Dassault Mirage IIIC from Eduard 1/48 Scale Kit
Christmas break build here - an Eduard weekend edition (lol, took much longer than that!) Mirage IIIC kit with the very eye-catching early Armee de l'Air scheme.
Had some serious fit issues requiring a lot of filler, sanding and fuselage warping corrections, and had some serious torment with the AK Xtreme metal range polished aluminium in that it was basically useless and gave a worse finish despite surface prep than their standard aluminium. Also, it was extremely fragile, scratched and lifted at the slightest provocation and reacted with the adhesive on standard tamiya masking tape necessitating hours of sanding and re-painting.
Anyway, build video here for those interested:
https://youtu.be/dwPRGzwuJvo
very attractive metal finish and scheme
Cheers bob!
That NMF turned out beautifully, sir...one of the best I've seen.
You're too kind Craig, but thanks nonetheless! 🙂
What I do for my natural metal finish models is to shoot one shade of metal and then coat it with "Future" floor wax or Johnson floor wax ...what ever its now named. Then shoot another shade followed by another coat etc,etc. I've had similar problems with MM metalizer paints and the "Wax" helps prevent some of the lifting and gives some durability to the finish. It isn't bullet proof but, it does help. The model looks traffic and the use of Youtube is good use of the of the medium. Seeing the process goes along way.
Two thumbs up.
Thanks Stephen! I was trying to have as few layers of varnish involved as possible to preserve the surface detail which in true Eduard fashion is very nice but quite subtle so easily filled in by mistake... With Alclad I'd have expected the lifting and melting and so protected it better as you suggest but one of the selling points of the AK range is its supposed resistance to scratching and lifting - not so in this case!
Yeah, proof is eating the pudding...the best silver or metallic paint that I have used was Floquil Old Silver a model railroad paint. I'd use that for the base and then apply the metalizers followed by the "Future" applications. It pigments were finely ground,it sprayed straight from the bottle and was loved by hobbyists. Model railroaders and modelers alike. The flat white was a excellent primer too. Short story company sold ...line discontinued to better serve the hobbyist. How we hobbyist suffer for our art.
Another outstanding model Justin, one of the nicest NMF schemes presented here. Most would've gone to another scheme if the kit requires too much work and prep to accept a natural finish. You persevered and the end result is beautiful. The video again a nice touch as well. Thanks for sharing, Happy New Year!
Thank you so much Chuck - that really means a lot! This one really was more work than I was anticipating! 😀
Happy New Year to you too!
You've managed a very beautiful build!
Thank you Robert!
Lovely work Justin! this is a fabulous scheme for Mirages and you have done it justice here.
I use AK extreme metals, and generally speaking find them durable and easy to spray, however one or two shades, and I think polished aluminium may be one, are not that great
I'm glad I'm not the only one who has trouble with it! Dropped the bottle of polished aluminium near the end of the build anyway so hopefully a new bottle might be better in future! 😉
Ese metal pulido ha que dado perfecto! Es el clásico Mirage III C ,con los colores franceses que todos hemos admirado ,la flecha plateada que alguna vez hemos modelado en 1/72.
En 1/48 queda mucho más detallado y real. ¡Precioso!
Has vuelto a sorprendernos aunque el Mustang y el Mig me gustaron mucho. Dominas el plata pulido.Gracias por el video,es una información muy valiosa.
Well - the end result is a beautiful finish! Love the Mirage deltas, and this one is a beaut!