VPAF MiG's, Part 5: MiG-21F-13 'Fishbed-C' (Modelsvit 1:72)

[reini]

VPAF MiG's, Part 5: MiG-21F-13 'Fishbed-C' (Modelsvit 1:72)

MiG-21F-13 'Fishbed-C', '4426', pilot Nguyen Nhat Chieu, 921st FR, Kep, 29 October 1967

 

According to VPAF records, Nguyen Nhat Chieu was flying '4426' on 29 October 1967 when he shot down an F-4 - his sixth kill. US records do not verify this.

 

 

Couldn't help myself - I just received this and it looked so interesting that I had to put it up here too. I'm getting bit crowded already for the rest of the year but oh well.... what's better than four migs, right? Five of course.

 

 

 

Decent amount of stuff in the box - no aftermarket stuff in this photo apart from the couple Print Scale numbers.

 

 

 

Kit plastic is bit of a mixed bag - sure it has some flash and stuff, but looks like the details are there, just needs some prep work.

 

 

 

Lots of plastic, lots of small parts.

 

 

 

Altough the kit itself might not be as refined as Eduard for example, there is still sense of quality with the kit - including the manual.

 

 

 

Decals. Print Scale numbers on the bottom - I will be mixing the two to create '4426'.

 

 

Some PE parts are included with the kit.

 

 

 

Interesting looking scheme.

 

 

And like with all my VPAF MiG builds - these are my reference books.

 

 

My other MiG's:

VPAF MiG's, Part 1: MiG-17 'Fresco-A' (Zvezda 1:72)

VPAF MiG's, Part 2: MiG-17PF 'Fresco-D' (AZ Model 1:72)

VPAF MiG's, Part 3: MiG-21PFL 'Fishbed-D' (Eduard 1:72)

VPAF MiG's, Part 4: MiG-19S 'Farmer-C' (KP 1:72)

[modelling minion]

Another one! You are going to be very busy aren't you Reini.

Great scheme for this one too, very interesting.

[SoftScience]

My experience with Modelsvit kits has been pretty positive. While they look daunting, and the parts sometimes look rough on the sprues, things fit generally well. I've been eyeing this kit, so I'm curious to see what you do with it.

[SoftScience]

Does your aces book provide any insight on the philosophy of arming the early mig-21 so lightly? No guns, two missiles. That took a lot of effort and resources to get a guy up in the air and into position just so he can pop two shots off and go home.

 

I'm probably looking at this the wrong way, but I'd be interested to learn more.

[trickyrich]

gee you are going to be very busy Reini!!!

 

The model looks to be very detail going by what I can see in the instruction, plus I like the scheme as well.

 

Good luck with this one as well.

[modelling minion]

4 hours ago, SoftScience said:

That took a lot of effort and resources to get a guy up in the air and into position just so he can pop two shots off and go home.

That essentially was their plan, not to stay aloft and mix it with the superior numbers of US aircraft but to pop up from below US radar coverage and carry out hit and run tactics and the get back to low level (hence the camouflage) and scoot back to base.

[reini]

2 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

That essentially was their plan, not to stay aloft and mix it with the superior numbers of US aircraft but to pop up from below US radar coverage and carry out hit and run tactics and the get back to low level (hence the camouflage) and scoot back to base.

@SoftScience Yeah, that was basically it - suprise was they key. they didn't stay and fight if they could avoid it. Which was smart as they were often outnumbered anyways. Main target was the bombers, they were not interested in 'fair fights' against the fighters.

 

And  lot of it is also due to the origins of the MiG-21 - a lightweight interceptor aircraft designed in the times when missile was thought to completely render the gun useless. Short range point defence interceptor you launch against the bombers - you want to get high and fast (both of which MiG-21 was excellent at) to scare the enemy away. More stuff you add to a lightweight airframe makes the performace drop unless you got the engine power to back it up. Of course they did that with later models, but it all comes with a cost. Famous Finnish fighter pilot Jyrki Laukkanen has mentioned in interviews that MiG-21F-13 was very good to fly with excellent performance, and was very predictable and stable plane to fly. Later models, such as MiG-21bis on the other hand with more fuel, more armament, more electronics - while still was fast and high performance jet, was much less nice and much less stable plane to fly overall.

 

Here's the interview, Jyrki Laukkanen talking about the differences between MiG-21F-13 and MiG-21bis (highly recommended to watch the whole video):

 

 

 

... and yes, I am aware that the MiG-21bis has no relevance in Vietnam was but anyways...  

 

[Brad]

These camo schemes are very cool.

[reini]

Sorry to let you down @JeroenS, but I think there will be only two more MiG's for this GB  This being the final one of them.

 

 

 

Let's start with the seat! Which is like a mini-kit on it's own  That is 17 parts, for one 1:72 ejection seat!

 

 

 

This is how it looks when done.

 

 

 

Quite interesting kit this Modelsvit. The detail is pretty awesome at places, but there are also tidying up to do. And the plastic is on the soft side, making the tidying up bit harder, easy to take out too much plastic and take out the details. But an interesting kit for sure, just have to pay attention when building it.

 

 

 

Cockpit/front wheel well/intake done, for the most part.

 

 

 

Some interesting design choices, like this engine. I guess this has been done to make the molding process easier? Not sure. But the fit seems to be good for the most part, so no problems here.

[modelling minion]

What an interesting kit Reini.

That ejection seat has more parts than some 1/72 aircraft kits! It looks very good too.

The exhaust looks nicely detailed too.

This will be another cracking model when you have finished it.

[Col.]

Tuning in for another edition of your marvelous MiGs Reini. This one makes the Revell kit look rather basic already.

[reini]

 

 

Little bit aftermarket. I was planning to get just the pitot tube from Master - but hen I saw this. Metal nose cone and intake - along with the pitot tube & antenna. Should be interesting, I just hope it fits properly.

 

[Chrisj2003]

Nice AM bits. 

 

Chris

[modelling minion]

Thats a very interesting aftermarket set, the pitot looks very nice and the metal intake and shock cone should solve any tail sitting problems.

[trickyrich]

Ooooohhhh look at the AM stuff!!!!

 

Gee that does look nice, I have seen similar stuff in 1/48th for Sukhoi Fitters, am very tempted if I decided to drag one of mine out of the stash.......though I do have to finish one before that!  

 

That bang seats has more parts to it then 1/48th and 1/32nd versions!!

 

Looking forward to seeing further progress on her.

[Col.]

Now that aftermarket is a bit lovely  No wonder you decided to add it in rather than restricting yourself to the pitot probe.

[reini]

Right, better get moving with this one. Time is running out (even with the - very welcomed - extension)!

 

 

 

 

The hole on the back is rather complicated affair too, with some PE parts. Not that any of it's ever seen again, as it's quite well hidden away in a MiG-21. Oh well, atleast it's done

 

 

 

Back of the canopy, with some tubing. Again, a section of a plane that Revell did with just one part, Modelsvit does in 7 parts, including some PE  

 

 

 

Cockpit bits mostly done.

 

 

 

The metal parts fit nicely, atleast during the dry-fit. I just hope they go on smoothly, I'm not in the mood for modifying or sanding metal parts...

 

 

[modelling minion]

There's a lot of detail in this kit isn't there Reini, more than I've seen in a lot of 1/48 kits.

I hope that the metal parts are a good fit, they look very good.

[trickyrich]

Ooooh I'd almost forgotten about this one!

 

Gosh the supplied details for this model are amazing, same goes for that new intake & spike, I'm really interested to see how they fit and look at the end. I have had my eye on a set for my Su-17's.

[RidgeRunner]

Thanks Reini @reini for making me aware of this build. It will help a lot!

 

Martin

 

[Julien]

Where did you get the metal nose from?

[reini]

56 minutes ago, Julien said:

Where did you get the metal nose from?

 

From Hannants:

 

https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/MINA7248

[Antti_K]

On 8/21/2020 at 6:04 AM, SoftScience said:

Does your aces book provide any insight on the philosophy of arming the early mig-21 so lightly? No guns, two missiles. That took a lot of effort and resources to get a guy up in the air and into position just so he can pop two shots off and go home.

 

I'm probably looking at this the wrong way, but I'd be interested to learn more.

 

Hello SoftScience & Co.,

 

MiG-21F didn't carry a radar but a radio range finder, so "light" IR -missiles were the only possible type. Here in Finland we had a Dymo tape placard on the instrument panel reading "ÄLÄ AMMU KOHTI AURINKOA" (Do Not shoot towards the Sun). And there was also a small bead board for calculating the correct firing parameters! The Americans were still developing their radar guided missile at the same time and the results weren't very good. Many Sparrows didn't fire or went ballistic.

 

Another fact to taken into consideration is the basic idea of MiG-21: it was designed to climb fast and defense small targets close to its base. With full re-heat you will reach 10 000 meters in two minutes after releasing the brakes on the runway and pretty soon you'll be climbing at Mach 1. Lower the nose at 10 000, accelerate further and again start to climb you will reach 21 000+ meters and Mach 2, especially if the tropopause is "low". Unlike the Phantom, MiG-21 will always reach Mach 2. At those speeds you simply can't afford a dog fight, because you will be turning over Japan. MiG-21 is pretty agile in dog fight but you must keep your air speed down. At higher speeds the only option is to maneuver in vertical. Of course this all comes with a cost. Every minute with full re-heat will take between 300 and 400 liters of fuel. And there is fuel only for 5 -10 minutes. In comparison the MiG-21BIS could burn all of its internal fuel and three drop tanks in just seven minutes. But you got a ride of a lifetime on the other hand. MiG-21s had one peculiar design "flaw": the fuel system's collector pipes were very thin and they simply couldn't provide enough fuel for the collector tank. The pipe between the collector tank and engine was wide enough. This meant that you had to switch of the re-heat for a while in every two minutes or so to load the collector tank.

 

Why didn't the Vietnamese carry any guns onboard then? I can think of two reasons: firstly they realized the limited fuel and thought it would be better to "fire and forget" an IR -missile, than start maneuvering to got into firing position for the guns. The second reason is visibility out of the cockpit. When attached the sight will block of almost all view forward. But these are my own ideas.

 

Cheers,

Antti

 

[RidgeRunner]

1 hour ago, reini said:

 

From Hannants:

 

https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/MINA7248

Worth the money? Better than the pavla and master products?

[reini]

3 hours ago, RidgeRunner said:

Worth the money? Better than the pavla and master products?

 

That is not easy question but I try to answer.

 

 

 

Quickboost resin nose on the left and Mini World metal one on the right. Now, the metal part is slightly more sharper still, but having said that the Quickboost resin one is very high quality too. I would maybe say that the finish is smoother/better with the resin. And it's still quite sharp, even the intake cone, considering that I have slammed a door onto the nose and blunted it  But that metal one, the edge is razor sharp with the ring. Now, the intake cone was plug & play but the actual nose ring will need bit more work to go in. And I cant say how it looks after it's in and with some paint. Remains to be seen.

 

 

 

Now the pitot tube, Master on the left and Mini World of the right (came with the nose). I just have to say that quality wise I find it hard for anyone to beat Master. They are just beautifully made. Sure, in this case you need some assembly, like putting in the small winglets but even they have small locating pin holes to make the job easier! Mini World looks OK too  despite needing some cleaning up (but no assembly) - it's still step above the kit part (which in this case is not bad either). It's just so thin plastic parts are really fragile and rarely straight, metal is much nicer.

 

So all in all, better? Not necessarily. Just different way of doing the same thing I suppose. Both look good.