Sebastijan Posted April 3, 2018 Share Posted April 3, 2018 (edited) With the bench cleared after the Yak-130 build, it's time to have some French fun! Edited June 27, 2018 by Sebastijan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rom Posted April 3, 2018 Share Posted April 3, 2018 hi Seb what a nice aircraft! I bought it too. Wish it was at 1/48th :) have fun Quote Link to post Share on other sites
skyhawk174 Posted April 4, 2018 Share Posted April 4, 2018 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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dmanton300 Posted April 4, 2018 Share Posted April 4, 2018 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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Giovanni Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 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 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sebastijan Posted April 9, 2018 Author Share Posted April 9, 2018 OK, let's begin with this build! 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. 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. 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... 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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
janman Posted April 9, 2018 Share Posted April 9, 2018 Life...uh... finds a way. 😀 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Giovanni Posted April 9, 2018 Share Posted April 9, 2018 Sometimes it's painful...but we have to do it! That's a wise decision. Giovanni Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sebastijan Posted April 19, 2018 Author Share Posted April 19, 2018 Thanks guys! Just a tiny progress report. 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. 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. Wings attached nicely to the fuselage and only a little clean up was required. Same goes for the splitter plates and shock cones. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sebastijan Posted May 31, 2018 Author Share Posted May 31, 2018 Time to continue with this beauty! Cockpit is made of combination of plastic parts, photo etched parts and decals. Martin Baker Mk.10 seat looks really great out of the box. 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. 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! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CaptainObvious Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 Nice progress Sebastijan. The cockpit looks great! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
stevehnz Posted June 2, 2018 Share Posted June 2, 2018 (edited) 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 June 2, 2018 by stevehnz Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sebastijan Posted June 2, 2018 Author Share Posted June 2, 2018 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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
stevehnz Posted June 2, 2018 Share Posted June 2, 2018 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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sebastijan Posted June 14, 2018 Author Share Posted June 14, 2018 Not much time so not much progress... But it is an important step in this build - primed with Mig's Ammo One Shot Primer. Just a few touch ups to be done and she'll get a coat of white tomorrow evening. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sebastijan Posted June 17, 2018 Author Share Posted June 17, 2018 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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
stevehnz Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 I'll be going for the desert scheme for mine but that is a super looking job you've got going there. 🙂 Steve. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sebastijan Posted June 20, 2018 Author Share Posted June 20, 2018 Thank you, guys! Decalling is done! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Giovanni Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 Excellent job as usual!😉 A beauty! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sebastijan Posted June 22, 2018 Author Share Posted June 22, 2018 Thank you, Giovanni! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
my favs are F`s Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CaptainObvious Posted June 23, 2018 Share Posted June 23, 2018 Absolutely precise, clean work! Gorgeous! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChernayaAkula Posted June 24, 2018 Share Posted June 24, 2018 Drop-dead gorgeous! 😍 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sebastijan Posted June 24, 2018 Author Share Posted June 24, 2018 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. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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