TerryUK Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 (edited) Nice Kit and Well Worked your Mig is Coming on Nicely. I was Lucky or UnLucky enough to vist Albania in around 91/92 after the fall of Communism there. We were the first western Tourists to vist Albania It was very Sad and Humbling Experience. I have never witnessed to this day such Poverty. We never visted any Aircraft Sites as we where to busy regarding our own Safety. Im sure the British TV show Top Gear went there a few years back and there was row after row of Crumbling Migs Parked/Abandoned on a Stretch of Motorway. It was so Sad to see. I found this video i thought you might like to see... It has a few Mig 15 UTI in it from Albania: I must say i would like to go back one day and see the change there. I like the Kit you have of the Mig 15, I would like to do a Finnish Version one Day. Regards Terry Edited June 23, 2011 by TerryUK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted June 23, 2011 Author Share Posted June 23, 2011 Terry, thanks for the kind words and for the video ! Some interesting stuff there ! One thing I noticed is that some UTIs have the MiG-15bis style airbrakes... should have done of those ! The HB kit has this configuration but I believe all soviet built planes had the older and smaller style. Another difference to notice is the national insignia: "my" plane has the insignia used during most of Henve Hoxa regime, those in the video the roundel that was used before the star and then after the star fell from use. Never been to Albania, but I can understand how you could have felt once there: in those days many albanians fled to italy (only a few hours away by boat) and one of the barracks in the town where I was doing my infantry course was used to host them. Never seen people coming from such misery in europe ! A few months later italy sent a number of army units there in an effort to stop the immigrants flow and starting some kind of reconstruction of the country, and some guys of my unit went. When they came back they told stories of a country that was stuck in the '40s if not earlier.... I know that now the air force has been rebuilt mainly as a helicopter force, with the main contribution being former italian Agusta built hueys. Would love to go and see the old russian and chinese plane though ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted June 27, 2011 Author Share Posted June 27, 2011 Finished, just in time yesterday afternoon after the F1 GP ! After the addition of the modified front gear leg, it was only time to add a couple of antennas and retouch a few bits here and here where the silver paint had worn revealing the underlying black primer. I'm not happy yet with the sit of the model, I believe the main gear leg should be sloghtly shorter. The model as it is is higher off the ground than it should be. Anyway, I have to say I'm not happy at ll with the result ! I had a lot of problems with the painting and lost confidence in my skills at doing metallic finishes. Apart from this, the kit is a lovely small one ! There are a couple of odd mistakes here and there, but all in all I'd build another one ! Just not paint it silver... And after all the hard work, here's the little mig on the shelf beside a couple of bigger jets... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micha Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 looks fantastic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deon Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 I think it looks great Giorgio, Id be very happy with it . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
about:blank Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Your mini-Mig looks good from here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PATI Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 Giorgio, indeed a well done little MiG of a rather exotic air force. On the little MiG I have some dought only on the bort number since the Albanian aircraft, usually, wore a line between the first and the second number, for exaple 3-38 or 2-45. O the historical trend, you mention I would say that there was not a real discovered plot against Hoxha in 61. In fact, there were many "plots" he "discovered" during the decades of his ruling always crushed with the "iron fist of the proletariat" further consolidating his dictatorship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted December 11, 2015 Share Posted December 11, 2015 Very nice, mat. I like the nose leg solution. Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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