Will be soon putting together an Academy 1:48 Mirage IIIC in Israeli livery (called the Shahak). The Israelis did not use the Matra AAM missiles the French used with it, instead relying on the US-made AIM-9 Sidewinder. I’m shopping online for the Sidewinder missiles to use with the model.
Question. Will AIM-9s fit the wing hardpoints on a Mirage IIIC? If not, how much fiddling am I looking at?
Not sure about the hardpoint/mount issue but Reskit make nice AIM-9P
https://www.scalemates.com/kits/reskit-rs48-0238-aim-9p-sidewinder-missile--1328089
The Israeli’s used their locally made Shafrir/Python missiles and US made AIM-9D/G/H types with the Mirage III, as well as captured Atoll missiles. Which just happened to be a reverse engineered exact copy of the AIM-9B.
Not sure about what rails/adapters the Israelis used, but mounting aftermarket missiles isn’t too bad as far as the amount of fiddling goes. For mounting ordnance, I have started using 0.3 mm brass rod https://houseofhobbies.com/products/243 and drilling shallow, 0.3mm holes in both the ordnance and the hardpoint/adapter/rail. That makes a solid, clean way to mount them. Just use a little CA to glue the rods into the holes you drilled. My drilling jig fabrication technique has evolved a little over the past couple of years to using small strips of styrene, but it can be done with something as simple as a PostIt note to make the holes line up on both items that you’re joining together. Makes the task of mounting ornance (aftermarket…and many times, the stuff in the kit that was supposedly designed to go on easily, but doesn’t) so much easier and cleaner, so I just use it for everything now.