DASSAULT MIRAGE IIIc FRENCH AIR FORCE FIGHTER EDUARD 1/48

I have been stocked around five Eduard airplane models for a couple of years. There is a sense of high-quality. I try the fighter jet of the French air force. Can a weekend edition be made speedy? I do my best till completion.

Compared to the same kit of high-grade version orange box, Weekend Edition has omitted the instrument panel and colored photo-etched parts. Since the seat belt is a decal, I added it with my spare parts.

The parting line is in the middle of the optical sight clear part. After having put it out, I polished it with the compound. I can easily polish it with a motor tool with a cotton swab. Too much revolution melts the part.

The cockpit and the canopy were temporarily assembled. It would fit even without adjustment.

The parts of the jet engine nozzle are precise.
(01-Sep-2016)

There are some small decals inside the cockpit. When it is the mat black surface, decals don’t adhere very much.

I painted the sight panel in clear blue.

I finished this work in a very good feeling. Printing of the meter is beautiful.

Small areas are painted with a brush after I finished putting decals, and the cockpit is completed.

The large parts of the delta wing. I hope these parts fit with fuselage perfectly.
(03-September-2016)

Parts like the tube are included in the air intake. I think this is built that the inside isn’t seen hollow. Air for jet engine combustion is dead-end when it is such a structure?

There is no Japanese in this manual, but easy to understand to see the illustrations.

Because an uneven surface has been made right behind a cockpit, I piled superglue and having a smooth panel. I painted surfacer and checked it, maybe almost smooth. I don’t mind, the body undersurface too much, now I want to make it as beautiful as possible, the top surface is an outstanding point.

The rear end of the delta wing has finished very thin. Because one of the important points of the Airplane plastic model is the thinness of the wing edges, this would be a nice kit.

There were many landing gear parts of the body color, I attached them before the painting.
(05-September-2016)

Umm… I forget to put a sinker in and falling to the rear. A sinker wasn’t being written on an instruction manual, but I should have checked it when I build such a jet fighter. Though I was not able to confirm it until a landing gear was fixed, I am completely beyond cure if I glue the landing gear and missiles at the last timing as usual. I have begun to make a 1/144 F-14 with a shock. It is a bad habit to build other kits when I come across a problem.

By the way, I did not yet adhere to a clear part and there is a small hole on the back. The soft board weight rounded can be put in. When pouring instant adhesive with a tissue at the end, it does not have a rattling sound.

I round a board weight into a pipe form and the nose.

Yes, I was able successfully managed to avoid the tail-heavy touching on the ground.

There is a pilot in this kit. I rebuild the hand, which held a ladder, and change to the standard standing pose. The pilot figure, it’s cool, but take time. I began to build a 1/48 Tamiya Zero fighter very long time ago, in fact, stops before the painting of many pilots. It’s good timing to paint all the holding figures.
(08-September-2016)

Unusually accurate masking. Especially the tire wheels.

Lightly blowing the black before the silver paint.

Painted in metallic. It is a little darker color than silver.

Once again masking. I have been accustomed to this kind of work.

When it was seen rather far, it could be painted beautifully. The difference in the metallic tones of the panels changed, I referred the instruction color pages and my feeling.
(10-September-2016)

The decal is bright and very beautiful. I think the adhesion is good because it is considerably thin. I’ll be careful about the overuse of the softener.

Red lines are the accent. Because an appearance change suddenly, it’s fun to paste decals.

I put many small decals on the undersurface.

This time, it was all decal bands of missiles marking. It’s nice-looking.

I’m ashamed to say, there are many missing of small parts recently. I lost the parts of the 1/144 F-14 the other day. I made the one side of the part which held a front wheel, with polyester putty by myself. In Japan, I can order the piece of the parts about Hasegawa and Tamiya, final way, I repeat buying the same kit. When it is an imported plastic model, the re-purchase is difficult.

Whether I should review the work environment from the first, I shouldn’t have spent making many kits and left at the same time….., maybe it’s one reason for the trouble. I am sorry that as this continues. It is almost completed in another breath.
(14-September-2016)

Mirage IIIc is the typical delta-wing fighter. This fighter, most of the parts were made in France or made in Europe.

The Six-Day War in 1967, it was the fight of the Israel Mirage and the Arabic MiG. The Mirage won the air combat and proved the high performance.

It was very harder than Hasegawa and Tamiya which I usually build. I was surprised a little. I can’t say all the Eduard kit plastic is harder than Japan maker, after trying a couple of kits, anyway, this kit was hard.

The length is around 30cm. I need to care for many small parts.

Parts are small… It’s a weekend series but was impossible in the weekend. A mold is small and I have a good feeling. Anyway, a European plastic model is fashionable for me.

The clear parts were adhered after a temporary assemble but did not fit perfectly. I am very sorry that an appearance was not finished so neatly.　Firstly, I should have adhered and masked it.

I think this jet engine nozzle paint is successfully finished.

I should have put the decals on the vertical tail starting from the left side. There was an irregularity on the left and avoided the part, the position was not equal to the right side. Viewers may not notice it if I do not say. The decal itself is very beautiful.

There were two kinds of markings. One is the 10th Airwing 2nd Fighter Squadron “Seine” in April 1976, it’s the beautiful red line accent on the metal plates. The other marking is the 10th Airwing 3rd Fighter Squadron “Vexin” in October 1984, it’s sand color camouflage pattern.

The inside of the air intake was painted in dark metallic.

It carries a lot of attack weapons, no loading belly tanks. The outside is Matra ATM-9D H8 air-to-air missile, which would be derived the type of Sidewinder? Next, are JL100R rocket pods, the middle is Matra 530C/K middle range air-to-air missiles. It seems to be very strong.

Because it was just silver painting, I thought it’s only needed to blow silver simply, but I needed to do masking small panels.

I become strangely always sleepy when I am adjusting the landing gear. Therefore did I lose a small part this time? It was serious damage when I lost an important part.

It was a much better atmosphere after puts a small decal on missiles.

Like myself who does not get used to making a jet plane too much, it is difficult to decide the angle of the landing gear pole. A simple figure is on the Eduard manual.

It was finished by moderate gloss overall.

I did inking lightly. Fine panel lines are emphasized, increased the sense of precision.

The 1/48 figure is small; is too tiny. I drew the eye with the effort this time.

The instruction comments the pilot suit only light brown. I thought it’s too simple, so research and drew some insignias, not perfect.

Leaning the ladder and set the figure, it’s nice.

I had some small troubles but was completed somehow. Without any trouble, I could have completed it earlier. I think the kit quality is good. The failure is the basis of success, and let’s do my best again. Mirage itself is cool, very much!
(16-September-2016)