David's 'Blame Brickie' Mirage **FINISHED**

[DavidWomby]

Thanks. For the nose that I have now glued on, it looks like I have decals for

Colombia
Libya
France (camo or silver)
Israel
Pakistan

Right now the Colombian ones look tempting - very colourful and unusual roundels - but I'll keep digging in my decal boxes this weekend.

David

[Old_Tonto]

Columbian would look cool.

I have a Columbian Kfir around here somewhere.

[Molly-new]

Colombian would definitely be different, what is the colour scheme like?

[DavidWomby]

The only Colombian scheme I can do is the early one which is same as French camo - grey/green over silver.

I think that's what I'll do as the roundels look so unique. Although the silver French ones look kind of appealing too! Decisions, decisions



David

[DavidWomby]

Not much progress today.

Wings glued on last night and today was a lot of filling and sanding. I added the antennae on the sides of the fin top and cut the slots in the leading edges. I also installed the nosewheel doors - horrible fit so more sanding will be needed there - and I painted up the pilot and ejector seat.

I fretted about what load to fit and then decided in the end to build it clean as that's how they look in the only photos I have of the Colombian aircraft in the scheme I am doing.



David

[DavidWomby]

I'm going to build one like this.



David

[Old_Tonto]

Great choice David.

[DavidWomby]

The pilot and seat are in.



The canopy has had one dip in Future. Probably another one tomorrow. I also added the little intake scoops on either side of the spine (cut off the ends of the Buccaneer Martel datalink pod).



Other than that, it was an evening of more filling and sanding as you can see looking at the undersides.



Hopefully ready to prime it in next day or so.

David

[Saxon]

Coming along nicely.

[Old_Tonto]

That is looking very smart. Can't wait to see the paint scheme.
Keep up the good work.

[DavidWomby]

Lots of sanding and filling - small visible progress.



The canopy had two dippings in Future which greatly helped its transparency and has been attached. The canopy was not a great fit - it touched at the back (where it meets the spine) and at the front but the lower edges on both sides took several applications of white glue to fill. The nose probe is cut from a pin and superglued on. I ended up making the intake shock cones from the original radome of the kit!!!



It's also drilled underneath for a stand as it will be 'in-flight'. I was going to drill out channels under the intakes for the cannons but the plastic is too thin there so I will probably just paint them on somehow.

All that's left are the afterburner and the paint and decals. I was hoping to prime it today. I use rattle can primer for that outdoors but, although I live in Florida, we are in a cold snap and it won't get much above 60F here today. So it may have to wait until tomorrow.

I forgot to note earlier. The wings on the kit are completely flat so I bent the tips down a bit to make them more like the real thing - it improves their appearance quite a bit in my eyes.

David

[Molly-new]

Certainly looks the part now, looking forward to seeing it painted.

[DavidWomby]

All I managed to do today was get the primer on. It revealed a few pinholes in the radome that need fixing.



I also made the replacement afterburner. It'll be as shallow as the one in the kit but the proper diameter.



David

[Old_Tonto]

That certainly is looking the part now.

The resin nose has vastly improved the look of the kit.
You have put enough work into this to earn a medal.

[DavidWomby]

Not much happening here. The primer is taking a long time to dry so I'm going to leave it all week while I am out of town on business and hope it's good and hard on my return.

David