The jet fighters I was
first exposed to were the Dassault Mirage III and Mirage F1 of the South
African Air Force. I remember the noise, the speed, the power and especially
the great looks. Understandably then, I’ve been looking forward to die-cast models
of these two types in particular.
Since their arrival on
the die-cast scene I have examined the Falcon Models Mirages and come away
rather disappointed. They just don’t capture the sleek look of the originals at
all.
The Mirage III looks
like a caricature of itself on the Falcon undercarriage and the comedy of
errors in the execution of the Mirage IIIC and Mirage IIIE with incorrect nose
cones and tail pieces doesn’t appeal. After the 3rd attempt the
intakes started looking somewhat acceptable. The fuselage though seems lacking in volume.
The Mirage F1 looks
more the club than rapier with completely over scale wing leading and trailing edges.
This is the biggest flaw in the tooling since it negates the possibility of it
ever looking sleek. The main undercarriage of the first few releases was severely
flawed not capturing the predatorial stance of the aircraft.
The pricing of the
models suggest a premium product but fails to live up to expectations. Sub-par
in my view then. Ultimately the choice is the buyer’s in terms of what level of
quality and accuracy is acceptable. I believe we do ourselves a disservice
overpaying because manufacturers are then not encouraged to give us better
value for our money.
Falcon has moved to
improve their models with each release but is it enough? I wonder whether
another manufacturer will take up the mantle and do the Mirage III and F1 justice.
I live in hope.
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