1/72 - Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 "Fulcrum" by Great Wall Hobby (GWH) - MiG-29 (9.12) & SMT (9.19) released - MiG-29 (9.12) early & (9.13) in the pipe line

[Homebee]

Very early 9-12 models "Fulcrum-A" had not only smaller rudders but also additional vertical surfaces under the tail. Most of them received later new rudders with an increased chord, but they kept the vertical undersurfaces like this aircraft of the 968.IAP from Altenburg.

Source: https://www.16va.be/page_mig-29_altenburg.html

 

 

V.P.

 

Edited October 2, 2022 by Homebee

[AaCee26]

54 minutes ago, Piotr Mikolajski said:

 

Well... here is "early" MiG-29, as Ryan said earlier, with smaller rudders - kit has larger ones. IIRC change was made in 1987, older aircraft have received a riveted extension.

 

Hi Pjotr,

 

This picture is from Rissala 1986. If this is "early" 9.12 what were the even older aircraft seen during the 1989? No flares and vertical fins downwards. Were they pre-production aircraft?

 

HomeBee found a reference picture of such an aircraft.

 

Cheers,

 

AaCee

Edited October 2, 2022 by AaCee26
Ref to photo

[Borisz]

2 hours ago, Piotr Mikolajski said:

It's clear that it's hard to call any 9.12A an "early" version MiG-29.

No, its easy.

 

Edited October 2, 2022 by Borisz

[Piotr Mikolajski]

6 hours ago, AaCee26 said:

This picture is from Rissala 1986. If this is "early" 9.12 what were the even older aircraft seen during the 1989? No flares and vertical fins downwards. Were they pre-production aircraft?

 

Soviet aircraft were produced in batches, in the case of the MiG-29 usually 15, sometimes 30 fighters. Sometimes batches had no changes, sometimes cosmetic and sometimes significant modifications were made, but the designation/version was not changed. And this is quite a difference from, for example, US aircraft, where we have "F-123A Block 10X MLU+WTF" or something like that and the changes in these versions are standardised.

 

The early MiG-29s are not particularly in my circle of interest, but also not much has been written about them in the literature. OKB MiG has all the data but I don't think this kind of info will be ever released. OK, here is short list of changes which I could write down from different books:

• The first 70 MiG-29s had small ventral fins on the outside of the engine nacelles. Later in service these fins were usually removed, but they were not removed on all aircraft.
• The initial MiG-29s had nose landing gear doors (called "butterfly") fitted in front of the nose wheels. Again, some of these were removed during service. Whether a mudguard was installed - I have no idea, but I do not rule it out. How many such planes there were - no data.
• Same with the chaff/flare dispensers - already introduced during serial production, I'm not sure if all the earlier ones had this retrofitted, or if they flew without them until the end.
• Apart from that, there were also changes to the equipment, some composite parts were replaced by metal ones, but I don't think these types of changes are visible at all, especially in the rare photos taken in the 1980s.

In short, if you want to do a really early MiG-29, you should remove chaff/flare dispensers, downsize the rudder area, change the nose gear (remove mudguard, add "butterfly") and add ventral fins.

 

However, if an early MiG-29 was modified in service - fins removed, rudders enlarged, flares added, nose gear changed - then I'm not sure it's possible to distinguish it from one produced later.

 

In the case of this Red 57 from the photo above, it seems this is one of those first 70 produced - no chaff/flare dispensers, ventral fins installed, probably with a modified nose gear (no "butterfly" but no mudguard either) but with an enlarged rudder area. Changes to the rudders were made in 1987-88.

Edited October 3, 2022 by Piotr Mikolajski
Typo

[AaCee26]

On 10/3/2022 at 5:05 AM, Piotr Mikolajski said:

The early MiG-29s are not particularly in my circle of interest, but also not much has been written about them in the literature. OKB MiG has all the data but I don't think this kind of info will be ever released. OK, here is short list of changes which I could write down from different books:

• The first 70 MiG-29s had small ventral fins on the outside of the engine nacelles. Later in service these fins were usually removed, but they were not removed on all aircraft.
• The initial MiG-29s had nose landing gear doors (called "butterfly") fitted in front of the nose wheels. Again, some of these were removed during service. Whether a mudguard was installed - I have no idea, but I do not rule it out. How many such planes there were - no data.
• Same with the chaff/flare dispensers - already introduced during serial production, I'm not sure if all the earlier ones had this retrofitted, or if they flew without them until the end.
• Apart from that, there were also changes to the equipment, some composite parts were replaced by metal ones, but I don't think these types of changes are visible at all, especially in the rare photos taken in the 1980s.

In short, if you want to do a really early MiG-29, you should remove chaff/flare dispensers, downsize the rudder area, change the nose gear (remove mudguard, add "butterfly") and add ventral fins.

 

However, if an early MiG-29 was modified in service - fins removed, rudders enlarged, flares added, nose gear changed - then I'm not sure it's possible to distinguish it from one produced later.

Thank you for your extensive reply, Piotr!

 

What can be seen from photos there were those very early aircraft updated with only wide-chord rudders as well as airframes from 71st to ???. If the early ones has got chaff/flares added and ventral fins removed is, as you say, possible to see from the photos.

 

Relate to the ventral fins. Are there known their location in sideways?

 

Cheers,

 

AaCee

[MiG-Mech]

GWH did the early A in 1/48, so I guess it's coming in 1/72, too.

[Homebee]

First box art - ref. L7212 - Mikoyan Gurevich MiG-29 9-12 "Fulcrum-A" - late type

Source: https://tieba.baidu.com/p/8137663529

 

 

V.P.

Edited December 13, 2022 by Homebee

[Homebee]

Source: https://www.facebook.com/groups/215551215532252/user/100015211022791/

Quote

Assembled test shot of upcoming Great Wall Hobby GWH 1/72 MiG-29 9-12.

The fitting is nothing but excellent, and errors on 1/48 scale(designed 14 years ago) are fixed too.

What a charming little gem, even to a 48 scale guy like me!

(The 72 scale Su-27 was an old work built 15 years ago.)

 

 

 

 

V.P.

[Neffan]

18 hours ago, Homebee said:

Source: https://www.facebook.com/groups/215551215532252/user/100015211022791/

 

 

 

 

V.P.

SUPER !!! 

[RunRookieRun]

Looks real good!

 

And I continue to be shocked by the sheer size of the Sukhoi's everytime I see one next to something.

[drake122]

Certainly looks like the definitive Fulcrum kit in 72nd and a must-buy item, despite the price tag around 60-70 euro (by my estimate anyway).

[MiG-Mech]

I will buy it nonetheless, but I'm not sure about the nose.

Edited November 24, 2022 by MiG-Mech

[GioCare]

14 hours ago, drake122 said:

Certainly looks like the definitive Fulcrum kit in 72nd and a must-buy item, despite the price tag around 60-70 euro (by my estimate anyway).

70 € is the price for the Su35, for F14 ... This Mig is smaller, I quote e price near 50 € considering the size, it's a wish before my bankruptcy 😉

[Vultures1]

5 hours ago, MiG-Mech said:

I will buy it nonetheless, bit I'm not sure about the nose.

I know what you mean. Could just be lighting and camera angle but it almost looks like the nose cone has been attached upside down in that last photo!

[MiG-Mech]

14 minutes ago, Vultures1 said:

I know what you mean. Could just be lighting and camera angle but it almost looks like the nose cone has been attached upside down in that last photo!

Yes, upside down. So it's not me alone.

 

Pics on the box also looks a bit to pointed, but these are just pics.

Edited November 24, 2022 by MiG-Mech

[MiG-Mech]

At eBay for 72€ incl. shipping from China to Germany.

Edited November 25, 2022 by MiG-Mech

[haneto]

Do you have concern about nose in 1/48 scale? Seems it’s accurate in 48 scale kit.

Basically 72 one is down scaled from 48 scale data.

Although some errors have been fixed, the nose cone is same with 48 ones.

[drake122]

This looks like soon to be released in China at least. Pictures are appearently circulating on fakebook showing 6 decal options - Yugoslavia, Syria, Iran, Czech rep., DDR and of course Soviet/Russian. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Vultures1]

Some nice decal choices there!

[Homebee]

2 hours ago, drake122 said:

This looks like soon to be released in China at least. Pictures are appearently circulating on fakebook showing 6 decal options - Yugoslavia, Syria, Iran, Czech rep., DDR and of course Soviet/Russian. 

Sources: 

https://www.facebook.com/plamoipoh.kit/posts/pfbid0g7MpYM63rk6iFdLRqYbUnQLTdSHFc3XnKAGVJW5NoYVGK1osrxsrKnGgozgirjNal

https://www.facebook.com/worldhobbyminiatures/posts/pfbid035VCfA1anJ8kvkmweZgP3a5DyDenY6y2uCaFoVeYdC1mWw9QudUig5P3xh3zxyaQvl

https://www.facebook.com/AvaxModels/posts/pfbid037DnU9uLKAQDn1ReTNLWbJKdtv86a37yQ2ztvoWj1bk7ANuDMybvsrZ9tssnrUNNol

 

V.P.

Edited December 13, 2022 by Homebee

[Ventsislav Gramatski]

Sigh. Bulgaria still flies vintage izd. 9.12 and not one producer has BG roundels on their decals sheet. Given the expected steep price of the model, I'll probably pass - and I was looking to finally get a good model of the early MiG-29 without aftermarket decals...

[drake122]

57 minutes ago, Ventsislav Gramatski said:

Sigh. Bulgaria still flies vintage izd. 9.12 and not one producer has BG roundels on their decals sheet. Given the expected steep price of the model, I'll probably pass - and I was looking to finally get a good model of the early MiG-29 without aftermarket decals...

Well, given past experiences with GWH decals, I think it is safe to say many others will want aftermarket decals as well... 🤣

[haneto]

Their vendor changed the decal fomular since 2018 so recent decal quality is no worse than Cartograf, according to my own utilization experience.

[alex]

On 11/25/2022 at 8:50 PM, MiG-Mech said:

At eBay for 72€ incl. shipping from China to Germany.

 

Wow, for the same price, you get a trumpeter MiG with all the bits and pieces needed for correction! I'm building that kit with attack squadrons intakes and eduards AA-11 (as only two included in the kit)

 

Alex

 

[Missick]

2 hours ago, haneto said:

Their vendor changed the decal fomular since 2018 so recent decal quality is no worse than Cartograf, according to my own utilization experience.

@haneto

Do you still working with them on development and what is the time frame for 9-19, 9-13??

 

2 hours ago, alex said:

 

Wow, for the same price, you get a trumpeter MiG with all the bits and pieces needed for correction! I'm building that kit with attack squadrons intakes and eduards AA-11 (as only two included in the kit)

 

Alex

 

Alex, I have built two Trumpeter Mig-29 and relatively  new Zvezda Mig-29 in 72nd scale. If you want to save money and not pay 55-60e for ultimate kit without hustle go with the Zvezda kit. 20e. I will stick to GWH new releases because they are joyful to work on. I even built 48th scale Mig-29 by GWH, great stuff...