Academy 1/48 Mig 21 MF

[RangerNeil]

Made a start on the Academy Mig-21MF whilst waiting for various things to do with the two Phantoms.
Interestingly it came with an aftermarket cockpit kit - didn't know when I bought the kit so that was an added bonus. As the cockpit was the first step in the build instructions I sorted the aftermarket parts out. First job was cutting them off the bases




The grey coffin shape is the front landing gear bay.

Once that was done and the parts cleaned up (did I ever mention I'm not a lover of working with resin 'cos of the smell?) I tried a test fit in the fuselage and all seems to fit OK.




All was good - although I noted one of the halves was slightly out of shape so the two halves have been left taped up so hopefully when its time to actually fit the resin part it will retain the correct shape.


The resin parts have had a coat of Ultimate grey primer ready for the Soviet Turquoise cockpit colour.


And the nose cone is packed with liquid gravity. Not sure if its enough yet, instructions say 15g so might need to add more to the nose section later

[digger303]

[Kevthemodeller]

I do like the Mig 21

[RangerNeil]

Cockpit is painted and installed, front fuselage is joined and, in the best possible tradition of my builds - taped and clamped like its going out of fashion.











And the engine assembly:

[digger303]

Looking good so far and I've got my fingers crossed for when you bring the two halves together.

[RangerNeil]

Looking good so far and I've got my fingers crossed for when you bring the two halves together.

Well - on the dry fit its looking good so far Digger! And trust me - I have EVERYTHING crossed for when its actually assembled!!


I must admit to being pleased with the way the resin cockpit has turned out. It needed some minor - and minor as in miniscule - trimming to fit into the location guides in the fuselage halves but thats all.






And with the ejector seat in:


I couldn't really find definitive images of the -21MF's ejector seat so went with the kits painting guide:








Now - it wouldn't be a build if there were no issues and to date I have - cue the shock and horror - two!! :
Firstly theres a slight flaw in the moulding causing a "trench" one side of the join by where the front of the cockpit sits:


Secondly the front undercarriage bay is moulded with a flat bottom - ok for the back of the bay but not the front!:


Both areas are filled and ready to be sanded tomorrow once the filler has dried overnight.

[RangerNeil]

Bit more done today......
The interior of the rear of the main fuselage has been painted and given a coat of satin clear coat as has the engine assembly

Engine fitted into one of the fuselage sides:


And all clamped/taped up.


Tail fin assembled.


Main wings have the undercarriage bays painted and the holes drilled for the underwing pylons:


And main wings assembled.


Theres a fair bit of sanding to do next before I join the two fuselage sections up!!

[digger303]

[Stokesy44]

Nice work on an iconic aircraft.

I dont know what was more unbelievable. The inclusion of a resin cockpit or that it actually fit in the fuselage!

It looks great

[RangerNeil]

Nice work on an iconic aircraft.

I dont know what was more unbelievable. The inclusion of a resin cockpit or that it actually fit in the fuselage!

It looks great

Thanks for the kind words!!
The cockpit kit is aftermarket, as I said, I got the kit from an auction and when I opened the box I found the resin cockpit kit inside. And I'm just as surprised that it fit too. It did need just a little fettling but nothing much. The best description I can come up with is tight, very tight. The fuselage halves needed to be held tightly - so I used Contacta on the location pins, taped the seams as tight as possible then ran TET along the seams. Only place I could use clamps was on the end that joins to the main fuselage. I used them to ensure the two faces were aligned. Got to admit it looks so much better than the one that came with the kit!!




Moving on - the fuselage halves are joined and setting together with the fin and spine.




The wings are dry-fit at the moment. The locating tabs for these are an absolute bitch to get into the holes in the fuselage. There's still a little bit of filling to do either end of the spine before they can go on full time.

[RangerNeil]

An the wings and tail planes are on. Took a bit of faffing to get the wing locating tabs all the way into the fuselage. Turned out the mould have a slight taper such that the bottom is a fraction wider than the top. Once identified a couple of wipes with a file cured that. The main wings should have about 8⁰ Anhedral so - hopefully - I've got that tight....

[digger303]

What was the idea behind the nose cone on these. Obviously a air intake, but the design seems deliberate. For instance the opening could have been made smaller if the idea was to limit the intake and make it more aerodynamic.

[Stokesy44]

The design was so the nose cone could be used to poke enemy aircraft if the Mig ran out of ammo. It was called a Pokerometer 6000.

My guess would be a mixture of aerodynamics and a way to begin the compression of the air into the engine's fan.

But I'm not an engineer, I'm a mortgage processor so the above is almost certainly complete garbage

[digger303]

The design was so the nose cone could be used to poke enemy aircraft if the Mig ran out of ammo. It was called a Pokerometer 6000.

My guess would be a mixture of aerodynamics and a way to begin the compression of the air into the engine's fan.

But I'm not an engineer, I'm a mortgage processor so the above is almost certainly complete garbage

Just curious, are you getting a higher level of clients who are having trouble making ends meet.
My son processes finance for cars and he's having a run of clients who really shouldn't be taking on a loan and they are paying 21% and happy that they were able to swing a loan.

[Stokesy44]

The design was so the nose cone could be used to poke enemy aircraft if the Mig ran out of ammo. It was called a Pokerometer 6000.

My guess would be a mixture of aerodynamics and a way to begin the compression of the air into the engine's fan.

But I'm not an engineer, I'm a mortgage processor so the above is almost certainly complete garbage

Just curious, are you getting a higher level of clients who are having trouble making ends meet.
My son processes finance for cars and he's having a run of clients who really shouldn't be taking on a loan and they are paying 21% and happy that they were able to swing a loan.

Hi, I am constantly surprised by the state of some people's finances when they try to take out a mortgage. Prevail ant among these, historically, were people (mostly young men) who had massive car loans in place at time of application and were paying anywhere from £400 to £700 per month for a flash car. These usually ran alongside significant credit card balances where they were clearly living beyond their means. Financial discipline seems to be a foreign language to some people. Absolutely bonkers.

[digger303]

The design was so the nose cone could be used to poke enemy aircraft if the Mig ran out of ammo. It was called a Pokerometer 6000.

My guess would be a mixture of aerodynamics and a way to begin the compression of the air into the engine's fan.

But I'm not an engineer, I'm a mortgage processor so the above is almost certainly complete garbage

Just curious, are you getting a higher level of clients who are having trouble making ends meet.
My son processes finance for cars and he's having a run of clients who really shouldn't be taking on a loan and they are paying 21% and happy that they were able to swing a loan.

Hi, I am constantly surprised by the state of some people's finances when they try to take out a mortgage. Prevail ant among these, historically, were people (mostly young men) who had massive car loans in place at time of application and were paying anywhere from £400 to £700 per month for a flash car. These usually ran alongside significant credit card balances where they were clearly living beyond their means. Financial discipline seems to be a foreign language to some people. Absolutely bonkers.

[RangerNeil]

The design was so the nose cone could be used to poke enemy aircraft if the Mig ran out of ammo. It was called a Pokerometer 6000.

My guess would be a mixture of aerodynamics and a way to begin the compression of the air into the engine's fan.

But I'm not an engineer, I'm a mortgage processor so the above is almost certainly complete garbage

Gotta love a sense of humour!!

The nose cone housed the radar primarily and, I believe, also served to smooth the airflow into the engines. However my caveat is - depending on the era in life - I'm either a mechanical engineer, Oracle DBA or practicing psychopath in HM Forces.....

Back to the model - after the hours spent faffing trying to get one working airbush out of 3 (see the Phantom thread) the Mig got a coat of Ultimate grey primer....

[digger303]

Well I suppose if you run out of bullets you can always spear them.

[RangerNeil]

Primers dried - found a couple of spots that needed attention. Now to wait for the filler to dry before sanding!!

[Stokesy44]

Looking good with the primer on. Such a classic shape with those wings and the thin fuselage.

[RangerNeil]

Looking good with the primer on. Such a classic shape with those wings and the thin fuselage.

Thank you!! Its been an enjoyable build. My only gripe - if you can even call it that is that most of the external gubbins inc. the refuelling probe have no positive locations, the assembly diagram just points to the area of the fuselage or wing it goes on.
Anyways - this is the state of play tonight. Everything is now on the fuselage except the canopies & undercarriage/ airbrakes. Which now means simply oodles of iddy biddy little things for Mr Clumsy here to knock off and lose!! The underwing stores are all done to inc removing ejector pin markin missile fins. Tomorrow will see the primer touched in where more work has been done then it can be set aside to dry overnight before masking up.

[Stokesy44]

Onwards and upwards.

I know what you mean about the vagueness of the instructions when it comes to detailing where items are to be attached. It seems to be a thing with some manufacturers, including the newcomers to the market and new tool releases.

I built an Academy Tiger 1 a while back and the instructions basically said put part a somewhere on part b etc. There was so much play in the turret ring when attached, at full scale the turret would have been able to flop around by about a foot!

Vagueness can be the enemy or the solver of many a headscratcher!

[RangerNeil]

Onwards and upwards.

I know what you mean about the vagueness of the instructions when it comes to detailing where items are to be attached. It seems to be a thing with some manufacturers, including the newcomers to the market and new tool releases.

I built an Academy Tiger 1 a while back and the instructions basically said put part a somewhere on part b etc. There was so much play in the turret ring when attached, at full scale the turret would have been able to flop around by about a foot!

Vagueness can be the enemy or the solver of many a headscratcher!

Hopefully everything is in the right place now:) The underside got painted today - I used a Vallejo Model Air light blue. Don't know if they've changed formula or what but I was disappointed with its performance - I had to double check after the first pass to make sure it was actually putting paint down. It took 6 layers to get to how you see it in this photo:


And I've got to go over the nose area tomorrow as I noticed tonight it was still thin around the tape

Everything except the main undercarriage is now on. By this time tomorrow night that should be ontoo so itcan be flipped over and stand on its wheels to have the top done.

All the underwing stores are done now. Just need to decide what combo to use.

[digger303]

Got a nice smooth white gloss working well for you on the stores.

[Stokesy44]

Nicely done.

I know exactly what you mean about Vallejo Model Air. I used their yellow on the Y-Wing for the flashes on the nose and the coverage was really poor. In the end I used a mix with hardly any thinner to get half decent coverage.

I think part of the issue are the bottles the paint comes in because its difficult to see if the paint is properly mixed as opposed to separating out with the pigments solidifying at the bottom. I've got a couple of their sets but I try to avoid using them!

[RangerNeil]

Nicely done.

I know exactly what you mean about Vallejo Model Air. I used their yellow on the Y-Wing for the flashes on the nose and the coverage was really poor. In the end I used a mix with hardly any thinner to get half decent coverage.

I think part of the issue are the bottles the paint comes in because its difficult to see if the paint is properly mixed as opposed to separating out with the pigments solidifying at the bottom. I've got a couple of their sets but I try to avoid using them!

I do use a paint shaker on every bottle - but even thats no guarantee. At least with AK, Hataka etc. you can see if it at least looks like everything is mixed......

Back to the build - I gave the faint areas another go over with the blue and they look acceptable now.
Main undercarriage is on so the Mig can sit on its wheels when the topcoats go on. And I've started masking the underside off ready, starting at the back - I'll do the front tomorrow after the fresh paints had overnight to dry off..... Then it will be a coat of light sand all over, another days drying and then the dark earth overlay.

[digger303]

[RangerNeil]

On its wheels and masked ready for the Sand base coat tomorrow - which, regrettably, is also Vallejo!!
Rear cockpit is fully masked, not sure how to do the front because, apart from the rear hoop, its all compound curves and the lines are only faintly scribed...

[Stokesy44]

Good to see it on its legs.

Re the windscreen, you could try doing it with thin strips of tape, cut down once stuck on the screen, then the next strip applied and cut to shape, it will help with conforming to the general shape and being able to see the framing as you go.

[RangerNeil]

Sand base is now on. Another horrible performance from Vallejo. I bought the brown said to be a match in a couple of on-line paint conversions inc. this forums but I'm thinking its very close to a bottle of AK that I have which I know covers excellently so I may use that imstead....

[Stokesy44]

These things are sent to try us

Its a shame that Vellejo's Air range is so poor when their brush painting Color range is so good.

[cor]

For some reason I stay away from vallejo. Still, you've got it looking good so far. Its gonna look great when finished

[Garion77]

You did a great job anyways... when I got back to modeling seriously 8 years ago, I had was access to Vallejo and Tamiya. And that's still the case but now also AK's 3rd gen. Every other brand as to be order online. So not the most practical... so I went almost all in on Vallejo at that time... regretted it. I still have lots of pots of them. And I hate wasting things ! so I persisted. And now, with the most recent VMS thinner, I started to love them !! I still prefer AK's, but with VMS thinner, no drying paint at the tip (except when highly diluted) and always achieve a smoother finish I use to get.
But I still hate their primers ! the worst ! they don't withstand much...it's the only thing I threw away...and also their thinner that I only use now to fix pigments.

[RangerNeil]

More progress once the Phantom was finished! First off the overlay was marked out with Panzer Putty - I was a bit worried about how the undercarriage would cope with the not insignificant weight increase but all was well.




Then the Brown was applied - and I will put my hands up and say this one covered nicely!! Only 2 passes were needed to get a good finish.




When it had dried sufficiently the putty was removed.




Then the final parts of the cockpit were installed.




Next step is a gloss varnish to protect the Vallejo paint then the green top to the fin and the metallis to the engine and the nose ring can be added followed by the decals. Then a Satin clear cot.

And then I will have a problem as there will be nowhere left to display them. I wish. Ikea hadn't stopped offering the "Detolf' display cabinets!!!

[digger303]

My first thought was wow what a great camo .
Can't wait for the decals to go on.
I also know what you mean about display space as I just made the decision last night to get rid of the 1/32 A-10 Warthog and that opened up a fair hole in the line up. Wasn't actually hard to make that decision as I didn't like it that much as a kit and not invested in it.

[Stokesy44]

My first thought was wow what a great camo .
Can't wait for the decals to go on.
I also know what you mean about display space as I just made the decision last night to get rid of the 1/32 A-10 Warthog and that opened up a fair hole in the line up. Wasn't actually hard to make that decision as I didn't like it that much as a kit and not invested in it.

Agree with Digger, camo looks great. Really well done.

We all have one thing in common - a finite amount of space. I'm fairly draconian when it comes to 'creating' space. I tend to cull armor kits and 1/48 aircraft. I try to keep larger aircraft and sci-fi stuff as they are of more sentimental value to me. The armor kits live in fear of getting the boot as they know my mood

One thing I do do however, is if the armor kit has workable tracks, I retain the tracks for reuse.

[RangerNeil]

My first thought was wow what a great camo .
Can't wait for the decals to go on.
I also know what you mean about display space as I just made the decision last night to get rid of the 1/32 A-10 Warthog and that opened up a fair hole in the line up. Wasn't actually hard to make that decision as I didn't like it that much as a kit and not invested in it.

Agree with Digger, camo looks great. Really well done.

We all have one thing in common - a finite amount of space. I'm fairly draconian when it comes to 'creating' space. I tend to cull armor kits and 1/48 aircraft. I try to keep larger aircraft and sci-fi stuff as they are of more sentimental value to me. The armor kits live in fear of getting the boot as they know my mood

One thing I do do however, is if the armor kit has workable tracks, I retain the tracks for reuse.

Been down here 4 years now and the room I use as a build/stash place is STILL full of crates and boxes that need sorting/disposing of plus a dirty great unused wardrobe (free to a good home if anyone needs one?? ).
So I think I need to move the stash and the built models into the guest room and spend a few days sorting the ceates out/disposing of a wardrobe then have a look on evilbay for some display cabinets.....

Anyways - back to the Mig - decals went on tonight. Stencils were a fraction of the count of those 1/72 Phantoms thank gawd. It really is amazing how they come to life with them on!!







Next job is add the underwing pylons and stores then a coat of matt clear coat followed by sorting the canopy out. A part of the rear section needs to be matched to brown overlay - then its job done!!

[digger303]

[Stokesy44]

Its great when the decals go on. The kit comes alive

[RangerNeil]

OK folks - officially declaring this one is done!!!
The kit was a fun build, minimal filler required and the resin cockpit fitted more or less perfectly (if I'd wanted the canopy closed I need to have shave about a mm off the top of the resin piece). I'd definitely try another Academy aircraft kit in future. To note: the green dot on the underside is painted on - all the instructions said was "dark green" - so I baptised the circle cutter. It worked quite well I think - then I found there was actually a decal on the sheet.... Doh......

[digger303]

Lovely all round.

[Stokesy44]

Nice smart finish

[RangerNeil]

Thanks chaps I think I might have overcooked the anhedral on the wings a bit - they are supposed to angle down at 7⁰, looks more like between 10⁰ and 15⁰ in the photo from the rear!!

[cor]

Nice result though. Cool subject too. Got me thinking about a Mig..

[Tomcat64]

Just caught up with this - what a cracking result!

Academy can be a bit hit & miss in my experience but this one looks like it behaved really nicely.

Y'know it wasn't until I joined the forum that I discovered that Soviet cockpits were that luminous turquoise colour!

Super work mate

[Kevthemodeller]

Nice smart finish

What he said