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Showing results for tags 'Mig-21UM'.
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Here's me with my funny MiG-21UM. I say funny as it has quite comical artwork, reminds me of the artwork by the Eduard Bunny cartoonist whoever that is. I've had this in the stash for a year now & purchased the Kopro decals to go with it, great that this MiG-21 GB has come along. On first look, the details look nice & fine, loads of fine rivets. I think I'll be building this completely out of the box & I'm happy with decals for the seat harnesses. We'll see how it goes. Wings of wood, bricks for undercarriage & taped together! Here's some pics...
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Well a bit later than planned its time to get my thread up and running and also to make an overdue start on my build. The Mig-21 has long been a favourite of mine and I have a few Eduard kits in the stash but thought I would do something different and build a 2 seater from the Trumpeter 1/48 Mig-21UM Mongol B kit. It looks to be quite a nice kit and Glynn ( @Hewy ) is already showing what is possible with his excellent build of the same kit, like Glynn I had planned on replacing the kit seats with some aftermarket ones but as he has shown that the do not fit the Trumpeter cockpit I shall have to either use a mix of kit and aftermarket bits for the seats or just use the kit ones, I have yet to decide which route to take. Shall we start with the obligatory box top and contents shots then? Pretty decent box art from Trumpeter and I remember seeing both the aircraft featured on it air shows in the UK. The contents; All present and correct, although as you can see I did some pre-emptive spraying of the cockpit colour a few years ago, in fact I sprayed all the cockpits of my Mig-21's at the same time, for which I used Akan's Soviet cockpit colour which is a good match for a lot of the cockpits of Mig's that I have seen, though there have been a lot of variations. Next up are the options available from the kit (not including the aircraft on the box art); Some quite nice options there, but I also have these to choose from on a HAD decal sheet that I have got; Some more very nice options to choose from there, I won't be doing the Croatian one in red and white (Glynn has that covered) and don't fancy the post WARPAC Hungarian or Bulgarian ones or the Vietnamese (wrongly called Chinese on the instructions) one so that leaves the WARPAC era Hungarian and Soviet options. I do like the Soviet one and also the Soviet one on the kit decal sheet but don't know how I feel about building one in their markings at the minute, now if I could find some pictures of ex-Soviet ones in Ukranian markings other than ones in a museum then I know exactly what I would do! Right then, best go off and make a start hadn't I. Thanks for looking in and as usual all comments and criticisms are always welcome, especially as far as the markings of this one go. Craig. šŗš¦
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Hi all, Another roll-out from the Williamsā production line. This one could be described a conversion but truly it was not converted and remained the original type. It is more of an amalgamation. The work was in the incorporation of Eduard parts to raise the detail level of the final model. It is, therefore a KP/RV MiG-21UM āSparkaā (popular name) enhanced by parts from Eduard MiG-21MF and PFM kits. That is an awful waste of plastic and hard earned cash youāll be crying out but this, for me, was an experiment to see what was possible, given the mainline manufacturerās (I mean Eduardās š) resistance to producing a high quality twin-seat MiG-21. The leftover PFM and MF bits will help my future builds, including the FL. If you are a rivet-counting kind of modeller Iād better put out my disclaimer now ā some panel detail will be inaccurate. I also forgot to change the small panel on the port side of the fin. It is vertical in orientation on the UM as opposed to horizontal on the PFM. It was too late to change when I realised ā¹ On reflection I should have set up a WIP ā I am sorry that I didnāt. The main work was the insertion of the lower fuselage section from the Eduard kit. This took a fair bit of wrangling before it settled okay. It also meant using the entire Eduard main undercarriage and doors. In addition to that there was: a new nose intake (resin), different jet pipe (Eduard), different fin from the PFM (Eduard), new various scoops (resin and Eduard), a new cockpit (resin). I made and added the AoA vane on the port-side nose, and a few other little bits and pieces. I attempted to use the Eduard tail pipe surround too but the dimensions were too far out from the KP so I didnāt bother. I also cut out the forward speedbrake housing and fashioned a brake from a spare MiG-21 fuselage, giving me a matching curve. Here she is at the dry fitting stage: At this point she still had the KP fin and rudder. And a couple later on: The baseline KP/RV kit is actually not too bad. However, it does lack some features which are obvious to anyone who has even the scantest knowledge of the type. For example, it has no forward or aft positionable speed brakes. Of course, the fighter variant MiG-21s had a different arrangement in the forward bay but the rear was identical - one area where the Eduard helps enormously. This is the parts breakdown: Iāve chosen to finish the model as MiG-21UM āTZ-358ā (c/n 5169570016) of the Force Aerienne de la Republique du Mali (FARM) and operated from Base Aerienne 101, Bamako-Senou. She was last seen in a derelict condition in 2014, having been delivered to the air arm in the mid-1980s. As a proficiency and recurrency trainer she and the other UMs supported the mixed fleet of MiG-21MFs and Bis fighters. What is interesting to me, apart from the unusual colours, is the wide range of finishes that these machines acquired during their service. I seemed there was a mix of locally applied colours as well as factory-applied finishes after maintenance in the Czech Republic and Soviet Union (or Ukraine). Here she is when stored in the hangar at Bamako-Senou. Note the "weighted" tyres ;): Credit: E.B via Jean-luc Debroux So, what did I do or use?: 1. Kit ā KP MiG-21UM 1/72 (KPM0132), the Eduard MiG-21PFM (70144) and the Eduard MiG-21MF (7451). The KP provided the fuselage. The PFM provided the fin with the separate rudder (not available on the MF kit and an essential for a MiG-21). The MF provided the lower fuselage section with the wings, the undercarriage, elevons (pivoted on brass), jet pipe and many small bits and pieces. 2. Decals ā The Aviation Megastore neglected to include a stiffener in the packaging ofmy Lift Here order and the postal service folded it! Fortunately I had the roundels in the spares files from the Blue Rider Chaco War set. The stencils came from the Begamot set (72-021) and Giorgio @Giorgio N produced the serial for me. The Aviation Megastore did me a favour! (They did refund me ) 3. Paints ā Colourcoats MiG Cockpit Blue Green ( ACSM07), Eau-de-nil (ACRN30 ), Desert Pink+Chestnut ( ACRN16+ACGW06 66%&33%), Sand (ACSM10 ) and Pale Blue Grey (ACSM01). Various Humbrol ā Polished Aluminium (27002) and Steel (27003), Glosscote, Mattcote, etc. 4. Aftermarket - Aires MiG-21UM Cockpit and seats resin set, wheels, Pavla intake, Aires scoops, 5. Weathering etc ā Tamiya Powders and Flory washes (Dirt and Sand) plus silver pencil Conclusions? In my view it was absolutely worth doing. There was a fair bit of wrangling to get the lower wing and fuselage section to match up with the KP fuselage, but you can get there, as you can see. I had to whittle down the main undercarriage housing get it in. You can probably achieve the same thing by using just the PFM kit as the donor rather than going my expensive route. Iām not a MiG expert at all and so I canāt be sure. I chose to add the entire section because it added detail to the wings too. The use of the PFM fin also added a lot of crisp detail too. For any MiG-21 there is a need for the speed brakes to be open to varying degrees. When the hydraulics were off these always dropped. You can see on every photo that this is the case. This is another reason why the use of the Eduard parts is an advantage. What you will not get is the forward brake and so you will have to make one yourself. By employing Eduardās far superior moulding and engineering you can get a very good Sparka. Would I do it again? Yes, and I will š. One day I will build an Indian MiG-21U-400, specifically āU455ā of the MOFTU at Tezpur. It will be in memory of Phil Camp. That will bring more challenge, of course, but why not! š I hope you like her as much as I do!! Martin PS: It was my first set of photos using my two new ring lights (Ā£7.98 each in the "cheap" shop )
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Hi all, A new venture for me. My first WIP posting... ever! I've always been nervous of exposing myself to criticism but encouraged by a well known and regular contributor to Britmodeller I'm giving it a go with my MIG-21UM build, which is running along side three other very different models. I will apologise right now because it will be slow and occasional as I barely get much modelling time let alone time to post how I do/did it! So here goes, and be gentle with an old man..... The kit is the Bilek MIG-21UM in 1/72. It is as you might expect, rather basic, but having built one previously along with a Kopro equivalent I think it is the only option in this scale, sadly. Its not bad, though. It has fine engraved lines and apart for the shallow dorsal spine it is okay from a shape perspective. I have gathered together a few resin and vac form bits to help the old girl along. This what I have so far and as I start cutting, sanding, cementing, filling and painting I'll post more. All the best to all, Martin
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Hi all, Does any MIG expert out there have detailed images of this airbrake interior and housing? Iām trying build up a plasticard one for my 1/72 build. Thanks in advance. Martin
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Hi all, Is there an India expert out there who can confirm the colours on this machine? I suspect the colours have been distorted by the publishers of the original document and then the scanner that produced the JPEG. Any ideas? (credit: Bharat Rakshak) Thanks. All help appreciated as always! Martin