For those interested, I thought it would be nice that I try something completely new and tackle a jet for the first time.
My subject of choice is Eduard’s Weekend Edition 1/48 Mirage IIIC, Djibouti camo (sand and dark earth), as I am a sucker for anything connected to the desert.
Again, I will be building it OOB and experimenting with my Complementary Pre-Shading method, meaning that I will be using mainly purple hues for this job.
Any tips on assembling and painting a jet fighter, preferably a Mirage, would be much much appreciated!
Cockpit completed. Needs a few touch-ups but that’s that.
Primed with Vallejo black primer, filtered with Vallejo Intermediate Blue and washed with a black wash. Slight wear drybrushed with aluminium.
The seat was painted with Tamiya Olive Drab and filtered with Tamiya yellow followed by a brown wash. Then the seatbelt decal was applied with some more brown wash.
As I said, nothing special.
I didn’t plan on putting too much time into the cockpit and investing in interior details as the canopy will be closed anyway. This will be a simple weekend edition OOB, more of a practice and painting experimentation model.
Since I will have the canopy open due to some misalignment of the canopy and the fuselage top (could be my own doing) I thought to add some interest by painting the ejection pull handles as they should be.
The handle is wrong as it should be a “D” handle, but I just didn’t have enough patience and will to change it this time. It is what it is.
I masked the darn thing which was very touchy, nevertheless interesting, so the scale of the spiral is probably off.
I could have just painted it without masking but hey, why do it easy when you can complicate things.
OK, definitely not a kit for someone with little free time like moi.
The fit is not tragic, but also not very good. Needs filling, sanding, rescribing and all that jazz which I would rather not be doing that much right now. I should probably have chosen a nice Tamiya kit… …and should probably stick with Tamiya kits until the kids are a bit older and I have more time to waste on fixing fit issues.
Anyway, pushing through… Almost ready for the primer.
Nice work so far. Those big step gaps are the worst. I find they take the most time and are the most dificult to conceal but it looks like you’re working the issues. Comming along nicely.
BTW I did the ESCI KFIR as an aggressor - almost went in the trash or 3 times, proabably my biggest nightmare of a kit. Maybe it’s a Dassault issue lol
The Mirage is looking great. Surprised how big it is in 1/48. Keavdog, nice job on the Kfir. I built that kit years ago and I remember it being a tough one.
White highlights applied to simulate directional light later on.
Sticking with my Complementary Pre-shading method and experimenting further, I pre-shaded with purple as it is in the complementary color range to the base color (Vallejo Middlestone) and also to the dark yellow primer.
Apologies for awful photos. My phone camera is not very talented.
A few steps down the line in experimenting with my Complementary Pre-Shading method:
First couple of very thin passes of Vallejo Middlestone over the purple and white pre-shading scheme.
The paint withdrew from the panel lines in some spots (maybe it has something to do with it being very thin) but no worries, since more layers are coming along with panel line washes.
The color varies in the photos due to my bad phone camera and different lighting conditions. I tried to get it as best as I could.
I purchased this kit just a couple days ago, and expect it wll arrive before the weekend.
Your magnificent build gives me inspiration and will serve as handy guide when I start assembling my Mirage IIIc. Although I can assure you, my build won’t be close to your quality. Thanks so much.
Thank you very much! Appreciated. You are welcome.
The kit is generally ok, but arm yourself with patience because there will be sanding and filling, especially at the bottom front section, as you have probably seen me whining about it earlier in the thread.
You might want to add little pieces of flat plastic on the inside of the fuselage and wing parts to help align them. I was stupid enough not to do it even after test fitting.
I also added some lead in the nose section just in case, so I don’t end up with a tail sitter. It might have been unnecessary but better safe than sorry.
…and should probably stick with Tamiya kits until the kids are a bit older and I have more time to waste on fixing fit issues. 
