AIRFIX 1:72 SUPER MYSTERE B.2
Reviewer: Myself (braithy@bigpond.com)
The Super Mystere holds the distinction of being the first production aircraft in Western Europe to attain supersonic speed in level flight. It was developed to replace the earlier Mystere IVB - programme and ideas much akin to the Super Sabre replacing the Sabre - as a single seat tactical strike fighter. About 180 aircraft were built of which 156 were operated by the French Air Force and 24 operated by the Israeli Air Force where they first saw combat in the Arab/Israeli war. Most (if not all - there is conflicting stories in reference material) of the Israeli examples were updated and reconfigured as the Super Mystere 'Saar' with a longer exhaust.
I picked this kit up second hand and it is a very aged kit, certainly looking at a mid 70's tooling. Nevertheless, it's actually quite decent but is reminiscent of those Airfix kits of that age. In the box you are presented with about 54 metallic grey parts with excessive raised panel lines but quite nice detail including various vents molded on the fuselage body. There is a fair bit of marks in the mold as one would expect and it is very similar in look and feel (and later build) to the F-86D Sabre kit as separately reviewed on this site. Only a small bit of flash is evident but I did notice some bent plastic, mainly wing, tailplane and fins - right on the very tip respectively that had to be coaxed back into shape. One clear part for the canopy is also included.
Cockpit detail consists of base, pilot figure, seat and bulkheads front and rear. A nicely molded instrument panel is also included with raised detail. It's important to get the front of the front bulkhead right (it has 'front' written on it) so that it sits correctly in position. I'd also suggest filing this down and then painting it black, otherwise you can read it when looking into the nose intake. Dry fitting the cockpit unit will iron out any foreseeable problems. After I glued the cockpit unit in one half of the fuselage I then added the instrument panel in which was a bit tricky but I thought the best way to handle it (the other option is put the pilot figure in the seat last). I gave the cockpit an interior green coating.
The split-plate exhaust is also fitted into the rear of the fuselage and I painted the outer rim gunmental and the interior matt black. They were a bit difficult to position into the fuselage and needed to be forced, resulting in the unit having to be repainted. A small alignment groove ensures you place it in on the correct angle. The fuselage halves were then slapped together and required some assistance in the form of pegs and rubber bands to stay tightly shut. Small gaps needed to filled and the join lines needed to be thoroughly sanded - some of that raised detail magically disappeared! This kit came with one of those long forgotten plastic stands to sit the plane on, obviously the hole needs filling if you are not going to make use of the stand. I now have a small collection - I suppose I better put one to use one of these days!
Wings and tailplanes go on quite nicely and there needs to be a bit of care in particular for the main wings when leaving to dry - ensure they are positioned correctly. The wings basically lie flat on the desktop which will sit fine if you ensure the centre of gravity is correct. Small amounts of filler needed around the wing roots. Speed brakes are provided as an option to position open or closed and include actuating strut. I had them closed and their fit is good, although a bit of glue was used to fill the small gaps.
The undercarriage assembly seemed to be straightforward on a quick dry fit process. I noticed that the main wheel gear can be made moveable with the tyre trapped and not cemented between strut and plug. The nosewheel cannot move, however. The gear doors fit nicely over the wells if configuring a wheels-up model - very well in fact. The canopy sat nicely but revealed a gap between itself and the aircraft and had to be held in place by a rubber band. Options for stores are simply underwing ferry tanks on inboard pylons and rocket pods on outboard pylons - the latter needing two small holes drilled into the underwing surface - the plastic makes it hard to determine their correct position!
The kit allows you to produce two French and two Israeli versions, both depicting one of each a natural metal finish and brown/sand/green camouflage - French 10-RF (box art) & 12-ZQ respectively and Israeli 325 & 708 in respective finishes. The decals were very aged and yellowed in my kit and were irrepairable, in spite of my usual inclination to stick them to the bedroom window (see tips - yellow decals). The instructions provide you with a breakdown of the colours and how many parts to mix of different enamels to get the desired shade - of course in Airfix range of paint.
I used some spare decals from around the place and successfully made mine into an Israeli version with Sand FS-33531; Earth Tan FS-30219 & Green FS-34227 upper sides and blue FS-35622 camouflage scheme. I was using Humbrol paints and respectively this translates to #121 Pale Stone, #118 Tan, #120 Light Green and no FS match for the Blue. I was dubious about all the matches except for the Tan but I did go with Pale Stone for the sand colour and with a few coats and a later gloss varnish actually looked very much like sand. The Green I didn't agree with, I chose #30 Dark Green and this was a good match and settled on #65 aircraft blue for the undersides. Most of the Israeli Super Mysteres were in fact converted to "Saar" - which was a locally updated and enhanced Super Mystere. The main difference was a lengthened exhaust/aft fuselage.
Overall this was a decent little kit considering its age. Fit of most of the parts was excellent. Accuracy is about what one could expect of a mid-70's mold and could do with improvements mainly around the measurements and various angles of the aircraft. Nevertheless it features a fair bit of panel line detail - even if it is a bit excessive that will also disappear once you start sanding join lines - as well as a few vents, ducts and gun trofts. It's one of those kits that would certainly suit a novice because of it's general ease and anyone wishing to add this aircraft to their collection.
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