Finished a "Movie MiG". Iron Eagle (1986) Kfir C2 masquerading as a "MiG-23" of the "Bilyan AF".
Hasegawa 1/72 Kfir C2. Seems like almost all the Kfir aftermarket is for the AMK kit, which apparently is almost impossible to find. I came to a sad conclusion: seems to me that the aftermarket producers made vastly more items for the AMK kit than actual AMK kits were produced in the first place. Meanwhile there are countless Hasegawa Kfirs about with very little designed just for them. So, I made do.
- Fictional insignia were masked and sprayed. Did my best to make the stars' shapes look a bit hand-painted, as they really were (I took a screen shot showing one in the lineup having its tail star upside-down!). Roundels masked with -wait for it- leftover outer masking for tires (T-33 and F-100).
- Adapted a lot of the Eduard brass detail for the AMK to this one. The AMK airframe is apparently slightly larger than Hasegawa, so there was much cutting and fitting. Wheel well detail had to be cut down a LOT, just enough to make the wells look "busy".
- Reskit afterburner. Again, for the AMK kit, and was almost too large to fit.
- Master Model brass pitot. Again for the AMK kit, but I think it should work with any kit.
- Resin MB Mk 6 seat used, although the bottom third had to be thinned to fit.
- Missile rails replaced with Navy F-4 rails from the old Hasegawa AAM weapons set
- AIM-9D missiles from Academy F-8 kit with aft fins removed - makes no sense aerodynamically but really looks different and kind of cool.
- Center tanks seen in film were the slimmer, more pointed style with simple aft fins instead of the fins-with-outer-fins. Kit tank was seriously sanded down to a better (not perfect) shape, and fins rebuilt.
- Added re-shaped acrylic rhinestones to the landing lights.
Interesting item: The insignia stars were not yellow, but 30219 Dark Tan, the same as the darker brown in the IAF F-16 and desert Kfir camouflages (and US SEA camo).
After seeing the (larger) photos, I obviously need to touch-up the imperfections at the rear of the windscreen base
Enjoy!