Sebastijan

Bingo! Error in the instructions - parts 78 and 79 are switched, causing this mistake!

Yeah, I've had a chance to sit in Su-33 and Su-27UB as well and they're big pits... F-14 as well.

I've been able to sit in many fighter cockpits over the years, but I still find Draken's way smaller than MiG-21's :)

Thank you guys! Giovanni - not so fast anymore - my little daughter passed the modelling on priority ranking :) Gabor - haha, dull and boring, yeah right :D Anyhow here's a little more progress Although some say decals look too flat, I don't see quality made cockpit decals any worse than prepainted photo-etch parts. And they are perfectly acceptable for closed canopy build. The back of the pit is also nicely made and darker wash brings out all the lovely details. Unfortunately with the seat installed, there won't be much to see. The narrow seam when joining fuselage and wings has been mentioned before. It is maybe 0.1mm wide so it shouldn't be too tough to fix. I also experienced the seam on the front fuselage halves joints - Luckily, scraping some plastic off the not visible parts of cockpit tub and front wheel well remedied that.

Wonderful job!

OK let's start with this build Since the canopy will be closed, I've decided to go with the decals for cockpit. There's also an option to paint the lovely alternate plastic parts, full of tiny details which look really really good. a few pieces of the exhaust waiting to be put together... Simple trick for landing lights - use kitchen aluminum foil to cover the back of the light... ...effect will be like the real thing and better than any paint.

Ah the forum is to discuss - I will soon open an 'in progress' thread as I am already underway with the construction. I am not sure about Moson - there was some talk with the club members to visit it together, but on the other hand I have an offer for the same day, to go scuba diving and with the latter, I'd spent some time with my family at the seaside as well... hard choice really.

Those are painted parts - plastic cockpit looks really nice and painted like that really brings out all the details.

AICZ calm down, please. I am more than glad that Eduard finally downscaled their excellent Fishbeds to 1:72. The solid shut airbrakes however ARE omission and the critique stands. I am reviewing the so called pre-release "library edition", so maybe later versions will have those airbrakes optional (I know you had to cut them out on its bigger brother if you wished so). I am well aware that Eduard just created a benchmark MiG-21 kit in 1:72 and I am glad it did - besides Revell's F-13 and Zvezda's bis, and they both have problems of their own, there's nothing worth mentioning. OK Modelsvit is selling an excellent MiG-21F and RV did a 21 series but both are short run technologies which require a little bit more of experience and in the later's case, noses and windshields as well as all those rivets were a joke.

I have just received the brand new Eduard MiG-21MF in 1:72. Here's a link to my in-box review for those interested: https://vvsmodelling.com/2018/04/09/eduard-172-mig-21mf-library-edition/ I'll probably also start with the build along with the Mirage 4000.

OK, let's begin with this build! The wheel well walls are multi-piece affairs. Some care has to be taken when glueing the parts but they fit nice and are adorned by some really nice details. Exhaust cans are deep and even feature turbine blades which will never be seen again in the depths behind the afterburner flameholders. I painted them with Alclad Exhaust Manifold, giving it a nice brownish burnt metal apperance and I also airbrushed a few grey streaks as often seen in the burner cans. I will probably lay down a wash as well, but haven't decided yet as I am not sure how much will be seen of them after I install the exhaust nozzles. A little dry fit of the lower fuselage moulded together with wing inserts and the wing halves themselves. I was having a bit of a hard time here - I had to sand the inner sides of the wing inserts first to improve the fit. This helped erradicate the leading edge seams. However, I don't understand the engineering logic behind the rear seam - running diagonally across the flaperons and not following any existing panel line. And the worst being that I couldn't make it go away by sanding the wing halves alone... In the end, I've decided for an easier route - looking at reference photos, I noticed that its flaperons dropped, while the aircraft was parked - bring out the CMK saw and scribers and I simply cut the flaperons away. Dealing with that nasty seam is now much easier and without any fear, those fine details on the bottom of the surface will be sanded away.

Excellent looking Tomcat and those pilot figures just elevate the overall looks!

Great build, mate! If I have a problem with stuborn decals, I use hairdryer - the hot air softens the decal and when you press it down, it goes into every crevice and elasticly expands over any bulge on the surface.

These loaded MERs look fabulous!

Thank you crackerjazz and Swashplate!