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Eduard 1/72 Mig-21MF - Vietnam's People's Airforce - Finished


Johnson

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7 hours ago, Wings unlevel said:

Worth the effort, looks terrific!

 

Many thanks Wings!

 

5 hours ago, franky boy said:

Nice work. The nmf looks top notch.

 

Thanks James! I'm a confirmed Alclad fan.

 

5 hours ago, franky boy said:

Looking forward to seeing it with some decals on!

 

Me too! ^_^ A few days yet. I only get to work on it in the evenings and time just rushes past.

 

Cheers,

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Quick update...

 

All built, on it's wheels and ready for the decals.

 

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But - my, my, Dennis was right! That undercarriage is a complicated and fiddly affair! I gave up on the PE parts. Hydraulic lines I guess. Just couldn't do it, even with my bionic (Optivisor) eyes.

 

And what about those missiles :D 

 

The RS-2US or K-5 or AA-1 Alkali missiles are great, like something out of Dan Dare.

 

The R-3S or K-13 or AA-2 Atoll (Sidewinder AIM-9B clone) missiles are OK, but the fins are quite thick, 0.74mm or 53mm full size :blink:.

 

Back soon with some stickers on, and all the bits and bobs above. But not stencils. They don't show in most of the photos I've looked at and I think they'll look a mess. And I'm lazy ^_^.

 

Cheers,

 

 

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  • Johnson changed the title to Eduard 1/72 Mig-21MF - Vietnam's People's Airforce - Nearly there - with missiles!
1 hour ago, Johnson said:

But - my, my, Dennis was right! That undercarriage is a complicated and fiddly affair! I gave up on the PE parts. Hydraulic lines I guess. Just couldn't do it, even with my bionic (Optivisor) eyes.

Using 4-5-6 parts to accomplish what one or two can do is just bad design philosophy. It is also what adds to the cost when it really doesn't need too. 

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10 minutes ago, Johnson said:

Not sure how much weathering to do.

I would keep the weathering fairly minimal, as you say the pictures available don't show a huge amount and a lot of these didn't stay in service long enough to get heavily weathered. 

Another big thing to take into account is the fact that it is your model Charlie, weather it to a standard that YOU are happy with, after all it is you that will be looking at it in your display cabinet on a regular basis, not us.

 

🇺🇦

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2 hours ago, modelling minion said:

keep the weathering fairly minimal

 

Thanks Craig.

 

I have no problem with that, my weathering skills are pretty marginal.

 

And its not as if it were a Phantom. They seemed to leak hydraulic fluid from every panel on the underside.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Easter hols, so  bit of progress. Decals! :D

 

But Eduard decals :huh:

 

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How does  company that produces such a superbly engineered kit include such rubbish decals? If Airfix can do decent excellent decs, then it can't be that difficult. These are rock hard - Microsol had zero ZERO effect on them, so they sit nicely hiding the lovely fine panel lines. They have excessive carrier film, the decal numbers are printed over the carrier film... and won't come off as I found out, had to be cut away. Hopefully they won't fall off before the thing's built.

 

And they're all incredibly glossy! They catch the light beautifully. I'm going to have to tone them down. I'll try some matt acrylic varnish, brush painted, on the under wing markings first, as an experiment. I don't want a full respray as it would spoil the subtle metal finish.

 

AND I managed to knock off most of the u/c doors, which to be fair is my fumble fingers not Eduard's fault.

 

I'm just glad I wasn't tempted to apply the millions of stencils, nor the kill markings on the front of the nose. Eduard don't show them on the box art and have a ? next to them on the instructions, so probably a very late or post service addition.

 

Right then, I'd better stick the u/c doors back, third time for some.

 

Back tomorrow, hopefully in a better mood ^_^.

 

Cheers,

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  • Johnson changed the title to Eduard 1/72 Mig-21MF - Vietnam's People's Airforce - Decals
15 hours ago, Wings unlevel said:

I experienced the excessive carrier firm when doing the cockpit decals, but they did seem to settle ok with Mr Mark Setter at least. I’m with you on the stencils!

 

Thanks Gerard. I did try Mr Mark Setter as well. They didn't respond to it any more than Microsol. It could be that my Mr Mark Setter is the weak European variety, or my decals are particularly hard.

 

2 hours ago, modelling minion said:

Thats not good regarding the decals Charlie, I thought that Eduard's decals had a good reputation. I don't recall hearing of any other manufacturer printing the decal numbers onto the carrier film, that really bad.

Cheers Craig. I was a bit gobsmacked when I encountered the problem. I've dulled them down with matt acrylic and I think they'll do, but a little disappointed with Eduard in this respect.

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Hi Charlie,

 

Jumped across to take a look at your decal problems. I had the problem with the Eduard decals on one of my Bf 109 builds from a recent boxing. Then, as many realised, the carrier film could be peeled and they were beautiful. As reported, this was not planned by Eduard but, the serendipitous results were good.  I am really hoping the decals on my big brother of yours (1/48) perform like this.

 

BM BF-109G6 Construction 52

 

Ray

 

 

 

 

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51 minutes ago, Ray_W said:

the carrier film could be peeled and they were beautiful.

Hi Ray,

I didn't know that!

Just tried a bit, and yes the carrier does peel leaving the underlying decal, but it's taking chunks of the underlying decal colour with it, so I'm going to leave it this time. It may be that it's because I applied the decals straight on to the Alclad II metal finish the base decal doesn't adhere as well. With a gloss coat the decal may stick better.

 

So, I may have misjudged Eduard. If the carrier is designed to come off (and leave a pristine decal) it would make sense that the decal number also comes off. I'll just have to build another Eduard kit and find out.

 

52 minutes ago, Ray_W said:

I am really hoping the decals on my big brother of yours (1/48) perform like this.

I hope so Ray.

 

Cheers,

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I think this is about done. Actually I can't do much more, every time I touch it (or even look at it) something falls off! I added the little bits of PE to the ends of the wings and elevators. I have no idea what they are or do, but it makes it bloomin' difficult to handle. In the end I didn't add the drop tank. I prefer the look of it without, maybe add it later.

 

It was a really super kit to build, a real pleasure. As I mentioned at the start, this is my first Eduard kit build and I'm so impressed with the detail and fit. Possibly one of the best kits I've ever built.

 

Anyway, here she is. More in the gallery later. Many thanks Craig and Dennis, a great STGB with great builds.

 

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Cheers,

 

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  • Johnson changed the title to Eduard 1/72 Mig-21MF - Vietnam's People's Airforce - Finished
6 hours ago, Johnson said:

 

Thanks Gerard. I did try Mr Mark Setter as well. They didn't respond to it any more than Microsol. It could be that my Mr Mark Setter is the weak European variety, or my decals are particularly hard.

 

Cheers Craig. I was a bit gobsmacked when I encountered the problem. I've dulled them down with matt acrylic and I think they'll do, but a little disappointed with Eduard in this respect.

Interesting I had no issues with the decals and Microsol ? For what it is worth your bird looks great. 

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The little things on wing tips, etc. that fall off are static dischargers.🤣

 

The decal issue is because your boxing is a post-2019 reissue and has Eduard-made decals as opposed to the original 2018 release of the same kit, which includes top quality decals by Cartograf. As a rule of thumb, don't use any Eduard decal from kits released post 2019. Their in-house decals are simply horrible. Very thick carrier film, that is supposed to be 'removed' after decal application (peel off), however this often results in said decal getting damaged. I believe there are extensive topics discussing this elsewhere on the forum, also on Youtube, other forums, etc. and the new Eduard decals are almost universally panned.

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6 hours ago, Hook said:

Great MiG!

Thank you Andre.

 

5 hours ago, arfa1983 said:

That looks brilliant! I don't know how you people build 1/72 and make it look so effortless.

May thanks @arfa1983. The build was a pleasure but my eyes didn't think it was effortless! :hypnotised:!! I can see why modellers of my age migrate to 1/48.

 

2 hours ago, modelling minion said:

An excellent result Charlie, she really has turned out very nicely indeed and is a very worthy addition to the gallery.

Thanks for taking part in the GB and very well done.

Cheers Craig. Your support, encouragement and advice has been most appreciated.

 

46 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Interesting I had no issues with the decals and Microsol ?

An interesting comment by @Ray_W above, and @drake122 seems to have nailed the decal issue.

 

46 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

For what it is worth your bird looks great. 

Thanks Dennis, a wonderfully run STGB, it's been a pleasure to take part.

 

33 minutes ago, drake122 said:

The little things on wing tips, etc. that fall off are static dischargers.🤣

Thanks you, and also for your knowledgeable comments on the Eduard decal saga.

 

23 minutes ago, Wings unlevel said:

Really lovely build! 
 

Not sure I’m game to remove the carrier film when I get to decals, but good to be forewarned…

Cheers Gerard. A lot of credit to Eduard for a great kit. Decals - I did give peeling the carrier film a go but immediately found the damage problem that @drake122 warns of, quickly gave it up and resealed the film with Microset.

 

Thanks everyone who commented on or supported my build!

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Over in his build, Gerrard @Wings unlevel was intrigued, as I was, about the Eduard 'peelable' decal system.

 

I didn't know about the decal peel ability, until it was too late (they could have mentioned it in the instructions). So I've decided to do an experiment based on the instructions that are in the Eduard Info magazine from July 2021. https://www.eduard.com/out/media/InfoEduard/archive/2021/info-eduard-2021-05-enrr.pdf

 

After I finished the MiG-21 build @Ray_W drew my attention to the new system but I think it may not have worked that well as either I'd left it a bit late or, more likely I think, the Alclad NMF finish wasn't glossy enough to hold the underlying decal. So I've gloss coated a paint mule with Xtracolor Dark Green (used in my current build) and stuck some of the spare decals on;

 

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Gloss coat painted and decals waiting to go.                                                               Decals applied, you may be able to see the very extensive carrier film.

 

On the other side on my 'mule', I have some Alclad aluminium sprayed on, so I'll try a decal there as well and see what happens.

 

Eduard say to leave for 10 hours before attempting to peel the carrier film.

 

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Results tomorrow!

 

Cheers,

 

 

 

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