Italeri 1/32 Mirage III CJ

Done, my eyeball mix of enamels and alclad satin coearcoat.

IDF Yom Kippur war "Shahak 59"

Italeri 1/32 Mirage 3 cj by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

Italeri 1/32 Mirage 3 cj by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

Italeri 1/32 Mirage 3 cj by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

Italeri 1/32 Mirage 3 cj by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

Italeri 1/32 Mirage 3 cj by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

I understand that revell is reboxing this same kit allot cheaper....

Theuns

It’s looking beautiful so far.  I can’t believe the bad fit issues. You certainly worked around them just fine!

Got the decals on.

IMG_20190111_083832 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

IMG_20190111_083910 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

IMG_20190111_083924 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

Theuns

The weather was good today so I got the colorscheme of the IDF on, next I will gloss clearcoat and decal.

I mixed the scheme from enamels I had instock, think it matches the pix I googled well

IMG_20190108_152257 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

IMG_20190108_152308 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

Theuns

I eventually got the sanding and rescribing done and started painting.

The underside is xtra colour pale IDF blue with just slight ore shading bleeding through.

I just wish we could get this paint in SA, it is really nice to work with.

IMG_20190107_163813 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

O only afterwards saw that I forgot to put on the LH aileron horn fairing LOL

The wells have been given a wash to "pop" the detail a little.

IMG_20190107_194708 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

IMG_20190107_194731 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

Theuns

Here it is wrangled into place and glued, then filled-sanded -repeat!

Now I need to re-scribe all the lost detail :-(

The intales are fiddly and needs filling

IMG_20181222_060007 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

IMG_20181222_055920 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

The nose come was atleast 1mm oversize and the tailcone also didnt conform to the rear fuselage 

The fis was way off and leaned to the left if seated into the fuse as per instructions so I had to haul it straight, tack it in place and then glue it carefully to stand up straight.

IMG_20181222_055852 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

IMG_20181222_055821 by Theunis van Vuuren, on Flickr

At about 70-80 % Tamiya new kit price I would expect the same level of fit :-(

I will however beat this model into submition....

Theuns

I have to say that there is no way I would buy this kit for myself, the fit of some parts is really bad....how in this day and age does a company get the fit wrong?? The nose cone is to big, the tail come to small and the ntakes dont work :-(

I spoke to a friend (a way more skilled modler than I am) who has built 3 of these and he also has issues with the fit.

ANyway, I got the basic airframe together and started with the filling and sanding, this needless to say will be followed by having to re scribe back all the lost detail.

pix to follow

Theuns