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1973 MiG-21 ‘Project Dark Gene’ *completed*


Dansk

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10 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

I’m not sure ‘easier stage’ seems right!  I’m still trying to work out at what age they make their own beds, need to be woken up, need to be told to go to bed, put dishes in the dishwasher, take the seven empty glasses out of their room and put them in the dishwasher, pack the dishwasher properly, put their dirty clothes in the laundry basket... etc etc. Sometimes I wish they were small kids again? 

 

Cheers.. Dave (the dishwasher stacker nazi!) 

Children + dishwasher = disaster. Only I stack the dishwasher, they are allowed to empty it though. :lalala:

 

They are also allowed to purchase single malt whiskeys for me whenever they feel like it.....😀

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On 9/17/2019 at 11:14 AM, Jinxman said:

 

They are also allowed to purchase single malt whiskeys for me whenever they feel like it.....😀

Only another 18 years to go and the new arrival will have the same priveledges handed to her ;)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Having just completed another group build, i now have a chance to jump back on the MiG-21 as it were.

 

A few bits and bobs this evening-

 

The canopy i have sanded so its now flush with the airframe.

I think i may have erroneously fitted a canopy designed to be open rather than closed, (as they were off the sprue floating around in the bag/box) 

The now sorted ill-fitting roofline and the tabs on the side suggest this. Damn. So silly. :wall:

 

48877294872_451fe8f558_b.jpg

 

Light lenses installed and rears painted in chrome, and some superstructure around the gear well is in. 

 

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And these cheap paintbrushes i never use were a great stand-in as an tire painting jig - worked pretty good 😁

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Edit: the hinge tabs are the real deal see below, so maybe the canopy was the correct one after all. 

https://images.app.goo.gl/TwS22qeK5ut1ASkDA


 

Edited by Dansk
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Good evening chaps
I’ve been busy adding some detail to the main gear bays
Not a lot will be seen but i found it really fun to try my hand at.

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Heres a some of the refs i’ve been working from-
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Had to apply the sponge mask to the wheel wells very carefully for painting so i dont rip all the detailing off putting it in or taking it out.😳

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I’ve left off anything that will get knocked off until after paint, 
but after a little clean up she’s ready for primer and checking to see if theres things to clean up rescribe etc

 

48899066033_b6280447bd_c.jpg

 

(Note to self remember to reinstate the canopy hinge blisters before priming!🤔)

Edited by Dansk
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Well at least you know all the detail is there Paul and you certainly have great photos to prove it! It's all worth it in the end so keep up the great work. 

Cheers.. Dave 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 10/16/2019 at 3:40 AM, Rabbit Leader said:

Well at least you know all the detail is there Paul and you certainly have great photos to prove it! It's all worth it in the end so keep up the great work. 

Cheers.. Dave 

Thanks Dave 👍

 

The little MiG is now primed and a few bits re-engraved and sanded.

 

I saw a video recently where instead of laying down a gloss black base coat for the metallic paint to lie on,

The modeller primed it in gray and added black preshading, as is more customary with regular paint.

 

It looked right, not too shiny, so I’m gonna try this out. 😬Wish me luck!

A dodgy rough ‘n’ ready preshading has been done this evening waiting to receive some ak interactive xtreme metal paint

 

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Edited by Dansk
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Actually i’m gonna do further preshading masked - 

and let this preshading do some of the work on the varying metal tones.

its an experiment but it might eliviate the necessity for different metalics with only light coats of xtreme metal pure aluminium with these undertones might do it. Let’s see.

If its too subtle i can always mask and paint after.

The exhaust shroud will need a burnt iron though.

 

]48954737081_696721d878_b.jpg

Edited by Dansk
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Yes, this build was always looking very promising and is now taking an even more exciting path. Looking forward to all the NMF panel work and I’m sure we’ll all get something useful to take back to our builds once it’s all documented here. 
 

Cheers.. Dave 

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Hi chaps,


I think the experiment worked out with quite interesting results.
Here is the start which looks like I’m sponsored by Tamiyas tape marketing division 😄 

48965343027_4982271553_b.jpg

With some medium gray and a touch of ak xtreme metal pale burnt metal applied

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Just pale burnt metal at the rear
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I lightly sanded that painted area down so it got duller,
Then applied ak xtreme metal polished aluminium everywhere except the rear end.

I’m really thrilled about the result but its impossible to capture on an iphone.
Here i’ve shot it in lots of different light conditions to attempt to portray it.
I really like it in the flesh its not too over shiny and the preshading is visible.
The masked parts have a really nice subtle difference the other areas.


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My airbrush spit a few times so I have absolutely no idea how to remove those marks? 😢🤔

Theres a small one here below in the centre but there are bigger nasty ones.

 

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And the metallic paint finish is a tad ‘fleck-y’ really close-up but otherwise it looks pretty cool in the flesh i consider. Maybe more thinners was needed. I think if i were to do it again though I would do the opposite and mask off the dull parts and spray the rest darker gray as the dull parts would have ended up feeling shinier than the shiny parts without the sanding. 


I should have shot it against a starfighter i have on the backburner. It had a gloss black base and an extreme metal polished aluminium overcoat. Thats really shiny too much I think - I want this to feel used.

But anyway, i think next step is to figure out how to remove the ‘spit spots’ 
then i might experiment with this stuff in some panels... not sure...

48965343007_cc06fd1e99_c.jpg



 

Edited by Dansk
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I would have thought the salt weather technique would be ideal for the NMF to show under camouflaged paint, however as this is straight NMF I’m not sure how this will go in this build. I know what you mean about not being able to capture what the eye naturally sees, it’s always difficult when tones and sheens have a subtle difference. Overall she’s looking really good.

 

Cheers.. Dave 

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29 minutes ago, Rabbit Leader said:

I would have thought the salt weather technique would be ideal for the NMF to show under camouflaged paint, however as this is straight NMF I’m not sure how this will go in this build. I know what you mean about not being able to capture what the eye naturally sees, it’s always difficult when tones and sheens have a subtle difference. Overall she’s looking really good.

 

Cheers.. Dave 

Hey Dave I know this is an overly extreme example of a weathered retired MiG 21 but I was thinking the salt technique could give it just a touch of this feel at the wingtip to disquise the spitting.

 

https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-mig-21-retired-aircraft-wing-with-prominent-aileron-and-fence-is-extremely-14041771.html

Edited by Dansk
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17 minutes ago, Dansk said:

Hey Dave I know this is an overly extreme example of a weathered retired MiG 21 but I was thinking the salt technique could give it just a touch of this feel at the wingtip to disquise the spitting.

 

https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-mig-21-retired-aircraft-wing-with-prominent-aileron-and-fence-is-extremely-14041771.html

Now that’s some NMF weathered effect and I would think that the salt technique is an ideal method to achieve that look. Go for it! 
Cheers. Dave 

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Just went to a model show in sweden and saw this by coincidence - a really weathered old retired aircraft beautifully done - the effect is great - i think a touch of this could look great used in moderation on an my in-service aircraft.

 

48966763628_83f7425dd2_b.jpg

 

 

Edited by Dansk
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Cheers craig 👍
I have all the green areas painted now and the exhaust shroud area, so i think i’ll invest in a gloss coat next.

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And then its a toss up between the Decals or salt weathering next?🤔

My gut says to do a light salt weather initially without decals (maybe spraying a dark aluminium through the salt (and masking the green) then do another further very light stage of salt weathering after decalling perhaps with a very thinned very light gray.
Then i can get that mettalicy corrosion feel and not metalicise the decals. Not sure yet but its gonna be really fun to test.

 

I think I’ve decided to skip the true metal wax on this - it’ll get too nice and shiny i think - i might save that experiment for the mustang STGB 🤔

Then panel lines
Streaking and grime etc
Gear and Ancillaries etc

I love these stages of a build! The Really fun bits!

:yahoo:

Edited by Dansk
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Ok  - Was the experiment a success?

 

 

Well maybe? I’m not entirely sure.

I have to live with it for a bit.🤔 

 

It really feels like its aluminium in the flesh and not plastic painted, and it feels weathered, i really like that but perhaps i went too far. From some angles its quite intense and very crude, others its ok and subtle.

 

Maybe once decalled and resalted in a negative shade it might all click together after a wash etc.

it’s definately a used machine we have here. It could be 13/14 years old in 1973 so it’s definately lived a hard life.

 

One thing thats not superb is that the reason i did this in the first place was to help blend in the paint spits from the airbrush, and they still stick out. 

 

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