Subject: Re: Mirage III R2Z Submission
From: "Submissions for ARC" <[email-masked]>
To: "Marcel W. Hohl" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2007 16:55:49 -0700

Hi,
I just wanted to let you know your article went on ARC today.  Thanks again for sending it in.

Steve Bamford
Aircraft Resource Center
http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com

Live like there is no tomorrow;
Love like you've never been hurt.
Work like you don't need the money.
Dance like nobody's watching.
Sing like nobody's listening.
Live like it's Heaven on Earth.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Marcel W. Hohl 
  To: [email-masked] 
  Sent: Monday, July 23, 2007 6:41 PM
  Subject: Mirage III R2Z Submission

  Gallery Template #05

  "1/32 Mirage III R2Z" 

  by "Marcel Hohl"
  --------------------

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  The Mirage III R2Z entered service with the South African Air Force in 1974. It was used extensively over the Angolan theatre, flying recce and post-strike BDA missions. Typical mission were flown ultra-low level (30ft) at penetration speeds of 500 kt, if needed directly over known SA-3 sites. A single airframe was lost to AAA. Mirage III R2Z's differed from usual Mirage III R or RZs in having Mirage F1 subsystems, the most important of which is the far more powerful Atar 9K-50 engine (ala F1, with 71kN afterburning thrust ). 

  The kit I used is the age-old Revell Mirage III kit of late sixties vintage. To convert it from the kit Mirage III R option, all I needed to do was scratch build the swept leading edge intake splitter plates and fit F1-style antennae and RWR receivers on the vertical tail. And of course scratch-build the cockpit and fit an appropriate after-market seat (by Cutting Edge) accordingly. Fortunately, the Atar 9K-50 is externally identical the Atar 9C (more on that below). 

  However, the basic kit required very extensive upgrading. Panel lines had to be re-scribed and the kit exhaust was replaced by a brilliant after market set produced by MC-One in Switzerland (www.mc-one.ch). The model would not have been the same at all without that set (thanks Robi). Apart from that, the modifications, from the front of the plane to the back, are as follows: Use Al and brass rod to model the nose pitot; scratch build camera bay and cameras, scratch build front wheel well (the kit only features a partial wheel well floor but no well sides); add lights and detail to the front undercarriage; scratch build the pitot tubes in front of the windscreen from syringe needles and brass; scratch build entire cockpit, including instruments under windscreen, and rear cockpit bulkhead; give the intake cones a more pointed look with Tamiya ceramic putty; scratch-build the intake ducts all the way to the compressor face with Tamiya ceramic putty (not entirely necessary, since I can't actually see all the way to the engine even when using my most nifty little penlight); scratch-build, drill/recess the DEFA 553 30mm cannons (made from AL tubing); scratch build the cannon blast supressors ("Dremeled" from brass tubing); sand the supersonic tanks to the correct, more slim shape and also use tips turned from Al to ensure a crisp look; detail the main wheel wells and undercarriage.

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  I used Tamiya colors to for the Deep Buff (4 parts orange X-6 to 5 parts buff XF-57) and Olive Drab (XF-62) shades, respectively. Polyscale Australian PRU Blue, or something like that, was used for the Light Admirality Grey (special thanks here to Louis Vosloo who provided me with actual SAAF color samples many years ago). Quite a few coats of Future were needed to achieve the desired pre-decaling coat, and the decals were applied using Future in the same way I used to use Microset/Sol. I applied the decals this way due to some of the terrible decals I was using, but the technique proved to be so good I will use it on all of my projects going forward. As for the decals themselves, I primarily used a Leading Edge 1/32 SAAF Sabres set (LE3204, great set, and these decals went on very nicely), but had to augment those with the Revell decals (very thick) and also some terrible dual language home made things I had lying in the spare parts for 10 years. There is no way these would have gone on without using the Future technique. 

   

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  After re-coating with Future, I washed the model very lightly using a soapy mix of dark Tamiya paints. The final coat was mixed using Future and some Tamiya flat base-the original aircraft were delivered in a gloss coat, but dulled from sun exposure with time. Coating the model in too glossy a coat definitely ends up looking wrong, in my opinion. The tanks were painted using SnJ Al and various buffing powders. I used SnJ for the first time and am very pleased with the result, both the look and the resilience of the product. However, it did take some getting used to. I also used SnJ for the outside of the exhaust. The inside of the exhaust was primarily airbrushed with Humbrol Gun Metal and weathered using a mix of white, black and rust-colored pastels.

  I selected only two supersonic tanks as external stores-I wanted to preserve the very sleek, fast look of the Mirage III. Fortunately, I found reference photos proving that this configuration was used operationally (which is the way I like to load out my models). 

  I hope you enjoy my first submission to ARC. I would like to thank Kevin Smith for helping me find the indispensable Leading Edge decal sheet and also Greg McEwan-Marriott and Neil Commerford for providing me with much needed detail photos. - Marcel

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