Mike Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 I've just finished the review of this here new kit, and you can have a read of it here if you're interested in what I thought of it before I started building. it's hot off the press & barely cooled down, and I've been snipping a few parts off the sprues already The first job is building and painting the engines. The parts are all clipped off & tidied up, and I've done a quick test fit in the lower fuselage to orient myself on how it all goes together. It fits beautifully so far, and most of the seams are hidden away in the long trunking. Can't be bad! I just applied the first bit of glue to the insert in the lower fuselage, which fitted like a glove. I eased it with light finger pressure to get it lined up, and now I'm just waiting for it to dry before I handle it again. I thought I'd better do one of the BM airframes in honour of the forum, and hope it doesn't end up like one of the other meanings to BM 18 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 No flies on you Mike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted November 26, 2015 Author Share Posted November 26, 2015 Not in the winter, at least! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 I cannot wait to see this beauty come together! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dads203 Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 Nice to one being built, looking forward to this. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted November 26, 2015 Author Share Posted November 26, 2015 It's proving to be a fun experience, and the fit is almost perfect so far. I've just clipped together the left gear bay with no glue, and it stays there without any help. There's a small bulkhead at the front that if you follow the instructions you'll have to fill two ejector pin marks, unless you swap identical parts G11 and G12 round to hide them away. There are a couple of pin marks showing on the back of G4 too, so if you fill those before you install the part, life will be easier. Look at that detail! 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DannyB Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 Woohoo! Mike's doing an aircraft wip! I'm not usually a fan a of Soviet jets, but after reading your review I'm going to follow this one closely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radleigh Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 Lovely job! That detail is sublime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F4u Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 Looks good Mike, crack on !! Guy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stringbag Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 An impressive looking kit Mike. Will be watching with interest Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lesthegringo Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 Mike, for interest are you feeding any this back to AMK? That detail about reversing the parts G11 and G12 would be something that would be really useful for them to be able to put in the instructions Thanks for sharing this all with us, I really am looking forward to the rest of this! Les 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted November 26, 2015 Author Share Posted November 26, 2015 Hi Les, yes - Martin @ AMK is here on the forum, and probably watching. I've spent the evening putting together some assemblies, including the cockpit, seats, the gear bays (glued now), and general preparation for the initial round of painting of the internals. It's going together incredibly well, and some parts just seem to clip-together and stay together as if they've accidentally tooled a snap-fix kit! I've had to hide a few more ejector pin marks in the cockpit side walls as I don't know if they'll be seen yet - I think they might, so I'm being cautious before I start painting. The seats are lovely and I've built them both up with their little PE pull-handles. Other than cleaning up sprue-gate marks, there's very little in the way of seam clean-up so far too, as most of them have been hidden. I'll post a pic in a minute once I've finished sanding back the CA in the ejector pins 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lesthegringo Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 Thanks What's the strategy for the instrument panels, aftermarket decals? Obviously no one has released any specific bits for the cockpit (though I'd be amazed if it took more than a month or so) and I don't see anything in the kit for the instruments Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted November 26, 2015 Author Share Posted November 26, 2015 The cockpit tub slides into the rear of the nose on rails, and fits like a glove. This also explains the lack of coamings and ejection seats until later in the build, which stand too high in the tub. Here's all the assemblies test-fitted together in the nose. Apologies in advance for the occasional mote of dust - it's a work in progress! As mentioned, the seats go together nicely, and look good once done. I still need to sort the seam on the top of the headbox, but that's about it other than to add some seatbelts from somewhere... not sure where yet. I've left the pilot's blast-shield loose until I've added the glazing panels and masked them off, as they go in from the front. That's a few minutes work with some GS-Hypo, but I'm starting to get tired now. The main gear bays are together now, and will be added to the underside of the intake trunking once that is painted and glued together, when another layer of corrugations will show through those nifty little ribs. The nose gear bay traps the gear leg between the sides, so I'm leaving it in two halves until after painting, so I can get into all the nooks and crannies. The gear legs are green, while the bays are called out as silver, so they can't be done easily at the same time without resorting to brushes, so I won't All the exhaust parts are being assembled into a gaggle for painting as well, but they're not really worth seeing at this stage because they look exactly the same as they did on the sprues. Tune in tomorrow for another exciting instalment of Mike Builds a Mig-31. 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basosz Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 damn... that detail looks amazing... how on earth did they get such precision from moulded plastic? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMP2 Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 Looks a little naughty does that. As does the lack of paint. Is this a true WIP or just a trial run of nailing the plastic together? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mirageiv Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 , Aires would be pretty brave bringing out a resin pit for that! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Perren Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Great stuff so far Mike. I must admit that the subject leaves me a little unexcited but that detail is 11/10 NICE ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyingdutchman Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Very nice WIP with good quality photos. I think I've never seen the cockpit construction/slide method before in a scale model but it seems to work very well. Evert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mountain goat Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 That's not plastic - it's magic is what it is! Jay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 It certainly looks impressive, if the fit is better than the recent Mig 25 I might put one on my 2016 shopping list. Are you going to leave it unpainted? There was an American magazine about 15-20 years ago ( can't remember the name) where they built kits unpainted and without filler, I thought that was a good idea. Looking forward to more. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted November 27, 2015 Author Share Posted November 27, 2015 It's going to be painted John - I'm not particularly good with the glue-brush, which wobbles a bit in my stupid hands, so paint will help cover the defects Very nice WIP with good quality photos. I think I've never seen the cockpit construction/slide method before in a scale model but it seems to work very well. Evert Thanks for the kind words. It's a superb method of construction, and I'm guessing it's not been seen before because very few companies would have considered tooling the nose as a single part. Speaking from experience now, I wish they'd all do it now Looks a little naughty does that. As does the lack of paint. Is this a true WIP or just a trial run of nailing the plastic together? I've already mentioned paint - be patient! That's not plastic - it's magic is what it is! Jay Pretty close. I've asked Martin to pass on a hearty pat on the back to the designers... it's just superb to deal with. As an example, I put in a small spine insert on the top last night, and noticed that the sprue gate straddled a lip, meaning that if I cut it off flush, there would still be a bit left in the recess. When I looked on the fuselage top to see whether I'd have to cut this bit out, I saw that the designers had already tooled a couple of breaks in the receiving lip so that I didn't have to do any more. Unbelievable attention to detail 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted November 27, 2015 Author Share Posted November 27, 2015 Primer's on, and I'm just looking at colours. I'm going to use some AKAN paints for this, and it's exposed a bit of a hole in my stock, so I've been on the blower with Martin @ Coastal Crafts, and he's going to give me a buzz when he knows which ones he's got in stock. Meantime, I've decided that "burning iron" isn't the way to go on the exhausts, which seem to be a bit of a dusty grey/tan, with the occasional flecks of green paint still lurking in the burner ring... surely that must be a post retiral paint? Surely nothing could survive that furnace? Intake painting will be coming up shortly once I've decided what shade of silver they tend to be. I need to check whether the intake lips share the same colour too, as I'll make those up now if they do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sio Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 I've asked Martin to pass on a hearty pat on the back to the designers... it's just superb to deal with. Thank you! Mike, This is designer Sio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted November 27, 2015 Author Share Posted November 27, 2015 Hi Sio! I've not spoken to you in a while. Take a bow matey Superb work. I've just got off the phone with Martin at Coastal Craft (UK stockist of AKAN Paints) is charging to the rescue with the paints I need, so thanks Martin! He's also got some new correction sets for B-29 engines coming out, which we'll tell you about another day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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