mick555 Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 (edited) Hi, I am in the final phases of finishing off my Italeri 1/48 Mirage IIIE and have decided to finish it in the colour scheme of the last mirage III. instead of the usual dark green/grey 2 tone, this jet is finished in the same colours as a Mirage 2000 (blue grey/light grey). according to the kit instructions, this colour scheme is laid out in the same fashion as all other mirage III's in french service, like this desert camo one, just with the sand replaced with light grey and the brown replaced with the blue grey: now, while trawling the net for my next colour scheme for a Mirage III, i came across a picture of this same aircraft. the colours are right (well, fairly accurate anyway) but the scheme is laid out in what looks to be an identical fashion as the colur scheme on a Mirage 2000 (now by this, i mean the mirage III had a tightly grouped colour scheme, the mirage 2000 has a more open scheme) the best way to describe this is with the pic i found ( I also have no idea what the text says, so anyone that can read German, if it is indeed that, would be in my debt! ) now, after that long winded garble, what i am wanting to find out is if it is painted the same way as a mirage 2000 or just has the same colours but in the standard Mirage III scheme? I think it is far too late for me to correct this unless i have enough spare stencils from my other mirage III kits, but I would love to know for references sake. Edited July 20, 2009 by mick555 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
squezzer Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 Follow this link. There are 2 pics of this special painted Mirage. What I understand of the german caption is that this aircraft was painted this way in the 90's to celebrate the last Mirage III overhaul on Nancy AFB. The aicraft belonged to the 3/3 "Ardennes" squadron. The pattern is close to the Mirage 2000 one. So, to me, the instruction sheet is wrong Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChernayaAkula Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 (edited) Squeezer is mostly correct about the translation. The caption reads: "Mirage IIIE serial no. 539 - Escadron 3/3 Ardennes at Nancy operated the Mirage IIE into the 1990s. This aircraft received special markings after the last overhaul". Edited July 20, 2009 by ChernayaAkula Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mick555 Posted July 21, 2009 Author Share Posted July 21, 2009 (edited) ha ha, great! now i cannot look at my model anymore, knowing it is so drastically incorrect! oh well, at least now i have a reason to scribe the panel lines now! ;) huge thankyou as well, that info will help me enormously in making a decent model! and as i said, i am now in your debt! :) anyone have any spare mirage IIIE stencils sitting around???? EDIT: i have just seen the most amazing thing ever! the aircraft in question has almost no stencils!!!! Thankyou model gods!! EDIT 2: anyone know what type of drop tank is fitted to this: i was aware of 3 types of fuel tanks fitted to Mirage III's ( large one like this but with straight, horizontal fins at the rear, the slim line ones with no fins and the slim line ones with 4 ejector racks for bombs fitted to them) but i have never seen this type of tank. it seems to be very similar to the large horizontal finned one, but with it's fins slanted downwards?? Edited July 21, 2009 by mick555 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Laurent Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 (edited) i was aware of 3 types of fuel tanks fitted to Mirage III's ( large one like this but with straight, horizontal fins at the rear, the slim line ones with no fins and the slim line ones with 4 ejector racks for bombs fitted to them) but i have never seen this type of tank. it seems to be very similar to the large horizontal finned one, but with it's fins slanted downwards?? 1500 liters subsonic tank if my memory is correct. Used on the IIIE and 5s for example. Edited July 21, 2009 by Laurent Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mick555 Posted July 21, 2009 Author Share Posted July 21, 2009 ah, so they are bigger than the straight finned ones i had seen by the look sof that pic. almost as huge as the ones one a 2000. did any kits come with these on the sprues? geez i ask a lot of questions... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Laurent Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 ah, so they are bigger than the straight finned ones i had seen by the look sof that pic. almost as huge as the ones one a 2000. did any kits come with these on the sprues? Not in 1/48 scale as there aren't any Mirage IIIE & later kits appart from the Esci/Italeri oldie and the FM nightmare. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mick555 Posted July 21, 2009 Author Share Posted July 21, 2009 Not in 1/48 scale as there aren't any Mirage IIIE & later kits appart from the Esci/Italeri oldie and the FM nightmare. oh well, seems like a good excuse for me to try scratch building after all these years of being too scared! now i need to figure out how to search for line drawings on google and see if i can get some for these tanks.... oh will it ever end! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tom Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 (edited) ha ha, great! now i cannot look at my model anymore, knowing it is so drastically incorrect! oh well, at least now i have a reason to scribe the panel lines now! huge thankyou as well, that info will help me enormously in making a decent model! and as i said, i am now in your debt! :) anyone have any spare mirage IIIE stencils sitting around???? EDIT: i have just seen the most amazing thing ever! the aircraft in question has almost no stencils!!!! Thankyou model gods!! EDIT 2: anyone know what type of drop tank is fitted to this: i was aware of 3 types of fuel tanks fitted to Mirage III's ( large one like this but with straight, horizontal fins at the rear, the slim line ones with no fins and the slim line ones with 4 ejector racks for bombs fitted to them) but i have never seen this type of tank. it seems to be very similar to the large horizontal finned one, but with it's fins slanted downwards?? The underwing tanks you see are the 1700 litre RP30's. They are not available in any kit that I am aware of. Red Roo Models make them in resin. There were four types of wing tanks fitted to the Mirage III: 500 litre supersonic, 625 litre subsonic, 1300 litre RP30 subsonic and 1700 litre RP62 subsonic. HTH. Tom Edited July 21, 2009 by Tom Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Laurent Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Erratum: The RP30 1700l tanks exist in injected form ! Italeri recently redited their Mirage IIIE with additional goodies including 2 RP30s, Martel missile. German review here: http://www.modellversium.de/kit/artikel.php?id=4193 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mick555 Posted July 22, 2009 Author Share Posted July 22, 2009 THANKYOU! i know of a shop where they have this kit in stock, so i shall be forking out for it next payday! cheers Laurent! :D Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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