Jump to content

Minion's therapeutic Mig


Recommended Posts

To save me from completely losing the will to live from tackling attempting to turn Hobby Boss' Mi-8 actually into an Mi-8 I have decided to pick up what should (hopefully!) be a nice simple build of one of my favourite aircraft of all time, the Mig-21. I have decided to build an old Academy 1/48 Mig-21PF that I have had for a while as it is a fairly simple kit and (to me at least) looks like the plane its supposed to. The one part of the kit which definitely does need improving on is the cockpit as the kit one if rather basic to say the least, and to that end I have bought a resin replacement by Pavla which should hopefully fit better than their Mi-8 bits, I have given it a test fit and all seems well. Anyway here's the usual box and contents shots.

34806619634_7fe4c836c7_b_d.jpg

 

34806629514_7c29816bde_b_d.jpg

 

 

 

 

The kit instructions and decals.

35648065095_1a545a37e5_b_d.jpg

 

I am not sure at the moment exactly which scheme to do it in but I will most likely not be using the kit decals, I have a few sets for the Mig-21....

35479424442_d92d6feabf_b_d.jpg

 

Would you believe there isn't a PF on any of them! Obviously I need more decals! Some of the decals can be used on PF's as the national markings are the same.

As I said I have a Pavla cockpit, and here are the various bits.

35479426282_4f4efd5d11_b_d.jpg

 

Much more detailed than the kit offering but the instructions on what to remove from the kit are non-existent so I will have to give it my best guess, oh dear!

I say I don't know exactly which scheme to do but I am leaning towards an Egyptian one such as either of the schemes below.

35479427462_4c60aeacda_b_d.jpg

 

Probably the bottom one. I know one of the kit options is Egyptian and in a very similar scheme but the national markings look too big to my eye, I'm sure I have some more suitable Egyptian markings somewhere in the stash.

 

Thats it for now, thanks for looking in, and wish me luck!

 

Craig.

Edited by modelling minion
  • Like 8
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great choice Craig, I've wanted to build an Egyptian Mig-21 in Nile camo since forever, really look forward to see how you go about this PF. The Pavla cockpit looks very nice too and that seems to be the usual story with decal stashes does it not?! Like paint, 20 million different greys on the rack but never the right one!

 

:popcorn:

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Craig. Just been reading up on your problems in your other thread and I reckon it's a great idea to switch to this build for a bit. Looking forward to seeing this one in progress. :popcorn:

Kind regards,

Stix

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks to the typical British Bank Holiday weather (tipping it down) I have been able to make a start on the Mig. I have started with the cockpit (no surprise there) and after giving all the relevant parts a coat of Akan's cockpit turquoise I began picking out some details with the appropriate colours and have then given it a wash with some thinned down dark grey paint and I think it looks okay. Here's a couple of pictures of the cockpit tub.

35479428912_418e93fcf9_b_d.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sidewalls.

35517622341_f50f9833d7_b_d.jpg

 

And finally the instrument panel.

35517624121_4222933fa1_b_d.jpg

 

I will now start to get all the pieces together and see how they fit into the fuselage halves, and how much needs to be removed from Academy's plastic. As the kit comes with separate nose sections I will attach these to their respective rear fuselages and then join the 2 halves together which should, hopefully, make for a better join.

I am really enjoying this build so far and the research I have been doing on Egyptian colour schemes is proving dangerous, I can see a few more being built before too long!

Thanks for looking in.

 

Craig.

Edited by modelling minion
  • Like 10
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice work Craig.

 

Ive built a couple of the Eduard Mig 21's so will be interested to see how this one goes together.

 

Isn't that always the way with the decal stash.

 

Watching with interest

 

James

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nicely painted Craig! The Nile camo really is an eye catcher and true to the design even on a model it breaks up the shape of the Mig-21 very effectively, do you know which version you will go for yet?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good strategy to keep the mojo going. Looks like you have a fair choice of markings ;) But the Egyptian scheme does look great.

 

The cockpit looks very nice, but I hope you made sure it will fit into the fuselage - after all, it is made of this unpredictable resin stuff you know all about.

 

Cheers, Peter

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/29/2017 at 5:44 PM, franky boy said:

Nice work Craig.

 

Ive built a couple of the Eduard Mig 21's so will be interested to see how this one goes together.

 

Isn't that always the way with the decal stash.

 

Watching with interest

 

James

I've got a couple of Eduard Mig-21's in the stash but thought that this one would be a quicker build and I have to say it's going well so far, no problems at all yet. And yes I will just have to expand the decal stash even more.

On 5/29/2017 at 10:17 PM, Radleigh said:

Nice decal stash!! Looking forward to this Craig :)

Thats only a very small part Radleigh, not even all the Mig-21 sheets. But it seems I still need more :) 

23 hours ago, mirageiv said:

Nicely painted Craig! The Nile camo really is an eye catcher and true to the design even on a model it breaks up the shape of the Mig-21 very effectively, do you know which version you will go for yet?

Thanks David, still not 100% sure which version but the Nile one (the bottom option) is just in front, although there are some nice ones which just had wide brown stripes that are very tempting, a bit like the PFM in the pictures in this link;

http://www.easternorbat.com/html/bright_star__82_eng.html

16 hours ago, Basilisk said:

Good strategy to keep the mojo going. Looks like you have a fair choice of markings ;) But the Egyptian scheme does look great.

 

The cockpit looks very nice, but I hope you made sure it will fit into the fuselage - after all, it is made of this unpredictable resin stuff you know all about.

 

Cheers, Peter

Thanks Peter, yes the mojo is definitely getting back on track.

And yes I checked that the cockpit fitted, all I need to do was remove the rear cockpit wall and about 2mm of the cockpit coaming and it fitted a treat, not bad for a Pavla product! The fuselage is in fact all buttoned up and will only require a small amount of filler at the front upper joint, photos to follow later in the week.

Edited by modelling minion
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, exdraken said:

Nice project!

Egyptian sure is a nice choice!

If you need help, I have the Arab MiGs series as refetence :)

 

Thanks Werner, yes the various Egyptian schemes have been a favourite of mine for a while.

I've got volumes 1-3 of the Arab Migs series but it seems I need the later volumes for what I want to do so I might take you up on that offer.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry for the lack of updates, spent a lot of time at work this week, but I have made up for it this weekend and have taken pictures during the build so here we go.

Despite the complete lack of instructions on the part of Pavla the cockpit went together quite well and looks pretty convincing, well certainly better than the kit cockpit.

35517626611_77f1c69f44_b_d.jpg

And a couple of pics of it in place on one half of the front fuselage.

35517628671_f6cf761e43_b_d.jpg

 

35517632631_524e5e75d1_b_d.jpg

 

 

 

 

As you can see it fits the kit part quite well and only required the the rear cockpit wall and about 2mm to be removed from the coaming in front of the instrument panel. With the cockpit fitted into place I could now fit the intake shock cone and nose wheel well and then some weights to prevent the whole thing being a tail sitter.

35517636221_a6ccec534e_b_d.jpg

 

With the interior of the front complete I now needed to turn my attention to the inside of the rear of the aircraft, namely the engine. Now not a great deal can be seen up the bum of a 1/48 Mig-21 so I stuck with the kit parts which aren't that bad at all. You get a rudimentary but adequate turbine face...

35517640341_a7f1cb985f_b_d.jpg

 

Which fits onto the back of the exhaust when built up which includes the afterburner nozzle from which I should have removed the central lump (as per the instructions!) before I assembled them and took the picture below.

34838892933_a9296c4559_z_d.jpg

 

I deviated from the kit instructions (on purpose this time!) and assembled the 2 parts of each fuselage half before gluing the 2 halves together and I have to say that the fit was pretty good with only a small amount of sanding required as you can see below...

34838895843_5d3b258468_z_d.jpg

 

With this bit done I could join the fuselage together and once again the fit is very good with only a very small amount of filler needed.

35261156120_c732bdc4fd_z_d.jpg

 

And a couple of close ups of the top and bottom of the nose area.

35261158750_4a06667e5e_z_d.jpg

 

34806657734_6ab1c78e31_z_d.jpg

 

The Odd Rods IFF aerials didn't survive but they will be easily replaced with some brass wire later and on the whole I am quite happy with how things are going together so far. The wings have been assembled and again fit together very well, here you can see the upper and lower surfaces.

35648097975_fd259656a9_z_d.jpg

 

35648101745_582e87ae4e_z_d.jpg

 

The vertical tail surfaces have also been assembled, Academy give you 2 types of tail either with or without the braking parachute housing so check your references for which type you need, mine has the chute housing.

35648106115_92d8c70502_z_d.jpg

 

With all these sub-assemblies complete I can now start to put them together and get something resembling a Mig-21 before too long.

That's it for today, thanks for looking in and as usual all comments and criticisms are gratefully received.

 

Craig.

 

Edited by modelling minion
  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looking good craig, its apparent due to the progress, that you are enjoying this a bit more than the helo,these old academy 21 kits are still decent kits and i see can be had now days for under a tenner i like em ,the cockpit is looking very nice indeed, 

Glynn

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, Hewy said:

Looking good craig, its apparent due to the progress, that you are enjoying this a bit more than the helo,these old academy 21 kits are still decent kits and i see can be had now days for under a tenner i like em ,the cockpit is looking very nice indeed, 

Glynn

Thanks Glynn,

Yes i'm enjoying this much more than the Mi-8. And I agree about the Academy kits, narrowly missed out on one on Ebay yesterday, it wasn't you who won was it? :) 

 

27 minutes ago, Biggles87 said:

I built a couple of these a few years ago and enjoyed them. Apparently not as accurately as the Eduard versions ( I wouldn't know ) the Academy kits still look like Mig 21s to me.

 

john

 

 

I've built one before too John, I built the MF version which is fine if you build it as a bis and it looks a lot like a Mig-21 to me.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

No it wasn't me craig, i haven't  been on the bay for a couple of weeks,worked of my feet ,only just get time for a bit of modeling, how much did it go for ?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thats near enough craig, bit of a bargain with the pxp, i picked  2 of these two years ago now from the cov show for £15 , they're insulating the loft as we speak,your making me go and get one ,mrs hewy will undoubtedly immediately  feel the cold though,:D

Glynn

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice work again Craig, the cockpit looks very well done in particular. I really like the camo choice too, keeps the lines a bit better maybe. I say that as built a 1/72 Mig-21UM once in one of the Nile camo schemes like the second one in your initial post, it looks very different to the norm but it worked too well imo in that the nice lines of the Mig-21 were largely lost due to the pattern! It shouldn't have been a surprise but it really did trick the eye in real life, even on a small 1/72 model! 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...