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G'day people,

 

I have cracked the bags on this one.

 

The Dassault Mirage III certainly needs no introduction and this aircraft in RAAF service was affectionately  known as the 'Miracle' as in it is a miracle it could fly with such tiny wings! Based upon the Mirage III/E, the 'O' (for "Ostralie") differed mainly in the avionics equipment installed and externally this is manifest by the antenna arrangements, although other differences existed as well.

 

I am undecided as to which scheme I will do but as I have 'several' of these stashed away, I will be a little spoilt for choice. The long career of the Mirage in RAAF service meant that the schemes worn by the "French Lady" (the other moniker) varied from the delivery scheme of natural metal, to doped silver, then a wraparound disruptive camo, which in turn evolved into the 'standard' camouflage scheme. Towards the end of the service life,a number of  low visibility schemes were trialed, plus there were several display and test schemes, so no shortage of choice!

 

I will not bother with box and content shots as  there are plenty of these about.

 

Well, onto the plastic then,

 

First up, the cockpit. The tub is a simple affair and the detail on the console is adequate, but I decided that a little PE would be better. I sanded off the console details as this would be replaced by pre-painted PE. I am not a big fan but I cannot argue with the crispness. RAAF Mirage cockpits were basically black, so it will be a challenge to make this interesting and get the details to pop as there is the tendency for the details to disappear into the blackness.

 

DSCN4602_zpsuqcwf1uv.jpg

 

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DSCN4616_zpsc4ecokvi.jpg

 

DSCN4623_zps4pamuafv.jpg

 

I shaved off the aft bulkhead details as these are not correct for an RAAF Mirage.The PE additions go some way to making the cockpit more accurate. Some lead wire and scrap styrene details completed the detailing.

 

Four different instrument panels are provided. I ignored the instruction's suggested instrument panel option and instead opted to use part C16, however this part needs modification. The RAAF mirage featured a large central RADAR display. I scraped the details off the centre panel then removed the panel in toto. A small section of styrene was then inlaid at a slight angle.

 

DSCN4606_zpslpxdppq8.jpg

 

Finally the engine exhaust received some attention. The turbine face detail is nicely executed, but this is moulded integrally to the burner can. In order to simplify the painting, I separated the turbine face.

 

DSCN4610_zps0zluj1ci.jpg

 

DSCN4612_zpslfze3vto.jpg

 

And lastly, the exhaust was dressed up with a very nice piece of PE which required some care to install. The interior nozzle segments were separate items but the central ring and inner vanes and actuators were a single part. removing this item from its fret was a little nerve wracking as it would be very easy to damage this item.

 

DSCN4621_zpsiihehhul.jpg

 

DSCN4622_zpssknp1jsu.jpg

 

cheers,

 

Pappy

Edited by Pappy121
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10 hours ago, Major Walt said:

Whoah!! That PE looks good! I can't even begin to imagine the time and patience it took to do that.

 

Thanks very much Walt!

 

The PE was pretty straightforward, I think I spent about an hour applying the PE (which included sanding off moulded kit details) and  I spent another hour adding all the bulkhead 'furniture' and wiring. I find it is pretty straightforward once you have a plan of action with respect to what details I am going to add and how I am  going to go about it.

 

 

G'day people,

 

 The compressor face looks nice but is almost impossible to see one it is 'entombed' within the inlet duct, and I thought it would be the last time it would be visible,

 

DSCN4607_zpso5snjtty.jpg

 

The intake parts were then assembled and set aside to dry

 

 DSCN4608_zpswvm3e5fq.jpg

 

And that is when I realised my mistake. The instructions would have you assemble the left and right inlet duct halves and then attach each respective half to its parent fuselage half. Of course I thought I knew better and joined both ducts together. When the time came to fit these into the fuselage it did not work,  it was like trying to nail wet paint to a wall made of jelly.  I had made the rookie mistake of not test fitting first!

Remember kids, when all else fails - read the flamin' instructions!!

 

My solution was to cut off the rear portion of the duct just aft of the bifurcation. The rear portion would be retained and sandwiched between the fuselage halves as directed by the instructions and the inlet ducts were attached to the fuselage halves as originally intended!

 

DSCN4646_zpstdpbvt92.jpg

 

While these were drying, I turned to the right inlet (part A2 for those playing along at home). This has a clear part inserted which was not a feature of RAAF Mirage III/Os. I added a clear panel (part J9) from the part provided on the clear parts sprue (which is not mentioned in the instructions BTW) then used CA to fill and eliminate the surrounding panel details

 

DSCN4609_zpshp812jao.jpg

 

The inlet parts were then offered up to the fuselage and a very good fit was obtained with no steps and no  filler required.

 

DSCN4648_zpsw58tjnpb.jpg

 

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DSCN4652_zpsgypxtknt.jpg

 

Turning now to the cockpit, rudimentary details were added to the cockpit sidewalls

 

DSCN4631_zpsrakau3lq.jpg

 

DSCN4632_zpsqittarsc.jpg

 

And then the fun bits started, detailing the ejection seat. RAAF Mirages were initially equipped with the OM.4 seat ( basically an MB. 4 variant), and from about 1983 onward, these were upgraded to OM.6 standard. The seats were now zero/zero capable due to the installation of an underseat rocket motor. Externally, these were recogniseable by the fibreglass parachute container that replaced the canvas parachute pack and the upper firing handles were now two loops instead of a single pull handle. Kinetic also supplies a complete MB. 10 seat which was a nice addition for the spares box. Kinetic supplies two different headbox items to depict either the OM.4 or OM.6, however, the seat more closely resembles the later OM.6 variant. Since mine will be a post 1983 machine, I used the twin loop item.

 

I was pretty happy with the details provided and concentrated my efforts around the upper seat harnesses, which did not really capture the complexity of this area. Lead foil and lead wire were used to add various details,

 

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Phew, painting tomozz!

 

cheers,

 

Pappy

 

Edited by Pappy121
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13 hours ago, my favs are F`s said:

The nozzle is maaagnificent!

 

Thanks very much!

 

22 hours ago, Trojan Thunder said:

Nice start, some more Mirage magic happening here Pappy!

 

G'day Ray, thanks very much. The kit is very nice OOB, but a few little touches will give the kit a bit of sparkle.

 

G'day people,

 

The tub has been painted up and it looks very busy now

 

DSCN4638_zpsbrpbfeqb.jpg

 

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The PE set provides a Radar control stick but I thought it looked a little '2-dimensional' so I substituted a stick from the gash spares. The provided PE throttle and its quadrant was also discarded and replaced with a scratchbuilt item.

 

DSCN4663_zpsrxn3dxju.jpg

 

I decided to leave most of the instrument panel details intact and only modified the RADAR screen. After adding the angled section of plastic, a small glare hood was added. The area beneath the HUD was also tweaked and some instrument face decals were punched out of an old decal sheet after rummaging through the spares box  for suitable candidates. They were suck to a puddle of Future and then brushed with more Future to sandwich them in place. I think that for the price Kinetic are charging for their kits, they should also include instrument panel decals on the decal sheet!

 

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The nose gear bay was also tweaked with the addition of PE and some plumbing made from solder

 

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That lot was now put aside and I turned my attention to the stores. I want to use the RPK-10s provided in the kit. The RPK-10 is based on the small, supersonic underwing tank but modified to carry stores externally. The RPK-10s had four 500lb stations, two on each side. The Kinetic RPK-10s look great except that in RAAF service, the inner stations were  staggered forward in comparison to its counterpart on the outside of the tank.

 

This left me with a decision to make:

 

1. Do nothing

2. Wait for aftermarket to catch up

3. Fix it myself

 

I went with option 3!

 

I have started on the fix. I basically extended the slot for the inboard bomb racks forward. Once this was done, a section of plastic stock was added to the rear of the slot allowing enough for the bomb racks to fit in their new, forward positions. The old panel lines and outline for the bomb rack access door was then filled with CA and sanded.

 

DSCN4665_zpscpdgwbhp.jpg

 

In the pic above, you can see the modified position vice the unmodified ones. I will need to scribe in new doors  and add the swaybraces and bomb supports, but the hard bit is over.

 

There is some conjecture if foreign operators who used RPK-10s had staggered stations as well. I can't shed any light on that, but I know that RAAF RPKs has the staggered stations. This also means that the tanks will now be 'handed', so if you decide to mod your tanks, make sure you have a left and right, not two lefts as I nearly did! I ended up placing the two outboard sides inside the kit box and making sure that I only had the inboard sections in front of me when I started,

 

cheers,

 

Pappy

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

On 9/10/2017 at 4:56 PM, crackerjazz said:

Excellent detailing, Pappy!

 

 

Thanks very much!

 

G'day people,

 

Well the beastie is coming along slowly. The intake seams still need some work but they will get there

 

DSCN4677_zpsjiihnagg.jpg

 

The top side was not too bad but the lower side will need some more work

 

DSCN4678_zpsdjlmd8qy.jpg

 

The fin fillet will also need a smear of filler. The left side was very good, but the right, not so much,

 

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In between applying filler and sanding, I was able to do some more seat work,

 

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And I could not resist a cheeky dry fit!

 

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DSCN4684_zpsy2xaqczc.jpg

 

cheers,

 

Pappy

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On 9/25/2017 at 6:13 PM, Aigore said:

Gorgeous work detailing that seat and pit :D

 

On 9/28/2017 at 2:02 AM, Wolfgun33 said:

Wow! The seat and cockpit look incredible!

 

On 9/28/2017 at 8:50 AM, Trojan Thunder said:

Very nice progress Pappy! :thumbsup2:

 

On 9/29/2017 at 2:45 PM, Devo said:

Mate that seat is a pearler !:thumbsup:

 

Thanks very much, I like painting cockpits, I don't really see that part as a chore that some people do, and careful painting and detailing here will certainly pay dividends later!

 

G'day people,

 

I had hoped to be a little further along however I have had a setback. Earlier, I modified my RPK-10 combination bomb rack/fuel tanks.

 

DSCN4665_zpscpdgwbhp.jpg

 

It turns out that although RAAF RPK-10s had staggered forward inboard positions, the aft inboard stations were not. I thought about attempting to salvage the tanks but eventually put these aside and instead pilfered a set from another Mirage IIIE/O kit.

 

This time only the forward inner station was modified,

 

DSCN4718_zpsojduowyq.jpg

 

I will need to re-scribe the access doors but the work went a little faster as only one station per tank required modification.

 

I was also able to spend a little more time cleaning up the various airframe seams starting with the lower intake seams.

 

DSCN4719_zpsuppnl3ye.jpg

 

The fin fillet

 

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and finally the  wing root

 

DSCN4721_zpsypiglubo.jpg

 

It may look like a lot of filler was used but it is really just a brush coat of liquid putty that has been feathered in with light sanding. I am pretty happy with the fit in general. You will need to take your time and test fit  before committing to glue if you want to get a good fit,

 

cheers,

 

Pappy

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