ZELL Mirage III "The New Maginot Line"- finished

[sandiego89]

Major parts together. Mirage III on the launcher.  2 solid booster rockets mounted- aligned with center of gravity to keep it in the right direction.  In firing postion.  Looking at camoflage options now for @1974 hidden in Eastern France.  

[Slerski]

Impressive 

Seems that MIII was designed to be a point-defense fighter...

[Tophe]

Mirage III VTO ? (Vertical take off - normal landing)... Great!

[Taiidantomcat]

Great job so far! Can't wait to see it all painted up 

[Pablo1965]

This is aplane in a distressful situation, good luck to the pilot.

[sandiego89]

Tophe, Thank you.  Not quite VTO like a Harrier buy it is a ZELL launch.  ZELL: Zero Length Launch.  Boosted launch then traditional landing.  In the real world it was trialed with F-84, F-100, F-104 and even MiG 19's.  Never used operationally. A good reference: http://www.vectorsite.net/avzel.html  

What if ZELL thread: http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,22820.30.html

Pablo 1965.  The accounts from the pilots used in the real ZELL trials actually reported a pretty smooth, hands free launch.  Perhaps not "distressful", but brave is a better word.

[Pablo1965]

Agreed

[sandiego89]

Very slow progress on this on this I'm afraid. She is painted, on the launcher and in the revetment.  Still some details to sort out. 

[Taiidantomcat]

Still wow!! Can't wait to see more, your progress is great- Almost there! 

[Hobbes]

It's coming together nicely.

[sandiego89]

Finished!

ZELL Mirage III, "The New Maginot Line"
In the mid 1960's the threat of Warsaw Pact Forces launching an invasion to the west was deemed very real.  It was believed that western and NATO air bases would be an early target and many countries begin plans to disperse aircraft to remote bases and looked at aircraft that could operate from austere hidden locations.  The successful testing of American and German Zero Length Launch (ZELL) concepts led the French to adopting  ZELL to the Mirage III. 
Modifications for the ZELL role were surprisingly simple and included booster attachment points, strengthening of the real fuselage and modified crane points for mating the aircraft to the booster.  Eventually five ZELL squadrons were commissioned, with two specializing in tactical nuclear strike, and three in point air defense.  Most of the squadrons were deployed to Eastern France along likely invasion points.  Several squadrons used facilities from the original Maginot Line for underground support, command and control and weapons storage, leading to the whole concept being known unofficially and in media circles as "The New Maginot Line". 
Operationally aircraft were shared among several squadrons and aircraft and pilots were kept on alert for two weeks, then rotated back to normal squadron service to keep flight hours equally distributed.  Each ZELL qualified pilot was required to have two ZELL launches per year.  The aircraft displayed below is in a revetment in the Boulay Sector in Ouvage Mont des Welches in a 1974 air defense configuration 
The Kit:
Mirage IIIC , 1/72, Airfix pattern #292, ancient. Out of the box except pitot tube.  Booster from styrene and cut down Nike booster. 
Launcher,  1/40 Revell Nike Hercules.  Scratch styrene for ladders,  work stands, rails.
Revetment/Pad. Mostly MDF board, all scratch, except for the trees which are HO railroad scale.

[NARSES2]

Really good work 

[Weaver]

That's excellent and very credible too - nice one!

I like the diorama too.

[Slerski]

Very nice !! Beautful diorama 

[Aussie747]

Wow!, great idea and execution.