1/48th Scale IAF Magazine Super Mystere
by Wayne A. Cutrell

Photos by the Author

The first European fighter to break the sound barrier in straight and level flight, the Super Mystere 2B was first flown on March 2nd 1953. Based on the Mystere, the new aircraft also derived some of its features from the North American F-100 Super Saber. These included the thin dogtoothed wings swept at 45� and a flattened nose section. The Super Mystere was the last day fighter in service with the Armee de l'Air, the last unit, Escadres 12, flying the type until 1977.

Because of the close ties between France and Israel at the time, the IAF chose the Super Mystere as its next air superiority fighter. The Sambad, as the type was known in Israel (acronym of Super Mystere 2B), was not only the IAF's first supersonic fighter but also its first aircraft with an afterburning engine. On August 20th 1958 the IAF reformed it second fighter squadron, the 105th "Ha'akrav" (The Scorpion) squadron, at Hazor AFB, headed by Yaakov Nevo. Five Israeli pilots left for France in September and the first IAF Super Mysteres arrived at Hazor on December 4th 1958. All 18 aircraft purchased by Israel arrived within a month, and the type was soon declared operational, rapid response duties beginning on March 1959.

The kit consisted of 6 printed pages plus 4 pages of assembly diagrams and instructions in Hebrew. The kit is of moderate difficulty, and should be no problem for anyone with only moderate paper modeling experience. Assembly is straight forward, being of the tube, bulkhead, and connecting tab variety. Most of these models were designed in Germany, mostly by Wilhelmshaven. Anyone familiar with Wilhelmshaven assembly techniques of 30 years ago will find these models familiar. Precision is required in assembly, and there are a modest number of parts to assemble, (I counted 187 parts), which is usually a moderate amount for the more modern, quality commercial card models, but standard (and adequate) for models of the era in which this was printed.

Instructions:
Instructions and diagrams are in Hebrew. The instructions are not quite as detailed as in more recent contemporary models, but are adequate for modelers of adequate experience. If the models were printed recently instead of 30 plus years ago, I would have liked more comprehensive, with plenty of photos of the various construction stages showing what the model should look like at every important stage of construction. But then this was not an overly complex model either.

Running commentary on construction:
Before starting, review the instructions and the diagrams, and the parts carefully. This model was fairly intuitive to build after the review, but needs to be familiar with the design and layout before beginning.

Fuselage:
Assembly started with the fuselage. This was a standard tube and bulkhead process where each tube section is fitted over the extended tabs emanating from the �master� section, and then adding sections till the fuselage is complete.

Above are some of the initial tubular

And here we are assembling the tubes into the fuselage section.

Wing:
With the fuselage mostly assembled the wing is next. This was fairly simple, with a spar section being fitted to slots cut in the fuselage, then wing skins fitted to this assembly.

Here is the wing spar, and the slot cut for its fitment

Spar Glued into fuselage

Here is the assembled wing; I have added the tail assembly and the final sections for the engine exhaust pipe. Be sure that the black side of the engine pipe is on the inside so that it shows black when viewed from the rear of the model. Note �dogtooth� wing edge mentioned above.

Canopy:
I cut out the canopy frame and glued clear acetate to the canopy frame; I covered the backside of the frame with aluminum tape to depict a bare aluminum interior, instead of bare paper. I painted the cockpit area black to depict a cockpit. There was no cockpit well supplied with the kit. I waited till almost complete before I closed in the cockpit.

Frame of Canopy

Landing Gear, Tanks:
assembled and attached the landing gear and the wing fuel tanks. These were straightforward, and presented no particular problems.

Final Fit up:
Now that the gear was on, it was time to add weight to the nose and put on the canopy. I made a small hole in the canopy area and added BB�s as weight till the model dropped down on its gear. Then I added some super glue through the hole to keep the BB�s from rattling. Now I added the canopy using white glue. (It dries clear), I added radio masts, Pitot tubes and probes as necessary for accuracy.

Actual as built scale calculated out close to about 1:48, and compares well with reference material. The profile is captured well and looks very presentable for a moderately complex model. I did have to scratch build a few of the fuselage attachment bits and pieces.

This was a very enjoyable kit to build. It assembles into a very nice looking model of an important airplane type. Not for those only interested in making a �quickie� model, but easily buildable, and satisfying all the same. This model requires reasonable, but not extraordinary patience in fitting up, and results in a very good looking model of a not often modeled subject. Since this is long out of print, it will be difficult to locate one, but is definitely recommended if someone is lucky enough to obtain this kit.

Definitely recommended.

Taken with my old Camera

 

 

Model:	IAF Super Mystere
Kit:	Distributed originally as an Israel Air Force magazine insert
Designers:	Not known
Scale:	About 1/48-1/50
Difficulty:	Moderate
Number of Parts:	187 (approximately)
Instructions:	Good, in Hebrew
Diagrams:	Only a few detailed diagrams.
Fit:	OK/good
Coloring and Artwork:	good
Printing:	good

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