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Ukrainian Fulcrum - 1/72 Trumpeter MiG-29S (9.13)


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Hi everyone,

 

Have not posted much lately but that has not stopped the modelling. I'm on a bit of a Fulcrum spree and here's a go at the 1/72 Trumpeter MiG-29S painted in Ukrainian markings. I was aiming to build one of the gorgeous blue/gray camo birds but could not find decals to make any of the units that I have photographic proof of their existence. The next best was to build a possibly fictitious Blue 02 based on the Blue 01 in one of the Hasegawa kits and with the decals coming from the wonderful (and huge!) Begemot set. Comments on the kit and the build:

 

Build:

I love Trumpeter's Fulcrum kit. It has fantastic fit although some accuracy issues, namely a non-existent "step" between wing and fuselage, as well as a canopy that tapers too much in the rear, although this is not too obvious if left open. I don't think these are kit killers, and I strongly recommend it otherwise. However, my main gripe is the fit of the nose, the one area that truly deserves attention. It inevitably requires filling and sanding which will annihilate the panel detail and require a delicate rescribe. Zvezda found a much more convenient way of engineering the nose that avoids this. Aside from that, most of everything falls in well.

 

Camo:

I have the AKAN kit for the standard MiG-29 which provides the camo gray as well as the radome gray. The question was how to make the lovely Ukrainian light blue. After mulling over mixes I realized that it looks a lot like USAF Air Superiority Blue. Unfortunately, only Lifecolor makes it in acrylic and it looks a bit dull vs the Ukrainian shade. I then saw that Gunze has it in its Mr Color range (sadly not in its Aqueous range). I'm not a fan of spraying anything other than acrylics but I had no choice this time. The result was great and it is certainly a brighter shade than Lifecolor and closer to the real thing.

 

Decals:

Markings come from the Begemot set from an unrelated unit. The stencils come from the kit. Trumpeter's decals were excellent: went down like a charm after a single coat of Microsol and no silvering either. They were also super thin. Unfortunately, I am not quite sure whether they are 100% accurate. For example, there are no nose stencils (aside from the radioactive warning) even though these appear in pics. Also the prominent semi-circular stencil on the starboard fin is not included. Most annoying was that there were no fuel tank decals. I borrowed them instead from a MiG-29SMT kit.

 

Conclusion:

It's a great kit with the only major issues being the nose fit and the inaccurate decals. In this sense, the Zvezda is the kit to beat for a truly accurate MiG-29S. Unfortunately, the Zvezda has no rivet detail and therefore looks a bit plain in comparison to the beautiful detailing on this one (I have the Zvezda but have not built it). It also annoys me that Zvezda has the upper air intakes molded closed. Yes, I know they are typically closed when on the tarmac but they look so much cooler open. That said, there are no air-to-ground weaponry on this kit, which the Zvezda does include to represent the MiG-29S's modest ground attack capability.

 

I hope to do a Zvezda kit in the near future and compare side by side. In the meantime, enjoy:

 

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Cool MiGs - both Ukrainian and Russian!!! Turned out perfectly well! Now you just need to add one more in Belarusian grey camo with large flags on the rudders :) I think Begemot or Authentic decals should have this on some of their sheets. 

Dennis (from Belarus)

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On 4/17/2017 at 11:12 PM, Dennis_C said:

Cool MiGs - both Ukrainian and Russian!!! Turned out perfectly well! Now you just need to add one more in Belarusian grey camo with large flags on the rudders :) I think Begemot or Authentic decals should have this on some of their sheets. 

Dennis (from Belarus)

 

Hi Dennis, I believe the Begemot set has the Belarus markings among many others. It's an incredible decal set and strongly recommended for Fulcrum fans as it has markings for 9.12, 9.13 and two-seater variants from almost all users.

 

Thanks!

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