1/48 Italeri Mirage 2000B

Gallery Article by Ulysses Almeida on Jan 24 2013

 

 

This is a superb kit issued by Italeri. I had the greatest time building it. The fit was perfect, the paint was Model Master but I mixed the paints to get the blue-grey shade just right. The decals are a mix of FCM's decal sheet for the Mirage and the sheet that came with the model. It's no coincidence the kit resembles the French Mirage, they were bought by the Brazilian Air Force in an "eleventh hour" decision to cover for the inevitable retirement of the Mirage IIIBR. The French government quickly deactivated twelve (10 C + 2 B) Mirages, refurbished them and sold them to Brazil.

 

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The rush to get these planes was such that they were put into operation with all the warnings in French and only got the unit badges and markings in Portuguese. The first units arrived on the 4th of September, 2006. The Brazilian Air Force gave their two Mirage 2000B the designation F-2000 B. The Mirage 2000 were decomissioned in 2013.

December 31, 2013 marked the end of the Mirage 2000 era in Brazil. The last flight of the Mirage 2000 was made with destination to Rio de Janeiro to occupy a place in the Air Force Museum.

Ulysses Almeida

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Photos and text © by Ulysses Almeida