Mirage 2000

Kit	Kit Manufacturer	Scale	Price	Options	Out of Box (OOB) or Modified	Rating (1-10 10=best)
Mirage 2000	Monogram	1:48	$4 (clearance)	none	Updated to 2000 c-s3 standard	7

The Mirage 2000 is the latest in the Mirage series of Dassault delta wing fighters, one of the best selling series of fighters in the world. The 2000 has been in service with the French air force for some time now (nearly 20 years) as well as other air forces (such as India, Taiwan, Egypt, and Abu Dhabi,) and has proven itself to be a capable, flexible fighter and attack aircraft.

The Monogram kit, while including decals for an operational Mirage 2000, really reflects one of the later prototypes (the Mirage 2000-04) and the molds had not been updated since the initial release of the kit. (I had one of the inital releases many years ago, in white overall with red, white, and blue prototype markings.) There are a few, easy to correct inaccuracies in the kit, if you want to build a late prototype or an production aircraft. I chose to build the kit as a 2000C/S-3.

The interior went together very easily. There are some ejector marks here and there, but they're covered by other components, so I didnt' worry about them. I didn't weather the cockpit.- and it should be painted a light bluish-grey, not the darker grey I finished it in. (Oops.) The instrument panel appears correct for an early to mid production aircraft, though the latest variants have video displays instead of dials.

The cockpit fit into the fuselage easily, and with a little time lining up the wheel well sidewalls/nose gear doors, the fuselage went together smoothly. The sides were slightly misaligned, so there were seams to be cleaned up, though they weren't bad. I went slightly out of order here and fit the wing together, fit the intakes and splitters together, then added the wing (with a slight gap on one side, filled and sanded smooth) to the fuselage. There were also gaps at the bottom edge of the rear of the fuselage and at the front edge where the fuselage and wing bottom meet - not huge gaps, but some putty and sanding were needed. Once this was dry, I fitted the intake assemblies (after painting the back "wall" on the fuselage flat black - a replacement resin trunking would work well here) which fit well on one side, though the other had to be sanded down to match the contour of the fuselage at the join.

At this point, you'll probably be able to look at the model and realize, hey - it's nearly done. And you'd be right. Now, though, come the fiddly bits - there are data probes and aerials all about the aircraft, and not all of them are really "there" on any of the pictures of operational Mirage 2000C/S3s. Others need modifying. Here's a list of what you'll need to fix:

• Air "probe" under the nose - leave for the prototype 2000-4, break off and sand smooth for the 2000c/s1-3, and modify to a small blade antenna for the C/s4-5.
• The air probes under the front edge of the wing - I didn't see shots of these on any C/s1-5s, so putty in the notches and sand smooth.
• Air probe just ahead of the windscreen - present on the prototype, not present on C/s1-3. For the 4's and 5's, this is in the perfect location for the (optional) air refueling probe, which you'll need to scratchbuild.
• Slight pickiness - the panel lines on the radome are wrong for production aircraft. The one at the windscreen is right, but for production aircraft, sand off the (raised) panel line at the "front" of the radome and scribe two in about a quarter inch or so farther back. This is the actual end of the radome, and will be painted black or grey.
• The pitot / data probe at the front of the nose - *way* too long, right for a prototype (2000-3) but too long for any subsequent variant. Glue on, bring the nose to a point, and reshape and trim off most of the probe.