Airfix 1/72 Dassault Mirage IIIC

AIRFIX 1:72 DASSAULT MIRAGE IIIC

Reviewer: Mark B (SMAKR Webmaster) (smakr1@optusnet.com.au)
Kit Built + Review Submitted: December 2008

Kit Details:

Airfix 1/72 #02012-9 [X:208] Dassault Mirage IIIC; originally molded in 1964.

Aircraft History:

The Mirage III was part of the 'first generation' of Mach 2 Jet fighters designed in the mid-1950's, along with such other famous aircraft as the MiG-21, F-104 Starfighter, English Electric Lightning and Saab Draken. This was a period of very fast evolution in terms of aircraft technology and design, with a variety of radically different fighter configurations being researched in the quest for speed, and a good many of these made it to the production stage. Indeed, each of the five aircraft already mentioned had a quite distinct configuration. In the case of the Mirage III, this was the tailless delta wing layout, with an 'area ruled' fuselage. Among the other aircraft mentioned, only the Draken came even close, and that had a 'blended' wing/fuselage which was a markedly different concept.

Like all of the other aircraft mentioned, the Mirage III was originally designed for the interceptor role, but eventually found itself being pressed into service in the ground attack role. In this, the Mirage III was probably more successful than most of its competitors, despite the basic drawbacks of the tailless delta layout - poor manoeuvrability and high landing speeds. Of course, its main competitors were also hampered to some extent by their optimised design. While the Mirage III did not have the 'Superpower' advantage of MiG 21 or F-104, it nonetheless enjoyed considerable export success as well as in France. The successful employment of the Mirage III by Israel during the 1967 six-day war gave an obvious fillip to export sales.

Over 1,400 Mirage III's were built, with production only terminating in the early 1980's. A number of different variants were produced, including the dual-role 'E' model designed for the fighter bomber role, and which introduced a 30cm 'plug' behind the cockpit to store extra avionics and fuel. There was also the simplified Mirage 5 which proved popular with poorer countries, and the more advanced Mirage 50 series. Israel commissioned the development of the Mirage 5, but the French government blocked the delivery of the aircraft, which eventually found their way into the Armee de l'Air. Having been refunded, the Israelis then copied the Mirage III without license as the Nesher, although suspicion of collusion by Dassault remains. Some 61 Neshers were built, some being later re-exported to Argentina and given the name Dagger. These saw combat in the 1982 Falklands/Malvinas conflict, where they were outclassed in the air superiority role by the Royal Navy Sea Harrier FRS.1's, the latter being equipped with the 'all-aspect' AIM-9L Sidewinder.

Although long since retired from French service, some 'genuine' Mirage III's are still in service around the world, almost 50 years after the aircraft was originally designed.

The Kit:

This is a kit "made in Japan" so some of the following information will not apply to those kits found in hobby shops in the English speaking world. The box is sturdy but very small, giving an initial impression this kit may be 1/144! But thankfully I read the box right! The parts come inside a plastic bag and are either loosely floating in the bag or attached to a couple of makeshift sprues, common Airfix arrangement particularly of these types of 1970's kits. There are 37 light grey injection molded parts with raised panel lines and surface detail typical of the era. Most parts will need a quick run over the edges with a sharp #11 as there is a very very minor amount of flash encumbering some of them. A one-piece canopy is supplied which is a little scratched from years of storage and distorted a little, again typical of the era.

To my knowledge there is only a Matchbox mainstream option for this subject (I know Heller made some Mirage III's but don't think this variant was one of them) along with limited run options including PJ Productions, AML and High Planes. More recently Hobby Boss have also released a kit of one of the many IIIC sub variants but I believe this is only in 1/48 scale.

Instructions:

Bearing in mind this kit was made in Japan, so the instructions are not the usual type that will be found in Airfix kits nowadays. As such the small 2-sided instruction sheet is in Japanese with a very basic three-view painting/decal on the front and two assembly steps on the back. These are a little bit confusing with a number of lines (both dotted and solid) going everywhere, so it will pay just to study the diagrams first before assembling. Small numbers in boxes I worked out are obviously painting information for individual parts, and after checking a Hasegawa instruction sheet and matching the numbers up with Humbrol chart through and what I am pretty confident will be the colours, these appear to come from the Mr.Color range.

Construction:

Inside the cockpit you get a large ejection seat to put on a couple of prongs coming out from one of the fuselage sides. Add a pilot figure and the cockpit is done! As I was building this for a youngster, and had limitations in time and room, I wasn't on this occasion going to do much more in sprucing the cockpit up. Remember to check the fuselage halves, seat, pilot and everything else you are going to use for slight flash on their edges, which are easily removed with a scrape of the hobby knife.

A couple of areas which have to have some attention though is the deck behind the pilot seat - there is none - the kit just leaves a big gaping hole. I fixed this up with carving to size some plasticard and filling up any gaps with filler. The other concern is that the tailpipe and intake areas which are also part of the first assembly step before affixing the fuselage halves, have no "back wall" on their parts. Obviously this means a see-through effect from intakes and out the tailpipe - something that is always a real big bugbear of mine! I got around this by using one of the kit wheels cut off the landing gear (since I am a wheels up modeller) and glueing it to the back of the tailpipe - partly ingenious, partly madness! Interior of all these areas were painted black with the exception of the split exhaust cone itself which was painted the usual gun metal.

Once all this was in place I affixed the fuselage halves together which were neat, needing only the usual pegs and masking tape to clamp together. I used the separate nose cone to make sure the nose section dried at the right shape! While drying I painted various parts including the poor excuse for a missile and the large rocket pods. I also painted the nose cone black and this was left off right until the end to save me masking off the nose and painting.

Being wheels up I also started to fit the doors in the closed position on the middle single underwing piece. The main gear doors are very thick, and do not fit flush with the gear cavities. So very careful glueing to one side and then filled in with glue afterward. As they are so thick, the doors were flush on the outside but on the inside stuck up out of their hole. Just as well as I did it this way. Part 12 is a small plate part placed in the middle of the underwing section - because I glued the doors shut, this part does not fit. In hindsight, had've I put in part 12 I wouldn't have been able to affix the gear doors anyway. I left this part off, and as it is inside the wing - no one will be the wiser. I wondered why it was there anyway!

The lower wing section is then affixed to the belly cavity of the aircraft, and the upper delta wings are affixed onto this. As is often the case with these older kits, and of course after running a hobby knife along the edges, the fit is okay, but filler is needed at the roots for the upper wing parts. The underwing piece is half a mm shorter than the cavity allows, meaning filler at the rear fuselage join. Basically a bit of filler and sanding needed between the underwing inserts and upper wing halves, or you will have gaping trenches.

I'm not sure whether to laugh at the stores options or shake my head in pity at the molding technology from yesteryear. There are a pair of very long rocket pods under the wings and a belly slung flat large AAM which doesn't match up to anything other than a passing Matra resemblance to my knowledge. The pylons themselves are equally as inaccurate. I guess then its up to the modeller to decide whether to fill in the holes and go with a clean config. Remember I said I was modelling for a youngster above, so the stores went on. Everything fitted very nicely providing a quick scrape of the blade was used along the edges first. As are the underwing and rear fuselage ventral strakes.

Assembly was basically completed. The aircraft was primed and the final filling and sanding taken care of and then the silver paint was applied for the metal finish. The nose cone and canopy were added after painting and both fitted very well.

Colour Schemes:

A single natural metal scheme as shown on the boxart is catered for by the kit. As the instructions are in Japanese, and a pretty poor decal sheet, I was not able to determine the exact example but by the depiction could be one of the early (or even prototype) Mirage IIIC's. As it was not a subject I was going to depict anyway, it's a moot point too.

Decals:

The decals in my kit were unusable so I actually ended up using spares. For the record the kit's decals are produced by Gunze Sangyo, a very small sheet of roundels, fin flashes, serials, unit number and danger triangles and that's it. On close inspection the roundels are printed a tad off centre but otherwise register appears that it would have been okay, thin decals with a matt appearance. Almost similar in appearance to some early Propagteam sheets. Unfortunately, there are no decals supplied for the red flashes around the intake that can be seen on the boxart, behind the cockpit, on the wings and airbrakes so these will have to be painted on - and thus a challenge to match all the "reds" - especially when Gloss Red (Humbrol 19) is not really quite the same as the red in the French roundels!

I did end up using a couple of decals from this kit and because of their age they needed a long soak time. After 10 minutes went by and the decals were still stuck hard, I boiled the kettle and put a couple of teaspoons worth in the cold water, just to raise it to luke warm. Then the decals needed only a couple of minutes soaking time. They were a bit gluggy from age but they went on.

Accuracy:

There are a few concerns with this kit in the accuracy department, and let's face it, the fact it is a 1964 mold should be easily enough to tell you to expect this. It lacks any real detail on most accounts, let alone the cockpit, and the stores are so simplistic as to be utterly inaccurate. In terms of dimensions, it is slightly underscale in span but overscale in length but yet it does not look out of place (although I measured with the probe which could be the main reason). In spite of the kits age and simplistic nature, it does actually give a fair rendition of a Mirage IIIC!

Overall Recommendation:

Not really recommended for anyone who seriously wants an accurate and detailed Mirage IIIC - the limited run kits are much better options nowadays but of course need the skill to go with it. This kit is only out there for nostalgics and those new to the hobby or simply those who want to knock off something over a weekend and enjoy doing it. On that basis, the kit is highly recommended! You'll probably need a bit of elbow grease and a new decal sheet like me, but otherwise this kit is within the capacity of most modellers. You will have some fun building this kit - and I guess that's what the hobby is supposed to be about.

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