PJ Productions

1/72 Mirage III B/B2/BJ

Kit Number: 721024

Reviewed by  Jim Pearsall, IPMS# 2209

MSRP: €40.00 ($54.25) The Aircraft The Mirage III series entered production in the early 1960s. With the high-performance aircraft came the problems of pilot familiarization and training. So just as the USAF's P-80 spawned the T-33, and the F-104 had to have the two-seat F-104B, so also came the Mirage IIIB two seater. The Mirage IIIB is about 1 meter longer than the single seater, and the guns, radar and AAM capability are deleted. The capability for carrying various underwing stores is still there, but usually this consists of fuel tanks. If you are really adventurous, and don't want to use the kit decals, there are a few countries who have used the Mirage III series. I doubt if any of them didn't have at least one IIIB. Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, France, Gabon, Israel, Libya, Lebanon, Pakistan, Peru, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Venezuela and Zaire. The Model The kit is mostly resin, with photoetch detail parts, white metal landing gear, and vacuform canopy. The resin is pale tan, fairly soft, and very easy to work. One of the pleasant things about working a PJP aircraft kit is that there just aren't any air bubbles in the parts. Well, actually there was ONE in this kit, in the ventral strake, which was easily dealt with; a spot of Mr. Surfacer 500. The photoetch includes two boarding ladders. The markings are for two natural metal aircraft, Armée de l'Air and Israel, and a camouflaged French aircraft. The panel lines are recessed, and very fine, and the detail in the landing gear wells and cockpit are (dare I use this word?) awesome. This is not a cheap kit, but you definitely get what you pay for. Construction This is a very straightforward kit. Assemble the fuselage, put on the wing and vertical stabilizer, add the landing gear, attach the gear doors, hang the drop tanks, and except for a few PE antennas and the canopy, it's done. This is about as close to a "box shaker" as you're going to find in a resin kit. This is not to say that there aren't any tough parts, fit issues, or challenges; just that there aren't any "show stoppers" anywhere in the assembly process. And, of course I decided to do the tougher paint job. The biggest challenge I had when assembling the fuselage were the intakes. The fit was pretty good, but the PE splitter plates have a tiny support which touches the fuselage. I managed to break off one of the top ones while putting the plate on. I found it, and in the process of attaching it, lost it. After manufacturing a new part from the scrap photoetch, I got it on. The other "fiddly thing" was the ejection handles. Both of the pull ring parts were broken in shipping, but were fairly easy to fix with short pieces of wire. I'm very happy with how good these seats look with just a little paint and a wash. Here's a cute trick I picked up. These little cosmetic application sponges are pretty cheap, reusable, and are soft enough to put in a painted cockpit or wheel wells without destroying the detail. They expand to fill the space, and are a lot easier to put in there than trying to mask the area. I assembled the main parts, but before adding anything fragile, I did the masking and painting, then put the Future coat on, then most of the decals. I have begun to recognize that the more fiddly parts I put on before I do the decals, the more I have to repair after I do the decals. The decals are good quality, coming off the backing paper in just a few seconds, and moving freely to where I wanted them. I don't know if they required Micro Set ® or a bit of watered white glue, but that's my practice, and they went where I wanted them, stood up nicely to nudging into place, and dried flat. The unit markings on the tail required a second application of Micro Set to get rid of a bit of silvering. Otherwise, no problems. I was concerned about the red/yellow stripes on the wings, but they worked up just fine. The white metal landing gear are cleanly molded, with just a fine mold line to remove. Not enough to cause removal of detail, just a scrape with the #11 blade was enough to clean them up. The other nice thing about these gear legs is that I don't have to worry about them supporting the nose after I've added way too much weight to keep the aircraft in the correct position. I decided to use the sprues from the metal wheels as part of the display. As you can see in this picture, the wheels don't sit on the surface. I pressed them into a piece of foam core board which I'm now using for the display base. The aircraft isn't glued down, but it won't slide around. I finished the project up by installing the canopy. If I were doing this again (and I may still redo it) I would build this kit with the canopy open. The boarding ladders hang from the side of the cockpit, and the only way I could figure to display these little jewels was laid on the tarmac next to the aircraft. There are also some little pitot tubes and antennae which are installed last, if you're as prone to snapping things off as I am. The left wing tank is on its' third attachment.

Overall Assessment I've built a couple of PJP kits previously, and they've been very good. The Mirage III B is the best yet. The problems I had with assembly were all of the "Shoot myself in the foot" category. And this is a good-looking finished model. Thanks to IPMS/USA and Phillipe for a chance to build a great kit.

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