1/48 Hobby Boss Dassault Mirage III Cz

Gallery Article by Michael Higgins on Feb 23 2016

 

      

Mirage III Cz SAAF

I hope you all enjoy this submission of possibly my second favourite aircraft. As a young South African boy I was lucky enough to see this exact aircraft flying at airshows from around 1997 until 2000 when I left to move to New Zealand and Australia. I have such fond memories of seeing her in the "black widow" scheme and I have to say that seeing her was truly special. Her rate of climb and her outright speed was what impressed me over and above many other jets that I had seen displayed.

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Hobby Boss have made an absolutely fantastic kit, there is minimal need for filler and the overall quality of the plastic is not much shy of amazing. The build is pretty simple and with a bit of research you too will be able to build a great example of number *800 which is now in the black widow colours. Take note not to follow the colours on the Hobby boss instruction sheet though as they are for the III's that were flying in Djibouti with the French airforce. I believe that this kit represents exceptional value for anyone wanting to build a great example of this amazing aircraft.

As for the actual build, this kit is out of the box with no added resin or aftermarket bits, the decal and stencil sheet is fantastic all be it that the spingboks are possibly a little orange for my liking. The instruction sheet is logical and easy to follow and does not have you questioning sequences or better building practice to yield a better result.

These were painted with a mixture of Model master enamel colours and Humbrol enamels at ratios which I now cannot remember. The South African aircraft never followed the FS colours and thus it is pretty much your best guess to some degree, I do believe that IPMS have published some colour guides but as they said there is a bit of mixing to be done.

I hope you enjoy and I will be back with my KFiR lightning and Cheetah C soon.

Thank you

Michael Higgins

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Photos and text © by Michael Higgins