Mig-31 Foxhound -AMK 1/48

[patrickroos]

Had this on pre-order for a while now, feverishly waiting as the hype was building.
Rave reviews, superb quality plastic, no snags...

After examining the kit in detail, I can testify that this is a superb kit!
If AMK will produce more kits of this quality they will quickly establish themselves right up there with Tamiya, Eduard, Meng and the other top manufacturers.

This will be my (attempt) at a second entry in this GB.
Since there are 3 months to go, the T-50 is in the final stages, and I pulled out of the Fighting Falcons SiG, I think I have a fighting chance.

I will start it this coming weekend.
Without further ado lets look at the kit.

It comes in a big (for a 1/48 kit) box



Let me just say that packaging is superb and should serve as a lesson to most other manufacturers!



Sturdy box, everything cleverly packaged, and protected. In fact You don't realise just how much plastic is in there...



But its a lot!



Lets go through the sprues, btw the bags are thick quality plastic of the re sealing type.
Will also show some of the very nice and crisp detailed moulding.

Upper fuse, its a beast in its scale, compared to an F-15



First box, lower fuse (parts in boxes are also bagged)





Sturdy construction, nice considering the size not to be flimsy



Second box, front fuse (in one piece, brilliant=seamless), nose cone (same) and intakes.



Third and final box, missiles, moulded in one piece



Just have to show You the R33s, that's a beautiful piece of plastic!





















Custom nose weight





























Small PE fret and the fantastic clear parts



Beautiful detail, one piece for closed and two pieces for open





Crystal clear



Decal sheets, unfortunately Russian jets are no different that western...tons of stencils!



Helpful texts to guide You



Everything clearly printed





And in perfect register



Instructions are a nice booklet





Crisp CAD drawings showing everything in clear detail





Paint callouts and the main decals, well You know, Its a Mig-31...they all look the same...
Colours are in FS, but AKAN has the exact match or one can just use a light grey of the regular brands.



I think it was 4 or 5 pages of stencils...





Will also finish this bad boy so they can stand head to head...



OK that's it, You can all press the order button now!!!

If I have to sum this kit up in one word...CRISP!

[patrickroos]

About the Mig-31 (and older brother Mig-25)

By far the best docu on the web, first part is about the Foxbat, second on the Foxhound.
To understand the background of the 31, I rec. You watch both parts.

[youtube]9pxtQhOFqAU[/youtube]

[youtube]0L-FBWPmQcw[/youtube]

The beautiful beast in 4K (if You like)
[youtube]y5AGAVLhDlU[/youtube]

[Joesdad]

A monster mines on its way Pat
Eduard are now offering for sale some PE (cockpit) replacement, what your opinion mate? For me it would seem a shame to replace the detail in the kit. Masking set yes, seat belts yes but I don't think they come separately
These AMK kits look so good, I might have a dabble on their Aero L-29 Defin.

[Homerlovesbeer]

I've got mine already. She's a BEAUTY! Honestly I don't think PE is required for the pit if you paint the plastic up nicely. I've been talking with Martin @ AMK Hobby and he tells me the new BS version will have some extra goodies this kit missed out on.

We put the pink sealant on the decal sheet and also some instrument dials as decals too.
Also added seatbelts after feedback.

[Joesdad]

I've got mine already. She's a BEAUTY! Honestly I don't think PE is required for the pit if you paint the plastic up nicely. I've been talking with Martin @ AMK Hobby and he tells me the new BS version will have some extra goodies this kit missed out on.

We put the pink sealant on the decal sheet and also some instrument dials as decals too.
Also added seatbelts after feedback.

I've read about that as well
Do he say if the company are going to release that as an upgrade set? That would be nice....

[TommyKillander]

Wow!

Looks like a sweet build. I'm gonna watch those documentaries tonight, very interesting!


Tommy

[patrickroos]

A monster mines on its way Pat
Eduard are now offering for sale some PE (cockpit) replacement, what your opinion mate? For me it would seem a shame to replace the detail in the kit. Masking set yes, seat belts yes but I don't think they come separately
These AMK kits look so good, I might have a dabble on their Aero L-29 Defin.

Ha, You wont regret it. I hope they sell tons of this kit so they can expand and bring out more!
Naa, cockpit is a beauty, and I'm probably doing this one closed to match its nemesis, my F-15E (which I have built closed)
Masking set yes, IF it arrives in time, but there is not much to mask...
If I would have built it open however, I might have looked at some resin seats.

Yes, Its great times being a modeller nowadays!

[patrickroos]

I've got mine already. She's a BEAUTY! Honestly I don't think PE is required for the pit if you paint the plastic up nicely. I've been talking with Martin @ AMK Hobby and he tells me the new BS version will have some extra goodies this kit missed out on.

We put the pink sealant on the decal sheet and also some instrument dials as decals too.
Also added seatbelts after feedback.

I've read about that as well
Do he say if the company are going to release that as an upgrade set? That would be nice....

Well I will be glad if I finish this one!
Hmm maybe they will also shrink the seats a bit then to scale, they seem a bit fat!
(Funny, I'm building two Russian kits in one GB and BOTH have oversized seats, go figure...)
Agree the cockpit is nice, forget resin and put the money on an AKAN paint set for this beast instead.

The decals for the heat sealant would be nice though! Oooh so not looking forward to paint those on.
Which reminds me, need to buy pink paint!! (thanks)
Yeah instrument decals would be nice in an open cockpit, on a closed version You cant see much in there.

[patrickroos]

Wow!

Looks like a sweet build. I'm gonna watch those documentaries tonight, very interesting!


Tommy

Do that, they are very interesting regardless...

[TomasGould]

Wow!! It looks like a great kit Patrick Good luck with the GB and i will follow this build

[Joesdad]

She's landed.......

[patrickroos]

Wow!! It looks like a great kit Patrick Good luck with the GB and i will follow this build

Thanks mate!

[patrickroos]

She's landed.......

Have u started yet?
(3 months left)

[Joesdad]

She's landed.......

Have u started yet?
(3 months left)

Na Pat no instructions in the box I've got a MiG 21 to do instead.

[patrickroos]

She's landed.......

Have u started yet?
(3 months left)

Na Pat no instructions in the box I've got a MiG 21 to do instead.

From what I have seen they seem to have good customer relations.
Contact them on Facebook and I'm sure You will have the manual in no time!

[Joesdad]

Have u started yet?
(3 months left)

Na Pat no instructions in the box I've got a MiG 21 to do instead.

From what I have seen they seem to have good customer relations.
Contact them on Facebook and I'm sure You will have the manual in no time!

I got the kit from Mike Jolly, he said he's had 4 or 5 now, he's going to sort it out. I can't imagine someone at Hannants is nicking them......
Have you seen AMK's Fouga Magister Pat? Stunning!

[patrickroos]

Na Pat no instructions in the box I've got a MiG 21 to do instead.

From what I have seen they seem to have good customer relations.
Contact them on Facebook and I'm sure You will have the manual in no time!

I got the kit from Mike Jolly, he said he's had 4 or 5 now, he's going to sort it out. I can't imagine someone at Hannants is nicking them......
Have you seen AMK's Fouga Magister Pat? Stunning!

Mine to from Hannants...
Yes, sure is, but not my cup of tea.
Nice looking aircraft and flies beautifully and gracious but, naa will pass.

[patrickroos]

Have just started to try and find a matching colour.
Unfortunately the AKAN 6 pack 47336 for the 25/31 is out of stock...everywhere! (surprise)
BUT
Since I feel more confident still with Tamiya, Gunze and VMA I was planning on using that anyway for the main camo.
(Its a lot of paint going down on this bird, and will be modulation involved)
Solved it by buying the AKAN 47310 (Modern Mig-29 which I needed anyway) since it has the 73060 (green for the wheels) and 73010 (the darker radiotransparent grey for the nose and fins. I also ordered the 73005 (Emerald green for the cockpit) separately.
The rest on this baby are standard colours and metallics.

(Fuzzy pic, sorry)


Starting to single out suspects... (but not done yet, XF-83 is now also on the list)


Its light grey with a faint blue hue to it. TIP: if u ever need ref pics of Russian planes go here: http://russianplanes.net/







Oh and PINK! must buy pink... (and if You make a mess, Its in scale! )

[Joesdad]

I thought about used H308 as well Patrick but I'll be following your lead on this, as I'm an absolute noob when it comes to modern fast air (especially Russian). Also I don't really want to shell out for more and more paint I'll use once, I can get Tammy and Vallejo from my LHS and I love Aquaous, and I am on a bit of a budget.
The more I look at the MiG the more it look like something out of Thunderbirds......?
Great pic's Pat

[arilo76]

Good luck with that mate!! it is an awesome subject and I am been looking to get the AMK Mig 31 and now i will get it for sure.

[patrickroos]

Good luck with that mate!! it is an awesome subject and I am been looking to get the AMK Mig 31 and now i will get it for sure.

Thanks, need it!

[patrickroos]

Clever moulding with "flat" injection gates on the exhaust to avoid marks on the visible part.



Engine mockup, looks pretty nice.



Tires(ome) tyres



OK, prepped and polished the engine and exhaust parts, glued the tyres...next getting the grips on the intake tunnels/wheel wells and in what order to paint/build.

[Joesdad]

[Homerlovesbeer]

Oh yea!

Sweet.......

[Avgas]

[peppie]

This is one very, very impressive kit

Tons off detail, no flash in sight and like you said, clever connectors to the spruegates. This must be an absolute joyto build.
Have fun with this one.

[patrickroos]

Got the paint today, this is the MIG-29 6 pack + emerald green for the pit.

The 4 on the left will be used on this build, From left to right, emerald green (not the pre faded one, so I can post shade and mix myself), Green (hubs), Radio transparent grey (nose cone and fins), Lemon grey (primer, insides), the last three are the specific Mig-29 camo colours.



Ok, intake tunnels and main wheel wells. Now these and the engines are all about prepping, test fitting to make sure everything fits later, cleaning and then priming and painting with metal colours. You know, get the hang of how it fits together, what can be built if any before painting etc.
So not much building at this stage.



Tip: when you have many similar parts, number them! Saves lots of time...since you can then take them all of and prep them without loosing track of what is what.



OH OH!!!
First crack in my confidence in this kit..a severely miss-moulded part!



Hmm this "crack-hole" will be on the upper wall of the wheel well. NOT nice.



Closer look (By now everyone is tearing the lids of their kits to see if they also got it! )



Ok, fixing time! cannot be seen from the "inside", check!



Starting with a patch on the inside...



Then outside....



Filling the gap between with melted styrene



Then filling the hole carefully with melted styrene in layers.



Done! See it now?
I don't think it will be very visible after primer, paint, and wash. (and maybe a well placed scratched pipe or cable )



All right, next cleaning off all the pieces for the engines and intakes, then lots of AK-Black base primer (will use AK Extreme Metal on this one)

[Homerlovesbeer]

Excellent repair job!

[TommyKillander]

What a recovery

Keep up the good work


Tommy

[qeialto]

Fantastic recovery Mate, well done!

[Joesdad]

I'd have tears in my Extra Thin if that's was me Pat, good recovery Extreme Metal?? I'm all over this as I've just got some myself..

[patrickroos]

Thanks guys, no biggie really, I was lucky that the damage was in the "right place".
Hope that was the bad thingie with this kit and no more nasty surprises...

[patrickroos]

Mockup of the front wheel bay, one of the nicest I have seen in plastic







Ok first batch of part in the spray booth...everything cleaned and ready to be primed with AK Black base



Ok, that took a while, now it will cure for a while before I start to paint



Very hard to show metallic paint without proper camera and conditions, AK aluminium



Had some gunmetal left in the gun, might as well play around a bit.





Ok, after working for a while with AK, I could not stand the stinking smell, Yes big extractor on, did not help, stinks!!
So pulled out Vellejo Metal for some of the small parts...and ended up using that to finish up everything.



Done, now for some detail painting, then some clear varninsh, wash and pigments, then finally I can glue everything together.





CONCLUSION

This was my first use of AK Extreme metal...

The "Black base", well it produces the same result as any gloss black, that's it.
Conclusion, I will rather use any acrylic gloss black (Tamiya X-1 as an example is tough as nails) over this sticky, smelly stuff.

The paint, hmm its good, yes, but it stinks and smells like there is no tomorrow! And its not as tough as Vallejo.
Is it better than Vallejo Metal? NO! In my humble opinion they produce the same results under the same conditions.
Conclusion, from now on, Vallejo Metal is my go-to metallic paint! Its equally good, its not as toxic, it does not stink, and its tougher.
AND much much easier to clean with any type of cleaner. As for AK you need their cleaner or use really potent stuff.

Side by side...on the left, Vallejo Duraluminium (a bit darker shade of alu), right AK aluminium. My mk 1 eyeball cannot see any difference in quality. And, the part sprayed with Vallejo ded not even have any primer!



OH, and I remembered to buy (my first ever) PINK!

[Juhozzz]

Looking great already! And in my opinion tha Vallejo looks a bit more realistic metal than AK

[Joesdad]

Shame about AK Pat, I've just coughed-up £35 on some
Keep us upto speed with what colours your using buddy as I'm an absolute noob on metallics.
Great detail...

[mick]

good progress

[patrickroos]

Shame about AK Pat, I've just coughed-up £35 on some
Keep us upto speed with what colours your using buddy as I'm an absolute noob on metallics.
Great detail...

Naa, AK is fine, beautiful results, just cant stand the smell that's all.
You'll like it, especially if Your a noob mate, its very forgiving and easy to use.
Don't forget to buy their cleaner though.

[patrickroos]

good progress

Thanks!

[Joesdad]

Shame about AK Pat, I've just coughed-up £35 on some
Keep us upto speed with what colours your using buddy as I'm an absolute noob on metallics.
Great detail...

Naa, AK is fine, beautiful results, just cant stand the smell that's all.
You'll like it, especially if Your a noob mate, its very forgiving and easy to use.
Don't forget to buy their cleaner though.

I've used it on the F-16, takes a bit of getting used to I suppose. I used Mr Hobby's lacquer thinner..seemed fine

[Backfire22]

Thanks for the info on the AK paints. I am old school and prefer Alclad II. I have the same defect in my wheel well and fixed it the same way. Talked to Martin (AMK) today about getting extra missiles but because I live in Florida, he said the cost of the shipping is ridiculous. He told me Victory Models will carry some soon and they always stock spares. Anyway good work, I am watching with interest.

[patrickroos]

Shame about AK Pat, I've just coughed-up £35 on some
Keep us upto speed with what colours your using buddy as I'm an absolute noob on metallics.
Great detail...

Naa, AK is fine, beautiful results, just cant stand the smell that's all.
You'll like it, especially if Your a noob mate, its very forgiving and easy to use.
Don't forget to buy their cleaner though.

I've used it on the F-16, takes a bit of getting used to I suppose. I used Mr Hobby's lacquer thinner..seemed fine

[patrickroos]

Thanks for the info on the AK paints. I am old school and prefer Alclad II. I have the same defect in my wheel well and fixed it the same way. Talked to Martin (AMK) today about getting extra missiles but because I live in Florida, he said the cost of the shipping is ridiculous. He told me Victory Models will carry some soon and they always stock spares. Anyway good work, I am watching with interest.

Aha, poor mould then...or poor QC

If the AK paints would bring anything extra over the Vallejo acrylic ones, I might use it. Same goes for Alclad. There might be the odd colour that is a little better with Alclad/AK, such as chrome perhaps, If called for I would use it then of course.
But I didn't think it did that with the colours I have used so far.
And if You can have the same result with a non toxic fumes (no mask needed), non smelly, non hard to clean paint, well...
Just how I'm thinking.
Also efter testing I discovered that the Vallejo ones dries faster and are tougher, much tougher (wonder how they have achieved that). You don't need to protect it. Once dry you can mask it, handle it, weather it, decal on it without problems. (Cant do that with Alclad or AK)
Only drawback is the usual comparing (water based) acrylics to smelly stuff, it builds up faster and dries on the needle. No chemicals to help.
And as usual counter that by thinning it a bit, or just clean the needle now and then while working (with the latter You risk spitting of course)

[patrickroos]

Ok, were was I...
Here I think...

Mixed up (must have been the fumes ) intake side fans and exhaust fans...
But ok, used the mistake to go from light to darker tones and vice versa.






After burner, trying to make it look a bit burned by using some different metal tones.





Some staining with a darker metal...looks funny on pic, capturing metal paint on pic is a pain.







Inside the furnace, a thick layer of burned iron buffable (could this be the most useful colour ever made?)



Then buff like a madman...to get a burned/soot/shiny metal look.



Some weathering pastels to try and enhance the burned look



Done with the paint, here some washes and pastels on to finish it off.





Same on intake fan blades



Installed



Inner stage of exhaust completed





Some wash on the intake parts before assembly



Some detail painting (artistic license, ref. pics are rare...)



These little buggers are in the wells and was in the same green as the wheels/rims



The tiny levers and connectors for the gears, painted them light grey to contrast the gears (that will be a bit darker) a bit.
Juuuust to liven it up a bit.



Then some chrome on the moving parts



BTW!!
Have started to experiment on making water, want to build waterline when I start with ships...here painted a piece of cardboard and then used crystal clear silicone. The plastic box is doubling as a hull...





Ok ok...(no wonder I never progress)

Intakes and engines installed, also started building the upper fuse.





Also assembled the front wells...

[Joesdad]

Phew! You've got quite a bit done there Pat. The intakes look great
All this talk of these new metal paints AK, Vallejo etc your not going to beat Mr Color buffables.
Good job

[TommyKillander]

Wheelbays and engines sofar looks absolutely gorgeuos!

Keep up the good work, Patrick!


Tommy

[Always48]

love this kit, got it stashed away but im far from brave enough to have a go till im totally confident on my modeling skills. you look like your doing it justice though. love the work, following with interest.

[PrivateMansoor]

Great pictures of the kit mate, and like those docos you posted too.

[OliveDrab]

Amazing interior detail work, just love the metal finishes you have achieved

[peppie]

Very, very nice result up to now.
Metal parts look so real, wow.

I don't want to be the one masking up the wheel wells.....