Mirage GB (September 2006 to April 2007)

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.

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

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!

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!

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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'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.

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.

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

Hi everyone,

I've made a bit of progress on the mirage since my last post.

It's now sitting on it's landing gear with canopy on and is just waiting on it's future coat so that I can apply decals and then an oil wash and some weathering.

The tanks are painted and await fitting and the missiles are awaiting their turn under the airbrush.

I hope to have this baby wraped up  by the end of the week as I start a new job next week and don't know how much spare time I'll have.

Wow Mark your build looks great. It really does.

Thanks yg,

I'm currently struggling with my future coat. It's just not working as advertised. I really hope I don't have to strip it as I'll probable loose the paint too.

fingers crossed.

rudy_102 wrote:

Due to my GB joining spree, I now have too much to catch up on and not enough allowance money to catch up on it. I'm dropping out of this GB until further notice.

The degree of copying by Academy amazes me.  Quite a few parts are interchangeable between the original Fujimi kit, and the Academy one.  However, the Fujimi kit seems to be missing parts (I bought second hand), so it's off to the spares bin for that one.  As for the Hasagawa 1/72 Kfir, well, it's missing the front screen.  If it wasn't a clear bit, I could try and fabricate something (badly), but a clear section, no.  Yep, another second hand kit...  So, I'm working on the Academy kit at the moment, Mirage III R

How's everyone else doing?

It looks like some of us are making a fair bit of progress while others are stuck at the starting gate. I am in the latter camp. Right now I am in the midst of building a quarter scale Hobbycraft Cutlass for a museum in Hawaii. I joined the GB with the full knowledge that I wouldn't even start my model until next year.

I am still trying to decide between my 1/72nd scale AML and High Planes Mirage III kits. Does anyone have an opinion as to which kit would be the easiest build?

I bought a second hand Hasagawa Kfir C2.  I wish I'd looked in the box, better as it has raised panel lines (a real pain if you sand a joint), and no windscreen/windshield.  The rest of the canopy was there.  Solution?  Live with the raised lines and hope, whilst a terrible PM 'Mirgae/Nesher/Dagger' kit provides the windscreen.

Slight problem, it's a one piece unit.  No problem I think, I'll cut off the canopy (which is quite wrong anyway), and just use the windscreen.  Hmm, motto here should have been patience.  Except, not find a saw, I decide to use snippers, and snip off of the windscreen.  Luckily, it's part of the non-clear area, but now I need to re-build that bit!

 Amazing, what I consider to be the worst kit ever, has actually provided me with a part I need!  OK, it's not brilliant, and the fit is iffy, needing a lot of filler, but so long as the canopy is slightly raised (it would look weird touching the windscreen), I should be able to get away with it!

 That kit's 1/72, I'm also working on an Academy 1/48 Fujimi rip-off Mirage IIIR.  Done some work, and filled in the 'tombstone', and painted the intakes.