (you know who you are) told me it is a wasted effort, you hardly see anything inside.

And after some dryfitting, I could confirm this.

 

To be continued...

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

[mgbooyv8]

Hi guys,

 

The relevant interior parts of the fuselage were painted Revell 99 aluminium and Revell 9 Anthracit:

 

This was done by brush to keep up my brushing skills.

 

As was the cockpit tub:

 

The details on the side consoles and the rear shelf were drybrushed.

The main instrument panel got the decal from the kit.

Each instrument got a drop of klear to simulate the sheen of glass.

 

The next step was to close off some see-through effects with card:

 

Note that there will not be a complete nosewheel bay.

I read that the doors close again after the landing gear is lowered.

On the ground, they can be opened manually by the ground crew for inspection or maintenance.

Indeed, you can see both situations on pictures of parked Mirage III's.

So, on this model the landing gear doors will be closed.

 

Some pieces of sheet lead were attached with double sided tape and secured with a piece of sprue, glued in place.

In case more lead will be needed, it can be located in the radar nose.

 

And that meant that the fuselage could be closed:

 

After the glue has hardened, the seams can be neatened.

 

To be continued...

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

 

[mydesign]

Nice project Peter...

 

.... are you going to make both the old and new kits? 

 

I have the idea that the new Revell (Italeri) kit takes more effort due to the more details and complex model parts than the old Revell one!

 

Meindert

 

 

[mgbooyv8]

Hi Meindert,

 

No, for now I'm doing only the old kit. 

It is intended as a relatively quickie because there are other  models which need to be finished first 

Oh yes, the new Revell (Italeri) kit definitely takes more effort (OOB) as it is much more detailed.

However, the old one is still worth building. The shapes are there and it is a perfect canvas for special schemes.

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

[Kenneth]

I‘m currently building the new one. There are no two parts that do not require fettling before they will fit regardless of size and/or location on the model, and essentially all visible joints need putty. Extremely tiresome.

[mgbooyv8]

A bit of a late reply.

 

Hi Maru,

Thanks for your endorsement, I'll do my best!

 

Hi Kenneth,

Dissappointing that the new Mirage needs so much fettling.

For this old one, it is to be expected, see next.

 

 

Hi guys,

After puttying and sanding the seams of the fuselage (no pictures ),  it was time to attach the wings.

Some fettling and scraping was needed to get a more or less acceptable fit with the  lefthand wing.

 

Top seam:

 

and bottom seam:

 

The wing was glued with Tamiya Extra Thin. After this had hardened out, the seams were filled with Revell Contacta Professional for extra strength.

The needle applicator is perfect for this kind of job.

 

After hardening overnight, the righthand wing was attached. This fitted much better, so less fettling was required.

The top seam was OK:

 

As was the bottom seam:

 

On the picture it looks worse than it was.

This can be filled and after hardening, the excess filler can be removed with nail polish remover and a cotton bud, without sanding.

Compare this with the seam of the other wing:

 

Here is a step of almost 1 mm.

First I sanded the fuselage part down with a sanding stick, luckily without sanding through the plastic.

Next the seam was filled with 2K polyester filler and sanded after half an hour hardening time.

2K filler does not shrink, so is ideal for large filler area's.

After this, ordinary putty is always needed to fill small irregularities.

 

And this is the result:

 

Note that I have also glued in the large nosewheel door in the closed position.

 

Next were the fin and the exhaust fairing:

 

Clamps were needed to get it in the correct position with minimal filling.

And this turned out not to be a very good idea...

 

But that is for the next post!

 

To be continued.

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

[LSP_Kevin]

Great work, Peter. I'm not sure I want to build my copy now!

 

Kev

[mgbooyv8]

Thanks guys!

 

Life got in the way, so it took a bit longer to update.

Why was it not a good idea to glue the exhaust ring in place?

 

Well, I could't get the engine in anymore!

Sooo, the gimmick of the removable engine had to be given up and the engine was sacrificed.

 

First it was sawn in three pieces:

 

The intake part on the left was glued into its bulkhead in the fuselage.

The middle part had to go.

The exhaust with afterburner was grinded to a smaller diameter:

 

To ensure that the exhaust section aligned with the fuselage I glued a long and thick piece of sprue (I think it came from the Atlantis 1/72 DC9) onto the front, which fits in the hole in the back of the engine compressor piece:

 

The self-inflicted problem was solved.

 

The filler on the fuselage was sanded:

 

 

This looked promising, so the small intakes and outlets were glued on the fuselage as well:

 

 

Except the ones in the middle, in front of the large panel.

In that location, a big decal with a drawing of a wild boar (think of comic character Obelix  ) will be located.

 

Now it was time for the first layer of grey paint, my trusted mix of Revell 75 enamel, thinner, white spirit and turpentine.

Resulting in this:

 

 

Which of course revealed that a new round of filler was required.

 

 

I'll let the filler dry and shrink for a while.

 

To be continued...

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

[Jack]

golden oldie Peet, good show!!

[MikeMaben]

Nice work Pete 

[geedubelyer]

Such a lovely aircraft and a fabulous choice of scheme. 

You're doing a splendid job of fettling this old girl into shape. BMF can be unforgiving but with all of your prep this model is going to look brilliant. 

 

Keep at it.