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1/48 Mig-23 'White 211' Bulgarian AF. Finished 19/01.


DaveJL

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More done today now that the Christmas rush is over! Canopy parts added, masked off and framing sprayed. Now everything is ready for primer: 

 

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Hoping the primer won't show up too many imperfections. The sub assemblies are also ready for a prime:

 

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Plan to get a little more done over the weekend.

 

Dave

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More done over the weekend. Model was primed and once set, I sprayed some of the panels etc across the airframe and masked up. Just need to mask off the nose, metallic area around the exhaust and the wheel bays:

 

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The masked area closest to the intake opening is a dielectric fairing that was unique to the export variant of the Mig-23MLD. I had to butcher this from some tape and place it roughly on the airframe as there are no panel lines to show the outline unlike the ones further aft.

 

Missiles painted, weathered and decals were added:

 

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FOD guards, landing gear and exhaust all sprayed and weathered. The latter will receive more weathering later on.

 

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Finally for now, the KM-1 ejection seat. Eduard ejection handles added to the Pavla resin:

 

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More soon.

 

Dave

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1 hour ago, exdraken said:

Very nice!

I am looking at this from my mobile so maybe I do not see all that clear, but did you paint the missiles grey or white?

I think they should be white!

Thanks Werner.

 

Missiles are indeed white!

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On 11/27/2019 at 8:22 PM, DaveJL said:

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:

 

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Will make a start after the Flanker is finished.

 

Dave

- It would have been helpfull to read the references of Akan paints used as seen on the second bottle....

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2 hours ago, IPMS19 said:

- It would have been helpfull to read the references of Akan paints used as seen on the second bottle....

Paints as recommended by Linden Hill and references show a faded green on the Bulgarian jets, hence why I bought it.

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17 hours ago, coneheadff said:

Looking great Dave! Can't await to see it painted and to hear your opinion on the Akan paints

 

Alex

Thanks Alex.

 

Did a bit of pre-shading earlier in the week. Brown was sprayed yesterday then today I sprayed the first of the greens. Having peeled away all the masking and feeling rather happy with the results, I realised I sprayed the wrong green in the camouflage pattern :doh:

 

Corrected a few areas, but the rest will have to wait:

 

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The original green can be seen on the centre of the fuselage, with the correct green sprayed on the tail, nose and wingtip. Wasn't too difficult to correct, just time consuming masking everything up. So, for anyone doing this scheme, spray 73055 first, then 73007 :lol:

 

The Akan paints were very thick out of the pot, which surprised me. I thinned them to a 50:50 ratio with their own thinners. They sprayed well but I noticed that even after a couple of hours, they stayed a bit 'tacky' to touch. Other than that, no issues thus far.

 

I hope to have all the green corrected at the weekend then I can spray on the other green (which I've already sprayed in the wrong sequence incase you're lost!) before getting the undersides done next week.

 

More soon.

 

Dave

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More done and before I moved on with the rest of the painting, I noticed that the Mig-23 has supporting struts which connect the splitter plate on the intakes to the side of the fuselage. Trumpeter don't include this in the kit so I added them from styrene rod:

 

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Not very noticeable but you can see them on the real thing. Camouflage was finished over the weekend so I moved onto spraying the blue undersides and I immediately ran into an issue; the Akan paint literally came out of the pot like sludge. Even a hefty dose of thinners didn't cure it, it sprayed terribly, clogging the airbrush etc. So I chucked that in the bin and resorted to Mr Paint's Light blue, which on inspection, is almost identical in shade. 

 

So that was sorted, and a few bits of overspray cleaned up. Once dry, masking was removed and I added two layers of Pledge floor polish with a large, flat brush. This was my first time using this stuff and it went on very well indeed. 

 

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Once cured, I added the horizontal stabilisers and the unique folding ventral fin:

 

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The remaining bits have all got a gloss coat too:

 

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I only noticed when taking the pictures that the demarcation between the brown and the blue where it meets the horizontal stabiliser is slightly off on one side. I should be able to correct this with some deft airbrushing before adding the decals.

 

More soon

 

Dave

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35 minutes ago, DaveJL said:

Thanks mate! It's far from perfect but will do for me! :lol: 

Doesn't have to be perfect to inspire :D It can light a spark just the same :)

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17 hours ago, coneheadff said:

Looking great Dave!

Thanks Alex.

 

Managed to get the decals on today. Not many and they went on very well. I sealed them in with another coat of Pledge then added the exhaust, shoulder pylons and a few antennae. Metallic area around the cannon was painted, a few bits of piping picked out in the landing gear bays, some silver to replicate chipping around the canopy and a few other bits painted. Once all that had dried, I popped on the Eduard FOD covers.

 

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Will get the panel wash and flat coat on at the weekend all being well.

 

Dave

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More done. Panel wash went on yesterday, with the excess removed after about 45 minutes. I then set about adding the landing gear and undoubtedly the most awkward/frustrating part of this build. The Mig-23's main landing gear is a complex affair and kits instructions aren't overly clear. After an hour or so of fettling, repairing broken off bits and a few choice words, I managed to get it somewhat fitted. My advice would be to leave off parts C15 and C11 until you've aligned the main strut with it's locating hole and then fiddle with C15, C11, L2 and L1 to get the right fit. It's awkward but you'll get there in the end.

 

One thing to note - if making an MLD from this boxing, leave off part C22 as it is absent from the Bulgarian jets.

 

After that rigmarole, I moved on and sprayed a flat coat on the model. Once dry, I removed the last of the masking, added the ejection seat, antennae and pitot tube. The very few pictures I have found of operational Bulgarian Mig-23s shows them relatively clean, so light weathering was added across the model.

 

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Once all that had cured, I popped on the missiles:

 

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Just need to finish off the canopy and that should be that.

 

Dave

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50 minutes ago, reini said:

Very good job! Looks really sharp.

 

And I agree with the landing gear - I built KP 1/72 and the instructions were pretty unclear too - so the whole affair was pretty complicated :D

Thanks mate. Landing gear on this one wasn't the most pleasant of modelling chores I have to say, a sigh of relief was audible when the whole ensemble was completed!

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14 hours ago, Aigore said:

Awesome! A shark mouth really looks great on a flogger!

Great weathering too :)

Thanks mate 

 

48 minutes ago, coneheadff said:

Turned out really great!!! Love the paint scheme. 

 

So would you recommend the AKAN paints? 

Cheers Alex.

 

Regarding the paints, I wouldn’t be in a great rush to use them again. Mr Paint Spray so much better. Perhaps I had a dodgy batch of paints, but they were very, very thick and required a lot of thinning and practice spraying to get right. 
 

I’ll stick to Mr Paint, Tamiya and Mr Hobby as much as possible.

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