Dassault Mirage 2000B/N/D

[Mike]

Dassault Mirage 2000B/N/D

1:48 Kinetic model Kits

In association with

The Mirage family of fighter aircraft began in the late 1950s as a brainchild of Marcel Dassault, using the delta wing format and having no horizontal tail surfaces. The Mirage 2000 is the final mainstream (ignoring the Mirage 4000, which did not see service) 4th generation development of the general concept before adoption of the Rafale by the French airforce in 2000. The Mirage 2000 has seen service with the French Armée de l'Air as well as a number of other France-friendly nations in different guises.

This kit from Kinetic represents the two-seater Operational Conversion Trainer ( B ), Nuclear capable two-seater ( N ), and conventional attack version ( D ), and is a complete new tool. Pictures of test shots and scuttlebutt have done the rounds now for many months, and at last the plastic has dropped on my doorstep.

The kit arrived in a large glossy top opening box, with a rather crisp photo of the real thing on the lid. Inside are seven sprues of medium greeny-grey styrene, a clear sprue, decal sheet, and the usual instruction booklet and painting/decaling guide.

One criticism that I heard from the US Nationals was that the moulding was "rough". Let me tell you here & now that it couldn't be further from rough. Surface detail is excellent, and the style reminiscent of their F-16 kits, with a slightly matte patina on the outer surfaces of the parts. Parts breakdown is sensible, with an additional belly insert to ease the joint between the single lower wing part and the fuselage. There is also a lot of vent and louvre detail in that panel, as well as a couple of holes to open up if you're modelling a D.

Construction starts with the cockpit unsurprisingly, and here detail is good. The side consoles are integral to the cockpit tub, and here you'll need to slice off two ejector pins, so that the ejector seats will sit flat when you install them later in the build. The cockpit floor has a strange looking patina to the surface, and may benefit from a stippled coat of Mr Surfacer to give some indication of non-slip coating, and cover up any unevenness. The instrument panels are nicely detailed with MFDs and dials, and the bulkheads behind each seat are also well detailed. There are separate parts to add if you are modelling the canopy open, and the ram will need removing from the front bulkhead if you portray it closed.

With the 2nd IP on the same sprue as the cockpit tub, the implication I'm drawing is that a single seater will be on the way soon, although a new fuselage would also be required, as the front is significantly different.

The two intakes are built up from the bullet and backing plate, and a single piece curved intake part that butts against the blank bulkhead on the fuselage side. The small canard and clear vision panel are both separate parts, and careful alignment here will result in an intake that needs little or no sanding or filler. The fact that the intake trunking isn't full-depth will also not be an issue, as the bullet swells within the intake, pretty much blocking most of the view. Taking the precaution of painting the bulkhead black should ensure that there is no naked plastic on display here if someone does come along with a torch!

As mentioned earlier, the lower wing half is a single part that attaches to the underside of the fuselage, with the two upper wings separate parts that fit on top. There are different fillets at the rear for the B or D/N versions, and your choice is replicated again on some vents under the fuselage, the prominent spine area, the nose cone, and the vertical tail. Clearly, it's a kit that requires a decision on which version you are building right from the start.

Unusually, the ejector seats aren't built until step 12 of 15, just before the canopy glazing is installed. The parts are thin, clear and crisp, and the small "hoop" between the front and rear canopies includes the blast screen between the two pilots. Various other identification lights and blisters completes the clear parts sprue.

As usual with Kinetic kits, there are plenty of weapons, and ignoring the auxiliary fuel tanks, there are two large L-shaped sprues dedicated to the weapons themselves and pylons on which to mount them. You have a choice of 2 x Magic 1, 2 x magic 2, 2 x AS-30L laser guided missiles, and 2 x ATLIS targeting pod, although only one will be needed for the build. You can also hang some AIM-9L Sidewinders from the pylons if you're modelling an export aircraft, as they can be carried due to the compatibility of the Magics to the Sidewinder.

There are three fuel tanks, two of the large "coke bottle" shaped underwing tanks, and a centreline tank. The tanks even have a whole page of the instructions dedicated to their painting, as this varies from model to model.

The final page of the instructions helpfully show some typical warloads for the Mirage 2000, and refer to the ASMP (Air-Sol Moyenne Portée), France's medium range Nuclear missile for the N version.

Decals are supplied to finish your Mirage as either a B, D or N of the Armée de l'Air, as well as an export B (BG) of the Hellenic Air Force. The decals are bright, in register and sharply defined, although the centres of the various roundels appear a little out of line. No further details of the units, timescale or location are given, so the modeller will have to use the fuselage codes, tail codes and the squadron emblems on the tails as a basis for their research.

Conclusion

This is an excellent release from Kinetic, and appears to confound the negativity that was expressed on many forums before its release. Detail is excellent throughout, there are no signs of any roughness of the mould, and the attention to the small differences between the marks shows that plenty of research has been done in making this kit.

Is also nice to see that the instruction booklet has been increased in size to A4 from the diminutive A5 booklet of previous releases. Given that a lot of us modellers have failing eyesight, it makes it much easier to see the fine detail of the drawings to assist us in building the kit.

Hopefully, this will be the first release in a stream of new Mirage kits, as the old Heller and Italeri kits are now somewhat long in the tooth.

Recommended to all.

Review sample courtesy of

[Tim T]

Damn You Britmodeller! Another non-British plane makes it onto my 'Must Have' List.

[Mike]

sorry Tim! Blame Kinetic

[Paul A H]

Looks nice. Good to see Kinetic aren't too parsimonious with the ordnance!

[Mike]

Looks nice. Good to see Kinetic aren't too parsimonious with the ordnance!

They're also quite generous with the bombs too