1/72 KP/Mastercraft MiG-21R Fishbed-H

by PS

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This is my MiG-21R Fishbed-H based on the KP kit. The aircraft depicted here is n°1706 from 2nd squadron (the witch insignia) of 32nd tactical reconnaissance regiment based at Sochaczew, Poland.

In the early nineties, at the end of its operational service, the MiG-21R (but also the UM version in this regiment) received « colorful » markings such as shark mouths on reco pods and drop tanks. Here the aircraft carries 2x490 L fuel tanks and a R-type reco container for day missions. Usually, those aircrafts carry no weapon. Today, the 1706 is exposed freshly repainted at Sochaczew, look here and there.

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The KP kit is a good base but needs some work to obtain a nice result. This is what I did : panel lines were rescribed and some aftermarket and scratchbuilding were used and done :

  • Airwaves MiG-21MF photoetched part (side pitot, IFFs, afterburner petals -for Tumanski R-13, but it will make illusion even if the MiG-21R engine is a R-11-, multiple probes, etc...).

  • Pavla MiG-21PFM cockpit for Bilek (too big for KP kit, but with a good knife on hand it can do).

  • Tally Ho wheels (better than Pavla ones, more details and more accurate diameter, at least for the nose wheel).

  • Pavla resin wheel wells and doors.

  • Scratchbuilt : nose pitot (made from a needle), drop tanks rear wings redone in plastic card, whole front landing gear, increased nose cone angle, spine enlarged 1 mm with plastic card, increased horizontal stabilizers by adding plastic card on the rear side (about 2/3 mm), also cut for representing them braked, fuselage air intakes, exhaust can, increased scale (2 mm), canopy rear view mirror, tons of sanding (for more smoothness, to correct some shapes), putty and Mr Surfacer... This article helped me a lot : http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/portland/971/Reviews/soviet/mig-21mf.htm#

For the painting, I used Revell 90 aluminium (worked in different shades), Life Color green FS34108 UA086 for nose cone, dielectric panels, etc, Testors light grey FS36492 (2038) for the wheel wells and Testors cockpit blue/green (2135) for the cockpit (some say it is not accurate but I like it anyway). The shark mouth on the R-type reco pod was airbrushed with the help of Tamiya masking tape and a good pair of scissors.

All the decals including stencils, unit insignas, national markings and red codes are courtesy of HiDecal Line, they come from various sheet (An-2, MiG-21bis, MiG-17...) and were gratefully provided by Diego Rogoz. Kit's decals were just no match for Hi Decal quality : ten seconds in water and it disintegrate itself (liquid decal film mandatory)!

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Doing this MiG took one & a half month of work & pleasure and I would like to thank the following persons for their big help on this project : Diego Rogoz for gratefully providing me all the decals I needed, Laurent « Fishbed Nut » Stern for pushing me to get all the details more accurate as possible (and all at www.master194.com) and Tomek Sobczak for the Polish MiG-21R unit references, thank you pals !

Next project is already on the way, a reconnaissance aircraft again, but very different : a French Bearcat in the Indochina conflict in the fifties... Happy modelling !

PS

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Photos and text © by PS