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Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17F


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This was my first Hobby Boss kit.  I started it in earnest in the fall of 2012 and hit the first “snag” soon after.  I had to repaint the seat several times to get the effect I wanted and stopped construction for several weeks. Then I took up the gauntlet again. The plastic in this kit was sort of odd; in some places it seems quite soft but it also seemed very brittle at times too. I broke several parts just removing them from sprues, and this sure wasn’t my first rodeo. The fore and aft sections of the fuselage presented the next challenge. There was a terrible fit between the two sections. After I had them together, I found that it looked like “a bear’s *ss sewed up with a grapevine” (old sheet metal saying there…😉). Out came the Bondo and I went to work evening the two halves up.  Next step was re-scribing all that lost detail. The wing to fuselage fit sucked too, and I spent a few sessions wrestling that into shape. Then, I somehow lost one of the front gear doors and had to make another one.  🤪 Believe me, I was quickly losing my passion for this build even though the MiG-17 was a long-time favorite of mine.

 

I wanted a MiG-17 of the North Vietnamese Air Force. I had looked at several paint schemes for this plane and finally decided on one. The full-scale plane like this is at the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio.   On-line research revealed that this scheme, along with 3 or 4 others all bearing number 3020, was claimed as being used on the mount of North Vietnamese ace Le Hai (7 kills). Hmmm…by this point though, the die had been cast, decals had been ordered and I stayed with the squiggly paint. I was worried that my Paasche H wouldn’t be able to do what I needed for those complex squiggles.  I do have a double-action Paasche Model V, but I just couldn’t get it to cooperate at all so it was back to the Model H.  At first I planned on doing a sort of “reverse” pattern.  I would paint the darker color first and then use small blobs of Blue Tac to mask the squiggles and then spray the lighter color over those.  Well, I had more than half of the underside done when I abandoned that plan. I don’t think I could’ve ever made that look right.   So one fine Saturday morning, I fired up the CO2 and the Model H and just painted the darned thing.  I wish my spray pattern had been a bit tighter but I finally justified my work by assuming that the original Vietnamese painter probably had a lot of over-spray too. So, it was onward through the fog! 😀

 

I custom-mixed the pale color from Model Master Sand, Flat White and Faded Olive Drab, while the green is MM SAC bomber green. The decals are a combination of kit markings and aftermarket.  Weathering was done with Flory washes and pastel chalks, colored pencils and a bit of dry brushing with Humbrol Matt Aluminum. Cockpit features are mostly courtesy of an Eduard Color Zoom set.

 

I did scratch-make the oleo boot covers on the front landing gear. The canvas boots were frequently found on the front and often on the main gear too on NVAF ’17s.  My boots are tissue soaked in white glue and shaped around the oleo section. I broke both of the forward pylons/mounts for the drop tanks and had to wait for replacements, When they arrived and were painted, I had trouble getting the outside “legs” of both of these to fit tight against the underside of the wing. But, ah hah, a bit of internet research found several period pics that show the outside leg didn’t fit flush on the actual planes either.

 

I took a few pics of the MiG-17 inside once finished around March 2013, just to document the actual completion and to get a few underside shots as well. After waiting several weeks for the wind to die down, I finally had a window of opportunity for a photo session at the Cameron airport. When I got out there and opened the box, the starboard pitot was laying on the bottom of the box. Arrghh! 😮  Well, I wasn’t packing it in just for that!   

 

It turns out that NVAF Pfc. Dam Dhum Phuc had backed a re-fueling truck into that pitot tube and knocked the damned thing off!  😉 Oh well, photography must march on!  That was just one more SNAFU in what seems like a jinxed build from the start.  At any rate, the MiG-17F was finished, and I like it alright now, I guess. Thanks for checking in and taking a look at her!  As usual, comments welcomed! 

Gary

 

 

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The kit:

 

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And the inspiration for my paint job:

 

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Edited by Gary Brantley
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Gary, it looks very good to me - missing pitot aside!. The paint pattern looks convincing and as you say, the original was probably not perfect. Overall a very nice model.

 

Cheers

 

malcolm

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34 minutes ago, Baldy said:

Gary, it looks very good to me - missing pitot aside!. The paint pattern looks convincing and as you say, the original was probably not perfect. Overall a very nice model.

 

Cheers

 

malcolm

And thanks to you Malcolm!  🍺

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Difficult to reconcile your tale of woes with that superb MiG-17, looking more miggish (I know, not a word) that most MiG jet models I've seen. She just looks 'right', sitting there on the tarmac. 

 

In fact, I had to look twice to decide that the last photo wasn't a reference pic.

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

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14 minutes ago, RMCS said:

Superb 

Thank you sir! 🙂

10 minutes ago, Spitfire31 said:

Difficult to reconcile your tale of woes with that superb MiG-17, looking more miggish (I know, not a word) that most MiG jet models I've seen. She just looks 'right', sitting there on the tarmac. 

 

In fact, I had to look twice to decide that the last photo wasn't a reference pic.

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

Thank you Joachim!   She fought me every step 'o the way mate! 😀

 

And, uh, the very last photo is a reference pic-as I said, the inspiration for my build. 😉 😊

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46 minutes ago, Gary Brantley said:

Thank you sir! 🙂

Thank you Joachim!   She fought me every step 'o the way mate! 😀

 

And, uh, the very last photo is a reference pic-as I said, the inspiration for my build. 😉 😊

So, even a greater compliment – at the second glance I decided that it must be the model after all! ;-)

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9 hours ago, Josh G said:

Great rendition of a courageously flown plane 

I'm glad that you liked it Josh. Thanks a lot!  One of the things that drew me to this particular aircraft is the fact that MiG-17s dealt a great deal of trouble to American pilots flying much more advanced airplanes in Vietnam.  That these MiGs, essentially second-gen jets, held their own against "better" fighters, really impressed me. 🙂

2 hours ago, Hobo said:

Very nice build. One of the best looking MiG-17's I've ever seen.

That's a super nice comment Hobo, thanks so much!  Like myself, I know you've seen a bunch a great models on the internet.  Your kind comment speaks volumes! 😀

1 hour ago, F-32 said:

Beautiful work, what a great scheme

Thanks F-32!   I liked that paint scheme from the first time I saw it.   It intimidated me at first, but once I dived in, it wasn't that hard to do; a modeler with a good double-action airbrush could do them all day long.  I do have one of those, a Sotar that's never had a drop of paint through it yet.   One of these days I'm gonna try her out too!  😉

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22 minutes ago, matteo44 said:

I know the kit... it isn't easy...

your work is very nice... Well done!

Hey, thanks Matteo!  Yes, you are so right; that kit could use some re-engineering couldn't it?  Still, after some effort, it can be made right.  Thanks again my friend!

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I have to agree on all the above. This has to be my favorite Mig model of all time. The photos make it look real. I really like the scheme. Makes me think about getting one so I can do that scheme.

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1 hour ago, Greg Law said:

I have to agree on all the above. This has to be my favorite Might model of all time. The photos make it look real. I really like the scheme. Makes me think about getting one so I can do that scheme.

Thanks Greg!  That's so nice of you to say! :worthy:  You really should buy one; I'd love to see your version. 👍

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7 minutes ago, Stephen said:

It looks superb,  if it weren't for the lack of chocks I would have thought that the pictures were of the real thing.

Hey, thanks Stephen!  That is a really good suggestion/tip! 👍  Believe or not I have some balsa wood strips and twine together for a wheel chock project.  I thought I'd try two styles; two pieces attached by rope and the two-piece "sliding" type.   They will be great to add in future photo sessions at the airport! :worthy:

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