Mig-23 MLA 1/32 trumpeter (red-39)

riveting and engraving detail

Cockpit all done, ready to be installed in the front half of the fuselage 

The gear bays were first painted with a gloss enamel, mixed to match the Russian colors. The wires were done with Vallejo Model Color and sealed with Future. Flat acrylic paint, a combination of 95% grey (60% black + 40% white) and brown 5% was gassed with the airbrush, and then wiped off. A finishing touch, the wash was a mixture of ocher and black pigments.

wheel bay Aires

The cockpit canopy now follows the fuselage spine outline instead of bulging out. It took a lot of filing to achieve this and then the lower frame had to be reconstructed with white styrene.

Yet another thing that the Trumpeter guys have done wrong is the shape of the jet intakes, symmetrical, when the top corner should have been more rounded...

No big deal really, cut offending pieces:

add thick, triangular sections of styrene:

Family MiG 23 is the most complex landing on aircraft of all timpurile.Kit does not miserably in rendering this complexity and all angles are wrong. In ML gear front is too wide, so soil orientation is nothing like it should be (MF version is even worse). had to address the problems and I finished rebuilding the entire assembly from the wheels up.
You can see here I built a simple bracket, which shows how the aircraft should stand their ground.

For the correct ground stance the front landing leg in 1:32nd should extend to 42 millimeters from the bottom of the fuselage (as opposed to 47 provided by the kit), while the lowest point of the burner can should be at 26 millimeters from the ground. The legs as provided in the kit are in the extended position as if the aircraft would be airborne, coming in for a landing.

The kit has the rubber that is beautifully detailed but sadly are too thick. The hub has shallow details for the front, while the main ones are fictitious.
They had to be replaced.
The front wheels: to the left is the accurate version of the hub as opposed to what is provided in the kit. The shallow details of the kit were improved by making the necessary cutouts in one hub and overlapping them over another that was left as is. A styrene circle was then added.

For the tires a 1:48th Hasegawa F-4 Phantom main wheel was used, with the hub removed.

The main wheels were replicated from a Revell MiG 29A wheel copy heavily modified

from left to right:
1. wheel trumpeter
2. wheel Revell
3. wheel modified Revell
4. wheel finals

The end result would look like this:

Nice work so far!

I'm sure you've seen Zacto Models website......and jeez.....if you're into Russian fighters, these guys have AMAZING mods and improvements.  Their patternmaking and casting is astounding - stunning stuff.

Can't wait to see more, mate!

For the correct ground stance the front landing leg in 1:32nd should extend to 42 millimeters from the bottom of the fuselage (as opposed to 47 provided by the kit), while the lowest point of the burner can should be at 26 millimeters from the ground. The legs as provided in the kit are in the extended position as if the aircraft would be airborne, coming in for a landing.
The front leg was totally reconstructed, the only kit parts used were the rotation actuator and axle beam assembly.
The axle beam assembly being improved with styrene and the scissors taken from the Trumpeter MiG 29 (the kit has them overly simplified):
Edit: the metal reinforcing part shows the extended position, the angle is wrong.

Here you can see the main axle being fabricated from a missile body:

This would be the end result, the actuator is a resin part provided in the Aires bay set:

While I like anything that flies I am not usually drawn tot he fast mover threads.  This one pulled me in for some reason and am I ever glad it did.  Beautiful detailing.  This will be a sight to see when done.

Thanks  wing_nut ! :)

The detail work you're putting into this is amazing, Lucian.   Those landing gear and wheels look great- far better than what Trumpeter supplied in the box.

That's some fantastic work! You make the kit makers look as if they didn't bother doing a good job lol, you know lucianmillo there's a Mig GB on the GB forums which ends at the end of April, this is probably too far along to be able to join in but if you've any more you're making before then I think you should join.

The main gear is provided in two versions, both wrong, both too extended: for the ML and for the MF even worse, protrudes to the rear by one third , it cannot be retracted into the bay. The landing gear as is provided is simply unacceptable.

The main gear has two components that need to be modified so that the aircraft sits right. 5 (five) millimeters need to be removed from the axle beam assembly and the piston that actuates the retraction/extension of the gear should be lengthened by 4 millimeters. The gear legs were then improved.

The parts were then primed.

Fantastic work going on in here!

Thanks Dre !

The cover is shaped wheel set wrong, too right. A change had to be made of bits and pieces that included an F-4 Phantom auxiliary tank.

The gear bay doors are improved:

while raised detail was added to the auxiliary fuel tank

R-60 missile:

preparation for painting:

The masking has begun with lights and probes on the underbelly.

intakes and gear bays were blanked off with sponge. The hole is where the twin guns are located

You can see a close up of the new canopy framing here