Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy

I was 17 when I bought the original 1/48th release when it came out in 1988. I know it isn't everyone's cup-o-tea, but I totally loved it. So ugly that it grabbed my heart. -The two tiny weapons bays were combined into one, barely enough for a single Kh-31 antiradiation/antiship missile (similar as the Super Etendard carrying only a single Exocet missile). -Gear bays redesigned to accommodate the new weapons bay, including new forward maingear doors also being used for secondary speedbrakes (ala MiG-31). -2 smaller bays for self-defense IR-AAMs. -Plumbing and w

And she's done! Will post a full set of photos in the Critique Corner shortly

True enough, well spotted. Thanks!

All yours! Post updated.

OOP 1/72 Wolfpak singles in need of more deserving homes. From sheets 72-133 "5th Generation", 72-72 "Gamblers", and the very rare 72-24 "Alaskan Air Command". Also two resin sets, also 1/72. PHOTOS BELOW! All prices include shipping within the USA. Inquire for international. jollyrogers 5 at hotmail Thanks for looking! OOP WOLFPAK DECAL SINGLES: 3) F-4E, 43rd TFS, Alaskan Air Command (Polar Bear on rudder) $5 6) AV-8A Royal Thai Navy $5 9) J-20, Chinese AF $4 RESIN 10) AMC Russian Kh-31A missile and launcher ONE MISSILE ONLY (

Dorsal airbrakes were REALLY thick, thus toylike. Their inside surfaces were sanded 'way down, then more realistic reinforcement ribs added. I didn't want them posed wide open, but only partially open as if sitting on the tarmac. Possibly they should have been even more closed, but ok.... Decided this MiG needed a nosegear mud guard, like its stablemates. I used a PE MiG-29 item from an Airfix kit, although it needed shortening. Primary weapons bay doors were added. Almost there!

I used an AM Kh-31 missile for its primary armament. Sadly far more complicated to paint than a Western missile ("Just paint 'er white or gray"), and took a LONG time but came out well. BIGGEST ALTERATION: It will not fit the tiny bay with its rear fins extended, so I decided the MiG-37 would have a folding-fins missile subtype. This is perfectly reasonable; almost the same thing was done with the rear fins of the AA-9/R-33 missile for the MiG-31. The launch rail was redesigned with a strong trapeze to lower it from the bay for firing.

The True Details K-36D seat is a good one once painted up...actually it looks a lot better when it isn't blown up huge like this. Ejection handles added from the Eduard MiG-29 PE set.

The area behind the seat was...empty. What's worse is it slopes down, making the empty space even larger. So, I scratchbuilt a structure similar to the circuit breaker box on the MiG-29. Didn't want to totally copy it, so I made some minor differences to suggest a more modernized version. For the forward section of the maingear bays, created/invented by myself, I decided for the doors to be the same concept as on the MiG-31, meaning dual purpose as gear doors and airbrakes.

Thanks, much appreciate the comments! Pity the kit designers opted for crude slats for thrust vectoring while all the while the real Russian/Soviet designers were far ahead of this design with real thrust vectoring (if you've never seen the Su-37 displays, find it!) Still, crude as it is, it's part of this design. I figured the sections in direct exhaust would have some sort of advanced material covering it, only to be stained. Then, once installed they should have some sort of "droop" on the ground while powered down.

I wanted to improve the look of the exhaust area, with the simple, toylike engines molded as one piece to the bulkhead. We'll have to ignore the fact that exposed engine exhausts are NOT stealthy. I discovered that Hasegawa F-4 Phantom exhausts are the perfect size, and much more detailed. So, cut off the kit ones from the bulkhead, and the afterburner petals from the Phantom cans. The F-4 cans were painted and airbrushed for exhaust grime, then installed once the bulkhead was painted. I did have to add a .040 strip of styrene to the bottom of the bulkhead to

Thanks Brian, much appreciated! Got the markings done; was going to use generic stuff from the spares, but ended up mostly using the kit decals (red below against the blue, and light gray above against the black) except for the insignia plus the red dotted stripe at the intakes. Blue "05" came from an OOP Wolfpak sheet. I avoided the stencilling that was oversized enough to read, except the simple "OPASNO" markings, carefully placed (kit decal instructions often disregarded). Interesting that after 30+ years the red decals were generally okay, while many of th

A word about the main landing gear. The kit designers BASED the gear on the MiG-23 landing gear, but they did NOT copy it outright. That being said, they did unknowingly copy one detail, part of the gear bay door that is permanently fixed to the gear leg. Obviously the kit designers were not familiar with the MiG-23 other than in a general sense, and copied this detail without realizing what it was. This needs to be removed. A landing light was added to the nosegear (acrylic gemstone with facets sanded smooth & polished), and wires/lines added to all 3 g

Masked and painted the dielectric panels for the tail as any good MiG should have. Took some thinking to figure out just what angles to use to complement the angles of the tails. Disaster when the tape actually lifted some of the weathered black from the starboard tail, but it was touched up fine.

Painted the black uppers; used jet black first, then went back to highlight it all with Aircraft Interior Black slightly lightened with gray, extra-thinned.

Payback for all the work on the totally remodeled gear and weapons bays is having to mask it all. Sprayed a blue from AKAN that is used on MiG-23 and Su-17 undersides. Upper surfaces will eventually be black with some fading, with white dielectric panels on the tails.

All the gear bay doors ready for priming, plus the newly scratchbuilt doors for the small AAM bays (upper corners) Detailing and painting of the gear bays and weapons bays finally done. Went with a mix of gull gray and dark gull gray to approximate the color I see on MiG-29 and -35 gear legs and bays. Decided on a mix of white with a bit of light gray for the weapons bays (Su-47 had white weapons bay), just to make it a bit more interesting.

Much appreciated, thank you! Detailed the wheel wells, still lots left to do on the airframe bodywork, though. Admittedly looks a LOT better not all blown up to larger size like this 😄

Decided to take care of the weapons bay doors now, early. Can't really do one long door on each side since the belly changes to angle upward right in the middle of all this. Was originally going to make both fore and aft doors longer, but realized the forward doors fit the upward-angled bit fine. So, need to extend the aft doors. I calculated the total length of the revised rear doors need to be 43.5 mm, lengthened from 32.5mm. Decided to make resin copies of one end of the doors. Went for four, so as to have twice as many to choose from. Doors are marked so as to know

Decided to dabble in some nostalgia from my teen years. Loved the look of the destroid mecha in the Macross/First Robotech War (depending on how one follows). 1/100 Arii kit. Biggest challenge is how not to make this look like a toy, especially with the awful, poorly-planned seams. Lots of drybrushing after airbrushing. Chest-mounted searchlights created with acrylic gemstones with the facets sanded off then clear floor polish painted over. Green unit in the middle is bare metal foil with clear green overpainted. Thanks for looking!

Added the HUD from the Eduard PE set for the MiG-29 along with the kit's HUD glass. Figured it wouldn't be far off since, technically, the -37 is a late 80's design. 😋 Also removed the curious position lights, RHAW gear or whatever they are from the tails and wings. Funny how the top of the wings fit the fuselage with Tamiya-like precision, but the undersides decidedly less so. The flaps have serious sink marks that need filling, both top and bottom. The tails fit even less well than the wing undersides. Also added wingtip lights (imag

For the intakes, first remove the curious position lights or whatever they are.... Also, no idea why the compressor face (engine front) is literally half the diameter of the exhausts. Almost tried to install bigger compressors from spares, then thought, on a Stealth plane, this should be hidden. Once the bulb-items were removed, the intakes just seemed 'WAY too open and exposed for a Stealth plane. I just felt it needed strakes or something inside the intake ducting.

Cockpit is painted MRP MiG-29 blue-gray, although in retrospect I think I should've gone for a darker shade. Well, what can I say for a scratchbuilt 1/72 cockpit tub and panel....

No way to make a MiG-29 instrument panel fit this thing, nor any other panel I'm aware of. Solution: Make a panel for the upper combing and fit a display screen to that. Then, cut off the upper half (or more) of the MiG-29 panel, add another screen and other detailing, and fit that part to the tub.

Cockpit is too small to be realistic. Found a way to shave off the bottom and corners of an Airfix MiG-29 cockpit tub and make it fit in the VERY confined forward fuselage, although it took carving away a big chunk of the aft decking. For detailing...well....more than 25 years ago when I was young and ambitious I tried scratchbuilding a MiG-31 (it was literally a decade before a decent kit emerged). I scratchbuilt (but did not complete) a VERY detailed cockpit, incorporating bits of Eduard MiG-29UB brass. Years later I only saved the cockpit; it was too good to scrap.