The Unofficial Airfix Modellers' Forum

Just to prove I _have_ been working on how to do this... in the background:

The set-up:


and with a more "box art" crop:


...and yes, before some smart-aleck mentions it, I know that's a Matchbox G-91Y, not an Airfix Mirage III ;-P But it's a 1/72 jet of about the right size that I have to hand. The brown base is a sheet of A3, and the "Mirage" is over the front left corner. I'm thinking either a camouflaged brass wire pylon at that point, or a curved piece of acrylic coming out of the side of the base and into the Mirage's jet pipe...

That's a pair of Aircraft in Miniature 1/200 MiGs, and a pair by Raiden Miniatures in 1/285. The "ground" will slope up as shown, and transition smoothly into the backdrop via an "infinity wall" effect. I've got another AiM MiG to attack for the exploding one (so there's a spare in case it goes wrong). They'll all need undercarts, but I plan to use wire legs that can pin through "wheels" into the base. (with doors on the nearer pair). I'm going to "motion blur" the base in the corner below the Mirage. The rockets being fired will be clear fishing line coming out of the launcher, painted at the far ends to represent the rocket, flame and smoke trail...

Now then... has any one GOT an Airfix Mirage III that they'd like to trade for something? My sources are coming up dry, and I'm baulking at buying £10 starter set or a £25+ original Dogfight Double to get one!

bestest,
M.

PM me your addy as I have one spare.

Iain's our one stop shop

It's going to look great Matt. How big do you think the whole thing will be?

Brews wrote:I had a look for 1:200 Hunters at "Aircraft in Miniature" without any luck, and I didn't fancy the 1:285 Hunter by Raiden. Do you know of any 1:200 Hunters, Matt?

No hunters as yet but a source on tiny models: http://www.the-one-true-scale.co.uk/; . Nice but pricey.

A bit more progress...





The idea of the angled base it to try and "force" a viewpoint, so that people automatically end up looking at it for the best "box-art" perspective. The front left corner with the pylon will be the most motion-blurred, with the effect diminishing the further "into" the diorama you get. The main "facing" will be covered by the infinity wall effect with the base and background. I thought I'd probably reproduce some "box titles" and logos on the other walls, particularly a "Dogfight Double: Mirage vs Mig 15" title on the front right triangular cutaway face. The backdrop may be cut down a bit.

At the moment it's 12" wide, 10" front to back and 9" high... though it'll overlap the base a bit.

This is the "box art" crop:


It's interesting watching the ways different people approach this...

I'm not worried about building a 1/72 Mirage, but the things that do worry me, in order, are:
1) How to force the perspective
2) How to achieve the graduated motion blur on the base
3) Where to find smaller scale Mig 15s
4) How to do the explosions and rockets
5) How to paint/print/whatever the backdrop
6) Where to find 1/200 scale little guys...

So, I'm starting with all the things that bother me! If I have to build a Mirage in two weeks before SMW, so be it, but I want a lot of runs at the bits that bother me! (1) and (3) are sorted, Migrant's given me some good advice on (2), the lab is full of experiments on (4). Lots to do on (5) and (6)...

But everyone else seems to be building the "focus kit" first... am I the odd one out?

bestest,
M.

Sounds like a plan, Matt. With my Islander, I have the advantage in that the model is already basically complete; it will be different if I get time to do the Blenheim....

For the 1/200 figures, there are railway Z gauge (1/220) figures by Preiser - these for example:

http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/psr/psr80908.htm;

Time to get started seriously now! With Mike Grant's SAMI article to hand, and some sage advice from James P, this is going to be my first rescribed kit!



The bench with tools to hand - needle in pin vice, dymo tape, flexible rulers, P-cutter... I do also have some proper 1/72 plans, off-camera.



WiP.. the upper wing shows the heavy raised lines and some scribing in progress; the lower wing is done. Given the diorama scenario, I felt fairly safe in practising on the lower wing!



Unforgiving close up of lower wing. The gear doors from the kit were pretty well unusable, so these are plastic card replacements...

bestest,
M.

The base is looking cracking Matt. Could you scratch build smaller Mig 15s? Tapered tube with some wings stuck on?

Looks like you've got the hand of the re-scribing too.

This rescribing lark is a pain in the whatsit. I won't be doing this again in a hurry...



Of course, I had to decide to clean up the intakes as well:



Bullets sanded off their backing, intake walls built, splitter plates fitted, and bullets re-attached...




Robbed pilot in position on robbed seat in fabricated cockpit... more to come, including sight.



Some hope here...

Slow, slow progress, but at least something is happening!

bestest,
M.

Great work on that pilot Matt, can't wait to see this dio finished.

Cheers,
Paul

Nice robbing Matt did you pick them up during the riots

Just in case anyone thought I'd ground to a complete halt... I have been away a fair bit, though.




And at least now it's a Mirage in the mock-up!



bestest,
M.

The rescribed panel lines look pretty dam good under the the coat of silver.

Thanks, James!

And now, thanks to the miracles of Photoshop:



No planes! I'm not sure how much of the foreground I need, and how much I'm going to paint over polyfilla, but I thought I might as well do the whole thing while I was at it... I may also need to extend the sky upwards when I try it on the base...

bestest,
M.

Very good - I'm doing the same with my two. Photoshop is such a boon for this sort of thing.