Mirage GB (September 2006 to April 2007)

Thanks osher,

I've pre-shaded the underside and tonight I'm hoping to get the light grey painted.

Then it's on to the landing gear, tanks and weapons.

I hope to have those done by the end of the week and the whole thing finished not long after that.

Cheers

Mark

Finally got a paint finish I'm happy with!

After severa attempts at free handing it and several different colour shades I'm now happy with the result.

I ended up painting the whole a/c grey and then masking the patern with blue tac as you can see.

I don't know if it was the blue tac 'bleaching' the paint under where it was applied, as I left it on for 3 days, or if it was just overspray but I ended up with a very obvious lighter colour where the bt was.

I ended up going over the boundary areas again free hand and thought I'd have a shot at 'post shading'.

I've never done anything like this before and am happy with the weathered look.

I'm currently struggling with my paint job.

I can't seem to get the colours right. I'm using gunze acrylics and they're either too dark or too light.

If I can't nail it with these I have some mm enamels I used on a previous build.

It's a pretty involved camo scheme and I HATE masking. I've been free handing all my camo as i like the soft edge but the mirage scheme looses some of it's definition so it looks like I'll be masking it.

I'll have one more go at it with drawing the pattern on to follow before I resort to masking.

I'll post some pics when I've got something worth showing.

Hi Guys

No progress on my Mirages. I 'm in a 'finsh all the unfinished kits' mode and am currently finishing a 1/48 Argentinian Skyhawk.......my local model shop proprietor is ex RN, and he said I should display in in an 'underwater' diorama.

Once done, it's back to the Mirages. I have an email at work that I will post in from some RAAF buddies who worked on Mirages. Very amusing story about how one of the ARDU ones ended up in the 'Fanta Can' colour scheme.

Keep ya posted

Sime

I see that there is an aftermarket product now for the exhaust:

http://acc.kitreview.com/mc32001reviewsh_1.htm

However, I am not impressed with the representation of the corrugated thermal liner, and the overall complexity of the product.

Brews wrote:

I made a couple of harness belts out of wine-bottle foil last night. I'm going to leave it alone for a little while, because I want to finish some other things before I go to Telford in November.

This photo, from the links provided above, shows the weathering pattern on the undersides very well indeed!

I had searched and searched and hadn't found a single aftermarket set - not even a "shocker". I must be useless at googling. :)

I had, however, wondered about how to replicate the corrugated metal in the afterburner. I'd thought about using 0.005" card, and rolling it one way, then the other, but railway stock sure makes sense.

Hi Motty,

 Thanks very much for posting those links; I know that I will find them extremely useful! The Mushroom publication on Mirages is definitely on my list of books to buy this fall. Are you familiar with a Mirage III that was part of the ARDU, with the grey/green camouflage pattern and an orange nose with an extended data gathering probe on the end of the nose? I saw a black and white profile of this plane in another publication  and was wondering if you knew of any colour pictures of this plane?

Thanks!

Sincerely,

Jacob Russell

Hey Mark,

You don't have to make work for yourself, you know! If you're going to use tape, may I suggest that you don't use it for masking, but instead paint it first, and then leave it in place, in the same way that you would leave decal film in place. It would add a little 3D relief, just like the real thing.

Brews,

Yeh, the the bright blue scope has been bugging me a bit and having someone point it out is all the motivation I need to go and do something about it. I will tone it down and I think I'll make a hood for it too like I've seen it the photo's. I'll re do the ejection triggers too. I was a bit impatient getting the thing finished. I think I'll paint them black, wrap a fine bit of tape around them and then paint the yellow. I'll do this before I bend them to shape too and then I'll tone the yellow down to make them look a little less 'new'. Thanks for the constructive input brews. I'm still pretty new to this and have to fight the urge to just close the thing up and get some paint and decals on it.

Thanks.

Mark

I agree 100% that the AML kit is stunning, I just am not that enthused by any of the decal options-I have the Israeli Mirage kit-which is why I am leaning towards the High Planes kit. I have the single seater and 2 seater, as well as their cool Atlas Cheetah kit.

Isradecal has a new sheet devoted to the Mirage, so I may well pick that up.

Jacob Russell wrote:

You can count me in! The Mirage is one of my favorite airplanes. I will build either the 1/72nd AML Or High Planes Mirage III kits-I haven't decided which one yet.Thanks for the invitation!

You can count me in! The Mirage is one of my favorite airplanes. I will build either the 1/72nd AML Or High Planes Mirage III kits-I haven't decided which one yet.

Thanks for the invitation!

Thanks, Mark.

It's just sculpture, though, not rocket science. I might sell the master to True Details, what do you think?. <G>

Your cockpit looks great, too, but you might consider painting the "tigers" at the top of the seat, and in between the legs, yellow, and wrapping a thin strip of black decal film around it ("right hand thread"), rather than painting black stripes. Are you planning on "toning down" that prominent blue display on the IP?

Cheerio,

Bruce

Got my cockpit tub and seat done.

the IP was cast as part of the cockpit and the instruments were so fine, that after several painting and dry brushing attempts, I decided to cut the decal provided and position the instruments seperately.

I'm pretty happy with the results as this is the first time I've done anything this detailed.

By the way Brews,

that's a fantastic job you're doing there. Really opened my eyes to the various uses for milliput.  Thanks for that. I look forward to playing some.

Uh, it's not really.

I haven't touched it since the other night. It doesn't take long to roll up some milliput.

I finished up the milliput I'd made last night at this stage ... and made a 1:72 bedroll and sandbag with the remainder.

The pictures are not deliberately out of focus, by the way.

So, tonight, I made some milliputty cushions, sufficient to absorb the force of a 70kg pilot at 9g (ie about 630kg force). Original seat used for comparison:

I photographed the brighter ones with flash, the duller ones with little light. I thought there was merit in including both sets.

I haven't looked at plans, just photos, and I'm using the kit tub as a guide. Shoot me if that's unreasonable.

I have made a start on the seat, using the plastic from a 1litre yoghurt container (sans yoghurt, post-wash). The lower seat sides have been cut out, and glued using tamiya liquid cement to a spacer. It might look like the kit seat bottom, but it will have cushions on top of it when complete.

The seat adjustment lever will be located on the port (lhs) of the seat. There is room to see it, and place it.

Edit: Final pic for the night (perhaps for the week)

The next parts: the seat lower back side frame, and the front, including a switch box for something - I don't know what (or should that be je ne sais quois?)

Yes ... I'm building one in 1:32.

I got as far last night as cutting the sprue off the fuselage halves, and separated the wing pieces as well. One half of one wing had a bit of flash on it, that was quite thick, near the leading edge wing root, so that it was difficult to see what was part and what was flash - luckily the thing has straight edges! On the minus side, I cut off a locating lug, but that's no big deal.

The wheel bays are like Mother Hubbard's Cupboard, but at least they're boxed-in.

The pilot figure, I'm afraid, is beyond redemption. the seat is horrible, and generally, a lot of work is needed in the office.

I'm not going to measure this kit and compare it to plans. It has the appearance of a Mirage IIIE/O, and that's good enough for me.

The engine is something, though. I'm guessing it's close on 200mm long. Again, it needs some finesse, but it's a good start. It's certainly about the same standard as the J-79 in Hasegawa's F-104.

As this is a big-enough scale to scratch build details in, that's what I'll be doing, rather than AM stuff. That, and there doesn't appear to be much available.

Edit: Photos below added.

Here's another  reference site.

http://www.adf-serials.com/gallery/Mirage-III?page=1

The MB MK IV was used pre 1986. The Mk VI was part of an upgrade program the RAAF mirages went through.

High Planes do both in 48th but you're building in 32nd aren't you?

Hope this helps Brews.