Hobby Boss 80316 Mirage IIICJ (Fuerza Aérea Argentina C-708)

Kit#: 80316.

Price: 54$

Decals: Two Options.

Notes: Condor Decals 48054 "Mirage IIIEA/CJ in the Argentine Air Force" used.

History:

The Mirage IIIC version originated due to a contract between the French Air Force and Avions Marcel Dassault for 100 Mirage IIIA, which was confirmed on August 5 1958. Due to the constant testing by the manufacturer before beginning production, several modifications were added to the basic A model: An enlarged fuselage (14,73m) and a Thomson CSF Cyrano I bis radar optimised for interception. The first flight of the C version was on October 9 1960, at the Bordaux-Merignac airfield. At the controls was Jean Coreau.

The SCNECMA Atar 9B-3 engine provided 3880kg of thrust, and it gave 6000kg with post combustion.

Initially, three underwing  hard points could be installed, two under the wings and one under the fuselage. Each were capable of carrying 500 of bombs. In standard configuration, a missile R-511 was attached on the central hard point, and two supersonic fuel tanks of 500 litres or the RP62 tanks of 1200 litres were installed under the wings. For short range missions, the fuel tanks were replaced by two AIM-9B Sidewinders. Later, Matra developed the R-530 missile of infrared guidance witha  range of 18km, replacing the R-511. To further increase the combat capacity of the Mirage, the other models received two more underwing hard points with capacity for Sidewinder missiles, Matra R-550 Magic and other armament.

Production for France ended in 1962 with the 92nd. Originally, they were delivered to the 2nd and 13th Fighter Squadrons in Dijon and Colmar respectively. The last operative flight of a French Mirage IIIC was in Djibouti on August 12 1988.

Together with the French machines, 89 more aircraft were manufactured, of which 72 were exported to Israel (denominated CJ and BJ) between July 1961 and July 1964, 16 to South Africa, and the remaining aircraft were delivered to Switzerland (Mirage IIICS).

The Kit:

Hobby Boss's Mirage IIICJ comes in a top opening box with six sprues inside: Three for the main parts, two for the weaponry and fuel tanks, and one clear sprue. The parts are molded in a light grey, hard plastic. The decal sheet has options for three Israeli Mirage IIICJs.

Construction:

I began by checking the internet for the cockpit colour of the Mirage IIICJ, since Hobby Boss doesn't provide colour callouts for it. Two photos showed two different colours, Interior Green and Black. I went for Black, since it would be easier to paint. The first thing I did was to paint the ejector seat and cockpit in black, while that was drying I painted the wheel wells in aluminium. After all the paint was dry, I assembled the ejector seat, cockpit and wheel wells. 

With that done, I moved on to the wings. Before glueing the wings, you need to install the wheel wells and open up the holes for the fuel tanks of missiles. These were painted in aluminium, and when dry, were installed into the wings. I also opened the holes on the wings to make way for the 1200 litre fuel tanks.

After completing the wings, I decided the build the engine. This is a 7 parts assemble, which builds up quite fast and has to be glued to the right hand fuselage. I did so, and then moved on to attach the cockpit.

Now, onto the cockpit installation. Hobby Boss provides no indication of where to install the cockpit. but an indentation for the rear cockpit bulkhead indicates where to install it. Before closing the fuselage, I glued to the roof of the wheel wells a 30g lead weight, just to be sure the aircraft wasn't a tail sitter. After all that was dry, I glued the second half of the fuselage. I had to glue the two engine air intakes to the fuselage.

With the intakes glued, I glued the wings to the fuselage. This assembly resulted in some gaps, so I taped the fuselage and wings together so I could excert so pressure and close the gaps. With that done, I glued the ailerons in place. I also glued at this stage the ventral fin and the aileron actuators.

Colours and Markings:

I wanted to have an Argentinian MIrage for quite some time. I chose, from the Condor Decals decal sheet, Mirage IIICJ C-708 of the IV Air Brigade, based at El Plumerillo, Mendoza, in 1985. The colour scheme was of Sand and Dark Earth. I first painted the entire aircraft with Revell 16 Sand, and then free handed with a medium brush Revell 87 Earth Brown. I then gloss coated the aircraft with two coats of Revell gloss varnish to prepare the surface for the decals. I first put the roundels, then the flag, the airbrakes "Do Not Step" on the wings, and then the "Fuerza Aérea Argentina" indicators (one folded on itself and I couldn´t recover it, luckily there were four of them provided. After decalling had been completed, I matt coated the surface with Revell's matt varnish.

Final Construction:

I glued the landing gear in place, then the wheels and after that the landing gear doors. The landing gear installation is a bit weak, but it strengthens itself after the glue hardens. The fuel tanks were painted in the camouflage colour and were glued in place.

Conclusions:

Hobby Boss's Mirage III is a good kit, it builds easily and has almost no issues. Recommended for all Mirage III fans out there.

Hasegawa 7213 North American F-86F-30 Sabre (Fuerza Aérea Argentina)

Kit#: PT13.

Price: 47$

Decals: Two options.

Notes: Aerocalcas 48014 used.

History:

The F-86 in Argentinian service: "By the end of the 1950s, the Argentinian Air Force negotiated the acquisition of a total of up to 112 Sabres, which didn´t come to fruition. The possible acquisition of these aircraft cancelled the local production of the Pulqui 2.

After attempts to buy 36 Canadair Sabre, the FAA manages the USAF to sell them 28 planes of the F-30 model. These machines had between 1200 and 2000 flight hours, 16 of which were stored at the Davis Monthan AFB, Arizona. In May, they are sent to the North American plant at Inglewood to be refurbished, while the remaining 12 were storaged at Mclellan AFB, and were sent to Inglewood. In North American, they're modified to the F-40 standard, which had slatted wings and the possibility to carry underwing stores.

Once the refurbishment was complete, the in-flight delivery operation to Argentina began. Operation "Sabre" consisted in several delivery flights. The Argentinian pilots which were sent to the United States in 1959 made their training flights in Lockheed T-33s and F-86F belonging to the 4530th Combat Crew Training Wing on the Williams AFB.

The first lot of 12 units departs Williams AFB on August 18th, arriving to El Plumerillo AFB in Mendoza province on September 26th. This squadron was under command of Commodore Jorge Martínez Zuviría, and with him there were Major of the USAF Manuel J. Fernández, Korean War veteran, who served as consultant for the operation of these aircraft in Argentina.

After departing Williams AFB, they made a stop on the Alabama AFB, waiting for hurricane Donna to pass, which was hitting the Florida coast. After the hurricane, they flew again, landing at the Florida AFB, Kingston (Jamaica), Howard AFB in the Panama Canal zone, and from there they made a non-stop flight to the Talara AFB in Perú. Later they did a stop on the Pisco AFB in Perú, and later in Antofagasta, Chile.

Of the 12 planes, only 9 would arrive to El Plumerillo, due to C-116 having to remain at Talara to repair a generator failure, and C-109 and C-115 had to remain in Antofagasta due to minor failures. On the transfer operation, logistical support was given by the Argentinian Air Force with two Douglas C-54s and a Grumman S-16 Albatros of the USAF.

By December 10th of 1960, all the aircraft arrive at Argentina, and they're sent to the 1st Fighter Bomber Group, IV Air Brigade, based at El Plumerillo, Mendoza, forming two squadrons."

The Kit: 

Inside the top opening box there's a total of 10 sprues, nine in light grey hard plastic and one in clear plastic. Parts a perfectly moulded without visible blemishes or flash. 

The single instruction sheet is of the foldable style with 14 construction steps diagrammed in black and white. They're very clear and easy to follow.

There're two colourful decal options provided on this kit:

1) F-86F-30 FU222 of the 21st Fighter Bomber Wing, Commander's aircraft.

2) F-86F-30 FU877 of the 8th Fighter Bomber Wing, Commmander's aircraft. 

Construction:

I began by painting all the cockpit pieces in light grey (Revell 76) and black. Once the pieces were dry, I glued them together and waited for the glue to set. Meanwhile, I set off to work on the wings. Since I was building an Argentinian aircarft, I filled the holes for the wing fences, opened up the underwing fuel tanks location holes, and glued the wings together. Once I had that done, I glued the dried cockpit above the intake tube, together with a bunch of lead weight to give the aircraft a heavy nose. After glueing the lead weights with epoxi glue to the intake, I glued the fuselage halves and taped them together. After that, I glued the wings and the horizontal stabilizers.

Colours and Markings:

The Aerocalcas decals I had to use showed me the aircraft was in an NMF overall colour. I primed the entire plane with Light Grey (Revell 76), and then brushed the surfaces with Revell Steel (91). After that, I masked and painted the black antiglare panel on the nose. Once the paint had set, I brushed to coats of Revell's gloss varnish in preparation for the decals.

Aerocalcas decals are thin and a bit brittle, but they perform well and don't disappoint. I chose Sabre C-111, since that was the aircraft shown on the decalling instructions. After decalling, I coated the aircraft with two coats of Revell's matt varnish.

Final Construction:

This section is where you glue all the little and fragile pieces that may not make it til the end of the painting stage. For me it involves glueing the landing gear, adding the wheels and glueing the clear parts. The landing gear struts were painted in the fuselage colour, the wheels were painted with steel coloured hubs with tank grey tyres. The clear parts were painted and glued into the aircraft, and the aircraft was completed.

Conclusions:

A good kit to build, with nice fit and excellent details, highly recommended.

References:

http://www.amilarg.com.ar/north-american-sabre.html

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Hasegawa 9075 Vought F4U-5N Corsair (Armada Argentina)

Kit#: 9075.

Price: 25$

Decals: Two options.

Notes: Difficult fit between the fuselage and wings. Phoenix Decals used for Argentinian markings.

History:

"In 1957, the Aviación Naval Argentina acquired the Corsair F4U-5/-5N for the tanks of daylight and night fighter. The Corsairs were assigned to the Escuadrilla Aeronaval de Combate based at Punta Indio, which would be later relocated to the Base Aeronaval Comandante Espora as 2° Escuadrilla Aeronaval de Ataque, which would be designated to the ARA Independencia aircraft carrier in 1959. With these aircraft, Argentina became a regional leader becaus it had aircraft with radar.

From the beginning the Corsairs were base to secondary airfields alongside the Patagonia, were they did several missions thanks to their huge armament capacity. Between them is the mission made in 1958 to the Estación Aeronaval Río Gallegos due to the border conflicts between Chile and Argentina. The next year they were deployed to Estación Aeronaval Puerto Madryn and later Comodoro Rivadavia after the detection of an unknown submarine in Argentinian waters, something that happened again in 1960, for which the Corsairs operated in patrol, exploration and antisubmarine missions, being equipped with depth charges.

The Corsairs were retired at the end of 1965 due to age."

The Kit:

Hasegawa's Corsair comes in a top opening box, with all the parts being molded in a light grey colour. There're two bags, one containing the main sprues, and the other bag containing the clear parts.

The parts have finely recessed panel lines, and there is not flash present. The model has the option of installing the flaps down, something which gives a lot of character to the model in my opinion.

The kit has a nicely done decal sheet, with one option being in Dark Gloss Sea Blue and the other in matt black. I didn´t plan on using them however, since I bought Phoenix Decal's aftermarket set for four Argentinian Corsairs.

Construction:

I began by painting the interior and cockpit parts with Revell 48 (my Interior Green of choice). After they were dry, I glued them together. When the cockpit parts were dry, I glued the cockpit assembly to the fuselage. The fuselage halves were then glued together and that was left aside.

The wings were next. They are a simple affair of top and bottom parts. I glued them together, and while I waited for them to dry, I glued the flaps. The flaps were then glued into the wing's openings.

Joining the fuselage to the wings proved to be an exercise in patience, since the fit wasn´t very good. After sanding the upper wings a bit, I was able to glue the wings to the fuselage.

I then glued the engine (painted in matt black) to the front of the plane, and then glued the cowling. With that done, I had a complete airframe.

Colours and Markings:

Argentinian Corsairs came in two colours: The F4U-5Ns were painted in Dark Sea Blue, whereas the F4U-5s were painted in Light Gull Grey upper sides and White undersides with two black areas on the fuselage were the exhaust residue sticked.

I decided to paint my Corsair as an F4U-5 2-A-214. I first applied Revell 76 Light Grey to the upper surfaces, and then White to the undersides. After the main colours were dry, I masked the rudder and horizontal stabilizers so I could paint the Argentinian flag. I then gloss coated the entire model for the decals.

The decals were from Phoenix Decals, which performed really well and settled down nicely over the panel lines with some Micro Sol. After finishing decalling, I left the decals dry overnight. The model was then matt varnished.

Final Construction:

The landing gear legs were painted in aluminium (I was too tired of painting white), then the wheels were glued, together with the landing gear doors. I decided to not use any of the armament or fuel tanks, since that would have forced me to paint the pices in white.

This stage also saw the installation of the guns, something that Hasegawa provides as little and tiny pieces. I managed to lose one of the gun mounts, so I improvised with another piece of the kit.

Conclusions:

Another Argentinian aircraft to put into my caupboard, hopefully it won´t be my last.

Bibliography:

https://www.histarmar.com.ar/Armada%20Argentina/AviacionNaval/CB-F4UCorsair.htm

Airfix A06101A Supermarine Spitfire Mk.22/24 (PK553)

I had bought two of Aifix's Spitfires 22/24. While the first one had perfect mould, this one didn't, I had some short shot areas which needed to be filled with CA and sanded smooth.

Airfix A10101A English Electric Canberra B.(I)6/B.20 (Fuerza Aérea Argentina)

Kit# A10101.

Price: 56$

Decals: Two options, but I used aftermarket decals.

Notes: Bought the kit as a bundle that included Argentinian decals plus the paints.

History:

The history of the EE/BAC Canberra in Argentina dates back to the 1950s. In those years, Argentina was a major military power in South America, its bomber arm having over 50 Avro Lincoln and Lancaster bombers. 

Meanwhile, in England and in the same years, the EE Canberra made its maiden flight, and the company soon toured the aircraft through South America in order to gather orders, which came soon. In 1953, the Venezuelan Air Force ordered six Canberra B.2s, and the Ecuatorian Air Force ordered the Canberra B.Mk.6 in 1954. The Canberra, which could fly higher and faster than the Gloster Meteors, left the Argentinian Air Force´s propeller driven bombers outclassed, which was keen on retaking its edge on air power.

Treaties with England for the acquisition of the Canberra began at the end of 1955, with the reunion of the Argentinian Air Minister Brigadier Ramón Abrahin with an emisary from the British Embassy. It seemed there wouldn´t be any issues in buying the Canberras, since the Argentinian Air Force was mostly formed with British aircraft (Gloster Meteors, Avro Linconls and Lancasters, Vikers Viking, Bristol 170, etc...). The Foreign Office, however, oposed vehemently to the idea of selling Argentina the Canberras, since they'd be a threat against the British controlled Malvinas Islands (Falklands). Other sectors of the British government did look at the deal with good eyes, not only as way to earn money (the deal was for 10 aircraft, mislabelled as 100 in some documents), but as a way to reinforce the British presence in South America against American influence. 

Fast forward to 1965, the British government made an offer for an undisclosed number of Canberras, as a way to get Aerolíneas Argentinas to buy the Vickers VC-10. The buy of the Boeing B707-320B by the airline grounded the deal. In 1966, the propeller driven bombers were removed from service and replaced by the A-4P Skyhawks, which were inadequate for the role of heavy bombers. In 1967, the BAC made an offer to the Argentinian Air Force for 12 Canberras B.Mk.2s, and another offer for 7 B.Mk.2s and 5 Canberras PR.Mk.3s. Any attempts by BAC to get a deal were, again, grounded due to the border conflicts with Chile, where England was asked to act as a neutral negotiator. It was only in 1968 that the Argentinian Air Force decided to re-establish talks with the BAC for the acquisition of 6 Canberras B.2 and two TMk.4s. An agreement was reached on August 14th of 1968, and it was decided that the Air Force would get 10 B.2 bombers and 2 TMk.4 trainers. The deal is formalised on January 9th of 1969, the aircraft receiving the designation of B.62 for the bombers and TMk.64 for the trainers.

After being trained in the factory, Argentinian pilots began flying the Canberras in three flights of four machines between the first half of the 1970s and the beginning of 1971. On March 4 of 1971, the first instruction flights in Argentina began to take place. 

The Kit:

Airfix's Canberra was released originially as a new tool model in 2008, with options to build the kit as a B.2/B.20/B.62 and B.(I).6. The kit was lated re-released between 2008 and 2009 with new parts to build a Canberra B.(I).8, a PR.9 and a B-57. The kit went then out of production until 2016, when it was released with parts for a B.2 and a B.(I).6.

The kit is moulded in light grey plastic with heavily done panel lines and clear parts. They come inside a single bag and protected by an even bigger box, which is quite sturdy. At first glance, the kit is devoid of detail aside from the cockpit, whose details won´t be seen after it's painted in black. The other detailed part of the aircraft is the bomb bay, which can be modelled open or closed. The parts are attached to their sprues by thick sprue gates.

The kit comes with two decal options (Canberra WT313 of RAF's 213th Squadron and Canberra 205 from the RAAF). Also included is a painting guide in full colour.

Construction:

I bought this kit from Argentina's scale models importer, Dukel Hobbies, in a bundle that included the kit, a set of decals and the paints, all for 56$. Before beginning the actual build, I began looking for reference pictures of the Argentinian Canberras during Malvinas. I was between Canberras B-105 (the one included in Airfix's original release of the aircraft in 2006), or B-109 (the one preserved in Museo Aeronáutico de Morón in Buenos Aires). I chose B-109 in the end, since I was able to find many reference photos of the aircraft. Together with the photos, I decided to also use Airfix's instructions of the original release.

I began the aircraft by building the wings and other parts. The wings need to have the main gear wells glued first before closing them,  but before doing that, I opened the holes so I could glue the underwing stores for the bombs. With the holes opened, I glued the gear wells into place. While I waited for that to dry, I assembled the exhausts, the engines (formed by a face and the cowlings), and separated the flaps from their sprues. All that was joined later, and had a two completed wings. The wings are quite heavy, and will need help when drying to avoid them falling and getting an incorrect dihedral.

While the wings were drying, I began building the cockpit. This is formed by three seats, a floor, the control column, the rudder pedals and some instrument panels. I painted everything in black as indicated by the instructions, with the seat cushions being painted in yellow. I glued the control column, rudder pedals and instrument panel to the cockpit floor. While test fitting the cockpit into place, I realised the only detail visible of the cockpit would be the pilot's seat, so I left the other two seats off and used the empty space for weight. While also test fitting, I found out there weren´t any alignment tabs for it, so I decided to glue the nose gear well into place and use that as an alignment help for the cockpit.

The instructions call for 100g of weight minimum in order for the aircraft to nose sit. This weight has to be added above the nose gear well. With the cockpit in place and dry, I began adding the weights. After this, the instructions call for the gluing of the bomb bay, pieces that I left out in order to be able to glue more weight, in case the ones already added weren´t enough. With the weights dry, I glued the fuselage halves, taped them, and moved on to build the rudder, ailerons and horizontal stabilizers.

With the fuselage fully dry, I test fitted both wings. These had big gaps on the undersides, with either the top or bottom parts of the wings making contact with the fuselage. Since the wings didn´t make contact fully with the fuselage, I decided to use a thick tube glue, which would dry as hard as a rock once it was fully cured. I glued both wings and used tape to force them to achieve the correct dihedral. The model was then left to dry for some hours.

After the wings were dry, I glued the horizontal stabilizers and the rudder into their place. Once all the pieces were dry, I removed the landing gear from their sprues in order to test if the weight was enough for the aircraft to sit on its nose. Luckily, the weight had been enough, and I didn´t need to add anything more into the nose of the model. The model was then ready to be painted.

Colours and Markings:

Argentinian Canberras were finished in the original British camouflage of Extra Dark Sea Grey, RAF Dark Green on the upper surfaces, and Light Aircraft Grey on the lower surfaces.

I cleaned the entire model with alcohol to remove any grease from my fingers and any paint that had been incorrectly painted into the surface.

I then outlined the camouflage with a pencil, and began painting by applying the RAF Dark Green (Revell 68). Once that was done, I applied the Extra Dark Sea Grey (Revell 79). Once the paint fully covered the surface of the aircraft, I touched up any areas that had been incorrectly painted. Once the upper surfaces were finished, I masked them and began painting the lower surfaces with Light Aircraft Grey (Revell 76). Once everything was dry, I gloss coated the entire model with Revell's Gloss varnish.

Decals are produced by Dukel Hobbies, the importer of scale models in Argentine. They were of excellent quality: thin, can be moved from the backing paper seconds after being sunk into warm water, and can be moved freely on the model's surface if it's flooded with water first. Once all the decals were in place, I found out I had miscalculated and wrongly masked the demarcation line on the right side of the nose. With a big "sigh," I left it as is. I left the decals dry overnight, and coated with Revell's Matt varnish the next day.

Final Construction:

With the model matt coated, I began painting the final bits: Landing gear, wheels, bombs, fuel tanks and clear parts. The landing gear was painted in a metallic colour, the wheels were painted with Revell 78 Tank Grey with steel hubs, the bombs were painted with RLM 70 with yellow rings. The fuel tanks were painted with camouflage colours, together with the clear parts.

I first glued the landing gear struts, left them to dry, and then glued the wheels. I had to open holes on the main landing gear wheels for them to fit properly into their struts. Every other part was then glued into place.

The clear parts were glued as the final parts. The main canopy fitted more or less OK, but the bomb aimer's window had to have the mounting peg on the fuselage shaved so it could be fitted properly.

You may think this is the end, however, I wasn´t able to leave the aircraft with different demarcation lines, so with a fine brush, I painted the area with the upper camouflage colours. I used a new brush in order to sorround the areas were the decals were.

Conclusions:

Airfix's Canberra makes for an imposing model once built, and will look good with whatever decal option you choose to paint it. The issue where the wings won´t meet the whole fuselage is troublesome, but can be solved easily.