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Mirage quatre mille; update 27/06/2018


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That is cool looking even though I don't do 1/72nd. That company sure has been putting out some interesting aircraft.

 

I believe the only company that actually released a Mirage 4000 in 1/48th was ESCI back in the 80s. I had the kit but no longer. From what I can remember it was more of the prototype since that was what it was when released. I believe the Mirage never went into production so probably why it did not last long in ESCI's catalogue. I think Italeri got all of ESCI's moulds so they probably have it in some warehouse somewhere. Probaly won't see it from them since it is so esoteric.

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7 hours ago, skyhawk174 said:

That is cool looking even though I don't do 1/72nd. That company sure has been putting out some interesting aircraft.

 

I believe the only company that actually released a Mirage 4000 in 1/48th was ESCI back in the 80s. I had the kit but no longer. From what I can remember it was more of the prototype since that was what it was when released. I believe the Mirage never went into production so probably why it did not last long in ESCI's catalogue. I think Italeri got all of ESCI's moulds so they probably have it in some warehouse somewhere. Probaly won't see it from them since it is so esoteric.

That was a Mirage 2000. Later updated and re-released. The only Mirage 4000 prior to this was the Anigrand resin kit. 

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I'm curious to follow this after the su-17 also from Modelsvit.

I'm expecting a great detail. Let's see.

 

And this fighter was really beautiful a pity It didn't became an operational one.

 

Cheers

Giovanni

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OK, let's begin with this build!

 

m4kwip-1-XL.jpg

 

m4kwip-2-XL.jpg

The wheel well walls are multi-piece affairs. Some care has to be taken when glueing the parts but they fit nice and are adorned by some really nice details.

 

m4kwip-3-XL.jpg

Exhaust cans are deep and even feature turbine blades which will never be seen again in the depths behind the afterburner flameholders.

I painted them with Alclad Exhaust Manifold, giving it a nice brownish burnt metal apperance and I also airbrushed a few grey streaks as often seen in the burner cans. I will probably lay down a wash as well, but haven't decided yet as I am not sure how much will be seen of them after I install the exhaust nozzles.

 

m4kwip-4-XL.jpg

A little dry fit of the lower fuselage moulded together with wing inserts and the wing halves themselves. I was having a bit of a hard time here - I had to sand the inner sides of the wing inserts first to improve the fit. This helped erradicate the leading edge seams. However, I don't understand the engineering logic behind the rear seam - running diagonally across the flaperons and not following any existing panel line. And the worst being that I couldn't make it go away by sanding the wing halves alone...

 

m4kwip-5-XL.jpg

In the end, I've decided for an easier route - looking at reference photos, I noticed that its flaperons dropped, while the aircraft was parked - bring out the CMK saw and scribers and I simply cut the flaperons away. Dealing with that nasty seam is now much easier and without any fear, those fine details on the bottom of the surface will be sanded away.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks guys!

 

Just a tiny progress report.

 

m4kwip-7-XL.jpg

Burner cans are made of two pieces - exterior details is a little faint but so is on a real aircraft. Some careful painting should brighten them up. The only problem is that the burner cans had 6 attachment points and one molding defect on the inner rim.

 

m4kwip-8-XL.jpg

The tail is two-piece affair... nothing special - some seam cleanup required at the top and I've added a piece of styrene to strengthen the join with the main fuselage.

 

m4kwip-6-XL.jpg

Wings attached nicely to the fuselage and only a little clean up was required. Same goes for the splitter plates and shock cones.

 

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

Time to continue with this beauty!

 

m4kwip-9-XL.jpg

Cockpit is made of combination of plastic parts, photo etched parts and decals.

 

m4kwip-10-XL.jpg

Martin Baker Mk.10 seat looks really great out of the box.

 

m4kwip-11-XL.jpg

A major problem that I stumbled upon - if you wanna build the closed canopy, the instrument bay cover, that's attached to the canopy (similar arrangement as F-15) will get into conflict with the "shelf" just behind the ejection seat. I had to cut that shelf in half and remove the whole avionics bay to get the canopy closed. Of course, if doing the open canopy, you wouldn't have such problems.

 

m4kwip-12-XL.jpg

And TA-DAAAA - we have the rough shape of the aircraft. Of course, a lot of things still to be done on the model but stay tuned for more!

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I had one of these drop onto the front door step yesterday & my early look was all encouraging, but a quick look through the directions revealed nothing I could see about nose weight to prevent tail sitting, so, needed or not? Have you determined this yet Sebastian? I like the look of what you've done till now.

Steve.

Edited by stevehnz
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Thanks guys!

 

7 minutes ago, stevehnz said:

I had one of these drop onto the front door step yesterday & my early look was all encouraging, but a quick look through the directions revealed nothing I could see about nose weight to prevent tail sitting, so, needed or not? Have you determined this yet Sebastian?

Steve.

 

I have yet to see, Steven. Luckily there is space in the front gear well (the main door was normally closed on ground) if need arises. 

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Thanks Sebastian for the quick reply, I'm watching with interest. 😊 I think you have heaps of time before I will get to that stage, several  years perhaps.🙄

Steve.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The kit supplied masks for the Red and Black were of a lot of help. However the masks for the transition from the intakes to the canards weren't as good and had to be replaced with Tamiya Masking tape.

 

m4kwip-14-XL.jpg

 

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Thank you, guys!

 

On ‎6‎/‎22‎/‎2018 at 11:04 PM, my favs are F`s said:

Lovely coloration! I dont know how much of this is decals and paint, but it certainly looks fabuloous. Beautiful! The test planes from that era looked one-of-a-kind.

White and red are painted, blue's are decals.

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