Louise Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 (edited) I wish I had paid attention to GB's in the past as I'm finding them to be the ideal motive to actually start some kits that have accrued in my model den over the past few years - I'm now aware that I will either be long dead or suffering the effects of Alzheimer's long before I could possibly complete them all Here we have the Bilek MiG-19S (boxed here as the Shenyang F-6 - exactly the same sprues as their 19S kit) plus a decal sheet from DP Casper "Forgotten Operations - June 1967". I'll be trying an ANM a/c from 20 Sqd. UARAF located at the Hurghada Airbase. The kit is a little rough in the details, many parts have clumsy forms; armaments, u/c, though there is a respectable level of cockpit detail and the canopy is in two parts. The kit is supplied with a resin ejector seat that's very nice and as good as the Pavla copies. Also provided in the kit are resin missiles and supports fairings. Can anyone confirm the ejector seat in the F-6 being the same as the earlier ones in the 19S? I've got a Pavla 19S seat that I think is different, so I'll use that instead of this kits one. In all I think this kit is going to be a pain in the butt. I've 4 of them here, I suppose I should do 1 and then flog the rest on eBay since Trumpeter are supposed to come out with the 19S soonish. First job, clean the grease off, spray the inside details some black paint as a base for the interior colours....... later. Edited June 5, 2011 by Louise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deon Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 Another cool project Louise, where do you find all these interesting schemes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F111Fan Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 Very awesome-looking box art and aircraft Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louise Posted May 21, 2011 Author Share Posted May 21, 2011 I'm a shopaholic; my barn is full of stuff, I really ought to start an online store. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiG Mongoose Posted May 21, 2011 Share Posted May 21, 2011 My Favourite aircraft, I've built the Bilek kit and it is rather nice indeed, difficult fit in some places but otherwise fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louise Posted May 22, 2011 Author Share Posted May 22, 2011 Moving along, I've built up the cockpit and added the resin ejector seat. This unit fits rather well into the fuselage with only a little carving to get the two halves to fit. Contemplating how best to assembly the main bits: fuselage is made up of 4 sections, I decided to attach the wings to the main section before assembling the fuselage. The wings are a lovely fit. I tried first to add the front section halves to the main fuselage halves, but that didn't work too well, so I'll have to deal with 1. join the main fuselage halves together, 2. join the two halves forward of the cockpit and then add the nose to this and sort out the profile before adding to the main fuselage. I can see there's a fit problem ahead of me. 3. join the exhaust section which looks a lot easier to match in profile. The wings, a great fit and sensible engineering compared to the AZModel's MiG-17 kits. The exhaust and nose section. First painted black then coats of Alcad dark aluminum, burnt metal and sepia. Now I'm slowly joining the fuselage. It's a tricky due to the curvature of the airframe. I've decided to glue just the top join at the moment. I'll let that cure for a few hours before doing to lower join. As this is to be ANM, the wing/fuselage seam was not sanded at all. I used liquid Tamiya glue to make the bond, then the gaps were filled with Weldbond white glue used by the R/C folks. This is a good filler, dries hard and is water clean up. I made the effort to actually read my MiG 19 reference books so I've gone answered my own question about the diff between the Shenyang F-6 and Soviet built 19S. So for anyone who cares, I'll be making this kit using the 19S instructions and not the F6 instructions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deon Posted May 22, 2011 Share Posted May 22, 2011 well we care! As its a Soviet Foreign service GB only a 19S will do! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louise Posted May 23, 2011 Author Share Posted May 23, 2011 well we care! As its a Soviet Foreign service GB only a 19S will do! I asked for that didn't I? There's a difference in the armaments and pod locations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louise Posted May 25, 2011 Author Share Posted May 25, 2011 Working on this kit has taken an enormous amount of time in relation to it's simplicity and size. Though not as bad as I'd feared, sorting the nose section was a hassle. This section is made up of a front and two sides split vertically. The three joined then butt up against the cockpit fuselage section. However the profile is quite a complex curve. After several dry fitting and temporary gluing I decided to not glue the lower seam on the front nose until after the whole assembly was attached to the fuselage. This worked quite well. Of note is that the top profile on the nose casting has a steep angle that would fair into the canopy if it were not 2mm taller than the lip of the canopy. Also in all the pictures I have of this a/c, this steep profile does not exist, so I sanded it off thus a nice curved profile now continues from the nose up to the canopy frame. The horizontal stabilizers also hang down too steeply compared to line drawings which have them more horizontal. Due to the engineering here it would be very difficult/time consuming to change this on the kit so I let it be. I didn't add any weights to the nose as there isn't much space and I think not enough to stop tail sitting. What I'll do for a display is glue the model to the base. Most parts are now added, just the u/c, some cannons, aerials to do after cleaning/priming done. These images earlier in the day to the above... -- -- -- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louise Posted May 28, 2011 Author Share Posted May 28, 2011 After a coat of Alcad black micro filler primer, I sat back and swore. The humidity and heat is making this stuff dry so fast on the needle and thus shoot dry crap onto the model within 15 secs of use. I didn't thin it because your not supposed to. As such the model received a not so smooth primer, producing orange peel effect. This is not caused by surface contaminants as the model was cleaned properly, honest guv! I did polish the surface in these areas, but the effect is still there. It's the fine filler material suspended in the paint that either dried or cured before the paint or vice-versa. Removing the coating when this happened in the past on other models requires a solvent which melts the plastic, so I have to leave this as is and move on. Due to these areas, I have again shied away from using an Alcad finish and chosen Floquil antique silver. I have sprayed Alcad aluminum shades on some panels, though it's not obvious on the photos taken. I've had good use of Tamiya smoke when doing ANM models to highlight panels and give depth to the a/c skin. This will be the next step, then a coat of varnish and decals. Some small items are still to be added. These are quite poor in the kit e.g. aerials so I'm going through my spares box for bits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deon Posted May 30, 2011 Share Posted May 30, 2011 ive never tried the Floquil stuff, being scared stiff of NMF Ive never needed it, but it does have a very nice finish. hope you get the rest done without mishap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louise Posted June 5, 2011 Author Share Posted June 5, 2011 Finished all I'm going to do on this one. I think it's overall an OK model but could certainly do with aftermarket resin bits to replace the u/c doors, cockpit, weapons, gear struts and air scoops as the ltd run nature of the kit are on the heavy thick side. I know there's an etched set for these kits, but I balked at the price. I may have to re-think that if I build another one. It's a pity that these typically come in natural metal finish, a camo one would be much more forgiving. Still, it sits next to my other MiG family a/c and will do. As I didn't weight the model, I glued it to one piece of Soviet a/c concrete panel from ICM. The decals from the DP Casper sheet are excellent by the way. And with natural light on a concrete background... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deon Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Thats a very tidy and eye-catching model, I'd be well pleased Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metallicus Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 Ah wow that does look good! Great build!! cheers Brenden Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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