Rodney Posted June 13, 2020 Share Posted June 13, 2020 (edited) From the Shelf of Doom...... I bought the Kinetic Mirage 2000-5Di many years ago when it first came out. I dry fit the major parts together and put it back on the shelf in disappointment. It had major gaps and requires a lot of clean up for a new kit. I do really like the Mirage 2000 and decided the display case needed it. So, I took a swing at it. I added Wolfpack resin ejection seats and PMA decals. The kit decals are printed nicely by Cartograph but some of the colors choices didn't seem correct. The two places with the most challenging fit issues was an insert on the spine that was corrected with a lot of sanding and super and glue and the wing root joint. The wing root used several applications of Mr. Surfacer to get a barely acceptable joint. That was after a lot of dry fitting, sanding, and pushing plastic around in an attempt to get the best fit. The molding for some of the landing gear pieces were horrible. Several of the actuator arms are half round when they should be representing the hydraulic mechanisms. I started to scratch build them but was getting burned out and wanted this kit done... One major issue that I caused was the canopies came out with some fogging in areas and I can't figure out what happened. Unfortunately, my close up pictures for that area did not come out. I used Tamiya polishing compounds to polish the canopies and they looked good. Masked with Tamiya tape and glued with careful applications of Tamiya cement. Upon unmasking, there were areas of fogging that would not polish back out. Any inputs or ideas would be greatly appreciated to prevent this in the future!!! Not the best kit but happy to have a Mirage 2000 in the display case. Onto the pictures... Thanks, Rodney Edited June 13, 2020 by Rodney Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Janissary Posted June 14, 2020 Share Posted June 14, 2020 What a beautiful finish. The painting and weathering are masterfully done. None of the issues you raised is visible to me. Really awesome. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Gary F Posted June 14, 2020 Share Posted June 14, 2020 Really nice job! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
polybebber Posted June 14, 2020 Share Posted June 14, 2020 Your patience and persistence has paied off - you've rewarded yourself with a stunning model. Finish and weathering are spot on Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guess who Posted June 14, 2020 Share Posted June 14, 2020 Nice model !👍 I like the Rocaf paint scheme ! But I think you chose the dorsal fin of Mirage 2000D, with chaff/flares dispenser... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rodney Posted June 15, 2020 Author Share Posted June 15, 2020 Thank you all. Rodney Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rodney Posted June 15, 2020 Author Share Posted June 15, 2020 10 hours ago, Guess who said: Nice model !👍 I like the Rocaf paint scheme ! But I think you chose the dorsal fin of Mirage 2000D, with chaff/flares dispenser... I'll have to double check the instructions to see if I made a mistake or the instructions. I did catch other errors. After putting a pin in the refueling probe and drilling a hole for it, I saw a picture of the Taiwan Mirage 2000 and it didn't have the refueling probe. I wouldn't be surprised if there are more mistakes. I don't know the difference between variants and had no references. Thanks, Rodney Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CaptainObvious Posted June 15, 2020 Share Posted June 15, 2020 That turned out beautifully! I can't see any of the issues you've described, only a fantastic result. I'm glad you finished it. -co Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rodney Posted June 15, 2020 Author Share Posted June 15, 2020 2 hours ago, CaptainObvious said: That turned out beautifully! I can't see any of the issues you've described, only a fantastic result. I'm glad you finished it. -co Thank you. Some of the issues are readily apparent in person but hard to photograph. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aigore Posted June 16, 2020 Share Posted June 16, 2020 Gorgeous builds and awesome weathering! I too have a couple of kinetic mirages in my stas...I think I'm hardened enough by previous kinetic to give them a go sometime in the future, far future 😛 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kurnass77 Posted June 16, 2020 Share Posted June 16, 2020 10 hours ago, CaptainObvious said: That turned out beautifully! I can't see any of the issues you've described, only a fantastic result. I'm glad you finished it. -co +1, nothing visible from here, only a beautiful Mirage! Gianni Quote Link to post Share on other sites
scotthldr Posted June 16, 2020 Share Posted June 16, 2020 I'm currently building the M2K-5F version of this kit, second time round and agree with Rodney that it's a pain. I had an early release kit(light grey plastic), to start with and the fit was so bad it was unbuildable and ended up in the bin. The second kit(darker grey plastic), is the newer release and although a lot of the faults have been rectified, it's still a pain in areas like the wing root, intakes and spine insert. Another thing that I find really annoying about this kit is you can build several sub versions from several different air arms out of the box, but there is no references within the instructions to the differences between these aircraft and it has you building to a generic spec(all the correct parts are there). Reference pictures are a must when building this kit. I notice that you made a similiar mistake to me with the ECM antenna at the base of the tail. Although you've picked the correct one from the sprues as per the instructions, you'll notice that it's over sized and you wouldve been better off picking parts A11/12. Also the instructions have told you to use the wrong wing tip ECM fairings as well. Hope you don't think I'm belittling your skills from this great build and overall result, the fact that you managed to produce such a great looking model from this kit speaks volumes. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rodney Posted June 17, 2020 Author Share Posted June 17, 2020 23 hours ago, Aigore said: Gorgeous builds and awesome weathering! I too have a couple of kinetic mirages in my stas...I think I'm hardened enough by previous kinetic to give them a go sometime in the future, far future 😛 LOL... it'll be a very long time before I consider another Mirage 2000. However, they are improving as a company. I'm building there F-104 now. Not perfect or great but ok. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rodney Posted June 17, 2020 Author Share Posted June 17, 2020 16 hours ago, kurnass77 said: +1, nothing visible from here, only a beautiful Mirage! Gianni Thank you. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rodney Posted June 17, 2020 Author Share Posted June 17, 2020 12 hours ago, scotthldr said: I'm currently building the M2K-5F version of this kit, second time round and agree with Rodney that it's a pain. I had an early release kit(light grey plastic), to start with and the fit was so bad it was unbuildable and ended up in the bin. The second kit(darker grey plastic), is the newer release and although a lot of the faults have been rectified, it's still a pain in areas like the wing root, intakes and spine insert. Another thing that I find really annoying about this kit is you can build several sub versions from several different air arms out of the box, but there is no references within the instructions to the differences between these aircraft and it has you building to a generic spec(all the correct parts are there). Reference pictures are a must when building this kit. I notice that you made a similiar mistake to me with the ECM antenna at the base of the tail. Although you've picked the correct one from the sprues as per the instructions, you'll notice that it's over sized and you wouldve been better off picking parts A11/12. Also the instructions have told you to use the wrong wing tip ECM fairings as well. Hope you don't think I'm belittling your skills from this great build and overall result, the fact that you managed to produce such a great looking model from this kit speaks volumes. Thanks. It was a challenge. I didn't know they updated the kit. Kinetic REALLY needs to improve their instructions and painting guides. That's still an issue with their latest kits. Good luck with your build. Rodney Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChernayaAkula Posted June 26, 2020 Share Posted June 26, 2020 That is gorgeous! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rodney Posted June 28, 2020 Author Share Posted June 28, 2020 On 6/26/2020 at 10:23 AM, ChernayaAkula said: That is gorgeous! Thank you. Rodney Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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