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Cold War (1950-1974)
Discuss the aircraft modeling subjects during the Cold War period.
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REVIEW
Hobby Boss Mirage IIICJ
TedMamere
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Moselle, France
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Posted: Friday, February 16, 2007 - 02:37 AM UTC


Andy Brazier (betheyn) sent us a detailled review of the new 1/48 scale Mirage IIICJ kit by Hobby Boss. Looks like a very nice kit and... it's a French aircraft!

Link to Item

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!
betheyn
Staff MemberSenior Editor
AEROSCALE
#019
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England - South East, United Kingdom
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Posted: Friday, February 16, 2007 - 02:47 AM UTC
Thanks Jean Luc.
When i looked at the Eduard Mirage sprues online, and then compared them to the HB ones, the HB looked better. But until I get my hands on the "Weekend Edition" Mirage, I can't be definite.
Andy
alpha_tango
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Germany
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Posted: Friday, February 16, 2007 - 03:13 AM UTC
Hi Andy

Nice review!!!!

What really interests me: Is it a copy of the Eduard kit ? ... sprues-wise they are different, but ...

I am not politically motivated as some guys on other forums might be (a la "do not buy Ferengi stuff") but the whole programme smells alittle like "Dolly" .....Rafales could be Revell clones, (excellent model BTW), A-10 are surely scaled down Trumpeter .. know what I mean?

The problem would be that these clones might be first rate (even better in some points), but what when the companies that are betrayed go belly up .. who will produce the first rate models to be cloned and improved? ... just a thought

best wishes

Steffen

betheyn
Staff MemberSenior Editor
AEROSCALE
#019
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Posted: Friday, February 16, 2007 - 03:19 AM UTC
I'm pretty sure that the Mirage aren't Eduard copies. There is a number of differences when you compare the sprues.
The A-10s I would have thought were scaled down Trumpeter kits, there T-34s were.
Andy
alpha_tango
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Germany
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Posted: Friday, February 16, 2007 - 03:43 AM UTC
Hi Andy

that's not what I mean (as already stated in my pevious post) I am not after legal issues .. they surely have changed enough so it is not too obvious

.. someone made an intersting experiment with the Tamiya and ICM P-51 --- one fuselage half from each ... fits perfectly ...

I'm looking forward to your build report!

cheers

Steffen
betheyn
Staff MemberSenior Editor
AEROSCALE
#019
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England - South East, United Kingdom
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Posted: Friday, February 16, 2007 - 04:43 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Hi Andy

that's not what I mean (as already stated in my pevious post) I am not after legal issues .. they surely have changed enough so it is not too obvious

.. someone made an intersting experiment with the Tamiya and ICM P-51 --- one fuselage half from each ... fits perfectly ...

I'm looking forward to your build report!

cheers

Steffen

Yeah I know what you mean Steffen, I'm not after legal issues either, as my first thought was that they were Eduard copies when they were released, but now I'm not so sure they are.
Once Eduard release the Mirage as a "Weekend Edition" I'll do a side by side comparison.
That is an interesting experiment, i wonder how many other kits out there would match up !
I must admit that I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on the A-10 kit, as long as I can sneak it past the Beloved :-)8 :-) .
Andy
alpha_tango
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Germany
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Posted: Friday, February 16, 2007 - 01:08 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Yeah I know what you mean Steffen, I'm not after legal issues either, as my first thought was that they were Eduard copies when they were released, but now I'm not so sure they are.
Once Eduard release the Mirage as a "Weekend Edition" I'll do a side by side comparison.
That is an interesting experiment, i wonder how many other kits out there would match up !
I must admit that I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on the A-10 kit, as long as I can sneak it past the Beloved :-)8 :-) .
Andy


Hi Andy

I just bought myself the profipack for 28 Euro .. sure a little more expensive than the Weekend edition, but still a great price .. only have to get the pavla seat now. ... I hope someone will do a Nesher too. BTW the osprey is not too bad, though I find Shlomo Aloni's books a little too patriotic .. but thats no real problem as the combat aircraft series has some books that cope with the othere side, so I can "mix" my own view from them.

Onfortunately I did not have the chance to take a look into the HB A-10 box that my pal Volker brought from Nuremberg ... but he took a few pix and I think it is a nice model (not sure about the accuracy, but the scale police will surely coe up soom with that...) here are some pix of the sprues: A-10 Thunderbolt II

OTOH I am occupied by many many (...) projects sooo I just hope to get some of them finished soon before I start other models ...

best wishes

Steffen
Tarok
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Victoria, Australia
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Posted: Tuesday, February 27, 2007 - 11:51 AM UTC
Hi Andy,

Nice review.

I'm not at all a wingy-thing guy, so please forgive my somewhat ignorant questions...

You mentioned that the IIIC was marketed as the IIICJ to Israel and the IIICZ to South Africa. What were the major differences between the baseline C, the CJ and the CZ? Could this CJ easily be converted to a CZ without any major AM purchases? Or would you recommend a different 1/48 Mirage for conversion to SA colours?

Thanks again for the review.

Rudi
alpha_tango
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Germany
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Posted: Tuesday, February 27, 2007 - 01:43 PM UTC
Hi Rudi

No differences, as the eduard kits have both decals inside. J and Z are just designations for the land that get the planes .... there were more, but I am no expert.

BTW your IPMS site hase a LOT of useful information: http://newsite.ipmssa.za.org

cheers

Steffen
Tarok
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Victoria, Australia
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Posted: Tuesday, February 27, 2007 - 01:54 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Hi Rudi

No differences, as the eduard kits have both decals inside. J and Z are just designations for the land that get the planes there were more ... but I am no expert.

BTW your IPMS site hase a LOT of useful information: http://newsite.ipmssa.za.org

cheers

Steffen


Hi Steffen,

Thanks.

Yeah, the local IPMS site is ok-ish. Personally I find it too "local" and too "wingy".... i.e. it's great if you build SAAF aircraft. Now IPMS Stockholm... now there's a great IPMS site!

Rudi
GR1
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Posted: Sunday, March 11, 2007 - 05:43 PM UTC
Started to post this in response to the Mirage review because I was initially disappointed that it was only an in box review. I realise now that it is listed as First Look. In that sense, it's good to know what is in there!

I am going to be picky though - constructive criticism I hope. The photographs are a bit limited in usefulness because the shadows make them a bit unclear. Try using more subdued lighting or bouncing/diffusing your flash. Finally, there is no way that the decal sheet is A3 in size!!! I haven't seen it but then again, I haven't seen many A3 decal sheets...
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