Attention Comardes! Official Pride of Mikoyan-Gurevich GB Launches....

Re: nacelles join....flashbacks to my Eduard Flanker! Looking good, Dre.

Oh, just wait until you see the big fuselage seams that I'll have to work out.... yeck.

Wow that cockpit looks fantastic! I will be joining in this GB, I was going to wait until next year but I may start sooner with the 21, Dre in your 1/32 Mig 21 did you need noseweight? I'm telling you now the Mig 29 needs noseweight plenty, I forgot to put some in and ended up feeding tiny pieces of wire through the end until there was enough weight (not something you want to have to do lol)

Awesome, Dean! Would be glad to have you aboard. Which 21 kit?

The Trumpeter kit, the 1/32 Mig 21MF

Thanks! Added you to the roster. :-)

What's the word on the street on the Trumpeter kit? I wouldn't mind building a 1/32 21......

I've heard only good things, but I will be buying decals for the kit, not because of quality but choice, I want an old Soviet or at least Eastern European Mig. What are you building?

Nice. I wouldn't mind building a 1/32 21.

Still trying to decide, though! I've got a couple of Eduard's 21s, the Trumpeter 1/32 MiG-19, and the Kitty Hawk MiG-25.

Trumpeter's 1/32 MiG-21 is an OK kit out of the box, but it does have some really weak landing gear.   The cockpit is sparse- an AM resin set or a bunch of scratchbuilding  would go a long way to make it more believable.   Likewise, the land gear wells could use some dress up, but they are so shallow that even in large scale there's not much room to add stuff... and the gear doors and panels don't really fit too well.  Beware of large gaps and steps between part joins in the rear fuselage.   Use the metal nose weight- it really needs it.  

The best part of the big MiG is all of the AM decals out there for it- I did mine in Afghani markings.

Dean- between the weight of the resin tub and all that MilliPut in there I think that I'm good for nose weight (I hope so, I've already sealed the fuselage and added the nosecone!)

I've worked out the putty on the engine nacelles, so they're all nice and smooth now so I can begin working out the long seams in the fuselage joins.   The two fuselage shells joined pretty good, but there are large areas at the rear and at the nose that need a little extra effort.

you can see where the green putty work on the underside of the nacelles and where I need to attack next.

yeck, that's just ugly and I'll have to rescribe some details.

and its no prettier back here either.   Industrial files will used on this.

I went ahead and stuffed the nosecone into place late last night (after the photos)- I need to putty around that join line and let dry overnight before I can begin sanding everything back to beautiful tomorrow night.

Making good progress there, Dre! Keep beating that thing into submission. :-)

And thanks so much for the info on the Trumpeter kit. Sounds like the usual gotchas apply. Not a shake 'n' bake kit, but not horrible, either. Hm.

Actually the MiG-29 kit isn't so bad that it requires a beating, just a periodic percussive tune-up.  And yes, it is absolutely a light-speed built so far.

Check out that 1/32 MiG-21- all warts aside, it builds quickly and its such an iconic fighter/interceptor that one can model it for a lifetime and still only scratch the surface of possibilities.

Dre do you know of any AM stuff for that Mig 21? I have looked and looked but to no avail, are there any resin cockpits out there for it? I know there's a seat and AM decals but that's it that I know of.

Dean- sorry, but I don't know of any resin cockpits for MiG-21's, but there are a few Eduard pre-printed PE seatbelts/IP and PE dress up packs for the -21.   I think that the PE packs are for external things like the speed brake.  (edited to add:  Pavla does a 1/32 cockpit set, available from Hannants   http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/PAVC32003  )

This is the cockpit you get out of the Trumpeter parts:

I added the loose belts and buckles from my spares.

I spent some time working on putty this weekend...  what fun!

The fuselage step and seams puttied and rough shaped with steel files... quick work with a new file.

and with the nosecone join line all gooped up...once this is all dried and shaped I'll go back in with a rigorous wet sanding and polishing to remove all the tool marks and scuffs and get the plastic all shiny smooth and ready for paint.

On the tail end, there's a complex-curve that needed a little love and putty...  need to shape that back into a neat appearance.  That green bottle contains my 'special mix' putty that is probably banned in most countries for its cancer-causing properties.

Its hard to see here, but I used a flat steel file to get a verticle surface around the wing roots.   Kind of a tricky area to putty and work on as the wing fit and seam depend on keeping the lines straight.  Alittle wet sanding and polishing gets this finished.  The ares not puttied are hidden by the wings themselves, so i only worked on the places where the fuselage seam could be seen.

A quick check of the wing root join- it is damned near perfect out of the box, but with the putty work I have to make sure I didn't gouge up the upper surfaces or alter the seam line. So far, so very, very good.

And finally, an all-around test fit of the wings, fins and stabs to see where I need to do more work, or just stop before I trash something.   It's begging the look a lot like a MiG-29M!

I've since added the speed brake between the fins and an engine air scoop to the spine.   A bunch of wet polishing all-around and this will soon be ready for the small, breakable parts and paint.

That's coming along pretty quickly Dre, The Mig 21 cockpit looks ok to me in those pics so I might just go OOB.

Yeppers, its moving right along.   For 1/32, the kit itself is pretty easy, has a low parts count and is very well engineered.  

I think that you'd be OK with the kit cockpit, Dean- just add a little wiring and you'd be finished as there really isn't much to a MiG-21 to start with.

Nice, Dre! That seat looks great, and that last pic....what a beast! She's begging for some paint, man.

:-)

Yeah, I can't wait to start throwing some paints onto this thing, but I'm going to have to wait until the temps get back above 20*F....  too cold in the basement right now to risk weird results from it being too cold.

I still can't decide between an Iranian or a Kazach scheme... but I'm leaning towards Iranian just for the colors.

And here we are today....   wings and leading edges attached.  I have a little clean up to do in the wing roots as they oozed glue globs during the joining.   I also need to see how much bare metal shows on the engine panels around the exhaust nozzles before I throw the fins on so that masking the panels will be easier. 

I could say that I'm nearing the finish line, but the real work hasn't yet begun.

Looking awesome. But I know the feeling...the last ten percent takes 90% of total build time. :-)

I finally got my MiG 3 in. I'll start on it soon.

Nice!   Those MiG-3's are pretty cool airplanes.

Awesome....! Can't wait to see your build.

Wow, It's quite in here. Well lets see if I can pick it up a little.

I started on the MiG 3 tonight, very nice kit, especially next to what I'm used to. Anyway I started painting the cockpit wall and floor, as well as the inside of the flaps and gear doors, I also sprayed the prop. I'll work on the office and post some pics when done.

A mate just built one of those Mig 3's they turn into very nice projects :-)

Theuns

Yeah, they give you the option of extended flaps and slats (I love that) and a very nicely detailed cockpit. No belts though so I make some out of masking tape. I think I am really going to enjoy this build.

If that 1/48 kit builds just like their 1/32 kit then you'll really enjoy it.   A little putty along the top and bottom fuselage seams should be about all the effort needed to make it show-worthy.   The wing root fit is one of the best I've ever seen.  

Good luck- I look forward to seeing it finished.   I've been lazy for the last 2 weeks and am just now getting over the flu so it will be few more days before I back to the bench as I don't think breathing lacquer fumes is a good idea right now.

I finished the office tonight. Since I didn't get a PE set for the kit I made the belts out of masking tape.

Tomorrow I'll get to the fuselage.

Nice work in there, Steve.   Good use of spare parts in those belts!