Kinetic 1/48 Mirage 2000C, Armée de l‘Air

[Sam]

Mirage 2000C

No. 85  / 103 - LK

Armée de l‘Air de France

Special livery for the last flight ceremony of BA103 Cambrai-Epinoy, 2012 - ESTA 2E.012

 

Hello Dassault builders,

my jet for this GB will be the Mirage 2000C, in a special livery. As for ordnance, I will go with a centerline bag, 2 Magic II‘s, and maybe 2 Super-530D‘s (if I can find some). 
 

the box:

 

decalsheet by syhart:

 

and a pilot and exhaust:

 

Let‘s do this! 🌞

[TEMPESTMK5]

Good evening Sam

Very interesting Livery for your M2000C

Have fun and enjoy your build

Best regards

Patrice

[exdraken]

Very nice! 

Are you sure the Super 530s were still carried in 2012?

[Sam]

3 minutes ago, exdraken said:

Very nice! 

Are you sure the Super 530s were stoll carrier in 2012?

Probably not. However, its successor MICA was only for the M2000-5F (and Mk2). I do not know when the last „flight“ of a Super 530 was. Probably earlier then 2012. 
 

Realistically, I should omit the Super 530. May as well do so. Thank you for the input. 👍🏽 

[Wings unlevel]

That’s a very pretty looking scheme, Sam, I know you will do some beautiful work with this!

 

Gerard

[Sam]

As preparation for this build I ploughed through the interweb in quest of the magic build log which will expose all the problems of the kit and deliver the corresponding possible solutions….

 

I found a couple of interesting build reports. They all point out a couple of things:

 

1) omega-shape of canopy not properly represented: not an issue for me

 

2) wing anhydral not present: we‘re talking about 3 degrees, but I may fix it

 

3) fitting issues with the outer intake parts: I shall spruegoo and sand the issue to smitherens

 

4) fitting problems with a lower panel just in front of the lower wing parts (the one holding the guns): again, filler and sand into oblivion

 

5) fitting issues with the windshield vs canopy clear parts: solution see point 3 and 4 

 

6) there is no cockpit for older C version. Now that‘s a bummer. I know there is one of the marvelous quinta studios 3D solutions. However, with pilot installed and canopy closed it will hardly be visible. Now, having spent all my life so far in various cockpits, it‘s a real irritation to know the jet has the wrong cockpit. As this hobby is here to relax me and deliver joy and fulfillment to me, I have to do something about it. 
 

Then I found this:

 

just what I need! It costs just as much as the quinta studios decals, but I get a nice HUD, seat, and front coaming with it, and those WILL BE VERY VISIBLE. I only build about 4 kits a year, so I think I should be able to invest those 25 bucks in it. 
 

Here are photos of the provided kit parts for it:

 

 

and this is the real cockpit:

 

And since I am at it, I also ordered a brass pitot tube 😎

That‘s all for now. I have very itchy fingers, but this week I am on skiing holiday, so building will only start next week. 

 

Happy building everyone!
 

[Hewy]

Thats a good looking cockpit set sam I look forward to see how it installs,

I have this kit,and a swiss mirage lll rs both by kinetic, i like a mirage🤗

[Sam]

2 hours ago, Hewy said:

look forward to see how it installs,

So am I, Hewy ! 
 

2 hours ago, Hewy said:

swiss mirage lll rs both by kinetic

I have built their IIIS, went together well. If you need detail information for your IIIRS, pm me. Got all you will ever need. 

[Silenoz]

Following with interest... I have a D somewhere from the same brand...

[Sam]

Most of the Mirage 2000 are powered by Snecma’s M53-P2 engine. I did not like kinetic‘s representation of it very much, and improving the kit part seemed, honestly, too difficult for me. So I went the money route:
 

Let‘s have a look at the Aires Resin exhaust parts. For around 13 Euros, the Czeck company gives you 3 resin parts and 3 PE pieces to build your Mirage‘s blower end. Fair deal for me. 
 

 

A closer look at the exhaust cone…

 

… followed by the combustion chamber…

 

…. the representation of the end stage of the turbine…

 

… and finally the PE parts for the flameholders.

 

Neat!

After having cut the resin parts from their sockets, I did a test assembly. To the right, for comparison, the kinetic kit part. 

 

I will use vallejo‘s metal range to paint up the metal bits. The combustion chamber seems to be ceramic plated, so no metal paint there, but different greys and whites will be employed, plus some charcoal powder. 

 

Here‘s how it should look like in the end:

Edited February 16, 2023 by Sam

[Silenoz]

following with interest, that engine looks nice...

[Hewy]

A much improved part sam, and it'll fit better than the kit part too most probably,

There was a pronounced step all around the kit part on mine due to the exaust being larger than the fuselage diameter, 

[Wings unlevel]

20 hours ago, Sam said:

Here‘s how it should look like in the end:

Looking forward to seeing what you do with this Sam, and what tips I can pick up!

 

Gerard

[Biggles87]

A beautiful aeroplane, but of course it is it’s french!

On my  last ‘2000 I used a Renaissance cockpit which was very detailed but included a lot of small PE parts, the Reskit version looks much more user-friendly.

I also used an Aires jet pipe and found the nozzle part very fragile, so much that I squashed it almost into an oval shape while handling it.

Looking forward to more.

 

John

[Sam]

2 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

so much that I squashed it almost into an oval shape while handling it

I put a shaved down wine bottle cork (french of course) into it while sawing the socket off. It‘s very thin material indeed. 

[Biggles87]

Doh! Why didn’t I think of that?

[Sam]

The postman delivered a nifty little packet yesterday!

After the swiss customs office held it hostage for a week they finally figured out I had to pay the 8ish percent of VAT - plus 15 Franks handling fee! Come on guys! Every single fishing time they make bleed through the nose with their silly handling fee, for very little actual VAT. Boy am I looking forward to going back to longhaul, I will import that stuff myself, and gladly pay the VAT on my own via app. Ok, rant finished. Let’s drool over some more aftermarket goodies before I really start work!

 

It‘s the Reskit full cockpit set, I purchased it because kinetic doesn’t provide a 2000C cockpit in their 2000C kit. Something I cannot live with. 
 

Photos:

 

PE, HUD glasses and panel decals

 

Office chair

 

Rear cockpit bulkhead

 

Front cockpit thub

 

Main IP with glareshield

 

Front coaming

 

very very juicy. A little kit by itself. It comes with a 25-step coloured instruction manual. That‘s going to be a lot of fun. 
 

I also did some test fitting. The often mentioned main problem areas, circled in red, are without trouble and fit perfectly. 
 

 

Kids at school, wife busy, I am off today, moving to the workbench, yeah!

Edited February 17, 2023 by Sam

[Biggles87]

That cockpit does look very nice, must buy another Mirage 2000 so that I can get one.

 

John.

PS I feel your pain on the ‘ handling charges ‘, money for nothing. Since the UK committed economic suicide 3 years ago, virtually all my modelling stuff comes from the EU so I haven’t experienced the french variety.

[Sam]

Base colors are sprayed

 

first PE part installed

 

Flame holder assembly is completed, here with a test view with the combustion chamber. 

 

Next, I will mark the locations of the heatmarks on the ceramic, and paint them with charcoal poweder and/or ground oil crayon stick. 

[Sam]

Something along those lines. Still have to straighten out the streaks a bit. 

 

[Rabbit Leader]

Great start Sam, it’s all looking really nice and precise. I know we down in Australia always complain about high postage costs, however I’ve never had to pay additional import or so-called “handling” fees for any overseas purchase. I can seemingly justify the postage (cause we’re so far away), but don’t think I’d be happy with all that waste of red tape  money! 
 

Glad you got some peace at home and made a start to this kit. It promises to I be a real beauty. 
 

Cheers and best of luck.. Dave 

[Wings unlevel]

12 hours ago, Sam said:

very very juicy

 

7 hours ago, Sam said:

Something along those lines

Looking terrific Sam, this is shaping up to be beautifully detailed and executed.

[Hewy]

Smart work sam, some lovely goodies there

[Sam]

Screwup number 1:

 

yes, I darkened the wrong parts of the feathers. The ones which slide underneath when the nozzle is closing should be dark. 
 

Like so:

 

Now the nozzle gets a clear coat, thereafter I will come in with some diluted black oil paint (diluted in white spirit). 
 

I also managed to saw off the resin sockets of  the cockpit parts without damaging anything. 

 

Time to install the photo edge bits!

[Sam]

I had quite a row with thinning down the sidewalls in order to properly fit the resin cockpit. I won the fight, and a test fit of the canopy proved that it all has the correct with now. 

The cockpit parts are all losely placed

 

 

Now we shall see how I squeeze the pilot in there….