Monogram

Monogram

Hasegawa

5446

5425

04505

HM188

The Monogram series of kits have been re boxed several times but essentially remain the same basic kit. Kit number 5425 was the first to be issued and while I have not seen this kit, I understand it doesn't feature the Exocets that are included within the boxing reviewed here (5446). A further change among the boxings is the Revell kit (04505) has scribed panel lines just on its undersurface, apparently as the tooling was damaged and required some reconditioning. The Hasegawa boxing (HM188) is definitely the Monogram kit, however I'm unsure if it includes the scribed underside or the Exocet missiles.

The main airframe consists of a left and right fuselage half, left and right wing upper and a single large wing bottom incorporating parts of the lower fuselage. These parts are molded in light grey plastic that is typical of Monogram kits and all feature finely raised panel lines and recessed control surface demarcations.The panel lines are generally quite accurate, however there are several vents and panel lines missing, most obviously the prominent row of bolt covers (small circular panels) that run down the wing to fuselage joint.

The kits origins as a prototype are evident in the various aerials and air data probes around the nose, however these could easily be removed if you so wished. The blow in auxiliary intake doors are not really featured apart from a vague slot and two raised "plates" are mounted on the intake sides which are not present on the real aircraft. The flaperon actuators are nicely molded, however the cannons are incorrect in that they stand too proud of the fuselage undersurface. The Serval RWR fairings on the vertical tail and wing tips are reasonably accurate, although not perfect and the wing fairings will require blending into the top surface of the wing.

The kit cockpit is adequately detailed with raised instruments on the main console and side consoles however they are not particularly accurate and the detail is not well defined. The detail on the cockpit tub is quite basic, especially the area behind the seat, which in reality is quite "busy". There is sidewall detail , however again it is not really accurate. The ejector seat tells a similar story and a pilot figure is also provided, however if you are to really nitpick, he is just a USAF pilot similar to the one included in Monogram's A-37 Dragonfly.

The rest of the details on the kit follow the same trend as the rest of the kit in that they are reasonably detailed by not really accurate. The biggest offender in this department is the burner can, which is almost "corrugated" and not accurate for any version of the Mirage 2000. There is also no ducting/engine detail and no ducting for the intakes meaning you can see right through the model if assembled without modification.

Perhaps one of the nicest features of the kit are the main wheels as these feature pretty accurate hub detail even if the holes in the hub require drilling out.

The included weapons are not really useful, as the Magic IIs are very simple, lacking any scribing, surface detail and notches in the rear fins. The proportions of these are not great either however they could be used as a basis for a fin less inert training round or a Magic II based ACMI pod. The Exocets that are included in this boxing are reasonable and could be used for a Greek Mirage 2000EG, however they are not appropriate from a French machine. Finally the center line drop tank is not useable at all and is a totally different shape to the RPL-522 that is carried by all Mirage 2000 versions on the centerline. The tank that is included resembles a Mirage F.1 wing tank more than the RPL-522 in that it has a large "H" section fin unit at the rear.

I will not write much on the kits shape as this will be analysed further in the kit comparison article.

The issue of "shape" is a very important one with regards to Mirage 2000 kits, and while there are no plans that can be considered perfectly accurate from which to draw conclusions, we are therefore relegated (or maybe its not such a bad thing) to using photographs and judgment to asses what looks correct. If you are to look at a built example of this model you can clearly see it looks like a Mirage 2000 however it certainly isn't perfect.

The most noticeable problem with the shape is the width across the "shoulders" (the fuselage width at the intakes widest point). The nose is also a little short and I'm not completely happy with the way the canopy blends into the forward fuselage. The diameter around the jet pipe also looks a little large which is consistent with the rest of the fuselage.

Construction wise there should be few problems as the kit is quite simple, however a few modifications could drastically improve the kit such as a bulkhead to stop the viewer from seeing all the way through the jet. The kit looks to be good to average and everyone I know who has built this kit has had a few issues with some seams and therefore lost some of the raised detail.

In conclusion this kit has some acceptable detail, however it is not all that accurate for any Mirage 2000 especially production aircraft. The shape issues are realistically uncorrectable but they don't totally detract from the look of the kit when built.

At the start of this article I promised not to compare this kit with the other two kits available, however I will say that the Monogram kit is the weakest kit of the three, however it is not completely un-buildable. See the kit comparison article for more information!