OT Builds a Cheetah *** Finished ***

[Purplethistle]

Not being one for conversions this is new ground for me so I have opted for something simple. Famous last words.

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)

Three variants of the Cheetah were developed:

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.

I think that's it.

The air intakes look quite different, but having seen your progress so far I reckon you'll nail it.

[Old_Tonto]

The air intakes look quite different, but having seen your progress so far I reckon you'll nail it.

Yes I had spotted that but I am not sure it's worth the effort in this scale. I will see how much time I have before deciding if I will tackle those.

Ironically for the later Cheetah 'C' Kfir airframes were used!

[Old_Tonto]

I've been plugging away at this one (no pun intended ). I plugged the nose with a piece cut from an old drop tank of the correct diameter.



I took the opportunity to add some weight by installing some fishing weight lead in the nose cone. I also stuck a piece behind the cockpit tub so no tail sitter her. Hope the nose U\C can cope.

So with the back end sorted and nose about to go on I should get some idea of how this will look.



Next I added some plastic around the inside of the opening to give the extension some strength before I attached the new extended nose cone.



Will need a little blending in but should be OK.

And the overall look:



Not too bad. I have also settled on what paints I will be using. I'll add a bit more detail to the cockpit before closing her up. The fit of the air intakes is shocking so I won't bother altering them. Just get them to fit.

Then add various ducts, antennae, refuelling probe etc. and she will be ready for some primer.

[AndrewR]

Looking nice.

[DavidWomby]

This is looking really good.

David

[Martin R]

Indeed!

[Old_Tonto]

Thanks guys. I spent a very annoying evening trying to fit the air intakes last night. The fit is awful! I wonder how many kids have been put off modelling by kits like this, it is putting up a fight all the way. In the end I decided to ignore the instructions, attached the inner inlet plate to the air intake, removed the locating pins then fitted the assembly by eye rather than locating pin. This way the air intakes fit on two sides but are still not properly aligned underneath. This is still way better than following the instructions which meant than nothing lined up.
If at some future date I try to make a Cheetah 'C' or 'D' I think the Heller Mirage IIIE would be a better starting point. It would mean more modifications but the overall fit is excellent so I could concentrate on the mods rather than fixing the kit.
To cap it all the canopy fit is very poor. The rear section is a little too long and not wide enough to fit. This is not an area I have modified so another issue down to Italeri! I've also broken the tip off starboard dog-tooth.

Anyway, my mojo for this project was hitting rock bottom by this time. She nearly hit the wall but I paid good money for the decals & I'm only cheap!
So I decided to fit the U\C, missile rails and the drop tanks to see what she looks like.



Mojo restored.

I think the drop tanks are a little too long but I will live with it or maybe see if I can move them further back on the wing.
The only major mod required now is the reduction of the canards so hopefully that will happen tonight.I still need to source a refuelling probe so the spares box will be out as well. Just discovered that I need to add a small wing fence on each wing near the dog-tooth.

[AndrewR]

Nice going, despite the kit!

[DavidWomby]

Bravo for persevering and it does look great overall in that last pic. Looking forward to seeing the paint going on.

David

[Old_Tonto]

Bravo for persevering and it does look great overall in that last pic. Looking forward to seeing the paint going on.

David

Me too but I'm still a fare way off that just now.

The one remaining big alteration is to the canards. The Mirage IIIE airframes lacked the necessary frame work to support the same canards as the Kfir so the Cheetah 'E' has canards that are 30% smaller. I was originally going to cut down the kit parts but I had some scavenged from the Hasegawa Kfir kit (which is undersized) so I used them instead. Just the job.



I think the drop tanks are too far forward to but that should be easily addressed.
This build is getting to the point where I need to add all those little details like air scoops, ECM etc. but details on the Cheetah project are still sparse so I'm having to use images and 'best guess'. Here are a couple of images showing what I need to do:



The air scoops on the Cheetah are much more rounded than on the Kfir.



The pitot tube seems to extend along the side of the nose unlike in the Kfir where it blends into the nose tip.
If I can tackle these issues in the next few days I should get a coat of primer on this weekend. cool.

[general rocket]

Medals for bravery and perseverance will be handed out at the end of the build. Keep it up.

[Old_Tonto]

Medals for bravery and perseverance will be handed out at the end of the build. Keep it up.

Thanks General. It's getting there, I just want to get it done now.

Just when I need that bit of encouragement these rather lovely MAV decals arrived.



As you can see these are for no. 832 which didn't wear the camo scheme I'm going for but I am taking the artistic license approach. I intend to build both the 'C' & 'D' versions at some future date so I will do the 'Blue Diamond' scheme on those. Although after this that might have to wait until someone brings out an appropriate kit.

[Old_Tonto]

I put a coat of primer on today.



I think she looks ok. Just a few areas that need attention and a few panel lines rescribing.

More to follow.

[AndrewR]

Looks good from here!

[Martin R]

Great stuff, O_T!

Regards

Martin