Mirage 2000 C

Eduard, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Mick Evans

Eduard's 1/48 scale Mirage 2000 will be available online from Squadron.com
 

Eduard’s re-release of the Heller 2000C kit is a follow on to their earlier release of the 2000D/N and is welcome return of a nicely detailed kit. 

In this Limited Edition release, Eduard has provided some excellent additions and extra details in etched metal, photo film, cast resin and paint masks.  The kit contains 93 light grey injection moulded plastic parts and 6 clear parts, 2 cast resin parts, 2 photo film parts approximately 50 coloured photo etched metal parts, masking for the canopies and wheels and a large decal sheet covering 6 different schemes.  Of the plastic injection parts 8 are not used being either superseded by resin or not used on this version. 

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Thumbnail panels:

Unfortunately the clear parts are packaged in with the main sprues and the review samples have suffered from some light scratches but these will easily polish out.

When this kit was first released a few years ago it had some nice detail and the Heller moulds are holding their age well - the detail is still crisply moulded.  The surface detail is engraved and is quite good by today’s standards.  The kit was rated as the most accurate of the current 1/48 scale Mirage 2000C kits and would still hold this mantle today.  I do not have accurate scale plans of the Mirage 2000C so I cannot personally make too many comments on the accuracy of the dimensions.

The original cockpit interior was a bit on the plain side and I think that Heller used to provide decals for the instrument panels and side consoles.  The original ejection seat detail was also very average.  Neomega do make a resin cockpit detail set for the old Esci/Italeri Kit of the Mirage 2000C which could have been adapted to fit the Heller Kit but thanks to Eduard this is not required due to the beautiful photo etching for the cockpit and resin ejection seat.  The photo etch details are the Eduard Colour type so the instrument panels are all beautifully detailed.

The wheel wells contain some detail but lack the finer details of hydraulic piping and electrical cables and this will need to be added as scratch built detail.  The undercarriage itself gets some improvement with detail provided in the etched metal fret.  The Speed brakes are moulded closed.  Pin injector marks are minimal with the only visible ones being on the undercarriage doors and these can be easily filled.  The engine nozzle detail is updated with etched metal outer cold flap part of the nozzle and an inner hot flap part.  This will really make the old nozzle look more realistic that the moulded plastic version. 

The final addition is that of a cast resin centre line fuel tank. This part is crisply cast.

The transparencies are moulded crystal clear and as I mentioned earlier will require some polishing to remove some transit scratches.

A full coloured instruction sheet is provided depicting the colour schemes for the four aircraft.  The decals and schemes provided for the four aircraft are as follows:

• Mirage 2000C, 12-YB, of EC.01.012 “Cambresis”, based at Cambrai-Epinoy AFB.  This aircraft is painted in the typical Blue/Grey camouflage scheme and has a Tiger Meet scheme painted on the tail with a leaping tiger and what looks to be paw print scheme on the fuselage.

• Mirage 2000C, 12-YF, of EC.01.012 “Cambresis”, based at Cambrai-Epinoy AFB. This aircraft is painted in the typical Blue/Grey camouflage scheme and has a 90th Anniversary Scheme painted on the tail.

• Mirage 2000C, 5-OP, of EC.02.005 “Ile de France”, based at Al Ahsa AB, during Operation Desert Storm in 1991.  This aircraft is painted in the desert sand and brown camouflage scheme

• Mirage 2000C, 12-YN, of EC.01.012 “Cambresis”, based at Cambrai-Epinoy AFB.  This aircraft is painted in the typical Blue/Grey camouflage scheme.

• Mirage 2000C, 5-OZ, of EC.02.005 “Ile de France”, based at Orange AFB in 2005.  This aircraft is painted in the typical Blue/Grey camouflage scheme.

• Mirage 2000H, KF124, of 1 Sqn “Tigers” of the Indian AF, based at Ambala AB.  This aircraft is painted in the typical Blue/Grey camouflage scheme.

The decals are crisp, accurate in colour and in register.  They have a small amount of carrier film which should disappear under a coat of clear finish.

In summary, this is an excellent reboxing of the solid Heller kit with improvements that enhance the overall finish of the original kit. 

I am looking forward to building this in the near future and posting the model to Hyperscale.

Recommended for modellers of above average skill and experience due to the etched metal content of the kit.

Thanks to Eduard for the sample

Review Text Copyright © 2008 by Mick Evans
Page Created 23 January, 2008
Last updated 23 January, 2008

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