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

[DavidWomby]

Amongst the ones I looked at in the stash, I found this.



It's one of PM Models poorer kits and I know Brickie is doing this kit in its Argentine Air Force boxing but reading his posting made me realize that I had one in the darkest corner of my stash. So I dug it out and, looking at it, I couldn't resist because it's just so bad! It has so many issues that I will be safe from the temptation to get deep into details and trying to fix all its errors. So I think that means I have a chance of building it on time!



What's wrong with it? Well - front fuselage and canopy are too narrow. Radome profile is not right for any Mirage - it's kind of a cross between a Mirage 5/Nesher radome and the Belgian Mirage 5 radome. The intakes are awful: the lips are about 6 scale inches thick, the bullet cones are just nubs of bullets moulded to the cockpit sides and then nothing inside at all. The wings are totally flat: no aerofoil and no droop at the tips and the control surfaces are denoted by raised panels lines. Add to that, mine has a distinctly drooped forward fuselage. So I'm going for a very basic build with some improvements to the radome and intakes and then I'll try to find a nice colour scheme to distract from the model itself. The kit decals look pretty good but I have a few other decals that are good candidates.

First job though, will be to fix the nose droop.



I believe Airfix once issued this in a Falklands set - that must have been a nasty surprise to people who bought it!

David

[Chris]

I built one, I couldn't do much with it, good luck.

[DavidWomby]

OK, I hope today was the day because I started. First job is fix the nose droop.

I cut the fuselage in the rear lowest corner of the canopy and also nicked it a bit to weaken it in the lower fuselage inside the wheel well. One actually broke at this point but it's OK. Then I shaved off a bit of plastic on the edges of the top cut and applied a bit of brute force to bend the fuselage upwards at the point I had weakened it in the wheel well. I also started thinning the intake lips.



I glued some plastic card inside the fuselage to the nose area, waited for that to dry and then glued the rear that plastic card to further back in the fuselage and also put glue in the cut I had made at the rear lower edges of the canopy area.



I used Sellotape / Scotch tape to ensure the nose was pulled up and pressing back against the fuselage. They're drying now. The scraps of white in the wheel wells are to lift the doors flush with the wing as I will be building this 'in-flight'.



Meanwhile, I discovered another glaring inaccuracy. It's hard to be categorical about it since this kit is best described as 'Mirage like' but the rear fuselage seems about 18-24 scale inches short.



I think I'll leave it as it's a big job and the canopy area is so bad and unfixable that it seems pointless to fix the rear.

David

[Old_Tonto]

OK, I hope today was the day because I started.
David

It certainly is start day David, first flight of the Mirage on 17th November 1957.
That's 59 years ago, amazing.

Good luck with this one, I have read it's a bit of a pig.

That certainly is a droop nose. It reminds me of the South African Cheetah series.
I will be watching with intrest.

[DavidWomby]

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Good luck with this one, I have read it's a bit of a pig.
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It's not too bad fit wise it's just inaccurate and very basic with poor detail.

The nose turned out good, I think.



More evidence the rear fuselage is short. Assuming my only 1/72 drawings are accurate.



David

[Old_Tonto]

That's close enough for government work.

Nose turned out a treat.

[DavidWomby]

The intakes are horrible.

I have thinned the lips. I thought of cutting the intakes at the top an bottom and slipping in some plastic card to make the splitter but there's so little plastic where the top of the intake meets the fuselage, I didn't want to risk the re-glued nose coming loose and drooping again.



So instead I put plastic card inside and puttied it. Also shown are the spare missiles off a Mig-31 that will contribute their noses to make the intake bullets.



David

[DavidWomby]

OK. Fuselage is now glued together.

I stuck in a resin instrument panel that was in a bag of Mirage resin bits I have. I can't remember where I got these bits and the resin is a bit like crystallized wedding cake icing but there's two seats, two instrument panels, a Belgian style radome and a Mirage 5/Nesher radome.

You won't see any of the interior through the translucent undersized canopy but I'll also put in a seat and pilot. I slopped black paint on the interior before closing it up.



The pilot and seat will go in later. The grey pilot came with the kit. The silver one is an old Airfix guy and he's the one I will use. The resin seat is too tall, so I am using it's launch rail and head box with the PM Models seat.

The afterburner is very undersized and will need replacing.



I am off to Houston tomorrow so there'll be no more progress for several days.

David

[Old_Tonto]

You are beating this one into shape David. Good work on the intakes but its a shame you used those missiles from the Mig-31, I could have used those.

See you when you get back.

[DavidWomby]

I have at least one of those Mig-31 missiles left and possibly as many as 3. I'll look when I get home again.

David

[Saxon]

I've heard bad things about this kit and have one in my stash, will be watching closely.

[DavidWomby]

I've heard bad things about this kit and have one in my stash, will be watching closely.

Whatever bad things you have heard about this kit - they're all true.

David

[Molly-new]

OMG, that kit looks awful, but I am sure that you can beat it into a decent finish.

[DavidWomby]

I decided I couldn't live with the intakes like they were so I cut slots in the top and bottom and stuffed in some plastic card to make splitter plates.



I also struggled to decide what to do with the nose. It seems to me that it's closest to a Mirage III radome but a bit too skinny for that. I tried thinning it down to more like a Mirage 5 or Dagger shape but it wasn't working well. So, since I had it, I replaced the nose with the resin Mirage 5 nose that I had. It's at least a scale foot longer and I am happy with how it looks on the model.





Now that it has the Mirage 5 style nose, I am starting to think of suitable colour schemes. Anybody want to make a suggestion? I'm leaning towards something South American but I'll certainly consider any that I have decals and paint for.

David

[Brickie]

Now that it has the Mirage 5 style nose, I am starting to think of suitable colour schemes. Anybody want to make a suggestion? I'm leaning towards something South American but I'll certainly consider any that I have decals and paint for.

David

Well, Wikipedia lists the following operators - I've no idea what you've got decals and paint for, though!

UAE - Abu Dhabi
Argentina (ex-Peru and Neshers)
Belgium
Chile
Colombia
Ecuador (ex-Venezuela)
Egypt
France (duh)
Gabon
Israel (IAI Nesher)
Libya
Pakistan (ex-Libyan)
Peru
USA (Kfirs for adversary training)
Venezuela
Zaire