DaveJL Posted November 27, 2019 Share Posted November 27, 2019 Hello all, Here is my next project, 1/48 Trumpeter Mig-23ML Flogger G, marked as an MLD 'White 211' of the 1st Air Squadron, Bulgarian Air Force in 1999. This airframe, although built later than the Soviet re-manufactured MLDs, does not incorporate some of the aerodynamic changes, such as the 'dog tooth' wing root and wing fences so the ML boxing suffices. I recently visited Sofia and was able to see a few Floggers up close at the Military museum in the city. Kit: Extras: I'll be using a set of Eduard etch, Pavla seat, Aires corrected intakes, Master pitot tube, Pavla KM-1 ejection seat, New Ware masks and Linden Hill decals. Colour scheme and markings: Seen here looking a bit worse for wear. The Akan paints called out in the Linden Hill booklet were also ordered, along with some thinner: Will make a start after the Flanker is finished. Dave 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted November 27, 2019 Share Posted November 27, 2019 very nice! great choice I am missing some NICE R-23 or even R-24 though! would be perfect, no? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJL Posted November 27, 2019 Author Share Posted November 27, 2019 14 minutes ago, exdraken said: very nice! great choice I am missing some NICE R-23 or even R-24 though! would be perfect, no? Will be using kit weapons mate! This is the configuration I'm going for: 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted November 27, 2019 Share Posted November 27, 2019 Cool subject choice Dave 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJL Posted November 27, 2019 Author Share Posted November 27, 2019 2 hours ago, Col. said: Cool subject choice Dave Cheers Col, been wanting to do it for a while! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marlin Posted November 28, 2019 Share Posted November 28, 2019 Great Choice Dave. I'll sit in the back taking notes on this one. I got the same kit in the stash that one day will be an NVA/LSK bird. /Bosse 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coneheadff Posted November 29, 2019 Share Posted November 29, 2019 Great choice...will definitely follow your build Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJL Posted November 29, 2019 Author Share Posted November 29, 2019 Thanks chaps. Will be making a start soon. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moaning dolphin Posted November 29, 2019 Share Posted November 29, 2019 4 hours ago, DaveJL said: Thanks chaps. Will be making a start soon. Looking forward to it! Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ventsislav Gramatski Posted December 2, 2019 Share Posted December 2, 2019 Oh, a Bulgarian bird - and one of the coolest ones to serve in our Air Force, many lovely liveries on the -23s! Looks like you've done quite a bit of research already and are aware of the differences in the construction of Bulgarian MLDs (although they did possess the full suite of Soviet avionics unlike other export version MLDs). I will be following this build, good luck! Some information with nice photos of Bulgarian MiG-23MLDs, including the white "211" that you'll be building, in better times. The End of the Interceptor MiG-23, Part I The End of the Interceptor MiG-23, Part II 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coneheadff Posted December 2, 2019 Share Posted December 2, 2019 43 minutes ago, Ventsislav Gramatski said: Oh, a Bulgarian bird - and one of the coolest ones to serve in our Air Force, many lovely liveries on the -23s! Looks like you've done quite a bit of research already and are aware of the differences in the construction of Bulgarian MLDs (although they did possess the full suite of Soviet avionics unlike other export version MLDs). I will be following this build, good luck! Some information with nice photos of Bulgarian MiG-23MLDs, including the white "211" that you'll be building, in better times. The End of the Interceptor MiG-23, Part I The End of the Interceptor MiG-23, Part II Здравей Ventsislav! Do you know which FS, RAL or BS colours or Gunze paints would match the Bulgarian colours? Alex 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJL Posted December 2, 2019 Author Share Posted December 2, 2019 On 11/29/2019 at 4:31 PM, moaning dolphin said: Looking forward to it! Bob Thanks Bob 4 hours ago, Ventsislav Gramatski said: Oh, a Bulgarian bird - and one of the coolest ones to serve in our Air Force, many lovely liveries on the -23s! Looks like you've done quite a bit of research already and are aware of the differences in the construction of Bulgarian MLDs (although they did possess the full suite of Soviet avionics unlike other export version MLDs). I will be following this build, good luck! Some information with nice photos of Bulgarian MiG-23MLDs, including the white "211" that you'll be building, in better times. The End of the Interceptor MiG-23, Part I The End of the Interceptor MiG-23, Part II Thanks for the links mate, some great pictures there. A question for you if I may; what colour would the landing gear legs be? They look metallic in some pictures and dark grey in others. 3 hours ago, coneheadff said: Здравей Ventsislav! Do you know which FS, RAL or BS colours or Gunze paints would match the Bulgarian colours? Alex Alex, according to the Linden Hill instructions, the AKAN colour call outs have been matched to their research from pictures of the individual jets on the decal sheet. 73098 - brown 73055 - light green 73007 - green 73008 - light blue 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nikolay Polyakov Posted December 2, 2019 Share Posted December 2, 2019 Interesting choice, Dave - I’m in! 🍿 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coneheadff Posted December 2, 2019 Share Posted December 2, 2019 1 hour ago, DaveJL said: 73098 - brown 73055 - light green 73007 - green 73008 - light blue Thanks Dave! I know, but unfortunately there's no reference to any other colour brand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJL Posted December 2, 2019 Author Share Posted December 2, 2019 On 12/2/2019 at 4:28 PM, coneheadff said: Thanks Dave! I know, but unfortunately there's no reference to any other colour brand. I was hoping to use Mr Paint myself but had no luck matching the colours. AKAN paints are apparently good to use so shouldn't be too much of a heartache. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJL Posted December 5, 2019 Author Share Posted December 5, 2019 Made a brief start today. Spayed the cockpit with MRPs Russian Cockpit green. Definitely the best match the pre painted Eduard etch! A quick wash and we have this: Dry brushed some silver onto the floor and control column to replicate paint chipping. Exhaust and intakes made up, then added to fuselage: Fuselage closed up: No issues at all with the fit. I'm glad the intake trunking is well hidden as there are sink marks and seam lines galore that would be an absolute pain to remove on a more visible part. Ordnance also made up: Hoping to get the intakes sorted next. Dave 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted December 5, 2019 Share Posted December 5, 2019 Very nice start! Hope the Aires intakes hold their promise! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ventsislav Gramatski Posted December 6, 2019 Share Posted December 6, 2019 On 12/2/2019 at 5:15 PM, DaveJL said: Thanks for the links mate, some great pictures there. A question for you if I may; what colour would the landing gear legs be? They look metallic in some pictures and dark grey in others. Hey Dave, Unfortunately, I am not completely sure but I believe it's a very light metalizer paint over dark gray metallic surface. You can see it clearly on one of the few "preserved" MiG-23s in Bulgaria: 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJL Posted December 6, 2019 Author Share Posted December 6, 2019 15 hours ago, exdraken said: Very nice start! Hope the Aires intakes hold their promise! Thanks mate, to be honest I can't see too much difference in the intakes 6 hours ago, Ventsislav Gramatski said: Hey Dave, Unfortunately, I am not completely sure but I believe it's a very light metalizer paint over dark gray metallic surface. You can see it clearly on one of the few "preserved" MiG-23s in Bulgaria: Thanks! I had a good look at the few jets in Sofia, I thought at the time the 'metallic' was just weathering from them sitting outside! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJL Posted December 6, 2019 Author Share Posted December 6, 2019 A bit more done. Intakes made up. No issues with the Aires ones. I'm not overly sure on the differences, perhaps the resin have more accurate angles etc. Judge for yourself: The etch you can see is from the kit. I popped the intakes on along with the nose cone. Some filler needed for both these areas. Main landing gear bay also fitted: The wings and upper fuselage assembled next. No issues and quite a simple set up: Hoping to get the upper fuselage/wings attached to the lower fuselage and clean up some of the filler over the weekend. More soon. Dave 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coneheadff Posted December 6, 2019 Share Posted December 6, 2019 5 hours ago, DaveJL said: Thanks mate, to be honest I can't see too much difference in the intakes Thanks! I had a good look at the few jets in Sofia, I thought at the time the 'metallic' was just weathering from them sitting outside! Great progress Dave!! I saw a couple of Russian jets at the German Air Force museum in Gatow and I also thought that the gear legs are grey. Unbelievable...seems that everyone has been to my old hometown Sofia except me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJL Posted December 6, 2019 Author Share Posted December 6, 2019 58 minutes ago, coneheadff said: Great progress Dave!! I saw a couple of Russian jets at the German Air Force museum in Gatow and I also thought that the gear legs are grey. Unbelievable...seems that everyone has been to my old hometown Sofia except me Thanks Alex. I have MRPs 'Light Grey Blue' which states it is specifically for Russian wheel wells, seats etc from the '60s to the present. I'll give that a go. I'm also debating whether to use Eduard's etch FOD guards, might give a bit of colour to the brown and greens. Sofia, very nice place! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted December 6, 2019 Share Posted December 6, 2019 The intake dif. should be found in the cross section and especially the corners...have a look ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJL Posted December 8, 2019 Author Share Posted December 8, 2019 On 12/6/2019 at 11:14 PM, exdraken said: The intake dif. should be found in the cross section and especially the corners...have a look ! On second examination, yes, you're correct! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJL Posted December 18, 2019 Author Share Posted December 18, 2019 Bit of an update from the last couple of days. Added the wing section to the fuselage. Wasn't too bad a fit although some filler was needed around the intakes and the fuselage join both here and just in front of the stabiliser section. Nothing too drastic. 23mm cannon housing was added along with the tail fin and dual pylons for the AA-8 (R-60) missiles. As I'm not adding the wing tanks, I had to fill in the locating holes. I also could not find any clear images of Bulgarian MLDs with a centre line fuel tank and as Trumpeter only provides this pylon attached to the tank, I've filled in their respective holes too, just aft of the cannon. I also popped on the clear part for the, what I assume is some sort of IRST/tracker/camera. The new Ware mask has parts to cover up the small lenses at the front; the rest will be painted. A bit of filler was needed for the join of the fuselage missile pylons, the fit was a bit odd. In reality, the launchers are at a slightly outward angle; see the second image down in the below link: http://www.aerospaceweb.org/aircraft/fighter/mig23/pics05.shtml It looks like Trumpeters were designed to sit straight so slight adjusting was needed. I also ordered a set of Eduard FOD guards: That's the majority of the airframe complete. A few small bits to add and then just some tidying up to do before priming. More soon. Dave 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now