1/32 Atlas Cheetah D (Italeri kit and ScaleWorx resin conversion set)

[Mistral]

4 hours ago, Furie said:

Impressive work, superbly executed!
I had no idea there was so much difference between a MIR III and a Cheetah.
I see you've left the speed brakes open.
It's very well done and adds dynamism to your model.
Well done!

 

Hi Furie. Thanks for your kind words. Open airbrakes were a characteristic of the Mirage when powered off, as were the drooped flight control surfaces.

 

There's also a lot of "under the skin" modifications to the basic Mirage airframe to convert to a Cheetah. For example, the reinforcing on the forward intake trunking to accommodate canard aerodynamic loads, refueling probe and the intake weapons hardpoints. The Cheetah Ds were later upgraded with a single piece windshield, upgraded 16 ton main landing gear legs (per Kfir) and, even later, ATAR 09K50 engines. Aircraft with this engine can be identified by looking at the curved shape of the intake boundary layer plate.

[Furie]

The pilot of a MIR III E would lower the aircraft's hydraulic pressure by repeatedly activating the speed brakes, once the engine had shut down on return to the ground and parking.
If the hydraulic pressure wasn't reduced, pressure could be fed back into the landing gear circuit (gear jack), and the aircraft would be found with its rump (the rear exit of the engine) resting gently on the ground, and of course the nosewheel lifted off the ground!
That's why we see so many photos of MIR IIIs with the speed brakes open on the ground.
The 4 elevons were lowered to the ground when the engine was stopped, as they fell back down when there was no hydraulic pressure.
On the other hand, the 2 elevators/pitch servo trim (closest to the fuselage) remained horizontally aligned when the engine was stopped. (hydraulic locking).

 

P.S : Sorry for the rough translation, as I'm not familiar enough with technical aviation terms in English.

Edited October 5, 2023 by Furie

[Mistral]

Thanks Furie. That's as I understand it from ex-SAAF pilot. Your translation is good !

[Mistral]

Here are some photos of the droopy nose. Not very aesthetically appealing, but it still has presence .

 

 

Some portions on the resin nose needed treatment with Tamiya white putty. The nose to fuselage interface was filled with Tamiya light curing putty - that's the sickly yellow looking stuff in the image below - it's great stuff and sands at a similar consistency to the kit plastic and the resin and doesn't result in an obvious dip in surface contour. It also scribes well using demo tape as a template and a Tamiya razor saw as the scriber - the Tamiya white putty tends to shatter under the onslaught of the razor saw :

 

 

 

I had to carve out the avionics cooling vent :

 

 

 

A minor detail (missed by Kinetic on their 48th Cheetah D) is the asymmetric arrangement of the two side by side vents just aft of the RWR bumps.

 

[Mistral]

Next was to install the vertical stabiliser. This was slightly warped to port but a liberal treatment of heat care of my wife's hair dryer sorted that out.

 

 

This was followed by gluing the canards into position. This is the trickiest part of the resin set - getting the correct amount of resin casting block removed to allow the canards to sit tightly against the double curvature of the intake trunking. Once again, gentle work with a dremmel tool followed by test fitting (and repeating several times) is the only way to go. Assuming the "bull in the China shop" approach will end up in tears. And anyway, after all the effort to get to this stage, one doesn't want to mess things up !. The dorsal intakes have also been glued in place :

 

 

 

Test fit of the resin exhaust. There is a gap between the rear of the kit supplied exhaust duct and the resin part - will need to figure out a plan to sort this out . By gluing the rear fuselage sections to each fuselage half before gluing the fuselage halves eliminates what could be a problematic step in this area.

 

 

[Mistral]

And then, the worst part of this build - cutting the windshield and gluing in position - the fit here is not good to say the least. So a lot of filler and elbow grease is required. Luckily the vac-formed windshield is clear and very robust and retains it's shape irrespective of whatever mishandling the modeller throws at it. Tamiya tape is used to prevent any scratches whilst applying filler and sanding :

 

 

 

Before I glued the windshield in place, I added some internal framing with Evergreen plastic flat sections :

 

 

 

After at least 10 sessions of applying Tamiya white filler followed by sanding followed by more filler we get to this ..... patience is the watchword here. And if you feel like hurling the kit at the closest wall, just take a deep breath, place it out of harm's way and have a beer....

 

 

All that remains is to carefully scribe the panel line around the windshield. It looks pretty bad in the image above but once primer is applied, it looks the part. And just like that, the hardest part is behind us 

 

 

[Mistral]

So then, looking all the part like a mini Cheetah - it's really quite a looker, even with that droopy nose :

 

 

 

All major resin parts are now present and accounted for, including the refuelling probe trunking on the starboard intake and the long trunking along the starboard wing/fuselage interface - I think this has something to do with electrical looms. The rectangular opening on the starboard fuselage side is characteristic of Mirages and Cheetahs powered by the Atar 09C engine. For the later modification of the Cheetah D to 09K50 engine, this was closed up. I added grilles with small sections of plastic card to both the rectangular and square openings as seen on the real aircraft. The elevons have been added and drooped as was characteristic of the Mirage III / Cheetah aircraft. The inner SAS control surface was normally seen in the neutral position.

 

 

 

[Mistral]

And now for my favourite part - adding the Tamiya fine grey primer straight from the can. This stuff is gold and provides for a really nice surface to identify any defects which need to be rectified. Once that's done, I treat the primer coat to some 12,000 grit micromesh for a silky smooth finish upon which the paint can be applied :

 

 

Wing fences have been added but broke off soon after. They'll go on as the last part before final varnish is applied.

 

 

 

[Troy Molitor]

That is one cool looking Jet.  

[Furie]

[alain11]

hi

that seems so easy !! still some works but you are on the right way well done !!!! ....I whish that you will show me where and how  the two  lifting arms of the canopy are connected into the rear cockpit  thanks 

Alain  

[Furie]

Like this Alain, at least, if South Africa has retained the original system for raising the canopy :

 

 

The Modelling News: Hands-on review: Kinetic's new Atlas Cheetah D kit in 48th scale

 

 

Edited October 12, 2023 by Furie

[alain11]

Denis, I  know , how, and where these arms are connected on the real plane, but  I 've already experienced this conversion (MI III BE) , when the time came to put the arms in the right position, that did not work... if I stick the canopy at a right angle compare  to the seat, The arms are too long, so , I shortened them... If I don’t, the canopy is too wide open, ... what’s wrong? What did I miss? hope I 've been clear 

Alain

sorry to interfere in your thread Malcolm 

a good photo of Ayrton Senna in the back seat of a Mi III BE 

another one picked up on the web 

a last one 

 

 

and my Mirage  compare to the photo below 

 

Edited October 12, 2023 by alain11

[iaf-man]

On 10/12/2023 at 8:31 PM, alain11 said:

Denis, I  know , how, and where these arms are connected on the real plane, but  I 've already experienced this conversion (MI III BE) , when the time came to put the arms in the right position, that did not work... if I stick the canopy at a right angle compare  to the seat, The arms are too long, so , I shortened them... If I don’t, the canopy is too wide open, ... what’s wrong? What did I miss? hope I 've been clear 

Alain

 

If I remember correctly from my school days learning about Mirage-it

had bungee cord to raise the canopy, behind the arms, isn't it?

[Furie]

@iaf-man :

 

-1- If you're talking about the two-seater MIRAGE IIIs, the answer is no.
The canopy that protected the 2 pilots was one-piece and therefore very heavy.
There were 2 up/down switches to the right of the pilot in the front seat, and one on the outside of the aircraft on the left side of the fuselage, to allow the canopy to be opened on the ground.

But as far as I remember, there was no elastic system, as it was an electric motor connected to the battery that raised/lowered the canopy. 
 

-2- If you're talking about the single-seater MIRAGE IIIs, it's true that when you unlocked the canopy, it rose slightly by about ten cm, because it was connected to a bungee cord that lifted it.

Edited October 27, 2023 by Furie