Mig 21 bis Around the World (with nose job!)

[franky boy]

Hello chaps

 

This will be my entry for this GB. Eduard's Mig 21 bis Around the World boxing in 1/48 scale. It's been sat in the stash for to long. TBH it's been difficult to narrow the build options down as there are so many choices for this subject.

 

3B584E82-C369-49DC-80A3-85F772B2A7F5 by James Halls, on Flickr

 

And a box full of plastic.

 

705759CE-B97D-4557-A8F7-B69A84961C3B by James Halls, on Flickr

 

This is a really nice package which also comes with the usual masks and etch and also some nice resin wheels.

 

EA3939B4-4F3D-4DCF-8EBA-7046B90269F3 by James Halls, on Flickr

 

253B427C-8B3A-448B-AF49-A2BEEF4ECE4B by James Halls, on Flickr

 

I'm also going to use a Cold War Studios resin nose for this one which depicts the nose of the Bis nose correctly.

 

610531CB-49DE-4084-9233-ADFDF681A123 by James Halls, on Flickr

 

I've also bought a Quickboost resin seat and air intakes.

 

A53910B6-5FD9-4694-8886-97392B7F1141 by James Halls, on Flickr

 

As for markings, there are too many good ones in this box without even going into the decal stash but it's a toss up between these three.

 

A Hungarian show bird from the early 90's with a sharks mouth. 

 

94AE9A93-C0DF-4329-8994-613F72959C9B by James Halls, on Flickr

 

A Libyan aircraft from 2011.

 

E7642D13-73B5-437E-AF0D-3592AA8479A8 by James Halls, on Flickr

 

Or an Iraqi machine from the early 80's.

 

CDE7AC03-8216-4EC5-8425-7D201E7729D2 by James Halls, on Flickr

 

I also thought I'd post up this photo of a Libyan bird (not the one on the decal sheet) as it's quite a cool photo.

 

3305AAE2-7565-44A5-A07C-398038284398 by James Halls, on Flickr

 

Anyway, that's roughly where I'm heading with this one. See you all at the start.

 

Thanks for looking

 

James

 

[Dansk]

This is gonna be a great GB such a variety of schemes on ‘21s, and some great marking choices there. good luck with the build.

[modelling minion]

Very nice choice James, the Cold War Studio nose makes a noticeable difference to the look of the kit, pity Eduard didn't get it right.

I like your selection of markings, my favourite would be the Libyan machine as the camo is a bit different to that normally carried on Mig-21's. I did see the specially painted Hungarian one when it appeared at Fairford so thats not a bad alternative.

[franky boy]

21 hours ago, Dansk said:

This is gonna be a great GB such a variety of schemes on ‘21s, and some great marking choices there. good luck with the build.

 

Thanks Paul. Will you be joining in the fun?

 

14 hours ago, modelling minion said:

Very nice choice James, the Cold War Studio nose makes a noticeable difference to the look of the kit, pity Eduard didn't get it right.

I like your selection of markings, my favourite would be the Libyan machine as the camo is a bit different to that normally carried on Mig-21's. I did see the specially painted Hungarian one when it appeared at Fairford so thats not a bad alternative.

 

Thanks Craig. I think I'll end up going for the Libyan scheme. I did a bit of googling on that one this week and the photos I found of it show that it has very light grey undersides. Something like light gull grey, not the light blue as suggested by Eduard. The only light blue parts were the weapons pylons.

 

Cheers 

 

James

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

My apologies the welcome message I had typed up somehow never posted. So let me say welcome to the build. 

[franky boy]

11 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

My apologies the welcome message I had typed up somehow never posted. So let me say welcome to the build. 

Thanks Dennis

 

Looking forward to it. 

 

James

[exdraken]

nice! I'd vote for the most modern ones... Lybian or Croatia!

 

 

[franky boy]

Hi everyone 

 

I made a start on this one yesterday so here’s update #1. Not a very big start but a start non the less. 

 

First job was to remove the kit nose in preparation for the CWS resin replacement. This was measured as per the instructions and cut with a razor saw. 

 

6ACEBA0A-FCEC-40DD-AF04-6800D3CA948E by James Halls, on Flickr

 

A66299B4-2002-43A3-AC8E-73BB5B4C7F23 by James Halls, on Flickr

 

With this done I moved onto getting some of the cockpit parts together and giving them a coat of that beautiful turquoise colour. This was mixed from Aqueous  H25 and H46 to match the colour etch from the kit. 

 

B7624348-652F-4980-905F-BC79C60A397F by James Halls, on Flickr

 

6037DB7F-5631-478B-B18A-B983376EBB7B by James Halls, on Flickr

 

I also put the PE instrument panel together. 

 

F5BED1AC-C6FE-4995-A2D8-E732AB826FA9 by James Halls, on Flickr

 

Thats all for update one, hopefully there’ll be some modelling time later in the week.

 

Thanks for looking. 

 

James

[modelling minion]

Off to a very nice start James.

A serious bit of rhinoplasty there mate but when you get the CWS replacement on will make a difference to the look of the model.

Your colour for the cockpit looks to be a very good match and the etched IP looks really nice.

[franky boy]

52 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

Off to a very nice start James.

A serious bit of rhinoplasty there mate but when you get the CWS replacement on will make a difference to the look of the model.

Your colour for the cockpit looks to be a very good match and the etched IP looks really nice.

Thanks Craig

 

Im not used to hacking kits around like this but hopefully it’ll turn out ok. I have an MF in the stash so need to get that built to make the comparison. 
 

The etched IP is very nice as is the etch for the side walls in the cockpit. Looking forward to getting that stuck on. 
 

James 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Nice work on the pit. Ive come up with a good mix based on those colors but using Tamiya base paints. Im hoping to get a start on mine this week. 

[Hewy]

 Nice work 👍  .I've  not seen the nose job done before, or rather not noticed it, there are subtle differences though, i hope this fettling works out , i like doing these pe ip's, you've done a nice job there, i hear some people glue these and other small pe parts  together with nothing more than acrillic gloss varnish  , i recon it would take time,have you used white glue? Or ca thin?

[franky boy]

1 hour ago, Hewy said:

 Nice work 👍  .I've  not seen the nose job done before, or rather not noticed it, there are subtle differences though, i hope this fettling works out , i like doing these pe ip's, you've done a nice job there, i hear some people glue these and other small pe parts  together with nothing more than acrillic gloss varnish  , i recon it would take time,have you used white glue? Or ca thin?

 

Thanks Glynn 

 

These PE panels are so easy and I certainly wouldn’t ever be able to paint it anything like that. I used PA glue, Gators Grip. A lot safer than CA when you’re ham fisted like me. 

 

The nose job should be easy enough and we’ll see if it’s worth the effort? I’ve managed to dig myself into a bit of a self imposed modelling hole at the moment. I thought I’d glue the side consoles in place before weathering to get ahead a bit but managed to glue them to low and now the cockpit floor won’t fit. I think the razor saw is calling! Note to self, ‘do not try and be clever when you’re not because it never works’!

 

Cheers

 

James

[Hewy]

32 minutes ago, franky boy said:

Note to self, ‘do not try and be clever when you’re not because it never works’!

 A lesson i learned a while ago 😋

[arfa1983]

I'm still learning...

[exdraken]

1 minute ago, Hewy said:

 A lesson i learned a while ago 😋

Clever, no!

[modelling minion]

I gave up trying to be clever years ago.

[Tim R-T-C]

Looking forward to seeing more of this, I do like the contemporary Lybian schemes. There is a very usual grey MF model that was used by the opposition forces that I think Eduard do decals for too.

[franky boy]

1 hour ago, Tim R-T-C said:

Looking forward to seeing more of this, I do like the contemporary Lybian schemes. There is a very usual grey MF model that was used by the opposition forces that I think Eduard do decals for too.

Thanks Tim

 

I saw that grey aircraft on another decal sheet. It would make for an interesting display next to this aircraft. 
 

James 

[franky boy]

Hello chaps

 

Hope everyone's fit and well. 

 

Weathering commenced after the initial coat of turquois on the cockpit parts. Everything wash given a dark wash followed by a dry brush and some Mig dust pigments.

 

BF6F4C28-4E15-4266-A890-B4DC76457BAB by James Halls, on Flickr

 

C1596EF9-0340-402E-A061-26CB0B5F1047 by James Halls, on Flickr

 

The floor also had some chipping added.

 

45F38AC0-347F-4282-93A5-818F3FF9B0CD by James Halls, on Flickr

 

As I said above I got myself into a bit of a bit of a muddle by trying to get ahead and glue the cockpit sidewalls in place after attaching the etch to weather in situ before fitting the floor. Not a good idea as I glued them in to low and so the floor wouldn't fit in the right place. So after putting it to one side for a couple of days the solution was to pull out the razor saw. And below is the result. Some class A butchery!

 

778DB569-4D07-4F41-BEB9-9EDD66ED057D by James Halls, on Flickr

 

But it worked. I did actually order a set of Overtrees from Eduard in case it didn't. They're now in the stash for another of the colour schemes in this boxing.

 

7EA3F282-C0B6-4185-8F44-DC5C48D7DAA4 by James Halls, on Flickr

 

It look's fine from above. No one will ever know.

 

0E953747-7E66-45A0-8FB6-49B4C92D2FCA by James Halls, on Flickr

 

The jet pipe was also painted up and had the same wash as the cockpit. I left it at that as it will never be seen again. The metal areas were painted with Mr Metal 214 dark iron and then buffed.

 

FF2F4349-0F41-4B36-A3B7-535360C1C3C1 by James Halls, on Flickr

 

After this it was onto the nose. I had a look at @Ray_W's build of this kit from I think 2020 where he carried out this surgery and found that it is possible to add the front bulkhead of the kit supplied nose wheel well rather than the one supplied by CWS. This gives a stronger join internally.

 

68A0797B-25C5-419A-A7C6-339D54BF6195 by James Halls, on Flickr

 

After adding the internal part it was time to get the super glue out and the fit was pretty good. I did have to put elastic band around the fuselage to squeeze it in as much as possible.

 

2DFDD29A-A160-4929-A3C8-64437A073E76 by James Halls, on Flickr

 

I've also got the undercarriage done and weathered and the wings on. No dramas there. I'll post pictures next time.

 

Until then...

 

James

 

 

 

[modelling minion]

Excellent work James! Both surgeries were a complete success by the looks of things.😁

The cockpit looks really good, nice bit of subtle weathering.

[Hewy]

Smashing ,nicley saved cockpit ,it looks ace james

[franky boy]

4 hours ago, modelling minion said:

Excellent work James! Both surgeries were a complete success by the looks of things.😁

The cockpit looks really good, nice bit of subtle weathering.

 

2 hours ago, Hewy said:

Smashing ,nicley saved cockpit ,it looks ace james

Thanks Craig and Glynn. Modelling crisis averted!

 

This kit actually builds up really quickly when you get going. The only very small vice being gaps at the wing roots but that’s avoidable with a bit of very minor sanding. 
 

James

[Dansk]

Great work james. The cockpit looks brilliant, you’d never know about the mistake.

Inspiring stuff.

 

….must resist starting another kit… musn’t get a MiG 21 from the stash…. mussssst..ressssisstt….     

[franky boy]

2 hours ago, Dansk said:

Great work james. The cockpit looks brilliant, you’d never know about the mistake.

Inspiring stuff.

 

….must resist starting another kit… musn’t get a MiG 21 from the stash…. mussssst..ressssisstt….     

Thanks Paul. 
 

Come on, you know you want too....

Resistance is futile, we all know that!

 

James