Building 72nd Scale Cheetah's

 

For many years after the existence of the Cheetah family of upgraded Mirage III family within the SAAF became known, the keen SAAF modeller wanted to add a model of the then latest SAAF fighter to his collection. This was only achievable by converting existing Mirage III kits either by scratch building or adding bits from other existing kits (Kfir noses in the case of the Cheetah E). For those modelers who wished to add a Cheetah D and later when the Cheetah C variant became public knowledge some ingenuity had to be used. Many modelers used various drop tanks to simulate the new radomes as appropriate for their desired Cheetah variant.

 

Some exquisite models were seen from these modellers over the years

 

During the early 1990's an English company called ScaleCast released a resin conversion kit to create a Cheetah D. Well that is what the header said. Whilst some of the major components supplied would allow one to convert a Mirage IIIE to be converted to a semi-representation of a Cheetah D the modeler had to contribute a lot more. This conversion was heavily based upon the the earlier Kfir TC10 from the same company. None of the more unique detail points specific to the Cheetah were included. The refuelling probe and the chaff/flare dispenser were not included. Also the dogtooth wing leading edge extensions were not supplied and the modeller had to make his own and flare dispenser supplied in the kit is totally inaccurate as it was the same as used on an Israeli Kfir. The modeller also had to make the various scoops as applicable to the Cheetah family and there were no instructions to do this.  The ejector seats that were included in the kit were useless and I replaced mine with a pair of Aeroclub Mk10's. Also due to lack of information (the Cheetah was still highly classified at this time) the finer details and various sensor bumps were not covered. But this was a reasonable starting point for a 72nd scale Cheetah D