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
:
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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...).
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Pavla MiG-21PFM
cockpit for Bilek (too big for KP kit, but with a good knife on hand it can
do).
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Tally Ho wheels
(better than Pavla ones, more details and more accurate diameter, at least
for the nose wheel).
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Pavla resin
wheel wells and doors.
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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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