Andrew D Jolly Rogers guy

Nah, I want to keep the same airframe, but make it militarily more functional 👍

Thank you! No way to make a MiG-29 instrument panel fit this thing, nor any other panel I'm aware of. Solution: Make a panel for the upper combing and fit a display screen to that. Then, cut off the upper half (or more) of the MiG-29 panel, add another screen and other detailing, and fit that part to the tub.

Thank you! Cockpit is too small to be realistic. Found a way to shave off the bottom and corners of an Airfix MiG-29 cockpit tub and make it fit in the VERY confined forward fuselage, although it took carving away a big chunk of the aft decking. For detailing...well....more than 25 years ago when I was young and ambitious I tried scratchbuilding a MiG-31 (it was literally a decade before a decent kit emerged). I scratchbuilt (but did not complete) a VERY detailed cockpit, incorporating bits of Eduard MiG-29UB brass. Years later I only saved the cockpit; it was too good to scrap. Well, the time has come. I can use some of it for the MiG-37.

Boy, she's a real beauty! Truly!

Thank you all! I must say for the flaps, besides the obvious that you will need to do a LOT of test fitting, my advice is do NOT simply remove the given panels along what the kit has scribed, i.e. to install the resin forward edge, remove the kit forward edge exactly along its panel line. Don't trust it...measure down to the mm before cutting. And, the bodywork afterward to smooth it out is less pretty than the photos show. Tread carefully!

Thank you! I was going to make it simple, but I failed...decided to detail all-out. I have a couple dozen PE frets with leftover parts and decided to use them plus some styrene to detail the fictitious bays. Lengthy process but fun!

Well, there are always lots of Tomcats (as it should be), but what you have done far outshines in terms of its overall perfection. I'm in awe!

One more airliner I decided to try. Wanted something I had actually flown on as a kid. Added LACI flaps; was tougher than I thought and didn't go as well as hoped. Even with a lifetime of modeling military aircraft, I was surprised at how many basic mistakes I was trying to overcome. I must say you airline builders are most skilled in your area of specialty! Also replaced the strut of the nose gear, after learning from a NWA build how weak that part is. Also reshaped the lip of the tail intake to be sharper, and made transparent wingtip lights.

Thanks Andy! Okay, while making the horns, I still had to keep readjusting, as I realized they were a bit too long out to the sides. Finally got the bodywork on it sorted, and painted. I deliberately used brush painting for the central mount, as from the photos it appears to have that "wrapped" look. Had a license plate made by a decal company that does custom work. Turns out they were not waterslide decals, but photo decals in which you use the paper backing. So, I used bare metal foil for the reverse side of the plate, in case anyone was able to glance behind it from one of the corners.

Besides the main weapons bay, I really liked the idea from another build I found online of two tiny additional bays for self defense AAMs. As I wanted this to be a late Cold War bird, which is when the model was produced, I figured R-60/AA-8s would be feasible, even though R-73s/AA-11s would be more desirable. Why did I go with the 60's? Because I had a pair of 60's that I had modified the forward fins on. And because I had no 73s. After cutting out for the small bays, I changed my mind about the shape of the forward end, and added wedge shapes to give more pointy ends... And, testing the weapons load. The aft end of the Kh-31 is a bit too snug, but it'll have to do. The aft fins (not yet installed) of the missile would not actually fit, so I figure they would have been folding fins for stowage, as I've seen on other missiles. So, maybe this is a version produced specifically for the MiG-37s to carry. I'm just glad I FINALLY made this work (mostly)!

I tried figuring if any Soviet/Russian air-to-ground weaponry would fit into the tiny weapons bays. NOTHING. Worse yet, Russian A-G missiles are pretty huge. I finally realized a solution. Connect the two weapons bays, fore to aft, right through the maingear wells, and it would be JUST BARELY big enough to hold a single Kh-31 missile, perfect for a Wild Weasel type. Also add two smaller bays for a pair of self-defense AAM's. The gear legs themselves already mount 'way outboard, so they won't have to be moved for the bays to be connected. So, extend the gear bays forward so the gear would retract forward instead of to the center. Simple.

I was 17 when I bought the original 1/48th release when it came out in 1988. I know it isn't everyone's cup-o-tea, but I totally loved it. So ugly that it grabbed my heart (think of Compo Simmonite's love interest in his eyes). As I grew up and went through flight school, I realized the problems in this otherwise neat bit of fiction. PROBLEM 1: It can't carry hardly anything in its TINY bays to make it worthwhile to operate in the first place. PROBLEM 2: Really, it is about 30-35% too small. A stealth plane with internal weapons bays should be plenty larger than an A-7 Corsair. Even the undersized cockpit barely fits. I finally figured out how to fix one of these issues (#1). Here we go.

Really sincerest thanks for the kind comments! Ok, a little more. Finished the modified/corrected bumpers, plus the re-chromed parts, corrected the taillights from the Cabriolet kit, and started the steer horns.

The rest of the glass is from the Aoshima kit; just gotta cut the forward sections off and discard the rest. Once black is applied for the rubber lining, I use BareMetal Foil for the metal bits. Then, all the glass is tinted with a special blend of Clear Floor Polish, food coloring and acrylic thinner. Now, here's how I make headlights. I take the appropriate size acrylic rhinestone/gemstone. Make sure it's acrylic and not glass. Use sandpaper to remove the facets, then "paint" with clear floor polish. Voila.

Gettin' there, folks! First, windscreen had to be made from scratch, since the windscreen frame was significantly widened from the Revell Classic VW kit. Thankfully, it's flat, so, not impossible. Started with the original windscreen, traced it, then added the appropriate fill plug, on paper. Then, cut the new shape from packaging from something-or-other that my lovely wife bought (no idea what, it was in the recycling). Next, the bumpers. Closest option of the 3 kits is the Aoshima, except these represent the slightly later style with embedded lights. Removed the chrome with bleach, grind off the rubber strip (too wide), fill the light slots, add a new rubber strip. Prime, spray black, mask the rubber strip and spray Alclad chrome.

This is all wonderful (all the previous posts included), thank you! So, my big question now is, are these actual colors available to the modelmaker??

Good to know, you're probably right! Now, if only to find an actual color available....

Ok, I've about had it! I've been trying over the past two years to match the "purplish-brown" used on Libyan Mirage F.1's, i.e. the two that defected a decade back. Started out with AKAN Soviet/Russian colors, since it seems the same as on their MiG-23's. Nothing actually matched once sprayed on. Tried other shades, including a recommended German purplish-brown. Tried mixing that with very light gray to lighten the basic shade, and no-go. You may have heard my shouts, no matter where on the globe you are. Rarely before has a plane received so many paint jobs, other than some of the long-time Tomcats that served 6-10 squadrons. Before I simply give in with a color that I will always detest, this is one last desperate call for suggestions.... https://www.airplane-pictures.net/image123005.html

Yep, I do have that! I was just hoping to find them ready-made, if possible. Gracias y saludos, amigo!

Some in-progress pics:

We Gen-X'rs and older remember well when the F-117 Stealth Fighter was rumored in the same way that government-flown UFO's are. We remember Testors' smash hit educated-guess F-19 Stealth Fighter in 1986. Then a year later, Monogram jumped on the bandwagon with their offering of same. The problem was, Monogram's version, while based on an actual concept artwork which appeared in aerospace trade magazines, their actual kit was FAR below the quality of the Testors. Almost no features to speak of, really. The 1/72 version was not only scaled down from their 1/48, it also had almost no features at all. No landing gear, no weapons, no nothing except a desktop stand...unless you count the cockpit, which would have been nice for a kit released 30 years earlier. Unfortunately, this was 1987, not 1957. Here is my version of the 1/72 Monogram kit. Instead of air-to-ground like the Testors (or like the actual F-117), I figured this design was better for air-to-air, as sleek and streamlined as it is. Improvements/features include: - Scratchbuilt wheel wells - Scratchbuilt weapons bay w modified doors - Outer wing panels cut and positioned as partially folded for landing gear clearance - Control surfaces scribed (kit has them only partially done) - Hasegawa F-16 cockpit modified and fitted - True Details ACES II seat (actually a bit undersized, but just right for this project) - Snap-Tite pegs on canopy removed, canopy massively re-shaped and polished in affected areas (not gonna do that again, nope!) - F-5B nose gear added from spares, w scratchbuilt well doors - Italeri F/A-18 main gear (thanks Chris!) - AIM-9X and AIM-120 from spares - "Have Glass" gray used for lighter color with "Have Glass" clear over everything, including the black RAM - Decals from "Have Glass" F-16 sheet and lo-vis USMC F-4 sheet, plus "TR" tail code (Tonopah) from lettering decal sheet

Ugh! They do currently offer them in 1/48...

Hoping to find these pods in 1/72 to mount on a Mirage F.1. Seems like someone here said they could be found in one of the Jaguar kits, but I can't seem to find the discussion nor any images of Jaguar kits with those pods. I *think* they're called LRF1's (?).

Ever notice how often the kit vinyl tires come nice and glossy, when the real ones are usually quite the opposite? A good treatment of sandpaper all over helps, then later a scraping of the tread through sand-dirt outside the front door. The wheel hubs are painted, then detailed including a light wash of watercolor sludge with soap to make it stick.

Thank you! Here's the next problem: The Aoshima Super Beetle has the super-modern dashboard and steering wheel, while both the Revell kits had the older, classic style dash and larger wheel. Which to use? I sorted through all the footage I could from all six episodes it appears in, and almost no clues....except a couple views like the one below. Definitely the classic dashboard. Looks to be the large wheel, I'm mostly certain. Had to widen the classic dashboard to fit the wider Super Beetle, though.