Pavla Models has released a number of resin upgrades designed for Kinetic Models extensive family of Mirage 2000’s. All the releases are contained in re sealable plastic bags. The attachment points of the parts to their blocks has been kept to a absolute minimum, so removing the parts should be a simple task. The air intakes will need a razor saw to separate them from their casting blocks. There are no instructions with any of these releases. These items with the exception of the FOD guards are direct replacements for the parts in the kit, so refer to the kits instructions for guidance with fitting.

Contents

The releases include:
U 48-46 Mirage 2000C nose [Kinetic]
U 48-47 Mirage 2000-5 nose [Kinetic]
U 48-48 Mirage 2000 Engine air intakes with FOD [Kinetic]
U 48-50 Mirage 2000D/N/-5 control surfaces [Kinetic]
U 48-51 Mirage 2000 wing pylons [All kits]
U 48-52 Mirage 2000 FOD [Kinetic]

U 48-46 Mirage 2000C nose.
Price: €5.00
A slightly fuller looking nose compared to the kits rather tapered nose.

U 48-47 Mirage 2000-5 nose.
Price: €5.00
A slightly fuller looking nose compared to the kits rather tapered nose. The hole for the pitot tube is included. The lines of reinforcement have a much more accurate appearance.
The two noses are solid resin so will go some way to providing a balanced model preventing tail sitting. There are no plugs to cut off and clean.

U 48-48 Mirage 2000 Engine air intakes with FOD.
Price: €9.00
The one piece engine air intakes replace the two part kit items. A nice touch is the built in FOD cover with handles. There are two separate FOD covers for the auxiliary air intakes just above the strakes. Their location point is indicated by a small raised rectangular area. You need to use the kits clear plastic parts to insert into the inspection ports. I like the small cavity behind the port to give the impression of depth. There are apparently two probes included, but only one survived the postal trip. The strakes are again direct replacements for the kit parts. The resin intakes have an indented line indicating where the strakes are attached. No instructions are included so there is no colour guidance. Most FOD’s are painted red.

U 48-50 Mirage 2000D/N/-5 control surfaces.
Price: €6.75
The one piece control surfaces replace the two part kit items. The casting block attachment points are along the leading edge and the trailing edges are nice and sharp. There are separate control surface actuators all set in the dropped position. Separate resin sensors have also been included replacing the kits sensors located in the wing root trailing edge and wing tips. They look significantly better than the kit parts. All parts are attached to casting blocks.

U 48-51 Mirage 2000 wing pylons
Price: €7.50
There are two types of wing pylon included with this release. There are two outer wing pylons for the kits Magic 1&2 missiles. The other two pylons are for the large fuel tanks that hang from the inner wing position. All pylons are attached to casting blocks. These resin parts are designed for all Mirage 2000 kits. The resin parts have much better detail than the Kinetic kit parts.

U 48-52 Mirage 2000 FOD
Price: €3.50
Separate FOD covers as described above. There are no plastic equivalents in the kit.

Conclusions

Pavla have a good knack of releasing accurate and detailed replacement resin parts. Although the kit parts are good, they do suffer from slight shape inaccuracies. These Pavla releases will go some way to improve the overall look of the constructed kits.