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Righty-ho, here's another completion for the year, KP's re-issue of the RV Aircraft 1/72 MiG-21UM in Cuban colours. Colours are a mixture of Humbrol and Xtracolor; an old tin of Humbrol Authentic HG10 German WW1 Blue combined with 117 US Light Green for the uppersurface and 65 Aircraft Blue for the underside. Xtracolor X629 Soviet Cockpit Green/Blue, X628 Eastern Bloc Wheel Hub Green, Revell 6 Tar Black and various Humbrol colours were used for the details. Decals are from Aztec Models' "Castro's Raiders" sheet. The model is semi-fictional as I went with the theory that MiG-21UM "Black 526" was probably initially camouflaged in the typical Green/Blue scheme and later repainted in to it's current Green/Sand/Brown one. I also used THIS image as a guide with some interpretation of other pictures of Cuban MiG-21's from THIS page and elsewhere. A little history culled from the 'net: The kit itself is OK, but is typical limited run offering in that plenty of test fitting and filler is needed. It comes with two canopy options - a single part one for display closed and a three piece one so you can display the canopy open. I cracked the single piece one and had to use the three part one instead. Surprisingly the multipart canopy was a better fit! I used NH Detail's MiG-21MF Exterior and Quickboost's MiG-21MF Air Scoop sets as the kit is missing a few items (namely the "Odd Rods" IFF antennas) and the kit air scoops are a bit "blobby"! Now for the photos: Comments welcome! Mike.

Oops, I had completely forgotten where this Group Build was and the revised Web Site had left me scratching my head a bit. Anyway, having removed the splinters, I thought I had better report something. My model is the Airfix F-51 1/72 model which, fortuitously, includes the correct propeller for FAR 400. Thus far I have completed the interior buttoned up the fuselage and added the wings. As I write this, a few coats of primer/filler have been applied to the nose in order to allow me to 'remove' the seam line.

Now that I've got your attention I'll explain what I intend to be building for this GB. I am going to attempt my first double build having seen it done on a few other GB's as it seems to make a lot of sense, they are both the same aircraft (more or less) with the same interior colours and the same overall colour scheme (probably). I lay most of the blame for this at David's (MirageIV's) feet for his continued prolific high quality builds of pairs (or more) of aircraft in the time it takes me to build one, so hopefully I can burn through the stash more quickly. Anyway onto the kits.... Any of you who have seen any of my builds in the past will know that I have an aversion to building aircraft in the usual colour schemes, so nothing American here! My P-47N will be built as an aircraft that was supplied to the Nationalist Chinese on Taiwan after they had fled there following losing the Chinese Civil War. here is a closer picture of the kit and extras.... I found a resin cockpit by HiTech in the box (amazing the things you forget you've got) which I may or may not use and the decals are by a Taiwanese company called Bestfong whose decals I have never used before so I will be interested to see how they perform. The aircraft I have chosen to build is shown below, but to be fair they all looked alike other than for unit markings. The second aircraft will be from the Hasegawa boxing which comes with all the bits to do any version of the bubbletop D variant and builds up very nicely (I did one a couple of years ago). This will be a Latin American one but I am not sure which country yet, I am torn between either Mexico or Cuba. Here is a picture of the bundle.... The picture below shows the Mexican aircraft I might build (probably the favourite at the moment) which is from a sheet by Aztec whose decals I have used before and whose research is very good. My other option is for a Cuban aircraft and I even have a choice to make as to which scheme I use as I can build one in either natural metal or one in a locally applied olive green colour. These decals are by Aeromaster whose decals we all know so they will work fine, their research however can be a little sketchy but they have this one done well. Here is a picture of their sheet. Anyway that's the plan. All comments and criticisms will be gratefully received, and any preference as to which scheme to use for my D will be helpful. Thanks for looking in. Craig.

So, my cuban fishbed is finished! - Academy kit built oob except for the neomega's pit and the HAD nose and engine cover - painted with Gunze's acryl range (H338 undersurfaces; H320 and H323 for the camo) - decals form Aztec and Afterburner sheets - a lot of fun in building it, my ourth Academy's Fishbed. For the next ones i will use the Eduard new tool... Hope you like it ciao Ale

I offer for your perusal, my interpretation of a Cuban Revolutionary Air Force Sea Fury FB11 at the period of 'The Bay of Pigs' conflict. Just 6 months later the FAR were converting to MiG 15's. The model is the Special Hobbies FAEC kit, the canopy has been replaced with a Falcon Vac form unit (the shape of the rear of the SH canopy is too blunt). The U/C doors and retractable boarding step are etched brass and the pitot-tube made from an acupuncture needle inside a hypodermic needle.

I offer my completed 1:72 Academy conversion of the GMC 353 to GMC CCKW refueller. This vehicle is part of a small diorama representing Cuban Revolutionary Air force operations during the 'Bay of Pigs' period. I have tried to make the vehicle reflect it's age as a 15 year old veteran of WW2 operating in the challenging conditions of Post revolutionary Cuba with just the minimum of maintenance. The driver is wearing typical green fatigues and the Cuban beret rather than the more usual cap. I had hoped that day light photography would make the tyre tread less 'white', it is supposed to represent concrete dust. Is it too light do you think? The rear view mirror was made by punching a disk of aluminium foil and, using PVA or araldite, sticking a suitable fine wire/plastic arm on. I think I could do with creating a bit more wear and tear around the rear 'bits'.

I picked this up pretty cheap second had and I'm glad I didn't pay much for it. The kit is devoid of detail and some of the fit is bad, the undercarriage in-particular. I also added some RP-3 rockets from the Airfix Seafire XVII that I did not use. If I'm to build another Sea Fury it'll be either the Trumpeter kit (despite it's problems) or the Fisher model. The decals used were from Blackbird Models; Latin American Air Wars Vol 1 - Bay of Pigs. They are very nice decals, thin, glossy and settle down well with Mr Mark softener. However, the colour scheme given for '541' is probably incorrect for the period and I suspect they were looking at pictures of the Sea Fury in the Cuban Air Force Museum, that is painted a touch haphazardly. They also missed the small '541' decal for the undercarriage main gear doors (I put this on with spare decals). On the colour scheme, '541' was painted in a two tone, wrap around striped camouflage of a lighter and darker colour. What these two colours were is anyone's guess. The decal sheet suggest a light green and an olive drab and I substituted the olive drab for an olive green. It's probably flown against the invasion in the Bay of Pigs and according to sources, shot down a rebel flown B-26. Sources say all Cuban Sea Fury's were repainted overall olive drab before the invasion, but pictures to show this aircraft armed with rockets with a pilot stepping into it, so without a date on the picture, who knows for sure?

Built for the obsolete kit group build. Converted to F-47D-35-RA of the Cuban Army Air Force. Build thread.

I won these on eBay tonight from two different sellers within ten minutes of each other so the timing is perfect because I can do a Cuban F-47 The FAEC flew the F-47D-35-RA so I will have to make the dorsal* fin because the kit is an early bubble top without one, but apart from that it'll be OOB. I'm also going to build it wheels up, something I've not done for a long time so it should be a fun project. ***UPDATE*** Now they've been delivered I've updated the photos. * Corrected from ventral, thank you dogsbody for pointing it out

Aztec Decals - All Castro's MIGs - Cuban Raiders Aztec Models - 1:48 & 1:72 The Cuban revolution of 26th July 1953 finally ousted President Batista in January 1959 replacing his regime with Fidel Castro's revolutionary government. This was later reformed into a communist style of government, with the Cuban communist party become a reality in 1965. As the Cuban regieme became a communist one they allied with the Soviet Union, they then became the source of military equipement for the Cubans. For aircraft this meant MiG's and more MiG's! Deliveries begining after Raul Castro visited Moscow in 1960. As well as direct exports the Soviet Air Force also left behind MiG-21's following their withdrawl during the Cuban missle crisis. Estimated Soviet aircraft deliveries to Cuba were; 60 MiG-15, 12 MiG-15UTI, 80 MiG-17, 40 MiG-19, 117 MiG-21, 22 MiG-23, 15 MiG-27. This new sheet from Aztec Decals contains decals to build 16 different MiG's from the early MiG-15's to the later MiG-21's (including some two seaters). The decals look to be excellent on the sheet. I cant see any printing errors, the colours are sharp, dense and in register. Carrier film is almost invisible. As with a lot of Aztec sheets, they pack the decals on so care will be needed cutting them out. I have used Aztec decals before with excellent results, and have no doubts these will perform as well. Aircraft you are able to build from the sheet are; 1. MiG-21MF Red 602 (Green & tan over grey?) - 1962 2. MiG-15 Red 36 - 1961 NMF 3. MiG-17F Red 101 - 1964 NMF 4. MiG-19P Red 89 - 1964 NMF 5. MiG-21MF Black 656 (Blue & Tan over blue) 6. MiG-15UTI Red 26 - 1961 NMF 7. MiG-17AS Blue 232 - This aircraft landed at Homestead AFB 1969 NMF 8. MiG-21PMF Red 371 - 1962 NMF 9. MiG-21MF Black 665 - (Blue & Grey Green over blue) 10.10 seems to have been missed off! 11. MiG-21UM Red 500 - 1968 NMF 12. MiG-21MF Red 519 - 1974 NMF 13. MiG-21MF Black 672 (Blue & Grey over Blue) Defected to NAS Quay West 1993 14. MiG-17F or AS - Red 237 5 colour camo as seen in the Air Museum 1974 15. MiG-21PFM Black 618 - 5 colour camo 2010 16. MiG-21Bis Black 668 - 5 colour camo 2010 17. MiG21UM Black 526 - 5 colour camo 2009 The Pack In addition to the decal sheet, there is one double sided A4 sheet containing all the schemes you are able to build. In all cases only one side profile is supplied which is going to make camo schemes a bit of guess work, or some research will be needed. As there is not much information out there a bit more on the instructions would have been appriciated. Small top plans are provided for the camo schemes. In addition to the colour sheet there is a second sheet which gives additional information for each of the schemes, This is arranged by aircraft type. Additional information concerning colours and the type of roundels / flashes to be used is to be found here. Colour call outs as given in FS numbers with appropriate Humbrol suggestions. There are also additional information concerning the Aircraft types and in one case a link to a video on you tube showing one of the aircraft. Conclusion This is comprehensive sheet allowing the modeller to build some of Cuba's MiG's, hopefully there will be a follow on sheet with MiG-23's, 27's and 29's. Aztec are to be congratualted for continuing to bring the Subjects of Central & South America to the modeller. Review sample courtesy of Available direct or from most large Model Retailers