My Texas Mirage F.1 - finished!

[Patrick H]

fabulous, love the camo on the grey, splendid job

[Rafael]

Great idea!!!

A very original subject, and a great camo!!!
Rafa

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

Here's some reasons why I luv this model:

1  It's a Mirage F1
2  It's from Texas, and the best Mexican food on the planet is cooked in Texas and I LUV Mexican food 
3  It's got some Kfir going-on in there, and Kfirs are kool
4  It's a Mirage F1
5  That camo

Bryan, you really dont have to arm it, it looks pretty d*mn good just as it is, but, hey it's your model - make sure that you post some pics of it tooled-up later, though... y'hear.

Ian
Honoury Secretary - Friends of Texas (Formby Branch)

[Bryan H.]

Thanks everyone!  She's got her teeth now but I've misplaced my camera...   When I find the camera, I'll post some new pics and the backstory.  The backstory explains the military/operational premise of the aircraft and the history behind the markings.  She got a bit of a mix of armaments - tease! 

To the model...  It's a standard Italeri/ESCI 1/48 Mirage F.1 with Eagle Designs 1/48 Kfir C.7 parts (air scoops & camera bit under the tail), a dome made from a cut up LANTIRN and a PW1120 engine made from a 1/72 PW F100 from a 1/72 F-16 kit.  The decals are from a variety of sources - the roundel is original, cobbled from US & French insignia.  The TX flag on the tail was a pain - it is created from some US Bicentennial markings.  If you look close at the tail the aircraft has a US style tailcode but with an "AC" number for Texas Army Air Corps.  She also has some combat markings.  I didn't like the original camo so I came up with this simpler scheme.  It is Field Green, Dark Tan and Light Ghost Grey over Air Superiority Grey - the vague outlines in the camo are accidental.  I had painted out the original top camo with dark grey before coming up with the current scheme; some of the dark grey shows through.  I liked the look and didn't repaint - it gives it a bit of an "operational" aircraft look. 

Bryan

[Bryan H.]

OK, found the camera & got a few pics...

The backstory -

The Texas Army Air Corps has been a long-term user of Dassault products and (as is it's national defense policy) has built the Mirage F.1 under license.  In Texan service, the Mirage F.1 built by General Dynamics (Texas designation F-9 Mirage 2) was used as a multi-role light fighter.  With its rough and primitive airfields capability, ease of maintenance, good performance (payload, speed, range, multi-role capability and diversity of missions); the Mirage F.1 had been found particularly useful in "colonial"  and other "primitive" settings.  In the early '90's the TX Dept of War had decided that the best replacement for an old Mirage F.1 was a new build, updated Mirage F.1.  The latest incarnation of the Mirage F.1, the Texas Army Air Corps F/A-9E Mirage 2 Plus, incorporates a number of improvements.  The late production Mirages most notably have new high-performance PW1120 engines (13,550 lb st dry) vs. the old Atar 9K (11,023 lb st dry), a lightweight modified version of the APG-73 radar, a strike camera – giving (limited) photo-reconnaissance capability, improved ECM & IRCM, a FLIR/laser ranging turret, a wider range of armament options and a number of other improvements. 

F/A-9E Mirage 2 Plus #02-0375 "Margaret" is regularly stationed at Antanarivo IAP/AAF as part of the Texan Madagascar Garrison – Air Component.  "Margaret" has recently been involved in enforcing UN and British Commonwealth sanctions against Mugabe's disfunctional totalitarian government in Zimbabwe.  She participated in numerous UN/NATO/Commonwealth raids against Mugabe's police, military and socialist party infrastructure and shot down a Zimbabwean Hawk and an F-7.     







The current load might be a little much - I might lighten it a bit in the future...  Hope you like the finished product.

& happy modeling, Bryan

[Ed S]

Looks good.  Nice variation on the F1.  I think the load out is great.  Hey, it's a whiff who cares about MTOGW.

Ed

[Damian2]

 

I'll say it again, Bryan thats one mean yet sexy lookin' bird you have there! If my F-1 comes out half as good as yours i'll be VERY happy!

[Sisko]

Wow what a great build.

Great job on the camo. Really finishes it off!

[Dork the kit slayer]

How did I miss this one? .....................and me an F1 lover.

[Howard of Effingham]

  its too small! the car daddy drives in is bigger than that! 

excellent stuff.

wonder what the 1/1 scale TXANG unit would make of it?

trevor

[Brian da Basher]

Your Texas Mirage is as cool as the otehr side of my pillow, Bryan! I really like the camo scheme and unique Texan markings as well as that intimidating shark's mouth!
Two thumbs up!!

Brian da Basher

[sotoolslinger]

Just as bad@$$ as I thought it would be . Cool loadout

[John Howling Mouse]

Just when I thought it couldn't possibly get any better------wow!  What a load-out.      

[Aussie747]

This I like! 

Me Too!!!!!!

[Geoff]

I like the backstory you gave with the second batch of pics. I was convinced there was an alt. history of The Republic of Texas on the board but I cannot find one.
As you say the TArAC has used Dassaults  for a long time, have you a backstory? I presume the use of European aircraft dates back to The War Between The States?