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Mosambique Deserter


reini

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On 5/11/2021 at 5:07 AM, reini said:

 

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An image to clarify we are talking about the same thing. It's 'Fresco-A' in the pic but I think those details should be the same with 'Fresco-C'. MiG-17PM has the gun camera on the right side of the nose as it's usual location is taken up by the radar.

 

That’s it exactly, Reini. Like the T antenna, Airfix left them off! Airfix clearly used a decommissioned  and preserved airframe as the basis of the design and didn’t consider the operational machines. They did, though, include the open airBrake option when you’d be hard pressed to find any photos of Frescos with them open on the ground. In fact, as a general statement, Soviet aircraft rarely sat parked with anything extended, such as flaps. The only two things that should be considered with MiGs is the rudder, which sat deflected when at rest. The other is possible deflected tailplanes. Note, you can find Fresco photos showing airframes without the “aux pitot” too. 
 

Martin

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Alright, moving ahead.

 

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I cut and sanded the greenstuff into shape and we are definitely getting closer and it starts to look like this could actually work. I still wish someone did a conversion set for this, I'd buy a couple right away 😅 I mean after the tail shape is done I still need to scribe the airbrakes...

 

 

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It was bit difficult to get a smooth finish by sanding the greenstuff so I applied a coat of Tamiya putty over it and will do the final round of shaping and sanding after it's dried.

 

 

 

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Masked the canopy. I realised that Eduard only provided masks for the canopy with the periscope, but it was easy enough to fix.

 

 

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Non-colored PE parts applied to inside the cockpit and engine, ready for first layers of paint.

 

 

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Good old Vallejo NATO Black as a first layer. The engine nozzle is most likely wrong and is for the afterburning engine - need to dig up few pics how the tailpipe looks in the non-afterburning version of the engine.

 

 

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Did a rough 50/50 mix of these two colours to get close to the Eduard PE colour.

 

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Some more sanding. It should be good now but the primer will reveal the truth... And I need to do some rescribing too.

 

 

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I salvaged the airbrake 'bumps' from the kit parts - they are not the same with the Fresco-F and Fresco-A but I will try them on and see how they look.

 

 

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Also started working with the wings. Plastic comes off and is replaced by PE. That is the flap interiors installed.

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Tidy work Reini and well done matching Eduard's strange interpretation of the interior colour.

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Okay, time to sort out the speed brakes.

 

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Bulges roughly sanded into shape.

 

 

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Glued on.

 

 

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Some Tamiya putty to blend them little better.

 

 

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And after some sanding I think we are ready to proceed.

 

 

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I used tape to 'draw' the outline of the speed brake and use it as a guide when rescribing.

 

 

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Also added the signal flare launchers on the side of the fuselage.

 

 

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And some Tamiya rattle can primer to reveal the mistakes. There are few small here and there but we are pretty much ready to proceed with the build after few minor touch ups - it's about time as the deadline is coming up rather soon!

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Excellent job on the tail Reini - looks as the the kit was actually moulded that way now - I can't tell that you have modified it just by looking at it!

 

Pete

Edited by PeterB
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2 hours ago, Col. said:

Tidy work Reini :goodjob:

Hopefully the rest of this project goes smoothly for you now.

 

Thanks @Col.! Well, whether it goes smoothly or not is really up to me - its my fault of trying to make different version than the box offers :D

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Time to move onto the cockpit. After painting it I applied some Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color (black) and wiped away the excess with enamel thinner. After that I glued on the PE panels.

 

 

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Seat is missing but I don't need it yet, I can close the fuselage before that.

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On 5/26/2021 at 9:20 AM, reini said:

And some Tamiya rattle can primer to reveal the mistakes. There are few small here and there but we are pretty much ready to proceed with the build after few minor touch ups - it's about time as the deadline is coming up rather soon!

You’ve done a great job, Reini. I’m certain it is more accurate than mine. Great work!

 

Martin

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On 03/06/2021 at 10:05, RidgeRunner said:

You’ve done a great job, Reini. I’m certain it is more accurate than mine. Great work!

 

Thanks! :) We will see how it looks in the end but I'm fairly happy how it turned out so far.

 

 

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It is now primed! :thumbsup: I used Tamiya Fine Surface Primer spray which is just sooo good. 

 

 

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Last of the aftermarket stuff arrived - just in time! I wasn't happy with the decals, they seemed to be missing most of the details so I purchased new ones. These are Berna decals. They certainly seem like higher quality detail wise than the Print Scale ones - but these seem awfully thick... :o

 

 

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I think you can see how thick the decals are - has anyone used Berna decals before? Are they any good?

 

 

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Then I needed to source the missing T-antenna and 'aux pitot' for the right side of the nose. A dive in my leftover Eduard MiG-21 bits bag did not fail - I found great parts for both. I think I will glue these on and the pitots and gun - give it another light coat of Tamiya primer and we can start putting down the main colour for this build :) 

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14 minutes ago, reini said:

They certainly seem like higher quality detail wise than the Print Scale ones - but these seem awfully thick... :o

I agree, Reini. I couldn’t get the nose code to lay correctly on my Guinean build. In fact every Berna decal I have ever used has been troublesome sadly. The roundels on my LeO 453 just bubbled up continually. Only some MicroSol and pressure eventually got them to stay flat :( 

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19 minutes ago, RidgeRunner said:

If you can get your markings drawn why not ask Mika at Arctic Decals to print them? He is in your part of the world :) 

 

If Berna doesn't work, I have to contact him. Bit disappointing if I need to get three sets of decals for one build though... :D

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I usually don't add all the small bits to the build until the very last moment but this time I made an exception. We will see how it works out, I hope I don't lose too many during the painting process :D

 

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'Aux pitot' added.

 

 

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Drilled holes for the guns & pitot tubes.

 

 

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I've probably mentioned this bunch of times already but it's worth mentioning again - I love Master pitots and gun barrels :thumbsup: They are very well made and the instructions are clear how you install them and what drill size you need etc.

 

 

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Guns are glued on.

 

 

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Pitot tubes are on. Also the small t-antenna. Which looks kinda soft, because I accidentally dropped it into a Tamiya Extra Thin cement! And I do mean _into_ the jar. Luckily it was of the quick setting type so it evaporated quite quickly once I managed to dig it out. What do we learn from that? Don't keep a jar of open cement under your tweezers... :P But I think I have to change those antennas anyway, I saw from a video that they look bit different - more like two L's pointing in different directions than T.

 

 

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Main wheel indicators are moulded onto the wings of the kit so I thought I'd add one for the nose wheel too. It's a small rod that sticks out, bit forward and left of the canopy to indicate that the wheel is down.

 

 

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Then, a disaster struck - my compressor broke, again :swear: I managed to get first layer on but it's still very much unfinished. I do like the colour though, but I do intend to break it up a bit with couple different greys.

 

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This is the colour I used.

 

I can probably borrow my dad's compressor... but I will still be losing a day or two on already tight schedule so it seems that this won't make it in time :( Which is a bummer but I've grown quite fond of this build so I'd rather not make it a mess by hurrying too much. We will see how it goes...

 

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Main colour done. Doesn't really show very well but I used three slightly different shades of bluish grey thru a stencil to break the colour a bit. The colour is bit on the light side on purpose as it will darken during the weathering process.

 

 

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Decals done. You were not wrong @RidgeRunner , the Berna decals were pretty awful. For the nose code, I used the Print Scale decal and it was nice and thin - but the Berna ones were thick like stickers.

 

 

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This is the best I could do, and that is after some Tamiya Extra Thing Quick Setting :o You can see how thick the decal is. Not much I can do about it, maybe try slight sanding but I fear breaking the decal or losing details.

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