I will aim to turn this 1/72 Italeri Kfir C7 into an Atlas Cheetah 'E' of the South African Air Force.
No fancy resin conversion sets for me just a sharp knife and plenty of sticking plasters. I have a few parts from the spares box to help and this old Kfir kit to donate some parts.
Now for a bit of history about the Cheetah program (feel free to skip this part
)The aim of the Cheetah project was threefold:
- To counter the threat of Angolan MiG-23MLs which had superior air weapons (BVR), avionics and greater acceleration.
To replace SAAF losses and to bolster the strike capabilities by prolonging the service life of the Mirage III aircraft (New aircraft were not available due to the UN embargo).
To replace the Buccaneer in the nuclear strike role (age had taken it's toll on the fleet with only 8 remaining air worthy)
1. The Cheetah E, a single seat fighter with canards and dog-teeth very similar to the Kfir C7, which was developed from SAAF Mirage IIIEZ airframes. This version was a quick fix and retained their ATAR 09C engines and entering service in 1986.
2. The Cheetah D, a 2 seat canard variant, similar to the Kfir T7, developed from the SAAF Mirage IIIDZ (and some Nesher\Dagger) airframes.
3. The much more radical and elegant Cheetah C, which was made from retired Israeli Kfir airframes that were zero timed. (The Cheetah C is actually based on the Kfir 2000.)
This series of aircraft attempted to redress a lot of the deficiencies of the ageing Mirage fleet, in that these aircraft possessed a modern cockpit with a host of electronic features, including a variety of countermeasures, a vital air-to-air refuelling capacity (due to the long distance of the sorties) and increased manoeuvrability. The BVR capability was not addressed until the 'C' model entered service in 1992 with the Darter missile. The need to find a modern engine was never addressed although the D & C models were fitted with the ATAR 9K-50C-11 from the Mirage F.1 (possibly sources from Morocco & Iraq). END OF HISTORY LESSON
The Cheetah C & D involve much more radical surgery so the 'E' model is the one for me. So basically I want to turn this:
Into this:
Whilst this may be the simplest option I still need to make substantial changes. My original idea had been to strip an convert and existing model but the more I researched the more convinced I became that building from scratch and converting as I build would be much easier. This is what I need to do:
- 1. Remove air intake at base of tail. Not required for the Atar engine.
2. A fuselage plug needed at the rear, again for the Atar engine.
3. Rear fuselage fuel tank needs to be extended further back and widened to accommodate chaff & flair dispensers.
4. Canards must be reduced by 30% as the original Mirage air frame lacked the reinforcement to house the full size canards.
5. Additional hard points are required for the mid-wing and under the engine intake.
6. In-flight refuelling probe and piping needed on the starboard side.
7. The kit supplied Shafir missiles will be replaced by V3 Kukri missiles.
Hopefully it will end up looking something like this:
I have some good looking MAV decals on order for this build. I have used these before and they can be a little tricky so some care will be needed.
Can't wait to get started - better clear the bench for this one.
More to follow.
