Mirage F.1 Detail Sets

CMK Quick & Easy, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Mark Davies

Eduard Brassin’s 1/72 scale Storm Shadow missiles are available online from Squadron.com

According to their packet headers the wheels are intended to enhance the Special Hobby, Hasegawa and Esci Mirage F.1 kits (why no Heller of Airfix mentioned?), and the MB Mk.10 seats the Special Hobby F.1B (surely they would also suit the Heller F.1B too). These are just two of several Mirage F.1 detail sets by CMK, all of which are viewable by clicking here. I took a ‘first look’ at Special Hobby’s F.1B kit here on HyperScale last year.

Each set comes packed in a cellophane bag stapled to a card header.

The small folded instruction sheet has a parts map and clearly drawn instructions illustrating how the parts fit. There are no colour call-outs for either set, which could be viewed as a disadvantage in the case of the seats; but a quick internet search should soon reveal suitable images to guide painting.

The quality of the both resin and PE parts is excellent, with easily removed casting stubs in the case of the resin items.

Wheels

The wheels are straightforward, and are bound to be an improvement on any styrene kits parts.

MB Mk.10 Ejection Seats

The seats will obviously be a great improvement on any kit items, and use a combination of resin and PE.
The use of PE for the ejection seat’s firing handles and leg restraints makes good sense; and in this case it also has provided for the different styles of canopy breakers fitted to the front and rear seats. However, using PE for the ejection seat harness detail will be welcomed by some but disliked by others.

Some may view separate PE harnesses as easier to paint than cast detail, but I think attaching them is often fiddly, whilst layers of PE can appear over-scale in 1/72. Inclusion of PE also presumably increases the cost, whilst making “Quick & Easy” a bit of a misnomer compared to an all-resin seat. I prefer such detail cast integrally with the seat in this scale, provided it is delicate and done well.

For those who dislike PE there is plenty of all-resin MB.10 alternatives on the market, although I note that Quick & Easy’s seats seem slimmer than some others do; which may be to fit the Special Hobby kit (I thought the same of their MB Mk.4 for the Mirage F.1C). However, I think CMK got it about right: click here to see an MB.10.

These excellent quality detail sets should enhance the appearance of Special Hobby’s and other brand Mirage F.1 kits very nicely. Recommended. 

Thanks to CMK for the review samples.

Review Text & Black Background Images Copyright © 2017 by Mark Davies
Page Created 7 February, 2017
Last updated 8 February, 2017

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