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MiG-29 STSB (Single Type Solo Build!) - Trumpy 9-13 finished now building Zvezda 9-13


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So I was dinking around with my stash and realized that over the years, I had accumulated a variety of MiG-29 and Su-27 kits. Part of the issue of not starting them was not having any idea which scheme to do, but now that I have so many kits and decals, I thought, why not do a bunch at once? Presenting....

:analintruder: THE MIG-29 SINGLE TYPE SOLO BUILD!!!! :analintruder:

There would be no time limit on this, and no limit to how many I will do. I might even add more as I go along (eg when the new MiG-29SMT kit comes out). I might not even do them sequentially, as I would segway into other projects to avoid burning out. Anyway here's what I have for starters:

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Nothing is set in stone, but I will most likely build a MiG-29N out of the Trumpeter kit, an Indian bird out of one of the Italeri kits, an Iranian bird out of the one one top of the box, either a Bangledeshi or Burmese one out of the Airfix, with the possibility of getting one of the new redbox Airfix kits for those awesome Czech markings. For the Condor boxings, I'l thinking of a Ukrainian ground attack example for the 9-13 aka MiG-29S, and maybe converting the MiG-29SMT into the UPG, if I can figure out the external differences. Of course being a Russian bird, I'll need on in Russian markings, so that's what the Zvezda kit's for. I also have an eye out for the newer, upcoming Trumpeter and Zvezda kits. I haven't figured out what to do with the UB yet, I'll have to see what cool schemes there are out there. Finally, I will likely do one more as a what-if (Finnish or USAF Aggressor maybe?)

Anyway I hope I can maintain some steam on this very ambitious project. I'm also hoping this might get some of you guys to do the same. Construction starts tonight!

Edited by Supertom
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How about North Korean for the UB?

Oh, I forgot - I have an almost finished North Korean bird too.

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Or there is a Mig-29 Stgb early next year ;)

Oh yeah, I had forgotten I had signed up on that. Well, that one has a time limit, so I'll only be able to build one for that. This one'll be a slow one.

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And it's a start! I forgot there was this North Korean Mig-29A that I abandoned because I didn't like the way the burner cans were going. They were for Hasegawa, and for some reason I thought they were Italeri. Anyway I could switch it back, but they look so good! Plus I'd have to use some serious debonder to get them unglued.

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The MIG-29... been in my top-three favourite aircraft for decades. Built like a 1950's tractor, but can move like a butterfly when it needs to (albeit an after-burning butterfly!).

I will be following your progress with great interest.

Cheers.

Chris.

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Update! The wheels are up!

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Unfortunately, I also forgot to redo the Odd Rods (the kit ones were cut off to use PE, and the PE ones broke off and went God knows where). Also, somewhere along the way I bumped the wing the tip broke off...

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So last night I made the decision to fix the bit, which involves adding some thick CA glue, then sanding it to shape. I was reluctant to do this as I would then have to match the paint (the green is actually a mix of green and white, and I didn't have the foresight to mix a larger pot for touchups). I sprayed a test piece with the base Tamiya green paint that I used, and from there I'll have to start figuring out how much white I need to add to match it up. I'll probably make a 1/2 oz bottle this time.

Anyway, the bit has been fixed and there is now a new wingtip. I'll need to do a little rescribing though.

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Some minor progress here. While I'm waiting on the Future on the pylons to cure, I've started on the ejection seat (I tend to do things backwards and leave the ejection seat and stick last). I've run out of resin K-36 seats, and it wouldn't matter anyway as I forgot to cut off those blocks moulded on the floor of the cockpit. As I have the PE for the seat as well, I decided to use it, but I couldn't figure out why it looked odd:

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Then I realized that Italeri decided to mould the seat rails at the back, but making them stick out makes it look like a giant armchair. For those of you who are building this out of the box with no additions, this cutting off those side rails makes a world of a difference towards making it look at least like a K-36....

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Looking at the instructions, Eduard provides the back cushion, harnesses and pull handles, but still doesn't look like a K-36. I added some spurious panels and tubing, and finally extended the front edge of the seat and the uh, whatever it is that sits up that's not an armrest...well, the white bits! If somebody could tell me what those bits are I'd appreciate it.

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I've sprayed some primer on it and it looks the part from a distance. Unfortunately I then realized I lost the PE sheet that had the seat parts! :wall:

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I believe the 'armrests' are part of the pilot restraint system. It drops forward during ejection to keep the pilot's arms from flailing.

Nice collection, by the way. I'm building a couple of 29Ns myself.

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Well, I think this looks the part. Now to figure out where the photoetch disappeared to:

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She's almost done, pitot came on after this photo, just need to finish up the office, add the probes, canopy and missiles:

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I couldn't help it, and I bought another one. Besides, I was curious how the Trumpeter one builds compared to the Zvezda. Now if Linden Hill would release that new sheet soon...

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Almost done on the DPRK bird. All external bits are on, so all I need to do is finish up the cockpit and it'll be sent out to RFI. I've decided that this build has slowed me down enough that I'll leave out the HUD for now and get back to it when I find that missing fret or figure out a way to scratch one. For the flightstick, I'll be using one of the nice looking Quickboost bits, which are the same size as Italeri's but much, much nicer. As of now, the paint on it is drying, and i'll detail it a bit with some drybrushing before it's installed:

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As the harnesses and seat padding were also on this missing fret, I had to figure out how to dress the cockpit up. It's too late for an aftermarket seat, as the cockpit tub has a 2mm tall block on which the kit seat sits on. That's too bad, as I discovered that the Trumpeter kit comes with two sets of seats per kit, even on the single-seater as they made it part of their duplicate sprues. I decided to try to make my own. The idea is not to create a perfect replica, but just "good enough" that I'm happy with. I made a seat cushion out of plastic card, and as an experiment, I laid out some Tamiya tape on some aluminium foil and painted that another shade of green. Once that dries I'll cut them into strips. I hope that the foil would give me some ability to fold/coil/drape it about the seat, and the tape would give me a texture and some grip to keep the colour on. We'll find out tonight!

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I think I'm calling this one done. For some reason this one simply did not want to get built, and I was getting frustrated. The Italeri MiG-29 is supposed to be a simple build, and I think it was just being too ambitious (like trying to close the intake passthrough doors and failing miserably, then trying to salvage it) to using aftermarket that I didn't realize was the wrong one until it was too late, and then losing the fret. Next one will be purely out of the box, and I just need to decide on the markings. I'll take some proper pics next week when I have a proper setup.

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Right, on to the next one. The DPRK bird just about made me lose my mind since I went ahead and overcomplicated it, so I'm going to take it easy on the next one:

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It's a lovely kit, packed to the gills in that tiny box. The fuselage halves are held together with some foam packing...

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Which protects some very sharp and delicate bits.

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The kit has all kinds of nice bits, and alternate parts. I'm not sure if this would be for the UB or for an alternate version and they just didn't want to deal with a dedicated sprue.

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It's got alternate noses too. From one I can tell, one is slightly more bulbous than the other, so careful which one you attach.

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Is this a nice kit? Indeed it is. I think this one will build up quite nicely. The only thing about this kit I'm not a fan of is the way the nose connects together, which is much like almost every MiG-29 kit. Those panels are practically next to the join, so it looks like some rescribing is in order. In this respect, the Zvezda kit wins hands down.

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Speaking of rescribing, to my dismay there was an issue with the wings. It's almost short-shot - the panel lines are not as prominent on the starboard wing, compared to the port wing (see inset). Not sure what the deal is with that.

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Anyway there we go. I put a little black on the rear decking for the breaker box (at least what I think that's what it is) at the rear of the cockpit and I'll be painting and assembling the cockpit tonight.

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It was similar on the wings of my 9-12 kit as well. The panel lines on top of the wings are much shallower, fainter than on the rest of the kit. A nice kit overall, though, and I'm sure you'll enjoy it, Tom.

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Looks like it's an issue with the mold or that they didn't put enough pressure in to the injection process then. More likely the former, or there'd be a whole bunch of short shot kits out there. Anyway the cockpit isn't super detailed, but I think it'll do just fine out of the box. At least there are decals for the sidewalls, though I think it looks a bit lacking. Hint for those about to tackle the kit: If you're using the instrument decals, cutting up the front panel decal by panel and applying them individually can be a royal pain, but pays off in the end. Walther's Solvaset does wonders in this case and it almost looks like I used an Eduard pre-painted etch sheet!

The cockpit color is a 50/50 mix of two Tamiya paints. I an't remember the combination at the moment. It took a while to match but in the future I think I'll just get the AKAN range, especially since I build a lot of Russian stuff anyway.

IMG_6394.jpg

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It was similar on the wings of my 9-12 kit as well. The panel lines on top of the wings are much shallower, fainter than on the rest of the kit. A nice kit overall, though, and I'm sure you'll enjoy it, Tom.

Aidy, I take it you did yours as TUDM?

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