Hasegawa 1/72 Dassault Mirage F.1C

HASEGAWA 1:72 DASSAULT MIRAGE F.1C

Reviewer: Hrvoje Šafhauzer (contact via SMAKR webmaster)
Kit Review submitted: 4 July 2009

Kit Details:

Aircraft: Mirage F.1C "French Air Force Fighter"
Scale: 1/72
Kit: Hasegawa #B4:800 (00234)
Parts: 48 molded in light gray styrene, 2 molded in clear styrene
Surface detail: raised
Options: ordnance placed or omitted, cockpit canopy open or closed, wheels down only
Decals: 3 options for two French Air Force units
Accuracy: appears to be in 1/70 scale – see below
Price: 54 Croatian Kuna (approx 7.4 EUR), in October 2008

Aircraft History:

No matter how superb (and in Israeli hands eventually highly successful) the Mirage III was, there were some inevitable pure-delta wing induced drawbacks. So Dassault's designers rolled up the sleeves and came up with a conventional shoulder wing aircraft, powered by a SNECMA Atar 9K50 axial flow turbojet. It was a private venture project, devised as a backup when it was realized that a bigger, more expensive and similarly-looking Mirage F.2 would be unaffordable. Liberally endowed with high lifting devices, the Mirage F.1 has the take-off and landing speeds, and consequently the required runway lengths cut in half comparing to the Mirage IIIC; in spite of a highly increased wing loading. Low level performances and handling proved to be excellent, in fact maneuverability in prolonged turns proved to be better than vaunted Mirage III at all heights. Its maiden flight took place at the end of 1966, and in October1973 an interceptor fighter version F.1C entered French Air Force service armed with both heat-seeking and semi-active homing missiles, retaining two 30 mm DEFA 553 cannons. By the end of 1975 there were 45 F.1Cs in French AF service. Thomson-CSF Cyrano IV nose-mounted radar enabled intercepting the targets at all attitudes. For addressing the range issue, and with maximum ferry range using the drop tanks some 700 km shorter than Mirage III, the non-retractable but detachable refuelling probe was added requiring 8 cm of fuselage extension, and F.1C-200 designation was given.

Multipurpose fighter/ground attack F.1E and F.1CRreconnaissance versions followed, as well as F.1B and F.1D two seat trainers, and the Mirage F.1 also became a success being exported to the Mediterranean area, Middle East, South Africa, and Ecuador in either F.1A (avionics for VFR-conditions only), F.1C or F.1E variants, and having an option of using AIM- Sidewinder missiles. A prototype of the modified version with SNECMA M.53 turbofan was developed and proposed for replacing NATO-countries' F-104G Starfighters, but lost to F-16 and further development in that line was not continued, and production terminated in 1990 after 731 being produced in all variants. Latest modifications in French Air Force are conversions to ground attack role optimised F.1CTs with required avionics and reduced cannon armament. Mirage F.1 turn-around time between missions is impressive with internal and external systems enabling, for instance, filling of all internal tanks within 6 minutes. However, all subsequent Dassault's combat aircraft that saw service were to be of canard delta configuration…

The Kit:

I purchased this one during my kit-hunting trip to Croatian capital Zagreb. Contents and instructions are already described by a webmaster review here at SMAKR, and I am not to repeat them. The instruction sheet states year 1989, but molds must be older than that. My copy was with the parts almost flash-free and I noticed a slight mold miscentering at one of the front wheels only. There are some mold seams, easily removable with modeling knife. Decals are the same as described, and here are the respective images.

Revell reboxes this very kit also with Italian-produced "Super Decal" sheet. In Sarajevo it has been available for a while and priced 22.50 Bosnian Marks (approx. 11.5 EUR) – slightly more than 50% higher – one of the instances where Revell boxing is priced more than original Hasegawa. I do not doubt that Revell decals could be more extensive and/or colorful, but being a budget modeler and not extremely a big fan of the fast jets I did not plan to buy it (same for reboxed Hasegawa's EE Lightning, or SAAB J-35J/O). So, I have made a quick shot of the box in a shop, shown below, with an obvious camera flash (sorry - just to give you an idea).

Construction:

Since I do not have access to Gunze Sangyo paints, and having only the conversion charts to Humbrol range (also not easily available at retailers here in Sarajevo or in neighboring countries), I turned to Revell 1/48 Mirage III kit instructions downloaded from their internet site. While cleaning parts on the sprue I was hit by bad luck at the very first step, I broke off the part of nose gear leg due thick sprue gate and somewhat hard styrene. Liquid glue remedied it, after removing part from a sprue and positioning it to lower part of a cockpit tub. And learning that I should be more careful further on.

For fuselage interior and most of the cockpit I used Revell R75 light gray for aircraft gray. Landing gear legs and arms were painted in R99 aluminum, with oleos accentuated by Humbrol Hu11 silver – not that it is highly noticeable but it made me happy – and the nose pitot probe got the same treatment. Engine exhaust surfaces were painted in R91 steel, as well as the all wheel hubs. Pondering between Hasegawa-recommended silver-gray mixture and Revell-specified aluminum for engine intake interiors and wheel bays and door interiors, I opted for the first option. Initial pouring of R75 into Hu11 tinlet yielded no effect even after vigorous mixing, so I reversed the procedure and poured silver back into the light gray tinlet. It was not in a recommended 80/20 silver/light gray ratio, but I was happy with the result and I needed that shade for the plane undersurfaces too. That paint mix was applied to the instruction-indicated surfaces including a bottom part of the cockpit tub. When dried I realized that pure aluminum would look almost the same. Next day, the pilot seat cushions were painted in R45 light olive for khaki, and the seat top, tyres and anti-glare cockpit front surfaces were painted in R9 anthracite – seat top because Revell's Mirage III and Mirage 2000 kits have that part in black not in aircraft gray and I saw no reason for the Mirage F.1 having a different painted ejection seat. Using R317 satin beige I drew some harness on the seat using toothpick, with buckles in aluminum bronze. Hu21 gloss black was used for afterburner nozzle interior.

While Hasegawa have nicely provided ordnance-loading chart, no outer wing pylons nor applicable stores were provided in the kit, so I dug out some fast-jet pylons from spare parts cache and decided to add Matra 68 mm rocket pods, giving an increased dual air-surface and air-air firepower. Using the chart, the locations for the outer pylons were determined and small positioning holes made, since drawings and cutaways from the references were of no help. Since the chart is also made in 1/144 scale it was an easy job… Rocket pods and underfuselage drop fuel tank were assembled, while I was tackling the cockpit. The seat and instrument panel were glued to a tub and subassembly placed into the starboard fuselage half to check position against coaming. Test-fitting confirmed info from other reviews, stating that there would be a see-through effect from nose landing gear bay, so a blanking plate was made of scrap styrene, glued to rear tub bulkhead, and after cockpit decaling painted in silver-gray. Placing the instrument decals revealed that main panel decal was not covering this part completely, so the rest of the panel was touched-up using black permanent soft-tip pen. Side console decals need trimming from their carrier film, an easy thing to do, even after soaking in water. Pilot joystick was glued in place, and everything left to dry properly.

I decided to place air brakes in the closed position, and test fitting revealed I should have cut off the hinges from the main panel. After that, both air-brake main panels snap-fitted flush covering respective wells, and I used just a little liquid glue for securing them as well as one of the hinges. But, the seat for other hinge is too shallow, so instead of sanding them I just filled the seats with liquid glue. Placing air-brakes in the open position would require drilling all the holes which are shown as depression only, something I was not willing to do.

A big photo of a F.1C taking-off, from a French-language reference, showed there was a landing light in nose so one was made of clear sprue in retracted position just behind undernose blade antenna. For this I made the cuts in fuselage parts using fine needle round file at the position indicated by a round (half) panel. That would do for a retracted light, but for extended light one should be more careful. After placing a cockpit subassembly into a starboard fuselage half and gluing it, I found out what was represented by a cylinder protrusion at cockpit tub bottom – it was landing light casing. Consequently my "landing light" position is less than 1 mm moved forward, and one building extended light could find oneself with casing not being beneath an open hole – proper marking and drilling would be required. Hasegawa instructions do not state any nose weight to be added, but as we all know well this model could be tail-sitter easily, so I crammed some shaped lead into a nose. Fuselage parts were glued together, secured by rubber bands and clothespins and left to dry.

After cleaning the seams and touching up the surfaces under windscreen with R9, time came to add other things. When I realized that in assembled position I would not be able to paint leading edges of the air intake covers and half-cones tips properly, I did it immediately before gluing them into positions using R79 bluish gray as indicated by the instructions. By the way, the instructions goofed the part numbers for intake covers, but these are properly marked R and L inside, so no trouble there. All fit wonderfully, followed by the wings. Wing roots need some scrapping with blade for removing the molding seams only, and I made position wingtip lights using red and blue transparent permanent soft tip pens as indicated. Wings mated nicely too, and all I needed later was to remove excess glue from the joints, for my taste no filler needed there. Horizontal tails followed, and in almost no time the turn came to the landing gear legs, that I glued with no wheels to facilitate handling. Nose gear was placed first, followed by main gear legs and retracting arms which needed some fiddling with the tweezers to be positioned properly, and model was left standing on a support to dry overnight.

Wheels went on nicely, followed by main gear covers and underwing pylons, inner first and then outer ones. Windscreen was glued in position, and test fitting of a canopy showed that there would be no need to glue it in an intended closed position, maybe just secured with white glue – fit is that goood, typically Hasegawa. Feeling in the mood, I drilled nozzles at the missile rear ends. After some four days of work, it was time for painting.

Painting & Decalling:

Cammo scheme selected by me is plain dull, blue-gray over silver-gray. Since I had no decals for other operators, nor a big selection of the color schemes I stuck with the kit options. For first one, instead of Hasegawa recommended mixing, I used R79 bluish gray for uppersurfaces, but I first applied my mixture of silver-gray to undersurfaces including all the pylons and let it dry properly. For radome, I used Mo-Lak 10M sea gray initially, but when started drying I realized that it would be too close in shade to R79, so I dug out darkest gray that I had in my paint collection: Hu5 gloss dark Admiralty gray, I was not willing to mix another paint again. In the meantime, while the paints were drying, I painted the ordnance in recommended colors, using R310 satin white, followed by R75 and Hu5 for Matra 530, and my mixture of RLM 76 for two sky blue stripes at Matra 550 Magic missiles. RLM 76 was used for a braking parachute housing conical cover beneath rudder, also. Underfuselage tank, missile nozzles and rocket pod bodies were painted in aluminum bronze, with rocket pod noses painted in R9. (Aluminum bronze that I used is a nitro-based heat-resistant paint used here for touching-up the stoves and chimney ducts, as well as a primer on metal surfaces – practice retained from my days when here there were no dedicated model paints to buy and I was left to commercially available paints.) Finally, I used R9 for painting the anti-glare surfaces in front of windscreen as well as the windscreen frames, and to touch-up the tires, and R12 gloss yellow was used for painting the boarding ladders which were attached to base made of clear flat styrene using white glue. There were some 18 years since I used Hasegawa decals last time, and even then at the gloss painted surfaces, so the upper surfaces were covered with alkyd gloss clear paint. I left the undersurfaces as they were, very few decals were intended to be placed there.

I opted for the kit's first option, a plane from E.C. 1/5 Vendee based at Solenzara BA, I fancied the women head/flying stork fin distinctive markings more than the tiger head/wasp option(s). Being masochistic, I only later realized that I opted for most stencil-intensive one, and I eventually applied all of the required decals, starting with French roundels and continuing with smaller and smaller ones. Decals adhered nicely to glossed surfaces, but small ones not so to silver-gray painted surfaces. However, being at the places not to be touched too much during handling and there were only two of them I did not seal them with clear mat paint. I only needed to trim walkway decals at the horizontal tail surfaces, being too long for panel line in question. While I decided, wisely, not to open the holes in a cockpit for the ladders, that are short in height, I did not fill them either. For covering a rear one, I used decal-indicating number in a circle, from the same sheet, applied it in the cockpit port side, and that did the job. Matra 530 missiles got their decals also, with batch/lot number indicated. To be honest, applying the three-part roundels is exercise in patience, but I understand why decal producers prefer this option – if they print them out of register it would be unsatisfactory job but if a modeler does not position them properly it would make one a "poor modeler" since they provided all required "proper" components with all modern computerized printing technologies. By the way, the yellow-white roundel parts were printed slightly out of register anyhow. I had some French roundels in the decal dungeon, but all of them being at least 1mm in diameter bigger than kit ones rendering them unsuitable for the replacement purposes.

Final Touches:

Position of the refueling probe is faintly indicated slightly starboard from windscreen, so I glued it using dab of liquid glue, and then all gloss uppersurfaces were covered with R2 mat clear, as well as complete radome. Hasegawa indicated that windscreen central part should be blue tinted using clear blue. Since I have none, I simply did it by smearing a part with blue permanent soft tip pen, immediately followed by spreading it evenly with ethanol soaked cotton bud. Glass tinted! Underfuselage drop tank, and underwing stores were secured in position with white glue, and a dab of white glue was used at canopy hinge location just for keeping it in place. Hasegawa provided no cannon barrels, and since the cutaways show them protruding well beneath side air intakes. I sourced a pair from spares bin, I think the MG-151/20 barrels were in question but in this scale is not to be noticeable, and secured them using white glue too. All completed.

Conclusions:

Before painting and decaling I measured the model with no wingtip missiles placed and over the nose probe, and compared the measurements with data from the references, as well as from Hasegawa's own instructions. Calculations showed that kit appears to be in 1/70 scale rather than in 1/72, like Hasegawa's other kits from that period like MiG-21 f13 –no big deal in my eyes as long as a scaling is uniform.

This kit is nice one, with the parts fitting together mostly with no trouble. One can understand how Hasegawa got the good reputation between the modelers. Issue of the raised vs. engraved panel lines never bothers me, as long as a final result is looking like a real thing. Paints that I used produced a model slightly darker than shown by a box artwork, but long time ago I made my peace of mind in that I would never be able to make my models looking like artist renderings. Store options are of 1970s vintage, and for more recent configurations one could go to spare box or the aftermarket weapon sets if required. I would recommend this kit to anyone, being able not to cut oneself while detaching the parts from the sprue(s). Depending on availability, one could use Revell (re)boxing too.

Review courtesy of my valet.

References:

The Complete Book of Fighters, by William Green and Gordon Swarnborough,
Technik und Einsatz der Kampflugzeuge, by Bill Gunston (in German),
Militaerflugzeuge, der Gegenwart aus aller Welt, by Bill Gunston (in German),
The Illustrated Directory of Fighters, by Mike Spick,
Encyclopédie des Avions, compiled and edited by Wilfried Kopenhagen and Dr. Rolf Neustadt (in French),
The Complete Guide to Fighters & Bombers of the World, by Francis Crosby.

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