MiG-29 Academy 1:48

[621Andy]

This'll be my first build report so be gentle with me🙄🙃

 

Firstly a bit of background:I got back into modelling like many others I suspect, last year during lockdown here in Germany. Luckily we didn't have it as bad as some and a few shops were still open.

I built a couple of WW2 trucks converted to civvy use based on what I see every day on the roads in Myanmar every winter. I also did the very good Revell 1:24 Land Rover which was loosely based on our old Landy.

 

Anyway I got back into aircraft with the Trumpeter 1:48 Wyvern, mainly due to the fact it was based on one serving on HMS Eagle at the same time as my father was serving on it in the mid fifties. I may get round to posting some pics in the 'Ready For Inspection' section: I made a lot of mistakes but it didn't turn out too badly in the end...

 

I quite like building something a bit out of the ordinary(see above!) and thought about trying a MiG in Myanmar Air Force colours as I've seen them flying regularly and have snapped them on occasions too. I discovered that Caracal did a set of decals surprisingly, so that decided things. 

The choice was between the Trumpeter or the GWH version. Finding the Academy one for 20€ on Ebay whilst the GWH one was around 60€ plus postage twisted my arm towards the cheap option🥴 Big mistake as I was to discover...

 

Just tried uploading pics to Flickr and linking them using the 'Insert image from URL' button but it doesn't work🤬

[billn53]

Hope you get the pics straightened out, I’m looking forward to seeing your work. 

[621Andy]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So hopefully this has worked... I've started off with some reference pics of mine, plus of course the RFI pics of the other two MAF MiGs on here.

[621Andy]

Anyway on with the build. Before I start I'll say I'm doing this ar*e backwards, as the model is already finished, but I didn't have time to upload the pics in the last couple of weeks.

 

 

The box artwork makes it look impressive but then it goes downhill as soon as you open the box... Flash everywhere! Unfortunately I didn't take any pics at this stage, but suffice to say there was a reason for the cheap price...

The decals looked good but that was about it. None of the control surfaces are moveable, but at least there were two options for the upper engine air intakes, although unlike the GWH versions they aren't 'see-through' but at least they're a different shape.

 

The cockpit was a bit bare but I'd ordered a PE set from Eduard. I can't really get on with PE parts but I thought I'd give them a try. It ended up as a bit of a mixed bag. The cockpit floor and side panels went together quite well but the box behind the seat was a fiddle as was the cockpit surround(which incidentally looks good but means the canopy edge needs filing down in order for it to fit). I don't have a parts bender and after a lot of fiddling around I gave up making the seat rails from bent PE. The seat harnesses were a complete nightmare to thread through themselves but were very detailed.

[621Andy]

Whilst the cockpit bits were drying I was also working on the rest of the build. Again I'd ordered an Eduard External etch kit so started off sticking some of those bits on...

 

 

Then the fun really started😱 The fit of the parts is absolutely horrendous!! Nothing lined up as it should. You could get it to line up perfectly on one edge but then every other edge has huge gaps, so the idea is to find a happy medium whereby the gaps all round are roughly equal.

 

 

The whole fuselage is a complex shape, not made easier by the build design by Academy. Plus the general mouldings are in places excellent but others such as the top edge of the intakes show signs of what we used to call 'Short Shotting' when I was in the injection moulding trade a very long time ago...

 

 

These needed filling obviously, but in this day and age shouldn't be an issue, surely?

[alt-92]

11 minutes ago, 621Andy said:

These needed filling obviously, but in this day and age shouldn't be an issue, surely?

It's an early 1990s designed kit. Almost 30 years old.

Given the amount of re-releases, and Academy being fairly new kid on the block at that time , maybe it is to be expected to see some wear on those moulds.

[621Andy]

The intakes were also a terrible fit to the fuselage and needed clamping and glueing in different stages, letting the glue dry in between. But in the end they didn't turn out too badly.

 

 

There are lots of antennae to be added at early stages according to the destructions but I decided to leave them until after the final painting. Likewise with the nosecone which comes inconveniently with the pitot probe already fitted.

There was no indication as to how much nose weight needed to be added(However I notice on the Scalemates page that the instructions shown there do list 3oz of ballast) so I just stuffed the nosecone and the space underneath with Pattex sticky stuff, the German equivalent of Blu-tac, in the absence of any lead shot.

 

This was the first model I'd built where I was planning to use an airbrush, so along with everything else on this model that was going to be a challenge! I bought a secondhand compressor via Ebay small ads for 20€ and ordered a new Badger Chrome brush. 

When everything had been delivered and set up, I started off with the primer as an experiment. It seemed to go on OK... I'd bought a mini-vice years ago that supposedly clamps to a workbench(but only works on mirror smooth surfaces!) and used that loosely clamped on one of the intakes for spraying. I suspect I'm spraying from far too big a distance, but the coverage looks OK.

 

Edited April 11, 2021 by 621Andy

[621Andy]

I'd been puzzling over the colour scheme as the Caracal sheet only lists FS numbers and as I seem to be using Vallejo Model Air colours by default, I spent a lot of time trying to match the colours given on the sheet to those available. I now have a huge collection of blue shades🥴 One of the blues in particular is nowhere near the actual colour. The shades on the Caracal plans aren't correct.

 

 

 

 

The various online colour suggestions, in particular a Polish site was a better match on the colours but the shape of the Camo was wrong: However I got distracted by the blue shades and didn't notice the Camo issue until I was well into the painting...But I'm jumping ahead somewhat as there was a slight hiccup in proceedings during the painting of the undersides...

[621Andy]

I'd read about 'pre-shading' so thought I'd give it a try. My efforts weren't especially successful with just about every error shown on the Youtube videos being present😆 

 

So I decided to stick another coat or two of primer over the top before starting on the blue.

 

 

 

In order to get the layers to dry quicker in the chilly workroom my impatient self decided to rest the model on the top of the wall storage heater between layers; this worked fine for a bit until I left it just a little bit too long with horrific cuincequonces😬

 

 

 

 

 

 

[621Andy]

This obviously was a bit of a setback to say the least🤨 

 

I threw everything back in the box and cleared the bench. I wasn't exactly enjoying the build so I wasn't completely pi55ed off but was mildly annoyed as I'd wanted to do this model for some time.

As I'm not currently working at the moment due to Covid and the deteriorating situation in Myanmar, spending money on models isn't exactly a high priority (else I'd have bought the GWH model!) so I put off planning anything else and took my motorbike out for a run... I'd just had a good run out and and had just filled up with fuel and paid when as I walked out the door I looked down found a screwed up 50€ note!! Two people had gone in after me and I hung around in case anyone came out panicking and was obviously looking for it...No-one claimed it or came back; I hung around eating a Twix whilst kitting up just in case. So I was suddenly flush! Not only would it pay for the tank of fuel, it'd also leave me 30€ up on the day🤑 So I went home, told Wifey about it(who also works in a garage) and she said 'Well you'd better buy a replacement aircraft then!' So far forward a few days and another MiG was in the post; I'd thought about going for the GWH version this time round, but couldn't justify the price.

 

I managed to strip quite a few bits out of and off of the melted lump, including the seat and some etch parts. I obviously couldn't justify buying another couple of sets of PE parts so had to make do with what I had left over, which actually made things a lot easier and in the end I don't think made much of a difference to the final result; I'm sure the rivet-counters will notice but as it just sits on a shelf and is extremely unlikely to appear anywhere else than here I'm not really bothered.

 

I did hope that my first version may have been some sort of Friday afternoon model and that the fit and finish of this second one would be better, alas no, it was still a cr#* as the other one🙄

I built the new fuselage using the original seat and various other parts and eventually got back to the stage I'd been in before. I had at least from the many mistakes on the previous build, but there are still many errors, some visible some not...Does anyone else suffer from this? You look at the finished product but all you see are the mistakes. 

 

I dispensed with the pre-shading and instead planned on trying 'washing'; I'd bought a tube of oil paint in a suitable shade and was keen to experiment.

 

I'd ummed and ahhed about whether to include the belly fuel tank as some pics showed this particular aircraft with and without it. I went for it in the end. The fit was as abysmal as everything else and the only anchor point for it was at the front end hang point(I'd remembered to drill out the hole in the belly this time!) so it's not very secure.

 

 

I also tried too cutting out one of the upper intake slats, but gave up as I was making a pig's-ear of it, deciding just to paint/shade them instead(which didn't really work).

 

Once I'd got back to the previous stage in proceedings, I started on the upper surfaces using the aforementioned assortment of blues and stupidly using the Polish version of the Camo scheme. As I wasn't happy with the dark or middle blue and had also concurrently discovered the scheme error, I was at the point of binning it again!

I then discovered by experimenting on the melted blob that Isopropanol removes Vallejo colours without damaging the plastic🤫 So I then very carefully stripped everything back to bare plastic again🙄 It took hours but it was either that or it ended up like my models as a kid: on fire or full of airgun pellets!

 

 

 

 

 

[621Andy]

I started again using different shades of blue and it seemed a better match. I also used something resembling the Caracal scheme. I had terrible trouble trying to get the right feathering on the edge of the Camo; I tried tape and Pattex tack but I couldn't get the right edging. I've seen the vids on YouTube, read the articles but I'm just not using the right technique🤔 I stripped the mid blue several times and in the end gave up trying to get it right. I ended up hand painting the edges in several places as I was also getting bleeding under the tack at times🙄 I used the cremated fuselage to practice with different techniques(see one of my pics above) but still didn't get it right.

 

 

I finally gave up fiddling around with it as I was getting bored and frustrated and sprayed it with the German version of Future: Emsal Vollglanz. I must say I'm very impressed with this stuff. This is the first time I've done anything like this so was surprised how easy it was. Dipping the canopy worked a treat too(Tested first on the 'spare' canopy parts😋).

The decals went on next and are a mix of the Caracal and kit ones. The Caracal diagrams show underwing 'roundels' but my limited research don't show any on actual  MAF aircraft. I put them on anyway just to add a bit of colour to the undersides.

I did some shading/weathering with the oils too, which went quite well but as the panel lines aren't very deep, the effect isn't as eye-popping as I would have liked. Again the GWH kit looks much better in this respect.

I started adding details such as the undercarriage, engine jet exhausts, canopy and antennae at this stage, promptly snapping one of the main undercart legs! I managed to bodge it back together though.

I wanted to pose it with the canopy open, but there's no stay to hold it in position; luckily the fit is tight enough that it can be positioned at a reasonable angle.

The engine jet nozzles include some PE parts which were fitted to the first edition but luckily not fitted at the time of cremation. Again I'm not particularly happy with them colourwise but the PE 'blades' to the edge add a little more detail.

Missiles are supplied in the kit, but none of the MiGs I've seen are ever armed so I did away with them but did put the pylons on of course. I even remembered to pre-drill the holes for these on the second build too...

I ended up not using all the sticky out bits which will again annoy the rivet-counters, but by this point I just wanted to get it to some sort of standard whereby I could stick it on a shelf.

 

All in all this was a bl**dy nightmare from start to finish, but in the end it turned out better than I thought it would but nowhere near the standard I'd hoped for. When I look at the other two examples of this aircraft and scheme on here I can see how much I have to learn, but also how much better some kits can be than others.

 

Anyway here are a couple of pics of the finished article, I'll post more in the RFI section...

 

 

 

 

Edited April 11, 2021 by 621Andy

[exdraken]

nice, thanks for showing your build summary!

 

not the easiest to build kit obviously, I did the two-seater many years ago

 

 

[Solvent Parrot]

To my inexperienced eyes that looks like a good job on what looks a pretty awkward kit. You've shown it far more patience than I would have.

 

Having seen the problems you had with v.1 I think that might have succumbed to the "Once a Scout, always a pyromaniac" rule in my far less patient hands. 🔥  

Edited April 11, 2021 by Solvent Parrot