Mirage 2000 N & D 1/48

Greetings to everyone!

As a greek saying goes "If you join the dance-circle, you must dance", here is my first work in progress!
It is Kinetic Mirage 2000 B/N/D kit no 48032 in 48th scale and i've decided to build the "N" version of French air force, with the desert camouflage as it has participated in the Red Flag exercise in the early 90's. Having already posted another Mirage, you can tell it's my favorite type of aircraft  (another 3 are in my future plans!).

Here, you can have a quick look of the sprues
http://www.cybermodeler.com/hobby/kits/kin/kit_kin_48032.shtml
Compared to Heller Mirages, i must say the detail is much better but some parts are delicate as they can easily break and there's excess plastic that needs to be cleaned, the panel lines however, are nicely engraved. The kit includes alternative parts in order to build versions "B", "D" and "N", some of which are not correct or mentioned by the instructions, e.g. i placed the wrong vertical fin on my previous model . Also, the instrument panels depict a modernised M2000-5 cockpit!

It's going to be an out of the box construction, as i prefer not using aftermarket products and my philosophy is "keep it easy, keep it fun"! I don't mind if the result won't be accurate like the real bird but i'll do my best!!

So. let's go!
As usual, start from the cockpit. I painted the tub by looking other wip's as i couldn't find photos because of the aircraft's nuclear strike purpose and therefore, the cockpit area is supposed to be confidential. The color should be darker :oops:but i have already glued both halves of the fuselage and any thoughts correcting it, were immediately vanished. The dash boards have false lay out as i mentioned earlier, so i hope they won't be visible under closed canopies.     





Finished also the Mk-10 ejection seats.



I've made the seatbelts out of aluminium tin foil which i took from a coffee can and is used to preserve the content. I find this material really good for this purpose.    


More photos to come!
Regards

nice work ......... 

looking good Panos, maybe you can give the seat belts a coat of matt varnish before closing them up in the pit, they are a bit too shiny and don't look like belt material. Otherwise lovely work!

Thank you all for your kind words!  

bcauchi wrote:..maybe you can give the seat belts a coat of matt varnish before closing them up in the pit, they are a bit too shiny and don't look like belt material..

I'll have that in mind and do it sometime before gluing the seats. Thanks for the advice!

Some new photos.
I assembled fuselage halves and other parts, quite few gaps; air intakes, part of the spine and mostly on the wings. Putty and sanding between long term pauses and a quick coat of matt grey to check progress and there's still plenty of work that must be done.


And here, you can see the parts that are not mentioned by the instructions
i) C 32 [chaff flares control panels], ii) C 34 [parachute braking], iii) E 19 [arresting hook, on Greek BG's] and iv) E 21/E 22 [wingtips with ICMS Mk1 countermeasure system, also on Greek BG's], alternative parts E 14/E 15 are installed on the model.    


This lack of information can mislead modelers, so research is preferable in order to avoid mistakes.

In the meanwhile, i' ve started working on other parts. Here's the open nozzles exhaust which in contrast to the closed one, there is no detail in the inside.
I first made an effort to add some detail with tin alluminium foil but after painting it, it just looked horrible!

So i replaced them with plastic sheet, then painted and particially weathered.


Also, a part of the loads, 4 mk-82 bombs taken from Kinetic F-16 kit. Normally, N's can carry such amunition, those however that took part in the exercise with the specific camo, seem to be loaded with only two under the air intakes but i like my models to be heavily armed!  
Pylons are not included in the kit, they are actually matra mica pylons from Skunkmodels weapon set, given as extras by a greek modelshop and which i modified a bit. Same parts along with other french weapons, come also with the Italeri "D", basically a kinetic rebox with different decals.      


Landing gears, added some wiring and tried to simulate pressed tires by touching wheels on a heated clothe ironing device.

That's all for now, thank you for your time!

Thank you very much Ray!
Any advice is welcome and i'll try to put it to a test.

Very nice work Panos, especially the exhausts. Don;t forger that the tyres have to be matt too. Better matt than shiny on an aircraft. Well done for the build, looking really good.

mirage is an beauty...
looking good so far.
landing gear is really nice.
keep it posted.

stevan

Brian and Stevan, thank you very much for your kinds words! I will also fix the tyres!  

National holiday here in Greece, celebrating the "No" day, rejection of Mussolini's ultimatum demanding usage of land and infrastructures by the axis forces which immediately lead to Greece's participation to WWII and later to the occupation by the Germans. Greeks fought bravely but nowadays the country, with its leaders' approval, goes under a new occupation, a financial one.

So, a little progress.
I've made the Rafaut LBF-2 practice bomb container, using plastic sheet and a matra super r-530 missile, sanded it and added some scribbing. The pylon is also scratchbuilt, some spots have been puttied with instant glue and entirely checked with a wash.           



And here both parts completed, the red part on the right side, the aerodynamic sensor, is a piece of dymo tape (a kind of hard tape, i also use it for scribbing)  





Thank you for your time!

Nice detail work, very neat indeed!

Ray and Brian, thank you! Glad that you like it!
I enjoy this kind of improvements with raw materials, final result sometimes can be false or out of scale, but in the end i feel happy. I don't worry being inaccurate, i first make sure to have fun!
     
And all together tested on the model.


Kind regards

Excellent work keep it up and keep the pics flowing.

Brian and Ray, thank you!

Finished the outer pylon loads.
An exercise Matra R550 magic missile and a NECA pod (or tube), same missile type used as Aircraft Instrumentation System.    


I also took the decision to change the cockpit area, like the real one  
http://www.aircraftwalkarounds.be/Images/Mirage2000N/Mirage%202000%2018.html
so i started from the dash boards by removing paint, in order to make the necessary corrections.


I will try to add sunshades from thin plastic sheet and remove most of the screens, quite risky, and change tub color with a darker grey.
Hope i won't regret it!

Go for it, you can surely do it if you persist.

Brian and Ray   
I believe i managed to deal with it!

Some progress, ready for painting.
Removed most screens, along with other panels, and added analog instruments, using thin plastic sheet and pieces of heated stretched sprue in different diameters.

Also made sunshades


Started working on the HUD area, it needs further work as the kit provides only a circular and out of scale transparent part.


That's all for now! Thank you for your time!  

Lovely detail work, very neat and accurate.

Hello again after a long time!
Brian and Ray, thank you for your kind words!

Not much progress, still haven't finished sanding and must rescribe some areas. Trying to find the courage while waiting for a scribbing tool.

I painted though the cockpit with a darker gray, Humbrol 126



Made also the raised weldings on fuel tanks, using heated and streched sprue which i first wrapped around a marker and put it in some boiling water for a few seconds, heat made the sprue maintain a spiral shape and was easier to glue each part.



In the meanwhile, a new delivery to my benchwork. Another Mirage 2000, a Kinetic kit in Italeri box, it's going to be a D version.


Started it already, removed some plastic from the spots where seats are placed, in order to make them stand to the proper high and made the first necessary modifications to the instrument panels, will try to repeat same work i did on the N.
That part next to the panels that goes behind the front seat, i'm planning to glue at a later stage as it would be easier to work when fuselage halves are assembled, plus the canopy lift mechanism won't break like on the other mirage.     


Ignored instructions and glued each half of the spine and the small part of the fuselage ending, onto the respective fuselage half, dry fit revealed several discrepancies so i sanded join points.



Thanks for your time watching and wishing you a happy Easter!!  

Very nice work, the welding seams look really great!

Same to you ...and happy modeling..........