How to use 3D printed parts

Using 3D printed parts is different from standard polystyrene plastic or polyurethane resin. When the parts are printed, they are supported by a wax structure. The wax residue needs to be removed before use.

Before packaging the parts we clean them ultrasonically in a solvent and inspect them for visual defects. The cleaning should remove the wax, but there is a chance some remains. We therefore recommend cleaning them before you use them. Isopropyl aolcohol (rubbing alcohol or isonol) is usually good.

The parts will have fine strata lines from the print process. These can be reduced by spraying with Mr Surfacer 100 or 1200 and gentle sanding. For some reason other spray primers don't work as well.

How are 3D parts made?

The development process for 3D parts is quite straight forward.  We draw the part in a 3D CAD program, then convert it to a "mesh" that describes the surface.  This mesh must not have any holes in it and there are minimum thicknesses or there will be printing problems.

The minimum thickness for the printers we use is about 0.3 mm.  Certain details can be smaller but we have found that these can be damaged in the clean up process.

Our parts are printed in UV cured acrylic on a 3D Systems ProJet 3500 printer.  These printers are significantly more capable - and more expensive - than the hobbyist or home printers.

Why do we sell some parts in resin and some 3D printed?

Polyurethane resin is an affordable way to replicate complex shapes with undercut areas.  These cannot often be done by injection moulding because the moulding machine needs to be able to eject the part.  However, PU resin parts can be difficult to mould without leaving seams or breaking the part down into a number of sub-assemblies.

3D printing allows undercuts and removes the need for a mould.  This is very suitable for fine, complex parts.  The down side is that set up costs and unit production costs are much higher than PU resin.

We have seen cost of printing decrease and the capability of the printers improve significantly in the last five years. This trend will definitely continue. 

Our Mirage kits include a number of different nose options which make it very flexible for the modeller.  Here we present the different types of noses fitted to the Mirage 5 family.

Mirage 5 'standard' Nose

The early Mirage 5 has a distinctively different nose to the Mirage IIIE.  The Cyrano radar was eliminated and the nose enlarged to fit a simplified avionics package.  These early versions - 5J, 5F, Nesher - can be identified by the blunt tip of the nose.  This nose was also used on the later Mirage 50C & 50FC (Chile) with a Cyrano IVM radar.

This nose version is included in the High Planes Mirage kits.

Mirage 5 Belgian Nose

The Belgian Air Force Mirage 5BA and its derivatives 5P, 5P3 (Peru), 5PA2, 5PA3 (Pakistan), 50CN and 5M Elkan (Chile) were different again. The doppler and Aida radars and other avionics were moved forward into the nose compartment making space for additional fuel behind the cockpit.

There are some variations of this nose where the underside vent was eliminated.  The nose was also used as the basis of the RAAF reconnaissance nose.

This nose version is included in the High Planes Mirage kits.

Mirage 5 Aida II Nose

Later, the Electronique Marcel Dassault (EMD) AIDA II solid-state fire-control radar was fitted in the nose.  This can be used for simple air to air interception or ground attack. The Aida II package was fitted to the production 5COA (Colombia), 5D (Libya), 5PA (Pakistan), 5V (Venezuela), 5AD (Abu Dhabi), 5SDE2 (Egypt), 5M (Zaire), 5G and 5G2 (Gabon).  It was also added to the 50-01 demonstrator.

This nose version is not included in the High Planes Mirage kits but is available as an resin accessory. HPA072034

Mirage 5 "F.1" Nose

The final nose style fitted to the family was the Mirage F.1 style which housed the multifunction Thomson CSF Cyrano IV M3. The Aida II package was fitted to the 50EV (Venezuela) and 5P4 (Peru). It was also added to the III NG-01 and 50M demonstrators.

This nose version is not included in the High Planes Mirage kits but is available as an resin accessory. HPA072025

Other Variations

Since production ceased Dassault, Israel Aircraft Industries and Denel have all been active in refurbishing and upgrading Mirage survivors.  These upgrades have sometimes used variations on the Kfir avionics and nose - 5COAM (Colombia), 50CN Pantera, IAI Finger (Argentina) - or retained the original Mirage 5 nose as with 5P Mara (Argentina),  ROSE III (Pakistan) or 5 SDE 2 (Egypt).

The Kfir style nose is included in the High Planes Mirage kits.

We are pleased to advise that the all new tool 1:72 Mirage III series is nearing completion!

This all new tool will be released in three versions:

72016 Dassault Mirage IIIO

RAAF Mirage IIIO with three decal options.

72071 IAI Dagger A

Argentine Air Force (Fuerza Aérea Argentina) Dagger with three decal options for aircraft from the Falklands War (Guerra de las Malvinas).

72088 IAI Nesher S

Israeli Air Force (Zroa HaAvir VeHahalal) Nesher with three decal options.

Pre-orders are now available.

The change of ownership will unavoidably mean some disruption but we are working hard to miminise this.  Until the operations are ready at our new premises in Singapore we will continue to supply orders from Australia, subject to availability.

Moving to Singapore will also have benefits for our worldwide customer base, including lower shipping rates and faster transit times.  We have also reviewed our pricing and all High Planes Models products are now priced in Singapore Dollars, which has less fluctuation than the Australian Dollar.

We will continue to develop High Planes Models, so sign up to our newsletter for announcements on new products and revisions of the existing range, and useful information and articales on building High Planes kits and scale modelling in general.