1/72 Special Hobby Super Mystere SMB.2 Sa’ar
The Super Mystere Sa'ar was a development of the French version which the original ATAR turbojet was replaced with a non afterburning J-52 that was used in the IAI's A-4 Skyhawks. It served in the 1967 and 1973 Arab Israeli wars gaining some notoriety as they were used in the Israeli attack on the intelligence ship USS Liberty in 1967.
Probably the easiest Special Hobby kit I've built. The seam work was fill/sand but few repeats unlike the typical Special Hobby kit which requires multiple sessions of fill/sand. The wing to fuselage required some filler (Acrylic putty) and some plastic card inserted at the end to keep the trailing edge glued to the fuselage. The fuselage was glued together mostly with CA glue on the visible seams and Tamiya extra thin for the hidden ones (this method pretty much eliminates the phantom seam as CA glue doesn't shrink unlike seams glued with Tamiya extra thin (or any other liquid glue for that matter.))
This model needs some nose weight but I forgot so I had to jam five BB sized lead sinkers in the intake to keep the nose landing gear on the ground. This was my only major mistake with the model.
I picked the operation version of 096 because I like the Israeli Netz camo scheme even if it is a pain sometimes to paint. The wheel wells were painted Vallejo off white and the intake silver, the rest of the plane was painted in Tamiya Colors (Sky Grey, Buff, Dark Earth, Mitsubishi Interior Green, Metallic Grey , light blue and flat black) with cut tape masks to keep the demarcation lines between the colors sharp. The decals weren't a problem and the plane was weathered using Tamiya brown and black panel line washes.
The final assembly was the canopy which was quite fiddly.
I don't usually build 1/72, but unfortunately all of the 1/48 versions of the Super Mystere are either out of production and short run kits that aren't easy to build.
You did a wonderful job on your super Mystere, Dan.
Painting and weathering is great!
The Mystere/Super Mystere is an impotrtant aspect of modern aviation, being it a pity that it is not representred by a modern mainstream kit in 1/48.
Thank you. Unlike Peter Jackson, I like French aircraft 😉 which have played an important role in aviation history. They are overlooked compared to US, German and even Soviet/Russian ones.
Nice work!
Thank you!
Great paintwork, Dan. I really like this. Interestingly, 1/48 Fonderies-Miniatures kit, while still something to approach with care, isn't as bad as people think it is.
https://modelingmadness.com/review/korean/french/cleaversm.htm
I forgot about that one. However, Fonderies Minatures had the rep of being kind of scary kits to build. I have the Mystere IVA.
Rumors is Special Hobby is coming out with a 1/48 version, but I read that one some two plus years ago.
The FM kits are becoming more and more rarities ...
Pity (for me, only, I think...), as I love them, despite their definite difficulty to build. Their Mysterws were difficult to locate even 15 years ago, during the FM/HITECH/XTRAKIT strong and brave years...
The 2016 rumours of 1/48 Special Hobby Mystere family, seem to fade away...
@tcinla, @dbdlee
Super-looking Super Mystere Dan.
I've always liked the Netz camo, I'm trying it out on an F-16.
I feel the Netz scheme stands out because it is one of the few modern camo schemes that isn't a grey/grey/grey/grey low viz camo (I don't find those very interesting to paint.)
Nicely done Dan, looks good in that scheme !
I like the colorful Netz scheme. Painting it can be kind of difficult, but it requires more patience than sometimes I feel I have. Thanks!
I have to admire your perseverance, Dan, particularly in this scale, and what a great result. Definitely liked.
Thanks. I enjoyed building this one.
A very nice build in a nice scheme, Dan.
You did very well on this 1/72, even if it is not your usual size.
It wasn't as scary as I thought it could be. My eyes are starting to catch up to my age which is why I prefer the bigger scales, but Special Hobby did a really good job with this kit.
Nice! We’re seeing a lot of these built.
I was actually going to post this one a couple of weeks back, but Allon beat me to it. So I waited for a bit.
These are really nice kits, easy to build. Special Hobby should be commended.
Beautifully done! Love the scheme and the aircraft - I may have to add that kit to my stash.