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Dassault Mirage 2000 kits in 1/72 scale: kit modelling report of Italeri/ Revell and Heller kits
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Italeri also issued a two seater Mirage 2000D kit (#023) in 1993, which I never purchased. It used many parts of their single seater (#012) kit but now off course to cater for the two seater such as a whole new fuselage. The decals were for two French Armee de l'Air, a Greek Mirage and a Taiwanese AF aircraft.
This kit re-popped also in a Revell box as kit #04893 with obviously a new decal sheet.
The parts are the same as in the Italeri Mirage 2000D kit #023 but with new decals for:
(1) French Armee de l'Air , EC 01/003, 62 escadron "Navarre" at Nancy in a wrap around camouflage scheme, year 2014.
(2) French Armee de l'Air, EC 03/003, 2 escadron "Ardennes" at Nancy, also in wrap around camouflage scheme.
The schemes are only different in their escadron markings.
The delta wing is similar to the single seat Italeri kit.
Very nice are the MICA missiles (#49) in the kit which are different than the old Magics. In the photo below I also show a good Magic as retrieved from a Special Hobby Mirage F-1.
The Revell Mirage 2000D kit has also MATRA AS-30 missiles but these look rather crude. The ATLIS pod is included and another style central fuel tank with twin fins.
The two seat canopy has a windscreen, a mid section and 2 canopies. These can be set open and look good.
There are also different parts for the 2 ejection seats, but the seat tops / head rests are too wide. I remove a slice in these and made them less wide. (If you have spare Special Hobby kit F10Q seats from their Mirage F-1, use those). The main seat colour I painted very dark grey "Panzergrau" with some drybrushing and green seat pan parachute pack/cushion.
Adding a bit more detail in the cockpit with bits and pieces will improve it. The main colour here is medium grey with black instrument clocks and the works. No nose pitot is needed so some putty and sanding is needed as shown in the instructions STEP #30.
As the wing is the same part as in the Italeri kit, wing leading edge slats are inscribed a bit too long. The engraving runs well beyond the RWR wing tip stub. I inscribed the end about 2 mm more inboard and filled the panel. I also improved the exhaust as described on page 1....
The rest of the kit assembly is rather straight forward. Add weight in the nose.
Depending on the model desired, for a modernized Mirage 2000D some smaller "add-ons" are needed such as the on each wing tip not only the standard RWR fairing as per kit #28B was added but also a tiny extra bit in the corner for additional ECM. Aft of the wing trailing edge on each side of the fuselage fairing can also be added what looks to be a Spirale chaff dispenser. But again, this depends on the desired air force and scheme.
This Mirage 2000D would be made as a Qatar Air Force Mirage 2000-5EDA with national markings coming from the Berna set BD-72-72. (note to use the small included sheet with the corrected Qatar roundels "without the gold").
The model also needs the Spirale chaff dispenser, the small Mica link antenna on the vertical tail leading edge as well as Serval RWR on the vertical tail and wing tips as it should represent a Mirage 2000-5 series. These goodies were made from rod and plastic cart.
The kit part for the pitot is not needed on the RDY radar nose, so set a tiny piece on the tip and sand to a blended shape.
The scrap CHAFF fairing stubs of the Spirale are seen here, the chaff carrying canisters that are fitted on those are not yet set in place (and often are not carried for normal peace time missions).
Aft of the main gear bays, the small outlets were added from scrap as well.
After basic assembly, I airbrushed an overall base grey coat to check for any errors on the surfaces and get a good undercoat for the camouflage scheme. I used Revell Aqua "steingrau" 75 acrylic as base coat.
The camouflage colours airbrushed for this Qatar Mirage were:
- first overall mix of light grey of 70% Gunze Sangyo H308 + 30% Gunze Sangyo H57 ;
than masking and...
- a coat of medium grey/blue of 55% Gunze Sangyo H308 + 45% Gunze Sangyo H56;
and the result....
The paints are glossy but I airbrushed some coats of gloss using Johnson Future/Pledge to get better decal adhering. Decalling came next.
The KEEP OFF stencils and walkways came from the various kit decal sheets.
The smaller bits and pieces were added like the landing gears, stores etc. Add hydraulic wires etc on the gear legs made from thin metal wire as described earlier for the other Mirage kits. Some wash was added in the edges of flaps, the gears etc. using PROMODELLER wash. The nose tyre still needs some paint...
I opted to add 2 better Magic missiles (from the Special Hobby F-1 kit). The low visibility lights decals were added also, as per kit. The nose antennas were changed a bit as well as for this particular Qatar air force.
The kit canopies were to be set open. Inside each canopy frame a mirror from an REHEAT etched mirrors set was added and 2 handles. Canopy raising actuators were made from needles.
On the nose smaller pitots and AoA vanes were added made from scrap etched metal fret bits. Also a tiny structural re-enforcement rod was added between the upper intake lip and fuselage.
A final semi-matt-gloss coat was airbrushed with Johnson Future/Pledge with some 10% Tamiya X-21 FLAT BASE mixed in. Shield off the clear canopies and windscreen while losely airbrushing this coat.
That completed this nice model!
QATAR
[ area: 11,580 sq.km | capital: Doha | population 2,6 million | nom GDP 68,000 USD per capita ]
Before the 1970s there was a British military presence in the Gulf. In 1968 for the Gulf States including Qatar a security force was set up with a few Whirlwind helicopters and in 1971 3 ex-RAF Hawker Hunters arrived. The Emir declared independence in September 1971. The Qatar Emiri Air Force was established in 1974. Other types were a few B727 and B707 jets and BN Islanders. Some Gazelle and Seaking helicopters were also delivered. In the 1980s followed 6 Alphajets and a dozen Mirage F-1 fighters in the 1980. During the first Gulf War in 1991 it supported the Western armed forces against Iraq. Near Doha a new air base was established, Al Udaid. From 1990 10 modernized Mirage 2000-5ECA and 2 Mirage 2000-5EDA were acquired (also by the United Arab Emirates) also capable to fire MICA missiles. Transports aircraft were C-130 and also purchased were AW-139 helicopters and Pilatus PC-21 trainers. Some 8 C-17 heavy transports are also used.
For the replacement of the Mirage 2000's from Dassault 24 Rafale multi role fighters have been ordered in 2015. Even more ambitious military orders were placed from 2015: an additional 12 Rafales, 24 Typhoon fighters. August 2022 the first Eurofighter Typhoons were delivered. Qatar got US approval mid 2017 to acquire over 36 F-15QA fighters and the first arrived October 2021. It is unclear if the full 72 requested are to be delivered.
The main bases are: Doha (OTBD former international) as the main international airport is now located on artificial new land nearby; Al Udaid (with a U.S site as well); new base at Tamim where the Rafales are based.
There is also a naval flying service that has taken delivery of the first of 12 NH90 NFH helicopters in March 2022. The army will get 16 NH90 TTH.
Qatar Emiri AF, Mirage 2000-5EDA 7th Air Superiority Squadron based at Doha, 2011
... set in sceneries...
before delivery in France....
and at Al Udaid with also USAF Awacs aircraft temporarily stationed there.
Another Revell Mirage 2000D kit was made, now in a scheme of an early Mirage 2000 of the PERU Air Force in South America.
Assembly was even simpler than as described above as any items for a "modernized" Mirage 2000 were not required. Peru had the standard Mirage 2000D. So the kit can be made as per Revell instructions. No extra's are required.
The Peru Mirage colours are for a brown desert scheme.
Colours were a bit difficult to establish. I began with looking at Dassault desert schemes such as used by the French Armee de l'Air. After study I saw many different Mirage 2000 colours and even different patterns on these. So if you want to model a particular French Desert War 1990 scheme, check photos.
The Peruvian Mirage showed a rather light sand paint with a dark brown pattern. The lower colour looked light grey. (note: the photo below is a bit too dark).
I settled for these Peruvian Mirage colours using acrylic paints:
- lower surfaces light grey approx. FS36375 using Gunze Sangyo 307 acrylic;
- upper base colour: sand a mix of 50% Revell aqua 16 sand + 50% Revell aqua white;
- brown pattern: Revell aqua 86 braun;
Between airbrushing the colours masking was done with Revell Masking film and tape.
The nose was black.
Decals were to follow but I airbrushed first some coats of gloss varnish using Johnson Future/Pledge to get better decal adhering.
Decals are a mix. It seems that the walkway lines are not standard with now Spanish "NO PULAR" markings. I used some smaller spare stencils from an AZTEC A-37 set and Mirage 5 sets.
I was lucky to find the Peru roundels: I had decals from the 1/72 Heller Mirage 2000N decals with the blue dots not printed in the center; I simply now inserted red dots from a RAF roundel set from the spares decals box.
Some extra details were added in the cockpit. I improved the seats as described earlier on the Qatar model. The smaller nose probes were added and the nose pitot made from a metal needle.
A final semi-matt-gloss coat was airbrushed overall with Johnson Future/Pledge with some 10% Tamiya X-21 FLAT BASE mixed in. Shield off the clear canopies and windscreen while losely airbrushing this coat.
Canopies would be set open so actuators were installed made from metal needle pieces/ pins. To install the canopies at their hinges I used thin metal foil bended to get a stronger point using superglue.
That completed this nice model!
PERU
[ area: 1,285,216 sq.km | population approx 32,4 million | capital: Lima | nom. GDP 7,000 USD ]
In Peru aviation started in 1910 with a "Liga" established flying Bleriot and Caudron aircraft. In 1920 a small naval flying section was also set-up. In the 1930s a mixed bag of types were deployed including Curtiss Hawks, Caproni's, Potez and Douglas 8A and North American NA-50.
The Fuerza Aérea del Perú was established as a separate entity in 1950. The jet age started with over 60 jet aircraft such as Lockheed T-33's as in many Latin American countries and soon followed F-86 Sabres, Hunters and Canberra's. In the mid 1960s the first South American continent supersonic fighters were put into service with Mirages 5 from France with over 30 delivered. In the mid seventies Peru had a more neutral course and Soviet aircraft were acquired starting with Mil helicopters and Antonov transports.
Spectacular was the acquisition from 1977 of 32 Sukhoi SU-22A "Fitter" fighter-bombers and SU-22U trainers. Some additional 16 SU-22M2D and 2 SU-22UM2 trainers were delivered from 1980. From 1981 a dozen Aermacchi MB-339 jet trainers were acquired from Italy but license manufacturing for more aircraft abandoned. In 1981 there was a border conflict over the Cenepa with Ecuador and SU-22 were deployed. Meanwhile some US aircraft were also acquired like C-130 Hercules, A-37, Bell helicopters. The SU-22 fleet was also upgraded.
From 1986 from France Mirage 2000's were acquired though less than first desired due to costs. Some 10 Mirage 2000P and 2 Mirage 2000DP trainers were delivered acting mainly in the air defense role. First no AS-30 nor AS 530 missiles were obtained, but the more advanced Magic 2 missile could be deployed. In 1995 there was another conflict with Ecuador in the "Condor War" but the Mirages "Halcones" were not deployed. In stead a rather surprising action was that mid 1996 some 20 second hand MiG-29 fighters were acquired from Belarus as well as some SU-25 "Frogfoots".
In 2009 followed additional Mirage advanced weaponry including the ATLIS pods, AS-30L laser missiles and laser guided bombs. Currently the fleet is very mixed and this means a lot of trouble to keep aircraft in flying condition.
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Created this page on March 22, 2018