Vultures1 Posted May 31, 2020 Share Posted May 31, 2020 This is my rendition of the well-known Syrian MiG-23ML (or to be precise a MiG-23MLAE-2, Izdeliye-23-22B) that defected to Israel in October 1989, as it might have looked when standing QRA in Syria at a time before the event. At the time of the defection itself, the aircraft was armed only with cannon and live flares, but I have shown it with a typical QRA fit of 2 x R-60 and 2 x R-23 missiles. In that time frame, the medium range AAMs would probably have R-24s rather than R-23s but the R-24s in the Dragon missile set I had were too short, whereas the Zvezda R-23s are actually pretty good (albeit the nose of the IR-guided R-23T in the kit need shortening and re-profiling). The base kit here is the Zvezda MiG-23MF, although the rear fuselage (at least in the boxing I had) was a better match for a ML. I used HiDecal MiG-23 decals, a Pavla MiG-23 cockpit and exhaust nozzle, Armory MiG-23 (late) wheels, Master MiG-23 pitot, RES-IM MiG-23 wheel cover, antennae from a Flightpath set, some parts taken from a Hasegawa MiG-23MF (primarily the windscreen, canopy, some undercarriage doors, and aerials) and a spare ML fin from a KP MiG-23MF. The Zvezda kit is generally pretty good in outline but needs a few mods, especially in the length of the fuselage. I added a 20-thou plate to the rear fuselage ahead of the Pavla jet pipe to give a slight stretch there, another 20-thou shim between the fuselage section and the intakes (adjusting the angle of these at the same time) and a 2mm stretch between the radome and the fuselage. The really weak part of the Zvezda kit is the canopy, which is too wide and short, giving the nose a squat appearance. I built up the canopy area to the correct profile to fit the Hasegawa windscreen and canopy. The flare packs on the rear fuselage that are a distinctive feature of Syrian Floggers are scratchbuilt. The nosewheel leg was rebuilt to represent the ML (and later) type but I haven’t got the angles quite right, so my model looks like it has had some sort of hydraulic failure! Plus there is something not right with the angle of the port R-23 launcher. Ah well … By the way, if you are wondering about the different orientation of the stars on the wing insignia, that is based on contemporary photos of Syrian MiG-23s. 45 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
28ZComeback Posted May 31, 2020 Share Posted May 31, 2020 Very nice conversion!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djos Posted May 31, 2020 Share Posted May 31, 2020 Great details and overall look Beautiful MIG regards Djordje 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
binbrook87 Posted May 31, 2020 Share Posted May 31, 2020 Awesome! 👍👍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russ c Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 Really nice MiG there, great job 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vultures1 Posted June 1, 2020 Author Share Posted June 1, 2020 23 hours ago, 28ZComeback said: Very nice conversion!!! 22 hours ago, djos said: Great details and overall look Beautiful MIG regards Djordje 22 hours ago, binbrook87 said: Awesome! 👍👍 6 hours ago, russ c said: Really nice MiG there, great job Thank you gents for all your kind comments - much appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avgas Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 (edited) Very nice build! I like the scheme. Edited June 1, 2020 by Avgas 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vultures1 Posted June 1, 2020 Author Share Posted June 1, 2020 6 minutes ago, Avgas said: Very nice build! I like the scheme. Thanks @Avgas, how the scheme turned out is probably my favourite part of this build Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragan_mig31 Posted June 2, 2020 Share Posted June 2, 2020 Bravo.This is some nice work.Love the overall look of it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted June 4, 2020 Share Posted June 4, 2020 Very nice. The nose wheel sits a bit odd, though. Martin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vultures1 Posted June 4, 2020 Author Share Posted June 4, 2020 3 hours ago, RidgeRunner said: Very nice. The nose wheel sits a bit oddly, though. Martin Thanks Martin, and that's a great link to some super photos! Yes, the re-work of the nosewheel leg didn't quite work out. Might try and re-work it using some of those excellent reference shots Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted June 4, 2020 Share Posted June 4, 2020 6 minutes ago, Vultures1 said: Thanks Martin, and that's a great link to some super photos! Yes, the re-work of the nosewheel leg didn't quite work out. Might try and re-work it using some of those excellent reference shots If it helps I have more shots from that show at Mitiga. Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vultures1 Posted June 5, 2020 Author Share Posted June 5, 2020 18 hours ago, RidgeRunner said: If it helps I have more shots from that show at Mitiga. Martin Thanks Martin! PM sent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted June 6, 2020 Share Posted June 6, 2020 Fantastic work and attention to detail! A Syrian MiG-23 nicely complements my Su-22 Even though your model depicts a plane ~ 40 years ago! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graeme H Posted June 6, 2020 Share Posted June 6, 2020 Excellent job Reading what you did to get the kit to this standard made realize how little I know about MiG23's 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Hothersall Posted June 6, 2020 Share Posted June 6, 2020 Nice build. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vultures1 Posted June 6, 2020 Author Share Posted June 6, 2020 2 hours ago, exdraken said: Fantastic work and attention to detail! A Syrian MiG-23 nicely complements my Su-22 Even though your model depicts a plane ~ 40 years ago! Thanks @exdraken, I was admiring your Su-22 too. Nice work! 2 hours ago, Graeme H said: Excellent job Reading what you did to get the kit to this standard made realize how little I know about MiG23's Thank you for kind words @Graeme H. Yes, the differences between the variants and sub-variants of MiG-23s can keep me happy for hours 🙂 10 minutes ago, Ryan Hothersall said: Nice build. Thanks Ryan. The more I look at that nose wheel, the more it bugs me ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickydicky210 Posted June 6, 2020 Share Posted June 6, 2020 Nice Flogger 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hook Posted June 6, 2020 Share Posted June 6, 2020 Fantastic Flogger! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vultures1 Posted June 8, 2020 Author Share Posted June 8, 2020 On 6/6/2020 at 1:34 PM, trickydicky210 said: Nice Flogger On 6/6/2020 at 3:55 PM, Hook said: Fantastic Flogger! Thank you gents, you are very kind! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parabat Posted June 8, 2020 Share Posted June 8, 2020 That's an awesome looking model, great work, very impressive. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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