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AIRFIX 1:72 SUPER MYSTERE B.2
Reviewer: Myself (smakr@bigpond.com)
Kit Built
+ Review
submitted:
January
1999
Aircraft:
The Super Mystere holds the distinction of being the first production
aircraft in Western Europe to attain supersonic speed in level flight. It was developed to
replace the earlier Mystere IVB - programme and ideas much akin to the Super Sabre
replacing the Sabre - as a single seat tactical strike fighter. About 180 aircraft
were built of which 156 were operated by the French Air Force and 24 operated by the
Israeli Air Force where they first saw combat in the Arab/Israeli war. Most (if not all -
there is conflicting stories in reference material) of the Israeli examples were updated
and reconfigured as the Super Mystere 'Saar' with a longer exhaust.
The Kit:
I picked this kit up second hand and it is a very aged kit, certainly
looking at a mid 70's or earlier tooling. Nevertheless, it's actually quite decent
even though very reminiscent of Airfix kits of that era. In the box you are presented with
about 54 metallic grey parts with excessive raised panel lines but quite nice detail
including various vents molded on the fuselage body. There is a fair bit of marks in the
mold as one would expect and it is very similar in look and feel to the Airfix F-86D Sabre kit as separately reviewed on this site. Only a small bit of flash is
evident but I did notice some bent plastic, mainly wing, tailplane and fins - right on the
very tip respectively that had to be coaxed back into shape. One clear part for the
canopy is also included.
Later boxart of the mold, thanks to Dmitry
Bolkhovityanov who built the kit after reading this review!
Construction:
Cockpit detail consists of base, pilot figure, seat and front
and rear bulkheads. A nicely molded instrument panel is also included with raised detail.
It's important to get the front of the front bulkhead right (it has 'front' written
on it) so that it sits correctly in position. I'd also suggest filing this down
or sanding it off, and
then painting it black, otherwise you can read it when looking into the nose intake.
Dry fitting the cockpit unit will iron out any foreseeable problems. After I
glued the cockpit unit in one half of the fuselage I then added the instrument panel,
which was a bit tricky but I thought the best way to handle it (the other option is put
the pilot figure in the seat last). I gave the cockpit an interior green
wash.
The split-plate exhaust is also fitted into the rear of the fuselage and I painted the outer rim gunmetal and the interior matt black. They were a bit difficult to position into the fuselage and needed to be forced, resulting in the unit having to be repainted. A small alignment groove ensures you place it in on the correct angle. The fuselage halves were then slapped together and required some assistance in the form of pegs and rubber bands to stay tightly shut. Small gaps needed to filled and the join lines needed to be thoroughly sanded - some of that raised detail magically disappeared! This kit also came with one of those long forgotten plastic stands to sit the plane on, obviously the hole needs filling if you are not going to make use of the stand. I now have a small collection - I suppose I better put one to use one of these days!
Wings and tailplanes go on quite nicely and there needs to be a bit of care in particular for the main wings when leaving to dry - ensure they are positioned correctly. The wings basically lie flat on the desktop which will sit fine if you ensure the centre of gravity is correct. Small amounts of filler needed around the wing roots. Speed brakes are provided as an option to position open or closed and include actuating strut. I had them closed and their fit is good, although a bit of glue was used to fill the small gaps.
The undercarriage assembly seemed to be straightforward on a quick dry fit process. I noticed that the main wheel gear can be made moveable with the tyre trapped and not cemented between strut/axle and plug/hub. The nosewheel cannot move, however, so what's the point? The gear doors fit nicely over the wells if configuring a wheels-up model - very well in fact. The canopy sat nicely but revealed a gap between itself and the aircraft and had to be held in place by a rubber band. Options for stores are simply underwing ferry tanks on inboard pylons and rocket pods on outboard pylons - the latter needing two small holes drilled into the underwing surface - the plastic makes it hard to determine their correct position!
Versions & Decals:
The kit allows you to produce two French and two Israeli versions, both
depicting one of each a natural metal finish and brown/sand/green camouflage - French
10-RF (box art) & 12-ZQ respectively and Israeli 325 & 708 in respective finishes.
The decals were very aged and yellowed in my kit and were irreparable, in spite of
my usual inclination to stick them to the bedroom window (see tips
page - yellow decals). The instructions provide you with a breakdown of the colours and
how many parts to mix of different enamels to get the desired shade - of course in Airfix
range of paint.
I used some spare decals from around the place and successfully made mine into an Israeli version with Sand FS-33531; Earth Tan FS-30219 & Green FS-34227 upper sides and blue FS-35622 camouflage scheme. I was using Humbrol paints and respectively this translates to #121 Pale Stone, #118 Tan, #120 Light Green and no FS match for the Blue. I was dubious about all the matches except for the Tan but I did go with Pale Stone for the sand colour and with a few coats and a later gloss varnish actually looked very much like sand. The Green I didn't agree with, I chose #30 Dark Green and this was a good match and settled on #65 aircraft blue for the undersides. Most of the Israeli Super Mysteres were in fact converted to "Saar" - which was a locally updated and enhanced Super Mystere. The main difference was a lengthened exhaust/aft fuselage.
Overall:
Overall this was a decent little kit considering its age. Fit of most of
the parts was excellent. Accuracy is about what one could expect of a mid-70's mold
and could do with improvements mainly around the measurements and various angles of the
aircraft. Nevertheless it features a fair bit of panel line detail - even if it is a bit
excessive that will also disappear once you start sanding join lines - as well as a few
vents, ducts and gun troughs. It's one of those kits that would certainly suit a
novice because of it's general ease and I would still recommend it highly to anyone wishing to add this aircraft to their
collection.
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