MIRAGE III CJ HOBBY BOSS 1/48

I will make Mirage III CJ of Israel Defense Forces. This is a Hobby Boss product. Is this Hobby Boss Mirage III a copy of Eduard? The parts are almost the same. It’s even worse if it’s a dead copy.

Just in case, I decided to put one small fishing weight in the nose.

The cockpit doesn’t fit very well, so I’ｍ doing a lot of trial and error. Let’s paint it later and think about the assembling. The process is quite different from usual.

There are a lot of gaps in the front of the cockpit, and I’m worried, but when I put a canopy over it, it seems that these gaps are hidden.
(2020/06/29)

The parts of this kit have a lot of burrs and it doesn’t fit well. I don’t know when it was released, but maybe it’s an old kit. I don’t remember when it was bought.

When I made Eduard’s Mirage IIIc before, I had a hard time. This time I feel that the difficulty in assembling is slightly higher than that. The accuracy may be low even if the parts are similar.

Well, the upper part of the seat interferes and the canopy doesn’t fit well. Why? I usually prefer not to have the canopy open, but I think it’s less risky to make it open than to shave the seat. Did I put the seat wrong? I don’t think so, but I’m in trouble.

It also doesn’t fit well to glue the delta wing to the fuselage. They were forced together. I can fill the gap later. I was worried that the landing gear hanger in the lower part of the cockpit would fit with the fuselage, so I temporarily assembled it and it looked fine. Hobby Boss’s kit is basically suspicious of my past experience.
(2020/07/01)

Some parts have been treated with light-curing putty.

The wheels and landing gears will be attached later, so I’ve assembled them as much as possible.

The assembly is almost complete. I haven’t painted the cockpit yet.

These are brush-painted later.

This kit also has a parting line on the canopy. I heard that it is unavoidable for forming, so shall I remove it later?
(2020/07/04)

I polished and washed the canopy, but it might be better to polish a little more.

I used the F-14 seatbelt without thinking that I should put something on the seat. So the shape is a little different from Mirage.

If you look at other examples, the inside of the cockpit is mostly black, not gray, so that might be the right choice. I put a decal on the cockpit panel.

I finished the cockpit in an open state, so I masked the seat with masking tape as much as possible.
(2020/07/07)

I painted the panel line in black,

Airbrushed Mr. Color 314 Blue FS35622. I think it’s better to shade it a little.

It takes time and effort, but if I do this masking properly, I’ll have less retouching later and it will be easier.

This fighter is painted camouflage. I used the Israeli Air Force’s camouflage colors, Mr. Color 43 Wood Brown, 44 Tan, and 312 Green FS34227. The color seems to blend into the desert in the Middle East.

I’m worried because the number of infected people in Tokyo is increasing. So is the Go to campaign really going to start this month? As the homecoming season for the entire Japanese population begins, I have a hunch that the virus will spread from Tokyo.
(2020/07/10)

The quality of the decal seems pretty good. Yellow is vivid and beautiful.

The yellow delta mark looks good. There is a gap in the large decal, so I have to retouch a little. Maybe I should cut and paste the leftover decal and use it like I did last time.
(2020/07/12)

The Mirage III CJ has been completed. The Mirage III is a fighter aircraft developed by Dassault, a French company, and has been in operation since 1961. The maximum speed is Mach 2.15. The Israeli Air Force Mirage III Type C is generally classified as Type III CJ.

Israel was the first country to import Mirage III. Around 1964, the Israeli Air Force formed three squadrons: the 101st squadron, the 117th squadron, and the 119th squadron by Mirage III. In the third Middle East War (Six-Day War) in 1967, The Israeli Air Force showed overwhelming strength against MiG on the Arab side.

During the third Middle East War, the reliability of air-to-air missiles was low, and many of them carried out dog fights using machine guns. The MiG on the Arab side also had good mobility, and although the mobility of the fighter was slightly higher on the Arab side, it seems that Israel was better in the skill of the pilot.

When I took off the masking tape of the canopy before it was finished, the paint was soaked through the gap. I had a Mr. Clolor paint retarder on hand, so I was wiping the paint and the canopy started to melt. The solvent is as strong as the tool cleaner. The canopy did not melt when I wiped it with the Gaia Color Brushmaster after drying. I don’t know if it’s a long time, but is this one weaker? I tried to repair it with a file and a compound, but it’s difficult.

Continuing the story of the Third Middle East War, it is said that the Israeli Air Force lost 10 aircraft to the downing of about 50 Arab aircraft in the air, and the number of bombings of Arab aircraft parked on the ground exceeded 400. It is said that it was a surprise attack, and Israel’s intelligence backup was excellent. At any rate, this war gave a strong impression of the robust Israeli Air Force.

Israeli Air Force Squadron 101. Insignia is a red circle with black wings and a skull mark, maybe. The marking is on July 14, 1966, they shot down the Syrian MiG-21. Just to briefly explain, about a year before the Third Middle East War in June 1967, coup d’etat Syrian forces frequently fired artillery shells into Israeli territory, to which Israeli forces responded by attacking. The time series around here is very complicated.

In conclusion, it was right to add weight at the beginning. If I hadn’t put it in, this model would have fallen on its bottom.

There is a bump around the canopy…

Decals were put on the underside of the fuselage in various ways, so I think the precision is improved.

I washed it lightly so the fine mold stands out.

There is no instruction to paint the sidewinder. What kind of paint is the Israeli Air Force Sidewinder? I’ve checked a lot, and it seems to be good if the whole is white and only the seeker and the rear wing looks a little gray. There were fine caution decals.

It was a kit that was hard to make, and my motivation went down in the middle of making it, and the finish was not good in many places. However, I am satisfied with the completion of the cool Israeli Air Force jet plane with rather strange markings.
(2020/07/15)