jgrease

Great stuff as always Chuck - lessons learned as always!

Thanks very much for your observations - the antennas was an error I realized too late, as well as the wrong fin tip for that version. As for the pod, I placed it because I was fitting whatever fit on the pylons after a certain point as the instructions were terrible - you literally have to test fit each item onto the pylons to find what fits. But again, thanks!

Yeah - that whole assembly was fiddly. It didn't help that the nose gear had to be installed early in the build...

AK Real Colors Intermediate Blue FS35164 and Light Ghost Grey FS36375

No exocets in box. Thanks Alain! I can't believe they haven't issued this kit in France of all places! Thanks Brian!

I've finished my build - completed pics here. Let me know what you think. John

Completed the KH Mirage 2000C as a -5F. In my opinion this is KH's best effort to date. Assembly was good in spite of the usual bad instructions. I like the addition of the resin pilot and exhaust. The decals were thick and did not respond to setting solutions. In spite of decals for French, Greek, Brazilian and Taiwanese airframes, there are only French stencils. Also, no information is provided for the 4 different rudder tips and two noses, so check references before assembly. This wasn't my best work - I found a lot of things I would correct in a future build. Your observations and critiques are welcomed. John

Jens - The colors are AK Real Colors Intermediate Blue FS 35164 and AK Real Colors FS 36375. The nose is Testors Dark Gull Grey FS 36231. Thank you all for the encouragement! John

Ok sorry for the delay as real life sometimes gets in the way. I’m still working on decals so here’s an in-progress look: Decals on the left side. The decals are thick and do not adhere well all of the time. Soaking decals (especially the walkway lines) in Solvaset isn’t helping much. I’m repeatedly poking holes in them to try and get more setting solution to pull them flat: Left forward fuselage. You can see the thickness of the decals if you look at the aircraft number: Left side of the rudder. Again, the “Armee De L’Air” decals are fighting every application of setting solution: My conclusion - if you have access to replacement decals then by all means get them. I wasn’t prepared to spend $40 plus shipping to get an untested brand from France on eBay. I’m hoping that an established company puts some decals out for the -D before too long. John

Progress report without photos - I'm at the decal stage and the kit decals aren't the best. I'm at the point of using Solvaset to force them to settle into the crevices and rivets, and it's not working consistently. I'll post photos later today.

If you're doing this plane gear up then be prepared to do a bit of work to close those gear doors up. The nose gear door needed shimming and putty, and the two main gear doors I closed up needed a bead of putty and some attention to level out. Thanks very much Brian! I feel like any KH kit takes two kits to build - one to learn all the issues and one to build correctly. John

A couple of observations as I move along with this kit: -so many parts for variants but no instructions on when to use them -decals are great for any of the French jets, but I’m guessing the Greeks, Brazilians and Taiwanese don’t use French stencils after they get the planes... -the gear legs are as spindly as they can be! I’m definitely going to be epoxying the main gear legs in as the locating tabs do not help to steady or even place them properly. -nose weight is definitely going to be an issue which I’ve asked about here, but there’s no way the nose gear in the kit is supporting that much additional weight. In any event, lots of lessons learned here. I’m bound to do a -D when they are available, but I’ll wait for sturdier gear legs and more marking choices. Here’s a couple of photos of my progress: Overall jet before primer: Closeup of the IFR probe. I drilled a hole and inserted some plastic rod to reinforce the crappy butt joint that KH designers opted for. I’m convinced the designers have never built a model of anything: And finally after a coat of Stynlrez primer: Looking forward to paint at this point. John

A question and then a couple photos. My question is how much weight do I need to put in the nose for this confirmed tail-sitter? I haven’t installed the main gear legs yet so that I can paint. Someone on FB claimed 45g, and that’s a lot of weight for the rather fragile nose gear leg. Anyone have an idea? And for photos - I’ve installed the instrument panel coaming and the pilot is also seated after being painted.

Agreed Dave. Doesn’t seem to fit anywhere.

First off, a very Happy New Year to y’all. My work on this plane is quite the love/hate relationship- just about every time I finish a step, I have to put this thing away for a day and forget it. In any event, here’s the latest observations as I plod along, bearing in mind that none of this has been puttied yet. The nose, glass, rudder, and exhaust are just press-fit into place for these photos. Overall, it looks like a Mirage... The fit of the intake assembly to the fuselage is way better than it is on the Italeri Mirage III: The nose fits pretty well, but I think it sits slightly proud of the fuselage: And the resin exhaust: To finish up, the infamous intakes without intake ramps: After looking at the directions and studying the parts, if anyone can explain where part G49 fits into everything in Step 45, please let me know, and post a photo.