[A&A Models] 1/72 - Dassault Mirage IVA (miva)

In lieu of attempting to translate my English into French - which has already resulted in some embarrassing and incorrect descriptions - I will hope any of you interested enough to follow this project can understand the narration or easily translate it yourselves.

I awaited a new 1/72 Mirage IV and was rewarded when A&A released their kit a few years ago.  The shape and dimensions are accurate, with some of the details requiring some refining, as well as treatment of the surface panels a requirement to yield a satisfactory model.  We'll start with the obligatory box art and sprue photos:


The panel line details are inconsistent and in certain areas inaccurate.  I thought it best to fill them and later re-scribe them to a more subtle appearance.  Photo coverage on the modern camouflaged aircraft show very little of the panel lines, even in close up images, so the filling proceeded.  I have chosen to use black cyanoacrylate to fill the panels, as it offers some advantages over conventional solvent fillers. It is basically a rubber-impregnated super glue.
1. It dries quickly (with CA accelerator) and should be sanded in 15 minutes or less, or it becomes harder than the plastic to sand.  It forces you to work quickly.
2.  You can see where it fills, as a reference for the panels you choose to restore with delicate scribing.
3.  It doesn't shrink or pop out later if the bond to the panel line wasn't effective.

Initially the application is quite ugly:


But after some sanding with progressively finer sanding sticks and paper, it starts to improve:


One of the minor improvements include treatment of the flush NACA style ducts that are prominent on the sides of the rear fuselage (and underside). The position is marked out to a small rectangle that will be cut out and filled with a 3D printed inset, level with the surrounding surface of the fuselage.  The small printed inset is shown on the mat in front of the fuselage.


Here it has been set into the fuselage.  The surrounding gaps will be filled with black CA again, sanded down, then brush primed with Mr. Surfacer or Tamiya grey primer.


Here is the result.  The inset will be temporarily covered with masking tape until the model is ready to be painted - to keep dust and primer build-up from getting in the inlet recess.

I noted from references that the similar NACA inlets closer to the vertical fin are not present on the modern aircraft.

The underside of the wing also received the black CA filler treatment, here shown in the rough pre-sanding stage:


And after initial sanding.  There are several touch-ups required with this filler as it is moderately viscous and minute gaps appear once the sanding starts.


Regards,

Lee

Hi Lee,

Very nice start!
You have already done a lot of work filling and sanding all those panel lines.
I thought this recent kit would be more accurate and wouldn't need that.
Thanks for the tip on the black CA glue
Looking forward to seeing the re-scribing

Hi Lee,

Thank you for sharing this build on this French site. The Mirage IV is one of the most elegant and efficient jets ever made, and I will follow your build with great interest. The job done until now is quite impressive.

I may have some detail pictures of the landing gears. Please tell me if you are interesting by.

See you.

Great job, 

Hello Lee,

Great job done up to now ! Very instructive step-by-step presentation, I am eager to read news for the following steps!

Bon courage !

Hi !

What a job !
Very nice and impressive beginning
Did u print yourself the NACA ducts ? it seems accurate !

Cheers
Fred

titelouze a écrit:Hi !

What a job !
Very nice and impressive beginning
Did u print yourself the NACA ducts ? it seems accurate !

Cheers
Fred

Thank all of you for the kind comments.  And yes I have printed a number of 3D items for this project, including the NACA ducts and other style vents.  Here is the artwork for some of the NACA ducts.


There is also a louvered vent above the intakes that was added from a 3D printed part.

While not much of the cockpit will be visible, as I intend to have the canopies closed, I still needed to assemble and include enough detail for the cockpit to pass close inspection.  I did not care for the kit ejection seats so I substituted the fine Barracuda Studios Mk.4 seats that will be fitted with an alternative firing handle configuration to represent or approximate what the Mirage IV used.  Here are those parts in primer before being fitted into the forward fuselage:


I used the kit decals for the instrument and side console panels, then after some careful grinding, fit the ejection seats into their places.


At this point the fin was also fitted, with all of the "heavy" things on my workbench used to square and secure the fuselage and align the vertical tail as the glue dried.  

nice , seats are beautiful

Another 3D printed NACA inlet pair can be found on the underside of the aft fuselage, with this flush duct also having a small external scoop unique to this inlet design.


An image of the 3D printed replacement parts for the exhaust details that offer much improvement over the kit parts.


Images of the cleaned up 3D exhausts and the nozzles supplied by the kit on the right.


I had previously shown some of the intake images in an older post, but to maintain a sequence of progress I will illustrate my solution to include intake trunking with the kit only giving you intakes as far back only as to yield a hollow fuselage and nothing else.  Adequate if you choose to include blanking plates there, but I would prefer to model the trunking up to and including the engine compressor faces. I have nightmares about people with small flashlights.  Here are those parts off the 3D printer in a rough and wet state:


The intake trunking removed and cleaned up and fitted with the spectacle bulkhead to assure alignment within the fuselage.  The flat plates on the inside of the external trunking were also included to assist in alignment and fitting within the Mirage IV fuselage, Not sure if that worked out, as I had to cut a clearance in the recess that holds the camera pod there, which can be seen in previous photos of the underside of the kit wing.


The front of the intake trunking is set back from the kit intake opening by a few millimeters to allow it to be fared in smoothly with white epoxy putty.  The image here shows it at that application where it is wet-worked to minimize the filing and sanding that would follow.

joli travail ,bravo

Belle maquette bien travaillée,bravo et bonne continuation.

Hello,

Des améliorations remarquables et nombreuses, regravure complète et inserts en 3D maison, c'est un époustouflant travail.
En bref, un nouveau kit dans une maquette récente.

Great job.

Olivier

Hello !

Lee Coll a écrit:
(...) I have nightmares about people with small flashlights.(...)]

Modellers are good friends !

Your prints are good, those ad-ons will improve nicely the kit !

@+
Fred

Hello,

great work. i never imagined that such a recent kit would require such a re-engraving.

I note the ideas for the NACA plugs, very good. I'm going to take note of the ideas for the NACA sockets, they are very good.

3D is really becoming a cool tool to improve our kits.


Bonjour,

super travail. jamais je n'aurais imaginé qu'un kit aussi récent demanderait une telle re-gravure.

Je note les idées pour les prises NACA, super bonnes. Merci.

La 3D devient vraiment un outil d'amélioration de nos kits très sympa.

Bonjour Lee,
superbe travail, merci pour le partage et bonne suite!  

Thierry

Very nice job

Some minor progress before resuming construction to mate the wings to the fuselage.  I have been away for two weeks working, so it's back to modeling over our July 4 holiday.

The intakes have been attached and blended into the fuselage.



A few items that were 3D printed for the project:  
Main landing gear doors.


And the most recent prints that will hopefully serve to improve the underside radome.  I've created optional parts that have a separate surround for the circular radome, and another with these parts combined.  The small hole in each radome is purposefully added to allow the resin to drain from the part as it is formed and repeatedly dipped into the resin vat as the printing process continues.  Other items on this print run include the last of the small louvered ducts that go on the underside of the forward fuselage.  And a few more odd bumps that were sanded off during panel line filling.

Hi Lee,
For some reasons, I had entirely skipped your post! Your work and 3D craftsmanship are impressive ; you are going to turn this kit into a splendid piece of art.
Great job !!!
JeF

This building is going to turn in nearly a complete renewal of kit!
Very interesting to see what 3D printing can add to our hobby when you have the possibility to use it easily. The result is going to be very great, for sure.

I have not seen this data in the topic yet: what sources of document do you use as reference ?

All the best for the following steps!

Fabien

Bonjour et bravo pour le travail. Avoir une imprimante 3D et le compétences pour s'en servir est un vrai plus.

Bonne continuation.

hi, I have the same box but I will not make as many modifications, it is really a very good job

starfighter a écrit:This building is going to turn in nearly a complete renewal of kit!
Very interesting to see what 3D printing can add to our hobby when you have the possibility to use it easily. The result is going to be very great, for sure.

I have not seen this data in the topic yet: what sources of document do you use as reference ?

All the best for the following steps!

Fabien

Fabien,

Regarding reference documents:  

• There are several line drawings of the Mirage IV online that are reasonably accurate, for the panel line locations and other surface details
  

• I have been directed by others on this forum to technical manual illustrations, particularly of the landing gear, which are of great value. Some of these were in fact posted on Fighters forum when the gentleman built the Heller 1/48 Mirage IV previously.
  

• Walkarounds are available online also, and I have a friend living in France who has been helpful with his own photographs taken at various museums there.
  

• The best visual reference for all things Mirage IV is the excellent book by Alexander Paringaux that reveals many surface details of relevant features.
  

Thank you for following the project; hope to be finished by mid-August.

Lee

Thank you Lee for these informations. My question was especially related to the dimensions you have to consider to build your 3D model before printing, which requires accurate data.

Hope to see soon the next steps !

Fabien

You make such a wonderful work on it ! I guess it will be one of the best Mirage IV model kit ever built