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MiG-21UMD CroAF 165 (1:32, Trumpeter + aftermarket + DIY)


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This will be a part of a diorama on a larger scale. I started my APA-5D in 1/35 scale about a year ago, and as comes to painting phase now, I decided to "stretch" it a bit. With MiG-21UMD in 1:32.

 

This is a layout sketch cca. 55 x 40 cm.

 

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A is MiG-21UMD, bort no. 165 from Croatian Air Force, after overhaul in 2014. It's our solo display MiG, with red-white livery, called "little cube" or locally "Kockica". Or "flying ILS house", as some call it.

 

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B is APA-5D airfield starter, also from Croatian Air Force, currently in painting phase (below). Above is my first APA-5D, finished as example from Voronezh Air Base, Russia, here only for illustrative purposes. 

 

Whole WIP for starter is here: 

 

 

19149235_1346770875378195_65028078902014

 

C should be a spotter figure from ReedOak.

 

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I just cleaned up the figure - removed support struts from 3D printing.

 

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All three together should be a nice airshow diorama or vignette. MiG-21 will be on asphalt and spotter and URAL on a grass, next to MiG. Note that display MiG is getting dirty with time, but it's also being freshly repainted, often than any other MiG in Croatian inventory. On the other side, this particular APA starter is more than 20 years old, never overhauled or re-painted, full of rust, paint chipping, etc... A big contrast to MiG on diorama base, for sure.

 

OK, back to MiG. My shopping list.

 

Single available Mongol kit in 1:32. Old mold, crude plastic, full of sink marks and pins....

 

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Eduard PE for MF exterior. I know it's MF, but since there is no PE for UM, some parts can be upgrades with this set as well.

 

P1090613.jpg

 

Kuvalainen PE for Finnish Mongol cockpit. Finnish Mongols have different arrangement for instrument panels, but I think this could be useful.

 

P1090619.jpg

 

Eduard masks. Saved me a lot of time for single-seaters in 1:48.

 

P1090622.jpg

 

Icaerodesign upgrade for MiG-21MF engine - both MF and UM share R-13-300 engine.

 

P1090614.jpg

 

Begemot stencils. Mostly in Russian. We have mostly translated stencils to Croatian and they should be black for display MiG. For now I'll leave them.

 

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Ze-Ro Decals for Croatian UM, but from 90's livery. Both Croatian roundel and national coat of arms are 10-15% smaller than they should be for display MiG after overhaul in 2014. No bort number provided as decal.

These were last two examples, I found on web.

 

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Master pitot tubes and static dischargers.

 

P1090620.jpg P1090631.jpg

 

Quickboost resins for MF, again useful for UM, as well.

 

P1090623.jpg

 

HAD wheels.

 

P1090621.jpg

 

HAD ground crew accessories. 

 

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HAD ejection seats and control sticks.

 

P1090626.jpg

 

OK, that's all for now. Stay tuned. :yahoo:

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14 hours ago, Antoine said:

Indeed!

This will be highly interesting.

I didn't know Ze-ro decals, it's a new Croatian brand?

I'll try to find more about it.

 

Hi Antoine! It's not a new brand. It seems more like being closed down.

 

http://www.ze-ro-decals.com/

 

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Hi,

Found the webpage this morning after posting above, and was delighted to find decals for early MiG-21Bis (Osvetnik Vukovara).

Saw the modeling book about Oluja, interesting, I'm wondering if there's other books in english dealing with the subject.

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8 minutes ago, Antoine said:

Hi,

Found the webpage this morning after posting above, and was delighted to find decals for early MiG-21Bis (Osvetnik Vukovara).

Saw the modeling book about Oluja, interesting, I'm wondering if there's other books in english dealing with the subject.

 

I really don't know if any of our Homeland war books has been translated to English.

 

I made 1/48 Osvetnik Vukovara with their decals a few years back. Decals behaved very good. Good print quality, thin foil, minimal clear edge, good glue, no bubbles ...

 

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Back to Mongol. I started with the engine. First thing is that I noticed that the engine sprue is not marked as MF or UM.

 

P1090553_2.jpg

 

Main reason for this remark is that the flame stabilizer is neither from R-25 nor R-13 engine, but somewhere in between.

 

P1090557_2.jpg

 

And this are definitely afterburner nozzles from Chinese copy of MiG-21 engine (called WP-7 or similar). Next to it are Icaerodesign nozzles, which are very good shaped. They look to me as scaled up copy of Eduard's Brassin set for 1/48 scale MiG-21 engine.

 

P1090555_2.jpg

 

Also, there is no afterburner control ring, as in Icaerodesign set.

 

P1090556.jpg

 

As Trumpeter provided engine in 4 parts + Eduard PE + Icaerodesign resin... I had to figure out what is useful at all.

 

First, I chamfered rear end of flame stabilizer so I can move it forward turbine a few milimeters (will need that space in a few moments)

2nd, there is some kind of step coming after the flame stabilizer (middle and up quarters on the photo below), so I flushed both sides and removed the ring at the rear end (bottom 1/4 of the engine).

 

P1090564.jpg

 

Flame stabilizer being chamfered.

 

P1090563_2.jpg

 

Eduards PE part #10, only useful part from PE fret for the engine. Looking at the photos and measuring the diameter on the Trump parts --> only logical position for it would be just aft of the flame stabilizer.

This is why I had to move the stabilizer forward.

 

P1090560.jpg

 

To make all those nasty pin marks and 1/4 joints disappear, I cut a single piece of 0.25 mm styrene, and bent it with scissors. Here you can also see Eduard PE #10 from photo above.

 

P1090571_2.jpg

 

P1090567.jpg

 

On top of that come afterburner nozzles. Good fit, and lucky that those 1/4 joints will not be visible, once the engine is inside the fuselage.

 

P1090570_2.jpg

 

After glueing all engine "quarters", I made a radial cut, to gain access to flame stabilizer and to be able to paint central part of the engine from inside.

 

P1090573_2.jpg

 

Here is Eduard PE #10 in front of flame stabilizer, after the cut. You can see that one link is missing. I'll add thin aluminium plate here later on.

 

P1090574_2.jpg

 

Flame stabilizer being modified - mid phase.

 

P1090575_2.jpg

 

And final result. It's still not as on R13 engine, but it's close enough.

 

P1090577_2.jpg

 

P1090578_2.jpg

 

Behind the flame stabilizer I also added black styrene, to be used as visual barrier and inner structure support.

 

P1090576_2.jpg

 

Exhaust end after cut, with styrene tubing (flushed with Mr. Surfacer 500), and resin afterburner.

 

P1090579_2.jpg

 

Dryfit with middle section - can't focus on flame stabilizer, sorry.

 

P1090580_2.jpg

 

P1090581_2.jpg

 

That's all for tonight. 

 

Tomislav

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I had to add 0.25 mm strip under middle/front fuselage (parts E21/E29), to get smooth transition to rear fuselage.

Now, I have this slot, but that's much better option than to have a radial step, around the fuselage.

 

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Not all parts survived transport. 

 

P1090587_3.jpg

 

Sink marks

 

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Soft details on engine. I will not use these parts.

 

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Dryfit with middle/front duselage: engine starts just aft of main undercarriage.

 

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Here is a ring on inner side of rear fuselage. Nothing will be visible before this ring.

 

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Engine fit with exhaust end (part G7). Notice the thickness of this part (trailing edge).

 

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Some 90-95% of length.

 

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New deflector under the parachute housing being made from copper plate.

 

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Not that is has to be bend upwards. Slightly. 

 

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Rear engine tubing - joint has been smoothen out.

 

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There was a step between rear fuselage and exhaust end. I started with heavy sanding.

 

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Trailing edge on exhaust end ring being thinned. Coarse sanding.

 

P1090607_2.jpg

 

Fine sanding.

 

P1090612_2.jpg

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Currently, I'm more focused on painting APA starter. And just the other days my quick release coupling fell apart. But, with some trials and errors I managed to move forward on MiG, as well.

 

Today, I'll talk more about vertical tail, parachute and parachute housing, VOR antennas and engine painting.

 

First, rear fuselage has been smoothed out.

 

P1090640_2.jpg

 

A 1 mm styrene plug inserted next to rear air brake housing.

 

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As said before, molds are worn out, so you need to get used to "gaps" and "slots" like these, and fix them.

 

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In this case you have to line-up panel lines between vertical and rear fuselage.

 

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So I shorten pins for vertical tail.

 

P1090650.jpg

 

This is better.

 

P1090649.jpg

 

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New VOR/ILS antennas scratchbuild for UMD standard from 0.25 mm styrene and 1.0 mm styrene rod.

 

P1090645.jpg

 

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To create a replica of MiG parachute, I took S-24 rocket from Eduard's 1/48 MiG-21 mold ( I have a few leftovers), cut the middle section  (20 mm length, 5 mm diameter) and wrap it with clear kitchen foil. 

Wood glue is used as a filling. For straps I used narrow JammyDog masking tape - this one is 0.5 mm. Straps are not tight, so glue can be moved between sections. This way I got real 3D texture.

For big strap I used waxed cord (0.5 mm), used for DIY jewelry  and lead wire 0.2 mm. Waxed cord also has a smooth surface, but with preserved cord texture.

 

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Painted with Ammo MiG 4BO surface primer. Note that straps were not painted.

 

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Due to worn-out mold, many details are soft. Here I just sanded some plastic flat, to get sharp edge.

 

P1090663_2.jpg

 

 

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This is leading edge of the vertical tail. I noticed that while the tip (or top) is thin, middle and root sections are transient and thick.

I decided to  sand 2/3, thus I also had to rebuild panel lines and rivets.

P1090673_2.jpg

 

Control check after sanding with light shadows. This is very easy way to control progress and final results during sanding.

 

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For parachute doors, I used Eduard PE and some lead wire to enhance details. Not much to see here, with Alclad gloss black primer on.

 

P1090669_2.jpg

 

Similar shot from different perspective. This is how wide I'll let doors to be open.

 

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Finished with ALC-106 White Aluminium, MiG Productions Dark Brown Wash and some acrylic rust spots.

 

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Found this 1.5 mm soldering wire in local hardware shop. It will be useful for landing gear bays later. ;)

 

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Last thing for today are engine details being painted.

 

By frequent checking of real photos I decided to move Eduard PE part #10 and to give it a new role.

 

Again, these are confusing Eduard instructions.

 

P1090751_2.jpg

 

I decided to move this part a bit more aft, at the beginning of tube section, I cut out before.

 

I modified my pliers with a piece of balsa wood, to preserve a slot between jaws. With such pliers I pressed Eduard part #10 over 1.0 mm dia drill bits, held by vice tool.

This way I got arc pattern for panels with holes for air cooling.

 

P1090687.jpg

 

Here is same part after being modified. You can see that thicker, flat panels are left as they are, while air-cooling panels are bent in arc.

Paints I used are MrPaint MRP-173 and MRP-104 mixed with MRP-173 in 4:1 ratio.

 

P1090704.jpg

 

Here is current stage, weathered with pastels.

 

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Afterburner ring got Humbrol 27004 Gun Metal, buffed up. And after that I gave some Light Gun Metal powder on front section.

I'll add more pastels, once the ring is fixed.

 

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Flame stabilizer, first attempt. Too dark weathering.

 

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2nd attempt. Green, dirty and flat coated.

 

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Straight exhaust tube section, 1st attempt. Too dark green base with rough surface.

 

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Smoothen out to 1500 grid.

 

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Current stage, weathered with MRP-173 Rubber Tire.

 

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Another angle.

 

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Afterburner nozzles with Humbrol 27004.

 

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For all three "greenish" engine parts I used same MrPaint mixture (this mixture is close to MRP-131):

 

12x MRP-32

7x MRP-199

3x MRP-4

 

For weathering I used overspray of ALC-113 (Jet exhaust) and AK Interactive washes Ak2071 and AK300.

 

P1090739.jpg

 

P1090735.jpg

 

For outed side I used Alclad Jet exhaust (with deliberate overspray to inner side) and dry pastels.

 

P1090734_2.jpg

 

P1090740.jpg

 

Front face was weathered with AK086 Dark Steel pigments (also visibile on photos above).

 

P1090741_2.jpg

 

That's all for now. :footy:

 

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On ‎01‎/‎07‎/‎2017 at 2:30 PM, splinter said:

Sink marks

 

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Hey, howdy, my mate?

Well, sometimes sink marks like those which match the internal ribbing and bulkheads could come in very handy as to simulate that stressed skin effect ubiquitous in fighter jet aircraft; you know, when sometimes jocks - especially the rookies - become so demanding of their mounts that they might as well get their wings as scarves round their necks at the merest high-G turn! :giggle:

Say, what ever was of your lenghtened 1/48 Academy Su-27 kit? Always comes to mind when I think of butchering the new Hobby Boss kit to endow it with the spli-S shape on the LERX.

Incidentally; mum says hi.

Cheers,

 

Unc2 

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Mauricio? Manuel? Hi there! I don't remember your real name anymore, but you can greet your mother back in my name.

 

Talking about stressed skin on MiG-21, I remembered this photo (copyright goes to Tomislav Haraminčić).

Well, I'm far away from such effect skill. Mr. Surfacer 500 will be good enough this time.

 

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As for Su-27, I have it still somewhere. It's unfinished due to several reasons but it will probably remain as such as I have other priorities.

There were several attempts to finish it, but with Hobbyboss mold on the market, it sits on the "shelf of doom". Did you finished yours?

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