Israeli Air Force Dassault Mirage III C 1-48 by Academy

by Academy Models

Product Features

• Plastic Model Kit-Assembly Required
• Glue and Paint sold separately

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B0009ODLNU
• Item model number: 1622
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #106,815 in Toys & Games (See Top 100 in Toys & Games)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

Product Description

1/48 Scale. All Academy kits are highly detailed and come with detailed instructions and waterslide decals. Skill level 2

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Nicely done model of the Mirage, November 11, 2011

By 

William A. Hensler (Holt, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

= Durability:3.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Israeli Air Force Dassault Mirage III C 1-48 by Academy (Toy)

The Mirage is a late 1950s design, perfected in the early 1960s, and saw quite a bit of action from the mid-1960s until the end of the Cold War. It was the best small fighter made in the West until the advent of the F-5E Tiger II. The Mirage was about the only small figher that was a match for the excellent Soviet MiG-21. This Academy 1/48 model represents the Mirage IIIC that was used by Israel to great effect in the Arab-Israeli War of 1967.

My sample of this model had 50 parts. The parts come molded in light grey, have three batches of grey parts, one batch of clear parts, a fair set of instructions, and decals.

Before you assemble this model do a google search of "Mirage Walk Around". Note the cockpit is painted grey and instruments are flat black (matt black). US and British fighters have the landing gear and wheel wells painted white. Instead the French use a silver paint and some zinc chromate. The AIM-9 missiles and launchers should be semi-gloss white in color. The tires are flat black, jet engine should be a combination of flat black and gun metal, radome should be flat black, and the overall body should be silver. The Israeli Mirage IIIs were not painted for the '67 war.

All in all the fit and finish is O.K. It is a B grade. The panels are recessed. Additionally, the plastic is easy to cut, the pieces have no flash, and this plastic takes Testor's cement well (Cement For Plastic, Value Pack). The decals slide right on and are fairly good.

This model makes a fairly nice build. It's not as good as either the excellent Mirage III kits by Eduard or Hobby Boss. Both of those kits now cost close to 40 dollars and this kit only cost around sixteen dollars with shipping. So, quality does cost a little more in this case.

Now, to the build. First, if you're making a Mirage that did the raids in '67 do not put the pylons or missiles on the aircraft. The Israeli jets flew to the raid in clean configuration with only fuel tanks and the airfields were attacked with the 30mm cannons. Second, Part #24 should be put on so it fills in the gap on the lower wing, part #3. Next, there are two "notches on the lower part of the jet intakes. Those should be the gun openings. You may want to drill them out and install a very small tube to simulate cannon barrels. You will have some gaps to fill on the lower wing, around the jet intakes, and then you'll have to fill in where the missile pylons went on the wings. I suggest using Contour Putty by Testors. A small amount will fill in the lines.

I had to use two .49 caliber lead balls superglued to the front to weight the aircraft down or it would sit on the tail. Put those behind the front seat. Part #20 should be open. I elected to close it because there is no good wheel well (that cost a half a star). Next, the instructions show parts #26 and #25 rear wheel wells closed. They were not closed. They were open at 75 degree angles. However, once again there is only a partial wheel well. So, I left the wells closed. The landing gear is very simple, too simple in fact. The front landing gear reminded me of something found on an old Lindberg model of the fifties. But it's beefy and can hold the lead in the front nose of the aircraft. The whole aircraft wss painted in silver. The wheel wells and landing gear was painted in flat metal.

In no case use the Matra missile if it's given on this model. The 500 pound Matra was designed to shoot down lumbering Soviet Bombers and not nimble MiGs; that would have been a French and NATO worry and not Israel's. I have found nothing where the Israeli used that missle. Leave both the center missile pylon and Matra off this kit.

I built my model and found the fuel tank fins have large gaps between parts #45 and 44; there are two sets to fix. It's annoying and must be filled in. The Mirages always flew with fuel tanks, unless in a fight and they blew them off prior to combat, so you'll have to fix this. That is another 1/2 star. The only time the Mirage didn't have fuel tanks was right after a mission but that's a diorama and not the subject of a simple build.

I like painting the pilot. This pilot was too simple but rather than replace him with an excellent after market kit hew was painted. I doubted a good after market pilot figure would fit inside of the small Mirage cockpit. Additionally, this kit costs only ten dollars and putting a twenty dollar resin pilot in it didn't make a lot of sense.

This model makes a good representation of the '67 Israeli Mirage. I would not try to convert it to a Mirage in the '73 war because you'll need a new decal sheet and a paint guide. That is done quite well in the excellent Eduard kit. At this point I have not seen it for sale at Amazon. But you can find it at squadron(dot)com. The trouble is that web site charges 20% more than Amazon.

Still, I had a lot of fun with this kit. It builds into a nice representation of the Mirage IIIC. The whole point of modeling is to have fun and make a good kit.

Best of luck with your build.