ratmigs

I was keen on receiving Eduard's new 1/72 MiG-21MF last year and got one as early as I could. 6 weeks and 50000 (not really, but you get the point) decals later, I was done with what I think is the best kit I have ever made.. Its beautifully engineered and has details that would blow your mind, but does make you work hard to achieve the fidelity it deserves. As profiled here before, the Profi-pack boxing comes with a variety of schemes, but I chose to build a MiG that was a true war-horse in the Middle East. Painted in the Znamya Truda camouflage in which several Arab Type-96s were delivered from the Soviet Union, it represents an aircraft of the Syrian Arab Air Force in the days leading up to the Lebanon War when they were outclassed and outgunned by the Israeli Air Force. Not deterred by the daunting challenges, Syrian pilots took the war to the Israelis and made the best use of their versatile and agile MiG-21. SyAAF is a shadow of its former self these days, but continues to be one of the most secretive air arms in the world. Their pilots and their MiG-21s continue to defend the homeland, but the enemy is very very different. If you are a MiG-21 aficionado, look no further than this kit. Parked alongside my old Kopro MF. Incredible how far we have come with MiG-21 kits. [

Thanks Mike

@Moderators this was accidentally posted in WIP. Please help move this to the RFI section.

Saved from the shelf of doom, I started this kit couple of years ago under rather funny circumstances. It all started with me having a go at the rather modern Hobby Boss F-5E only to discover its biggest glaring issue - the windscreen being way too short. To remedy the problem, I bought a water damaged Italeri kit off of eBay mostly for its clear parts. Seeing that the Italeri had the right shark nose and squared off LERXs seen on most US aggressor aircraft, I wondered if the HB kit was worth proceeding with. Eventually, I used the Italeri canopy as a basis to form a new windscreen for the HB kit and decided I would do a twin Tiger build. Long story short, I ran out of steam midway and both kits were packed away after reaching primer stage. Fast forward to 2019, I was looking for something to 'finish off quickly' and came across these two again. I decided to just focus on completing the Italeri while I used decals from the HB boxing. I made some minor mods to better represent the subject aircraft, nothing crazy. Modifications made were - Seat headrest changed to improved style (using putty to build the headrest buttress), scratch built the canopy lift mechanism and fashioned an ACMI pod using styrene pipes. The canopy lift feels like an absolute must have for anyone building 1/72 F-5s and took the most time on my build to get right. This is quite characteristic of the F-5 and I have no idea why kit manufacturers decided to leave it out. This was finally finished off over the last week since so much work was already done. I was too lazy to use blu tac on the camo and ending up free-handing it at 1 bar psi. I think it turned out OK. Hope you all like it.

Intricate work Tom! Excellent! Here's mine from years ago. I didn't have the courage to cut open the doors myself

Hi everyone. Haven't posted here in a while, so here you go - I just built a 1/72 Heller Mirage 2000 twin seater and finished it in the colors of an Indian Air Force bird commemorate the 20th anniversary of the limited, but well-publicized Kargil war with Pakistan. The Mirage played a key role in turning the tide in India's favor with several sorties including some dropping LGBs at extreme altitudes. The war clearly cemented IAF's love affair with the aircraft and it has since then been it's go-to jet for tough jobs. I picked an unusual color scheme for an Indian Mirage, a two tone camo reminiscent of the older Mirage variants flown by rival Pakistan and strikingly similar to French 2000Ns. I believe this camo was worn by the two seater serialed KT201 temporarily for few years starting in the late nineties along with an equally interesting single seater painted in an even more uncommon desert scheme. This aircraft wears an unusual (for IAF) nose art depicting a Northrop BQM-74 Chukar (aka Chakor in India) drone kill. The build is mostly OOB except the following mods - I cut the canopy open, inserted a clear plastic partition between both cockpits, slightly detailed the seats, added PE frets for cockpit from spares, managed to salvage 1300L drop tanks from the spares bin with styrene fins, built a Paveway LGB with a PWII (from an AMK Kfir) + 1000lb bomb + fins from FAB-500, cut open the elevons for droop, added a homemade pitot tube with toothpick and Dremel, fashioned a Remora EW pod with heated sprue. Overall, not my cleanest build with poor fit, terrible decals and raised lines, but throughly enjoyed putting it together. Hope you all like it! fullsizeoutput_7b fullsizeoutput_7a fullsizeoutput_76 fullsizeoutput_74

Nice work Tom! Lovely Sea Hawk and Hunter.

A true labor of love! Thanks for sharing!

Very very nice. Love this scheme. Cheers

Thanks guys. I started this one with an early Bounty Hunter scheme in mind, but bumped into the Tom Cooper book (https://ospreypublishing.com/iranian-f-14-tomcat-units-in-combat) along the way. Couldn't help but build an Ali-cat after that; especially since I could then shoot a picture like below

Thanks Andre. I used Vallejo Desert Yellow lightened with white for the Sand. Same for Tamiya Flat Brown (XF-10). The green and light gray came from the Akan USAF SEA camo set. The radome is Model Master Radome Tan. Hope that helps

Hi all, I haven't posted here in a while though I lurk through the awesome work that shows up every day. Here's my latest 1/72 build - an IRIAF F-14A that I finished this month after a slow-burn build process spanning four months. Hope you enjoy the pics. Happy to hear any comments or questions on the build. Details : Base kit - Hasegawa 00774 (K Series 1989 New Mould) | Aftermarket parts - Master Pitot and AoA sensor, Microscale IRIAF decals, Hasegawa Air-Air weapons set | Colors - Desert Yellow(FS 20400), Dark Green(FS 34079), Brown(FS 30140), Light Gray(FS 36622) | Major Mods - IFR bay and probe DSC_0178 DSC_0148 DSC_0160 DSC_0170 DSC_0169 DSC_0166

Here's my latest build - an HAL Ajeet Mk.2 built from the Olimp Pro Resin kit. This one's interesting from the 'what might have been' standpoint for the IAF. Circa early-1980s the Indian Air Force was in need of some Advanced Jet Trainers and HAL which was then build the Gnat Mk.2 aka the Ajeet took the opportunity to build what seemed like a promising new trainer based on the Gnat. The IAF was a prolific Gnat operator and this version seemed almost logical, but it was not to be. The project was terminated and the AJT saga culminated into a long and painful acquisition process ending only in the 2000s with the IAF getting BAe Hawk 132s. Unlike the RAF Gnat T.1s, the plane had an angled cockpit and twin canopies, perhaps to improve visibility. Again, unlike the RAF version, this one retained the original flying surfaces though the fin was made taller to compensate for the longer fuselage. The first prototype took to air in 1982 but was lost soon after. Somewhere along the way, the IAF, which historically has never been warm to the idea of independent efforts such as this lost enthusiasm. HAL went on to build two more examples, both of which ended lives with active squadrons though they never saw service as real trainers but rather as airframes to help senior officers stay current with the type. My model depicts E2414, one of the last two built, in the colors of No.2 (Winged Arrows) squadron where it eventually ended up. Olimp's kit is exquisite detail-wise (especially since this aircraft is tiny for 1/72) but has the usual pitfalls of a resin kit. It has small holes due to air bubbles in places and the fit is not the best. It is also a terrible tail sitter and there's not much one can do as the nose has little scope to take in the required weights. The sqn. badge decals has proved to be controversial among IAF enthusiasts as it shows the logo of No.2 sqn (Winged Arrows) but says 'Flying Bullets' below which would be No.18. Turns out, Olimp wasn't completely wrong as 2414 was originally delivered to No.18 in 1988 and did wear its badge. When it moved to No.2 the badge was hastily painted over and remnants of the original badge clearly shows in pictures. The only gripe I have with decals (printed by Begemot) is they reversed the roundels (green for saffron and vice versa). I was able to use some spares from a Begemot MiG-21 sheet. Hope you all enjoy the pics and let me know what you think.

Beautiful! Good call on the inflight mode. Cheers

Lovely looking machines, all of them. Kudos on working such a difficult kit into such a fine looking model. Cheers!