Global Scale Modeller

Having had a Japanese phase I'm now moving - for reasons unknown - to a Soviet one. First box from the stash was this Airfix release of the Mig-23.


I'm guessing its an old release as the instruction sheet is a very definite yellow colour!!! Overall finish is silver so I opted for black primer.

And thats where the fun started!!!

I'm using the Ultimate primer - used it recently on the P1127 and it went on beautifully. Today I kept having to clean the tip every couple of passes, it was spattering and one moment a fine mist, the next it was flooding out. No idea whats going on as air compressor settings haven't changed from the last time and I tried 2 different airbrushes - same result from each which makes me think it might be the paint.
This is what I wound up with:


Going to have to rub a few parts down where its spattered or run.

In the meantime theAirfix call-out for the cockpit was slate grey with a black I/P. A quick schnoze on Google reveals that, in fact, the cockpit AND I/P were standard Soviet Russian Turquoise Blue. So thats what I've used. Cockpit is - basic - to put it mildly but with the fuselage halves joined you can't really see much once the pilot is in.

Another selection guaranteed to test one's skills!

Interesting choice to prime while still on the sprues, any particular reason?

As for the spraying problems, with all other elements the same, the only thing I can think of is shaking the bottle enough? Sorry its not more imaginative but its all I've got.

As for the aircraft - another example of brutal soviet design, function well and truly over form.

Stokesy44 wrote: Thu Oct 31, 2024 7:22 am Another selection guaranteed to test one's skills!

Interesting choice to prime while still on the sprues, any particular reason?

As for the spraying problems, with all other elements the same, the only thing I can think of is shaking the bottle enough? Sorry its not more imaginative but its all I've got.

As for the aircraft - another example of brutal soviet design, function well and truly over form.

The choice of priming on the sprue came from it being a swing-wing design like the Tornado so a chunk of wing will need painting before assembly - and it seemed easier to prime/paint on the sprue to be able to hold it.

As for the design - it was a standing joke in the 70's that Soviet design ran thus
Does it work - Y/N?
1) If Y - use it.
2) If N - fit bigger engines.
3) Does it work now - Y/N?
4) If Y - use it
5) If N - make it bigger.
6) Does it work now - Y/N?
If Y - use it
If N - repeat steps 1 through till it does work.

Paint had a couple of minutes in a shaker - but - its a lot colder than last time I used it & we're having to be careful in using the heating due to loss of the WFA, had to do a major finances reshake this year so perhaps a bit longer in the shaker.

Assembled the swing-wings tonight and tested them in the fuselage - they worked well. So I rigged up the clamps and fired up the compressor. I used Humbrol #11 Silver as the base coat so there will silver visible in any wing position - started spraying OK, compressor at 20 psi - then suddenly it started splatting paint, spraying very wet and then nothing coming out. Checking the airbrush nozzle at that point it looked like a load of pigment clotted there. Weird!!!!
Anyways - a bit more fine sanding will now be required before the top coat goes on.

Lower Surface


Upper Surface

Fuselage halves are joined - theres about 1.5 to 2 grams of Liquid Gravity and CA in the nose - with the swing wings installed. Tail sections also joined with the variable incidence tail planes working.

Well used clamping system in place to over come Airfix engineering....
AND I know you will.

digger303 wrote: Fri Nov 01, 2024 11:20 pm Well used clamping system in place to over come Airfix engineering....
AND I know you will.

Cheers Digger

Fuselage is now in one piece. Adding the tail section needed filler unfortunately so some careful sanding needed as this has raised panel lines. I - think - the seams at the front should be ok with a light sanding. I'm a bit concerned over the primer - I scrubbed each part with IPA and dried it before painting but removing the masking tape for the filler has pulled primer off.....






On a side note - its coming close to choose a pilot time.


On the left is one of the pilot figures I got during the Mi-V-12 build that has the face mask on. On the right is the pilot figure that came with the kit, open face. Still some more painting to do on the visors etc.

Re the pilots, I favor a third option

Stokesy44 wrote: Sat Nov 02, 2024 7:06 am Re the pilots, I favor a third option

A man and his blow up dolls

Progress again. The Mig fuselage is now complete and going through final fettling. (I should have left that antenna off till the end - its been knocked off 3 times already!!). Next job is to reprime the sanded areas the an over coat of Humbrol #11 Silver followed by AK's Natural Metal. Then the fun begins anew - rather than supply open and closed main gear doors airfix want you to cut the closed main door into 3 peices. One of them rather small.....






However - as seems inevitable these days - they BREED!!!!!

Paint time today...... First job was a rough coat of humbrol #11 over the black primer.




Then when that was dry a coat of AK's Natural Metal went on.




The small parts - weapons mounts, undercarriage doors etc were also done. I'm going to give the main U/C doors a coat of silk clear coat then - try to - cut them up as per the instructions. Canopy has had the outer frame done, now needs the inner frame masked and painted.

Jet exhausts for both the Mig and Sukhoi have had a coat of semi gloss black and when dry I'll be trying Ammo Migs "Jet Colours" on them.

ps....all in fun

Had a stab at the jet exhausts tonight - I got hold of the AK colours set for jet engine exhausts a while ago. It contains 4 colours:
Steel
Silver
Gunmetal
Burnt Iron.

So I sprayed the exhausts an overall Burnt Iron then tried picking out the details with Steel and Gunmetal. Can't say I'm happy with the results....

Undercarriage is on and the airframe supported whilst it sets. Not much left to do on this one now :
* Need to put finishing touches to the canopy.
* Need to mask off the nose and paint Slate Grey.
* Need to finish painting the missiles white and fit them.
* Decals and final Satin clear coat.
* Still got to decide what to do with the jet exhaust - I really don't like how it looks at the moment.


Leaning towards cleaning the paint off and doing it gunmetal overall with burnt iron detailing. Anyone got any thoughts on this

Cutting the main undercarriage doors into their 3 component parts was actually easier than I expected. The joins looked much thicker than they really were.

I swear these pesky Soviets are breeding without permission!!!
And getting bigger every time.....

Yep - dratted things are definitely breeding!


Mig-23 has the decals on
The two Sukhois are primed (and yes they ARE the same scale as the Mig).
One on the left is an Su-57 to be finished on black as a demonstrator.
One on the Right is the Su-27 to be finished in VVS cammo of the 1990's.

Mega-masking and minor painting tonight on the 2nd Sukhoi - the Su-47.










Still not happy with the jet exhausts though.....


And despite everything there were a few minor bleeds under the masking tape that will need sorting.

Swept forward wing design makes me think the designer must have been a Klingon fan.

digger303 wrote: Fri Nov 15, 2024 10:23 pm Swept forward wing design makes me think the designer must have been a Klingon fan.

Strangely enough that thought occurred to me too. Its an interesting design - but they only built the two demonstrators. For some reason the Soviet top brass didn't like it. Oh well...

Back to the builds - had a quiet spell last few days, was up in Leicestershire on Sat, got home in the wee small hours of Sunday so that was spent recuperating (300+ miles in a Citroen C1 is not fun!) Monday was Cardio Rehab and today my car had its Mot - it passed thank gawd. So tonight I celebrated by putting the decals on the Su-47




Tomorrow it can have a coat of Satin clear coat then the canopy and wheels can go on.

I got the paint pack for modern Soviet jets from AK on Sat so tomorrow I can also give the other Sukhoi its base coat before trying to work out how the cammo overlays go on.

Mig- 23 is now complete - canopy and jet exhaust are now on and - pleasant surprise - the Satin clearcoat has lost the slight yellowing of the decal film.






And the Su-27 has its main coat of Flanker Blue applied. I had great fun apying it - had to turn the compressor down to 12 psi before it flowed properly!!!

Mig-23 came out very well a nice neat build and paint.

Cheers Digger. Of the 3 this ones main undercarriage was a nightmare to get right - but it sits level so I count that as a win!

Su-47 is now complete. A simple build/paint job - all black with white highlights and no weapons pylons/loads.

Sweet they are going to look good together.

First of the cammo layers going onto the Su-27. Base overall is Flanker Light Blue, this coat is Flanker Light Grey. When its dry the next one is Flanker Blue.




The next layer surrounds this one - masking with tape around this layer is going to be a nightmare so I'm wondering if Masking Fluid would be better over the grey and then use tape to mask the outer edge of the blue.
Now - question is - do I need to to seal the grey with a clear coat before using the masking fluid? If so - matt, silk or gloss? Or doesn't it matter?
Anyone got any thoughts on this??

Last of the cammo overlays is on. The Winsor & Newton masking fluid worked really well.



Went to do the off-white nose using Vallejo Model Color - and couldn't get paint out of the airbrush except as a splurt when releasing the trigger. So I thinned it down - and probably over-thinned it because suddenly it flooded out. I' m going to have to rub the nose down and re-do it which is annoying!!

Nose is re-done, just needs a little tidy up where there's been a couple of bleed throughs. Next job is the gun metal/bronze panels between the two fins top and bottom and whatever Humbrol 112 is on the tops of the fins and the leading edge on one side only.

Paint completed. Now waiting for the gloss clearcoat to dry so the decals can go on.

Yeah the decals add life,depth and viewer pleasure.

Su-27 now almost finished - just got some decals to go on the two wing pylons each side and then the missiles to add!!

Quite large even in 1/72 and that image re jigged my perceptions.
It's coming along nicely, almost done. I must admit I saw that cotton bud and I thought jezz that canopy is in the firing line.

digger303 wrote: Wed Dec 04, 2024 3:04 am Quite large even in 1/72 and that image re jigged my perceptions.
It's coming along nicely, almost done. I must admit I saw that cotton bud and I thought jezz that canopy is in the firing line.

Canopy is open 'cos the seat is sitting too high. Which is annoying because everything is in the correct position. I suspect this isn't originally an Airfix kit because there was a lack of locating pins and the clear sprue includes a 2 seater canopy and theres no way this could be built as a 2 seater.

OK - the Soviet aviation phase is over - for now! The Su-27 is finally completed - all decals on, all missiles on.












Just to give an idea of how big those Sukhois are....

They are really big. Nice group.

Great job ! amazing paint scheme !

Great collection of Soviet aircraft, all finished really well

Kevthemodeller wrote: Wed May 28, 2025 11:36 am Great collection of Soviet aircraft, all finished really well

Many thanks!