Part Identification

Edit: Here's a pic I have of a Mig-21 cockpit and it shows the same device. In this case, it isn't attached to the windscreen.

According to the Verlinden "Lock On" book about the MiG-21, thats the gun camera.

It attatches to the instrument panel shroud, right next to the gun sight. Deffinitely no connection to the windscreen or its supporting structures at all.

Now that makes sense. On the Trump mig-19, there's a small round piece on the top of the instrument panel thats painted yellow. It's in the same position that the camera should go. Now I understand why they attached it to the windscreen. The question is what's this yellow disk on top of the panel?



If I can figure out what that is, I might consider removing it in favore of the camera. I have no photos that show this.

I see two yellow discs in that picture, the horizontal one directly under the sight glass would be the sight projector to project such details as the sighting crosshairs onto the glass for the pilot to see.

The larger, vertical yellow disc on the right side of the console is a bit odd and I can't see much of a reason for such a structure there where there should be guages or switches. I'd say it could be an incorrectly possitioned representation of the camera

The larger verticle disk is the one I'm talking about. That's pretty much where I think the camera should go.

That is the approximate location of the camera, but as you can see from the MiG-21 and Mig-19, the large cylindrical film drum that makes up the bulk of the structure is oriented to be horizontal rather than vertical as seen in the photo of your model's cockpit.

I'd say that if it is a representation of the gun camera's film drum, it is quite a bit overscale and I'd be inclined to remove it and built a new camera from rod styrene and place it more as you see it in the photo of the real things cockpit.

Thanks. I think that's pretty much what I'm going to do. :)

I think, if you look real close, the camera is attached to the combing just above the instruments (which slants down to the right) The angled protion of the rod (lens?) sticking out of the camera is probably a prism which projects what is seen in the sight to the camera. The thought has struck me that the camera can (in theory at least) can be mounted anywhere, vertically, horizontally or at about any angle as long as the prism is in the proper position in relation to the gunsight'
The lens for the gun sight is the horizontal circular glass just below the slanted sight glass. It projects the reticle onto the sight glass. The thing that bugs me is, if the camera lens is sticking out into the center of the sight glass, how do you draw a bead?