SPA Modeler

Okay, another finished South African Mirage! This is the old Airfix model that I had built as a French bird in my youth. This one came courtesy of a sale at a garage sale. Built OOB:







There are a couple blemishes I need to fix, but I'm calling this one done.

Thanks for looking in! Comments are welcome.

Ain’t she sa-weet! You did a great job!

Very nice! The F1C is my favorite of the Mirage family, and it looks so good in the SAAF camo! You nailed it!

I had wondered what had happened to this on your manufacturing thread

Simply stunning - I've always liked the look of the F.1 and this is a cracker Mark - Nice work!

Thanks everyone for the fantastic comments!

Bruce I actually painted the cockpit details after I closed up the cockpit inside the fuselage. It made it easier to choose those details to paint.

Kenny, thanks! I do like this bird!

Thanks Carlos! Yeah, I fully agree; she does look magnificent in her SAAF camouflage.

Thanks Stuart! Yeah, if something disappears from the Manufacturing Thread after decals and such have been added, chances are good it is no longer in the manufacturing plant. Your comments are most appreciated.

speedgraflex wrote:Duke, Congratulations on such a beautiful job with the construction and camouflage paint work. That really looks great, and the cockpit looks spot on! One takeaway I have from my all too brief sojourn amongst the 1/72 cockpits was how impressive a few well chosen or spotted details are; and you certainly chose your details well!

One of the things I've found with 1/72 - especially if you don't open up the canopy - is that most of the time a highly detailed cockpit is a waste of effort, more so with the older kits and their thicker clear parts.

You're much better off highlighting a few bits to make them 'pop', such as the seat or the ip.

In a WWI aircraft, floor and sidewall detail can get lost. It's a bit easier with jets, as they have nice big canopies. So a good seat, IP and side panels should just about do it. On the Hasegawa F-14 I have there are lots of PE vents and wotnot around the floor and under the Ips - I really don't see the point of them.

Stuart, I tend to agree. I do try to make my cockpits look good, but I don't go crazy adding a lot of detail since it won't really be able to be appreciated like on 1/32 scale aircraft. Besides, when it comes to Cockpits, I'm quite the lazy modeler; I just want to get it done and closed up inside the fuselage quickly so I can move on.

Thanks again for the awesome comments guys! Stay tuned, more to come.