MiG Mongoose

I purchased this kit the other day, looks great. The paint finish is brilliant!

Great work on the paint scheme! The ESCI F-5A is one of my favourite kits.

My guess would be these versions are based on the 32nd releases that have been around for a while. Good to see a great aircraft in a more manageable scale!

I really enjoyed building the K-8 and you have done a fantastic job on yours!

Good start. I like the pose of the backseater, he appears confounded by his instruments!

Fantastic work! It's a shame that HB couldn't have included more guides for the camo, but you've done a good job in making it look right!

Some superb modelling and painting here, not to mention the fantastic choice of subject!

Great model! The aluminium finish is excellent.

A truly great result of a great aircraft. Well done!

Some of the pictures that Julien posted are of the Chinese JJ-5 (Pakistani, Sri Lankan and Zimbabwean), which is a 2-seat version of the MiG-17. As a result, the fuselage is longer, the wings are different and there is a prominent lip at the top of the intake, so can't be made OOB with the HB kit.

The Su-25 'African' has been announced for a while and a separate decal sheet was released by Kopro. New mould MiG-21 is interesting , good to see Kopro are still around with new releases!

That's good, I'm not too keen on the Airfix sea harrier and I wouldn't know what to do with the paint they provide! Looks like Airfix will be getting a bit of my money this year

Me too. I'm really pleased to see the dropped slats! Hopefully, there will be Argentine markings in the standard boxing, not just the dogfight doubles.

I've used them to clean up canopies after progressively sanding to remove seams (I stop at P1500). I use the coarse and follow with the fine, I didn't bother with the finish. I've also used them to remove scratches, but like a fine grit sandpaper, if the scratches are too deep it won't work. That said, they are useful for polishing plastic and paintwork. HTH

I would be interested in African and South American MB-326 operators, would go nicely with the 1/72 Italeri re-issue.

2011 proved to be a difficult year, with earthquake disruptions and getting used to university. I only competed 7 models and I am rather pleased with how they turned out, even though I had to make do without my airbrush for the second half of the year. First completed was an ESCI Harrier, assembled in 2009, painted in 2010 and finally finished in 2011 for KUTA III. For the Vietnam GB, I completed a KP Models MiG-17PF. Next was an Aero L-29, also a KP kit. My favourite model for the year, the HB Zlin Z-142. I got to sharpen my skills with a brush on Italeri's F4U-7 Corsair. Next was the Airfix Bf109G-6. A pleasant, yet unspectacular kit. Finally the most cantankerous project finished in 2011, KP models Polikarpov Po-2. Biplanes aren't hard, just annoying! I hope I will have time to post more often this year, best wishes for 2012! Daniel

Nice work on many unusual subjects My personal favourite would be the Nigerian MiG.

Fantastic finish and a very cool choice of markings!

Fantastic work on what looks to be a very nice kit! The PLAAF paint scheme sure looks smart!

Fantastic! I have a stalled Revell kit around somewhere. To get such a result from such a poor kit is inspiring!

Great looking build , may I ask what spray can you used for the Aluminium?

Looking good, The Italeri F4U-7 is a great kit.

The Trumpeter kit is the only 32nd option. Hobbyboss has released a more accurate (shapewise) JJ-5 in 1/48 based on their MiG-17 kit. That also doesn't have engraved rivets. So you would need to add rivets yourself, personally I think the rivets are rather subdued and I won't add any when I come to build my HB JJ-5. Ultimately, it's a matter of personal preference.

Truly superb paintwork and a great choice of markings. Great job!

Great start. Having built the same kit (as Kopro), I share your pain, what markings do you plan on using?