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South
African Air Force Cheetah D
Brief
historical introduction:
In
the early 1980’s it became patently clear to the South African Air Force (SAAF)
that it would urgently have to replace it's ageing fleet of combat aircraft. The
chief reason was that the SA’can incursion into Angola (initially under the
blessing of the US in order to prop up anti- communist forces) was being drawn
out into a long protracted campaign in which the SAAF was facing a very real
threat of modern Soviet fighters (Mig-23 etc) flown by skilled east-block pilots
and an incredibly dense battery of modern SAM sites. As South Africa at this
time was facing an international arms embargo, it would not be able to buy new
equipment off the shelf. Therefore a viable alternative had to be sought, which
could be achieved at a reasonable cost, mainly involving local producers or
international ones in a clandestine manner.
The
result of these deliberations was the modification of the extensive SAAF Mirage
III fleet into the current Cheetah family. Although it was never officially
admitted, it is highly likely that these modifications took place with the help
of IAI Kfir know-how.
Three
variants were developed:
1.
The Cheetah E, a single seat fighter with canards and dog-teeth very
similar to the Kfir C7, which was developed from SAAF Mirage IIIEZ airframes.
2.
The Cheetah D, a 2 seat canard variant, similar to the Kfir T7, developed
from the SAAF Mirage IIIDZ airframes.
3.
The much more radical, and elegant Cheetah C, which was made from an
unknown source of new airframes, which bear all the hallmarks of the Kfir and
actually has very little in common with a normal Mirage airframe any more.
This
series of aircraft attempted to redress a lot of the deficiencies of the ageing
Mirage fleet, in that these aircraft possessed a modern cockpit with a host of
electronic features, including a variety of countermeasures, a vital air-to-air
refuelling capacity (due to the long distance of the sorties)
and increased manoeuvrability.
Unfortunately
the old Mirage ATAR jet engine (in essence a modification of German WW2 designs)
was retained, which implies that performance was not enhanced as much as some
would have hoped. Currently, at least one Cheetah D and Mirage F1 are being
tested with the Russian Klimov jet engine, which is used to power the Mig-29. In
addition, one of the Cheetah D’s has been equipped with a Atlas/Denel/Reutech
developed ACM wing, which has been shown to enhance dogfighting combat
manoeuvrability considerably. A designated reconnaissance version was also
developed, but never used operationally. For more details, refer to the
excellent IMPS SA website at: www.ipmssa.za.org.
The
model:
As
with most modellers, I guess the Cheetah variant I really wanted to build, was
the sexy single seat C, in the guise of Spotty. At the time I started this
project though – over 2 years ago - the only realistic option were the resin
conversion kits offered by Eagle Designs for the 2 seat D and the single seat E,
which in essence are the parts ED offers for its Kfir conversions with a few
extra bits, such as a very nicely detailed new burner can. At the same time,
Heller re-released their Mirage IIIB/C kit in 1/48 scale again. As such, I
decided to settle on attempting a D, figuring that this would be challenging
enough for a first go at a major “kit-bash”. In the meantime, an injection
moulded Cheetah C scale has become available from High Planes Models, and a
excellent resin conversion has been produced in South Africa: alas, both are in
1/72.
In
my rather limited experience at “kit-bashing”, this conversion has been
quite a challenge; in essence due to the age of the Heller kit and since my
perception is that the ED bits were designed to be used with the old ESCI Mirage
III kits rather than with the Heller kit. This becomes very apparent when
attempting to match the Heller canopy to the ED forward fuselage bit, as this
part is several mm to small – hence, my canopy is posed in the open position.
As with any conversion, some sanding and a bit of putty are required in order to
blend the resin parts and fuselage together. Care also has to be taken when
inserting the new dog-teeth in the wing leading edges, as these can be quite
brittle and require a fair amount of sanding down in order to blend them
correctly into the wing. A issue somewhat neglected by ED is that the Cheetah D
does differ in a few subtle respects from the Kfir T7.
As such the canards are a lot smaller (~70-80%) and the Cheetah D has a
very pronounced under fuselage flare dispenser.
The nose also has a few different lumps and bumps, but those are easily
modified. ED does, however, provide the modeller with a very helpful scale
drawing, which is a great asset in tackling this conversion.
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In
my case the canards, fences and strakes were made from plastic card and an
impression of the flare dispenser was build up using Tamiya putty. This is in
reality quite a complex structure and should ideally be cast in resin. The
Heller kit is now really showing its age, although the shape is still very good,
and certainly looks better than the ESCI offerings. The only real gripe I have
are the open wheel wells which need to be boxed in with plastic strip.
The
cockpit offered by ED is somewhat rudimentary, which was OK by me, as I tend not
to spend a lot of time in rendering realistic offices. In my case I used the ED
front instrument panel and the Heller rear instrument panel, as this was easier
for the assembly. The glass screen separating the two pits was made using a bit
of bent acetate cut to shape. The cockpit is complimented by two quite nicely
detailed bang seats.
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The
Cheetah D is quite a mud-slinger and consequently a major pilfering of my
non-existent spare box took place when trying to locate suitable armour stores
and pylons. These were modified from a variety of kits as deemed necessary,
mainly the Monogram F5E in its current Swiss guise, which yielded the 2 LGBs.
These are not completely correct as the SAAF uses LGBs similar to those of the
IAF, which have a lot of small vanes on the seeker-head. This kit also yielded
several pylons as well as the large drop tank, which was modified from one of
the large cannon nacelles. The bombs were cut size from a set taken from the
Monogram F-18 and the missiles were modified from a set taken from an old ESCI
Mirage III.
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Painting
and markings: I
decided to build a Cheetah D as used by the 89 AFS. This aircraft is in essence
covered with a rather bland blue-grey colour which fades and deteriorates very
rapidly under the intense SA’can sun. I attempted to replicate this effect by
gently high-lighting some of the panels to give the colour a similar uneven
effect. As no markings were available for this kit e.g. squadron badge, cheetah
nose badge, universally understood “keep off” markings and ejection seat
triangles, they were kindly made at short notice by Piet and printed on my small
Alps 2300. A white backing mask was used for the squadron badge and ejection
seat markings, as the colour density of this printer is otherwise too low. This
particular aircraft still flew with the old springbok castle markings, which
were taken from a generic sheet, still available from either
Hannants or Flightdecs. All markings were toned down by light grey-blue
overspray. A coat of Future dulled with Tamiya matt was used to seal the model.
As is usual for me, no extensive attempts at weathering were undertaken. The
armour stores were painted according to current schemes and actually add a
splash of colour to this rather grey bird. Some may know my penchant for more
colourful models. The only other bit of detail I felt necessary to add were the
complex brake-lines, very visible on these aircraft, for which I used thin
copper wire.
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Conclusions:
While this is no weekend project – in my case it took almost 2 years of off
and on work – it really is not too daunting that it cannot be attempted by the
average modeller. Apart from a few small niggles (the canopy issue, flare
dispenser) ED is to be thanked for catering for the needs of modellers who want
to attempt something out of the ordinary and in helping us to model an important
part of SAAF history. As such, this combination can be highly recommended for
those wanting to start off a 1/48 Cheetah collection. Now, if only somebody
would make the necessary goodies for a Cheetah C in 1/48. Is anybody out there
listening?
Sinuhe
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