Mig 21 & after market detail kit questions - help

The 'ole Revell? Or is it the Trumpeter kit?


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I'm finishing up mine in 1/32 :)


-Muzzleflash

For those who are interested, I just discovered that the Academy/Minicraft MiG-21MF is not an MF, it's a MiG-21bis. Ya'll prolly don't give a hoot but...


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The Academy kit is very good in my opinion, I built one about the time Academy released it. At the time KMC came out with an update set with a cockpit, spine and tail to replace the kit parts.

<img src=http://hyperphoto.photoloft.com/view/exportImage.asp?s=cano&i=10779366&w=600&h=258>

The only item outdated is the early canopy. This Desert Storm Iraqi bird should have it open to the side not from the front. The KMC set is no longer available, and I don't know it Squadron will ever do it again. Aeromaster does offer decals for this kit. And I don't recall but another company has as well. It is a build which is not hard to do at all. Just watch for the frontt fuselage to main fuselage mating area, there is a slight step to correct.

Fly Navy!

Wow! The amount of information you've provided is incredible. After looking through it all and giving this considerable deliberation I've decided to go for the Academy kit and the Verlinden after market along with a wheel set. Now comes the question of painting and finish. What is your opinion of which would provide the best metal finish: Bare metal foil or buffing and non-buffing metalizer paints? Or maybe a combination of both? I've seen some really great looking results of buffing and non-buffing metalzer. Likewise with metal foil, too. Is it possible to apply washes and how would you go about weathering metal foil?

~Alecur

When I think about it further, those Hasegawa kits may have actually been Fujimi.

There was one that had a couple of post socialist bare metal finished Czech aircraft in the decal options that featured some provocative nose art. There was another kit that featured African air forces on its decal sheet.

They were both from the same Japanese manufacturer and were available at the same time. They were either Hasegawa or Fujimi.

Alecur,

I found this site, it's actually pretty good. Lotsa photos of real Fishbeds, including a couple of walkarounds.

Also, there's a pretty good modeling section with a gallery and some good info.

http://216.110.156.31/mig21.htm

The OEZ and KP kits are the same model. If you see an ESCI MiG-21 it, too, is the OEZ kit. HiPM also released a version which enabled you to build a MiG-21UB.

Aeromaster released the kit as part of their "Choice Kits" line, with all the aftermarket stuff included. That may be what you were thinking of, upnorth. Here's a look at that one:

http://m2reviews.cnsi.net/scotts/mod/mig21preview.htm

Hasegawa released 1/48th MiG-21's? They must have been someone elses kit, 'cuz they don't have one of their own. It wouldn't surprise me, they've marketed pretty much the entire Monogram catalog over the years; and the Secter Fiat G.50, USA Model O-1... the list goes on and on and on and...




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Hi

For my opinion the best in 1/48 is academy kit.
i have 2 version mf and pf and they are very good.
The aires detail set is very bad!!
Is looking greate but the seatbelts are nightmare and the instrument panel
doesn't fit the resin cockpit bath ,is to wide .
The Oez kit is not bad but u need a lot of extra job for a proper result.

On the matter of 1/48 kits of the MiG-21, the Academy kits are a good buy, I built their 1/48 MiG-21 MF and have no complaints.

Hasegawa made a few 1/48 MiG-21s of different variants in the late 1980s and early 1990s

There is also a 1/48 kit from KP of the Czech Republic, but I've heard its a lot of work to get right.

The before mentioned OEZ kit was also the base kit for a limited run kit that Eduard released under its "Profipack" label in the mid to late 1990s. I've seen that kit and can highly recommend it. If you can get your hands on it I can guarantee the only aftermarket product you'll need are decals if you don't like what the kit decal options offer.

I suspect Eduard also has a fair selection of photo etch sets for 1/48 MiG-21s and I know Aries made a 1/48 resin cockpit for an MF variant.

If you really want to do something different and can get the product, Neomega made a 1/48 conversion kit to backdate The Academy kits to the early F-13 variants, I believe there was also a good selection of decal options with that kit too.

Hope that helps.

Alecur,

Here's some links to sites that may interest you:

http://www.aircraftwalkaround.com/mig_21/mig_21.htm - Small selection of pretty good detail shots.

http://w4u.am.lodz.pl/~piokas/texty/mig21ang.htm - Large selection of pretty good detail shots.

http://www.mig-21.de/Default.htm - There's a decent selection of photos here, most of them will be found on the "International" page linked on the left of the screen. From there, just click on any of the national emblems to see some photos. Most of the nations listed don't have any photos at all, but those that do more than make up for it.

And here's a little eye candy!




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Hey Alecur,

You picked a great subject! Here's a link to a search for 1/48 MiG-21 stuff at Squadron.com. There's a bunch out there.

http://squadron.com/SearchResults.asp?ScaleList=48&TypeList=everything&ManuList=everything&Key=MiG-21

The Minicraft/Academy kit is excellent. The only others that I know of are the old Revell kit (YECK!) and the OEZ kit which is okay, but not up to today's standards. Go with the Ac/Min kit. As regards fit, I can't tell you much, haven't built mine yet. You can do some searches for kit reviews on Hyperscale and some other places. I may be able to find something for you, though.

The Black Box and Aires cockpit sets are your best bet, I haven't see the Verlinden offering, myself.

There's also a few good decals sets out there, especially if you can find some of the OOP Aeromaster sheets.

We'll see what we can dig up for 'ya!


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