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Anigrand 1-72 MiG-31 Firefox +++ Finished +++


Jasonb13

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Hi everyone,

Well, for this GB I'll be buidling my all-time favourite aircraft. I used to draw this ( badly ) in my copybook when I was in school. The book is excellent, the movie isn't great, but Clint and this aircraft save it. Here's a pic in all her glory :

MiG-31Firefox.jpg

My wife got me this model for my birthday, and it's been burning a hole on my shelf ever since, waiting for this GB. It's a Resin kit, and I've never built resin before. I have to say, I'm not confident about it, the fit doesn't look great at all and I can see it needing a lot of filler and sanding ( something I'm not very good at ). Anyhow, here's the box :

Box.jpg

And here's the sprue shot, though there isn't actually any sprues. However, from what I've read, I'm lucky that there's no big pieces of casting blocks either, so it hopefully won't be too hard to clean off the little parts still attached :

Parts.jpg

I've already taken the liberty of cleaning all the parts and leaving them to dry ( as I've read you should do with Resin ) so they'll be ready for me to start on Saturday. I'm not too worried about accuracy ( it is a fictional aircraft after all ), especially as from what I've read, the full-scale model and smaller models made for the film actually had differences themselves. So I'm just going to keep it simple, out of the box pretty much. I just hope she doesn't put up too much of a fight!

J.

Edited by Jasonb13
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Looking forward to seeing this one come together. I have never built a resin kit either but have a couple on the stash and some am stuff to go in a couple of projects too so I'll probably end up stealing a couple of the techniques you find work well. Good Luck should be good when its done and hopefully there isn't much fighting to be done

Graham

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Having seen what you did with the Galactica Jason, this is going to be superb. Like the others have said, hope it doesn't give you too many problems.

What's the weight of all that resin like? I read somewhere that the movie prop had F-4 Phantom landing gear so maybe metal aftermarket might solve any issues on that.

Look forward to seeing your updates and remember, think in Russian!

All the best,

Dermot

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Thanks for the interest everyone!

@Kallisti - I'll be building it parked, like I tend to do, but I'll have the canopy closed as there's no cockpit to speak off ( a seat and a stick and that's it ).

@Graham77 - I think it'll more be a case of learning what *not* to do from me! As I said, I haven't done Resin before, and sanding / filling isn't my strong point, none of which bodes well! At least, after the Galactica, there are only 6 decals! :)

@Dermot - Thanks mate! As it happens, it's not actually that heavy, and there's even a nice hollowed out section behind the cockpit where I can put some weight as I imagine she'll definitely be a tail-sitter. But all in all she's not that heavy, so I'll go with the kit undercarriage - from what I've seen, Resin tends to be brittle, not soft, so hopefully it shouldn't bend!

@Mish - And that full scale model could taxi up to approx. 40mph thanks to a built-in engine! I'm all about the trivia, so you're in good company! ;)

@Troffa - Check out the Think In Russian website, it's got lots of info! :)

J.

Edited by Jasonb13
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Well, I finally got started on this.

To be honest, I'm normally raring to go on a build, but I just can't seem to get excited about this one. Surprising, considering how much I love the aircraft, but I think that might be part of the problem, as I just feel I'm not going to do it justice. Would be a lot happier if it was plastic, not resin, with better instructions too! So I didn't even look at it yesterday.

Anyhow, as I normally do, my first step is priming all the 'internal' pieces, or the bits that need to be painted before I assemble the complete airframe and prime that. I spent a little while this morning tidying up those pieces, and I already hate resin! While trying to remove the bits I don't want, I've already removed parts that I do, and the resin is very quick to break, and never where I want it to!

I've put the Halford's Primer on the pieces, and it seems to have gone on very heavy, but it should be ok. I also seem to have lost the joystick ( there's no mention of one in the instructions, but I'm pretty certain there was one ) so I'll raid the spares box for something. Probably won't get a lot more done today, but the next step will be getting the cockpit done, such as it is, and then putting the airframe together.

Apart from dark grey and black on the airframe, there are no painting instructions, so I'm not really certain what colours to do the cockpit, wheel wells, undercarriage, intakes etc. I'll probably just make it up from clips from the movie and references from other Russian fighters online, or whatever colour looks 'right' to me!

There'll be some pics when there's something to show!

J.

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Keep the faith, lots of people want to see this one progress! Once all the internals are are out of the way, the rest looks very nicely moulded so it looks like it should fly together, and that will hopefully get your juices going :)

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Thanks Mike! Though I actually think it's not going to fit together very well at all... :(

Anyhow, I found some time to get a little bit more done. As can be seen below, the cockpit is basic to say the least....

Cockpit1.jpg

Cockpit2.jpg

I painted the grey based on screen shots from the movie, and the seat from the instructions of another Russian Jet. You never really see the seat in the movie, but I'm guessing it looks nothing like that bucket! Anyhow, it'll do. I had lost the joystick, but I found a Airbrake actuator from a 1:72 Hawk that I cut down a bit and it fits the bill quite well.

As you can see, there's no detail in terms of instrument panels etc. I was thinking about at least painting a bit of black here and there to represent something. The canopy isn't great and a lot won't be seen, but I did want to put something in. However, that same 1:72 Hawk yielded up another piece of treasure :

CockpitDecals.jpg

I'm not normally a fan of decal Instrument Panels, but compared to bugger all, it'll be a vast improvement! :) So I got a nice reminder why I keep a spares box! It's all going to be very basic and, for want of a better word, crap, but it'll do, I'm in no mood for scratch building a 1:72 cockpit, for a fictional aircraft, that will barely be seen beneath the canopy!

You can also see the square section behind the seat where I'll be placing some weights ( there's a corresponding cut-out in the upper half of the fuselage ) so hopefully she won't be a tail-sitter. I'll continue on the cockpit and that'll do me for this evening...

J.

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Good start, when I get stuck in a rut with a kit I try and do just ten minutes a day on it or just one job (decal the cockpit say) and by the end of a week I've normally got a good enough amount done to get the interest going again. Keep up the fight and I'm sure you'll end up with another great result

Graham

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I know exactly what you mean Graham, and it's definitely going to be one of those builds, small steps here and there.

I wasn't in work today so I got a few bits done. Am finished with the cockpit. It's still pretty crap, but better than it was, and it'll give the impression of Instrument Panels etc. under the canopy :

Cockpit3.jpg

Did a quick dry-fit of the top half of the fuselage to the cockpit section, and it's not too bad, though it will need some filler ( like a *lot* of this kit ) :

Front.jpg

The other section hasn't been primed at all, while the cockpit section was primed a little so I could paint the cockpit, hence the two-tone look!

Next was the two pieces making up the engine section. They don't well fit at all, try as I might, I couldn't get the front, back and sides all aligned. So there'll be a lot of sanding / reshaping / filling to do here. As it happens, the top half of the fuselage from the picture above was attached to the upper engine section, but it literally snapped in half my hands, so it'll be reattached at some point! :(

Engines1.jpg

And below is the lower half / rear of the engine section. I can't help noticing a similarity to Johnny 5 from 'Short Circuit'! As can be seen, there's a very obvious seam line running through the back of the engines, and an even more obvious 'step' running between the two halves along the side. And that's the best fit I could get!

Engines2.jpg

In general, I really wouldn't recommend this kit in terms of detail / fit. And anytime I see any little imperfection or bump on the resin, it's guaranteed that if I get rid of it there's a big air-bubble beneath it that'll need to be filled. Maybe this is all fairly normal for resin kits, but for someone only used to plastic, it's a bit annoying and disheartening. I'll just have to really hone my sanding / filling skill on this kit!

J.

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Thanks Dermot!

Though, just to confirm my geek status, Aubrey, while having the barny scientist hair, was actually one of the spy-masters in the British Secret Service. I only know this 'cos he was in a lot of the Craig Thomas books! :)

J.

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Ooooh, that's a really nasty engine seam you have there!

My own experience with Anigrand kits is a slight raising of the blood pressure if you really need things accurate, but you just have to love those subjects.

Not seen this one made up before though, so very curious as to the finished article.

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Hey Jason, You've a great job so far mate. I've read all of Craig Thomas' books and this jet was my favourite at primary school when the movie came out.

Looking forward to your next installment! :popcorn:

Justin

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Awesome subject! Wanted to get this kit a few times, but put off by the high prices it commands...

Great job so far, like the others say, stick with it, it'll look great and be a real talking point in your collection!

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Thanks a lot for all the kind comments!

I've made a bit more progress. I'm finding it a bit strange, having to really think about what steps to do the build in, as the instructions are really just a couple of different views of the aircraft, so there are no steps to follow ( I'm used to being gently guided through a build by Revell's or Airfix's easy to follow boxes! :) I have learned though that it's pretty much 'sand a piece, stick it on, sand it some more, put on some filler, sand it some more' and then on to the next piece!

That said, the resin does seem to sand pretty well, so those very nasty engine seams and steps are a lot tidier. They're not perfect ( you'll read that phrase a lot in my builds ), and I've yet to perfect the 'invisible seam', but it's definitely an improvement. I've also got the upper fuselage re-attached to the engine section, after I broke it off before I even started building :

Fuselage1.jpg

Fuselage2.jpg

Next is attaching the upper and lower intakes, and I've painted the areas they'll be covering matt black. The majority of the aircraft will be a very dark gray, with matt black here and there for de-icing panels etc. With a bit of luck I might even get the whole airframe finished this weekend, after the intakes it's the cockpit section, and then the wings, tail planes and lower vanes...

J.

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Work continues...

Got the intakes on, and then did the usual sanding / filling / sanding, sitting out the back garden with a mask on to try not to inhale *all* the resin! Then I got the front fuselage attached and sanded / filled as well. As usual, it's not perfect, but it's a lot smoother and with less seams / gaps / steps than before :

Fuselage3.jpg

This kit is easily using the most filler / masking tape / nail polish remover etc of any build I've done! Also, they're not that easy to see, but I got the fans installed before I put the intakes on, they can be seen from both top and bottom intakes and add a nice bit of detail on a kit sorely missing any :

Fuselage4.jpg

Next is the small cannon cover under the nose and then the wings. I've read in several builds about using brass rod for resin kits as they're not enough of a postive fit. Well, this one is the same, I can just see the wings dropping if I tried to mate them using only the little stub that's on them. So I took a trip to my LMS and bought my first ever brass rod. It fits just fine ( as I brought the kit with me! ) :

Fuselage5.jpg

I'll have to be very careful drilling into the wings to keep the holes straight and not break the surface of the wings.

Once the wings and tailfins etc. are done, the next step is the canopy. It doesn't actually fit the cockpit and leaves a large gap, which I'll either fill with plastic card or filler, I'm not sure which will be easier yet.

J.

Edited by Jasonb13
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