Mirage G8.01

Modelsvit, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Graham Carter

The 1970s was a time when several aircraft manufacturers were experimenting with the swing-wing design to increase the flight envelope of swept-wing jets. The idea was that the forward position made the aircraft more controllable in low-speed landing conditions while the swept position gave the benefits of high-speed delta performance.

Some of the projects proved to be more successful than others, witness the F-111, Tornado and F-14 as well a few Soviet examples.

The Mirage G8 was the French Dassault company’s attempt to design such a plane. Two variants were built, the G8.01 two seater and the 02 single seater. This kit is of the two-seat version which I think is the more attractive of the pair. It was a successful venture and the re-named Super Mirage was ordered into production. Eight were completed before the Air Force decided that variable-sweep wings were too expensive, complex and heavy and the orders were cancelled. Nevertheless the design experience and developments were used in the Mirage 2000 and 4000, the former a very successful aircraft to this day.

This kit, which has already been given the German Modellfan magazine “Model of the Year” accolade according to box top, is a typical ModelsVit kit, beautifully presented and detailed but certainly not a weekend build!

The only previous renditionMirage G8.01 in the ‘One True Scale’ was from Anigrand a few years ago, in resin, and we all know the fun there was to have building that company’s kits.

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It comes in the usual sturdy top-opening box with an great illustration of the aircraft by an artist whose name is indecipherable. A measure of the complexity of the kit is that it contains 209 parts, excluding the masks and some 50 PE parts! There are eight mid-grey sprues  sealed in a plastic zip-lock bag and another bag contains the PE fret, masks, transparencies and decals in their own sleeves. The 12-page A4 instruction booklet covers construction in 38 steps with colours called out in each stage. These are identified by name, Mr.Color and AK numbers, all 18 of them. Parts are well moulded with no visible flash and only minor seams to clean up. Common with many short-run kits, the sprue gates in some cases will need care in trimming due to their intrusion onto exterior faces, especially the flying surfaces.

The first 12 steps cover the cockpits, followed by the fuselage and its interior of intake ducts, exhausts and undercarriage wells. The exterior is made up of six parts and care will be need here as there are no locating pins/holes. The cockpits are works of modelling art with plastic, PE and decals used to great effect. Each bang-seat is made up of sixteen parts.

I was a little perturbed to note that the horizontal stabilisers were in two parts but an examination revealed that they are designed so that fine trailing edges are produced. The wings can be posed in any position but are not moveable as in some Tornado, F-111 and F-14 kits. 

There is no mention of nose weight but I would be inclined to fill the nose with something heavy, especially if I was doing a swept-wing model. There is plenty of room in the nose for this. I would also be inclined to replace the nose probe with some Albion Alloy sliding brass tube sections as the plastic one looks a little fragile.

The photo-etched fret contains a mass of pieces, small and large for the interior and exterior, exhaust rings and aerials, and cockpit instruments.

While the masks cover Both sides of the wheels surfaces, and both interior and exterior of the canopy sections - thank you ModelsVit!! 

Decals cover the prototype at the test centre decorated in the red markings of 33rd Escadrille.

They appear to be well-printed with good density and register. The airframe is overall shades of aluminium with red intake markings and interior green wheel wells.

In summary, this is a great model, well worth taking care and time in its building. If this is your interest area, as it is mine, then it comes very highly recommended, just don’t expect it to fall together over a weekend.

Thanks to Modelsvit for the review sample.

Review Text and Images Copyright © 2025 by Graham Carter
Page Created 19 June, 2025
Last updated 19 June, 2025

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