1/72 Revell Dassault Mirage 2000C RDI

by Jean-Charles Goddet

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Tigermeet 2006 Cambrai Air Base

This model is an Revell 1/72 Mirage 2000C built from the box, it's the same tooling as the Italeri kit.  It shows the special scheme of one of French Air Force participator for 2006 NATO Tiger Meet at Albacete AB in Spain.  The exercise took place from September 25th to October 2nd 2006 and brought together nine countries (Spain F18 & Mirage F1, Belgium F16, Germany Tornado, Portugal F16, UK Puma, Turkey F16, Norway F16, Czech Republic Hind and France Mirage & Rafale + NATO AWACS).  Mirage 2000C RDI (Radar Doppler Impulsion) was from 1/12 Cambresis squadron from Cambrai AB, it shows a white Benghal tiger's head with blue eyes on tail.  Decals come from SYHARTDECAL a French artisan and decal producer (Item number 72-020).  The lower camouflage is Satin Black Humbrol 85  and the upper camouflage is Satin White Humbrol 130.  The decals are not easy to install, the film is enough strong and not very adhesive and the scheme is complex.  I need to carefully cut the film around each marking as SYHARTDECAL advises.  All black stripes are decals and need a lot of attention but the result is here.  The Tiger's head is in two parts but the connection in the middle is very accurate and the result is nice. I did my best to paint it with classical brush and added some paint correction after decals application.  I saw pictures on the web of the real plane, as a show plane, it is very clean so I didn't add weathering to the paint scheme.

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The front and main gears with all internal doors are painted in aluminium metallic Humbrol 56.  Engine is in aluminium metallic Humbrol 56 and weathering in burnt steel Humbrol 53.  To make the model more real I decided to show the canopy open I added two big tanks under wings from a Heller Mirage 2000N kit and empty pylons under wings.

So I'm very proud to present you a plane from my country, it's the first time.  I like the result this plane has an eye-catcher scheme : white tiger's head and full black stripped upper fuselage is very attractive.  Finally Tiger meetings are a huge source of inspiration for aviation modellers, with a variety of planes and choppers from a lot of countries.  In 2006 this Tiger Mirage 2000 won the silver tiger trophy the 1st price of the meeting: the best paint scheme of the year.

To finish the cry of the meeting : TIGER TIGER TIGER !!!

Jean-Charles Goddet

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Photos and text © by Jean-Charles Goddet