SAAF Mirage 3 R2Z completed...
Hi there Gents,
For the last 2 years (on and off), I've been working on a 1/48 Mirage 3 R2Z.
The South African Air Force was quite a fan of the Mirage 3 series, operating a vast number of them...(BZ, CZ, DZ, D2Z, EZ, RZ, and R2Z)...
The R2Z was a development of the RZ photo recce Mirages, having a SNECMA 9-K50 powerplant, and a few other changes. They were also reportedly the fastest of the Mirage fleet. The SAAF ordered 4 R2Zs... and only one survives today. 2 were lost in accidents, one was converted into the short lived Cheetah R, and 857 was saved and handed over to the Air Force museum at AFB Ysterplaat for preservation.
Mirage 3 R2Z 855
Mirage 3 R2Z 857 on ops
857 as she is today (well almost)....
I have spent a few hours cleaning this aircraft, as I used to volunteer my time down at the museum on school holidays.
Right.. onto the kit. I used the Italeri Mirage 3 E as the base kit... along with the Scaleworx Mirage 3 R/R2Z conversion kit. I then also used the Scaleworx 'Old School' SAAF paint colors. This is also the first time I have attempted to do a hard edge camoflage finish, along with my first time using resin parts, gloss and flat cotes.. as well as a bit of scratch building on the interior... and rescribing the panel lines. I have since applied a few more finishing touches (gloss on the landing/nav lights, and camera ports, as well as crystal clear on the lenses).
Anyways... this build was delayed for a number of reasons, mainly clottish finger trouble.. and stupid mistakes and clever ideas that turned out to be exactly the opposite.
I havent taken alot of pics of her yet, but here she is... my 857 in 1/48 scale..
Comments and suggestions?? As well as tips would be very much appreciated!
Thanks
Vne