Academy MiG-21PF

[Litvyak]

I hope you all won't yell at me for jumping the gun and posting before I have any pictures (though I could quickly take some of the parts trees if it's essential, and my researching notes!), but today I bought my first aircraft model in 11 years, Academy's MiG-21PF.

I'm planning to do it as Hungarian Air Force number 1515, which crashed during an air combat exercise in 1980, killing the pilot; so a kind of memorial.

I'm planning to build this mostly out-of-the-box, though I've got Eduard's colour etched set of MiG-21PF details ordered, as well as Hungarian "red star" insignia and MiG-21 data/stencils from HAD. I'm still debating, but will probably have it loaded with an underbelly tank and K-13s under the wings.

The reason I thought to put a build log for my first plane in over a decade is... well, if people are going to be watching, that should serve as an incentive to do better than if nobody'll ever see... no? And also in the hopes that all you more experienced modellers might give a word of advice here and there...

[Litvyak]

Well, here we go, back at building a plane after over a decade...

Apologies, right off the bat, for the rather poor quality of the photos; my camera is fairly old and doesn't much like close-up shots, but I tried.

First thing I noticed: I need to work some on my precision with applying cyanoacrilate - any suggestions? As you can see in the pictures, on one side of the gear where the wire is attached, it's nice and clean, the other side is a bit messy. A bit of mess is also noticeable on the main strut where the brass wire is attached...

Annoying was the nose wheel: the piece had two rather large bumps (eject pin marks?) on one side, right on the sidewall of the tires. So had to start right away with removing that. Scuffed up the tire's surface some so that it's not glassy smooth with a line down the middle, then painted it (and parts of the strut assembly that would be impossible to get to after it's all assembled). That done, used some brass wire, styrene rod and bits of styrene for a few small pieces. Looking back, I probably should have used .005" brass wire instead of the thicker one I used. Here's what it looked like after all that, before the "actual" painting:

[Litvyak]

That done I painted it. For the foreseeable future my painting will be done either by brush or by spray bomb... this here was, of course, brushed.

I'm not sure I'm very happy with the colour of the strut. I mixed paint to try to almost-match the colour on the photos I have of the nosegear (of a -21U izd. 66-400, I don't have any of the PF so please don't yell if it's wrong!). But because the aircraft in the photo has been sitting for a long time, I made the shade a bit darker - though that's a guess I'm not sure I'm happy with, but oh well. Used that mix to paint the strut, then gave a tiny drybrushing of grime and then a thin wash of black...

As I said in the first post here, I'd be more than happy to hear suggestions for improvement!

[Sebastijan]

Nice to have you here and keep posting the in-progress pics - ARC forums improved my skills by light years...

Your detailing looks really nice - I thought you're gonna build her OOB

Regarding CA - I guess you used the liquid type - these days I use only gel type CA - you just put a drop of glue on the wire and press it to the surface and no sticky mess to deal with...

[Litvyak]

Nice to have you here and keep posting the in-progress pics - ARC forums improved my skills by light years...

Your detailing looks really nice - I thought you're gonna build her OOB

Hvala! :lol:

And yes, OOB - OO this B, OO that B... I've ordered the Eduard detail set for PF, too. I *was* going to go for OOB, but then, having rather a stash of detail photos available, I figured, well, let's do what we can.

Regarding CA - I guess you used the liquid type - these days I use only gel type CA - you just put a drop of glue on the wire and press it to the surface and no sticky mess to deal with...

Thank you - I'll look for it! That's always been something that's bothered me, the CA running away, and then you have a big messy glop instead of clear space between the wire and the surface...

[Litvyak]

Whilst waiting for the Eduard etchings to arrive, I'll be working on various things that don't need it, or need a finished subassembly. So I turned to the vertical stabiliser.

Here are the parts as they were:

I'm going to look into getting a riveting tool. The rudder has a series of rivets on it that I'd like to reproduce, but I'm not about to try doing them one by one. I don't have the patience, and it wouldn't look good no matter how I try. There are also some other discrepancies in the panel and rivet lines. I'd like to correct this, but won't attempt it without the appropriate tools. Any suggestions?

Closeup photos of the vertical stab at hand, got to work, doing what I can do with my current assortment of tools.

First added a couple of small details (and wished there was .001" styrene available!) to the rudder, then went on to removing some things that shouldn't be there.

There are two such things that are important:

One, to reshape the blister on either side of the fin - it's more rounded in the photos, and doesn't have that extra "nub" on it. Fairly noticeable if you know what to look for. I also think it should be somewhat longer than it is on the model, but I'll overlook this.

The second is at the bottom of the leading edge of the stab. The following two photos will make it clear what I'm referring to:

Worked at reshaping the spot, the photos above show the 1:1 plane, the original parts and the parts after reshaping.

Then glued the parts together, and here's how it stands:

Next step is to work on the seams.

[POMPEO]

nice job my friend i'm looking your forward

cheers

[Litvyak]

I was looking at this picture:

Lovely. So I thought about it, and worked it out: it's all doable, theoretically... but how much would be visible? Not much, really...

I say that above, because what I did isn't accurate (except for the placement, roughly, of the compressed air canisters), but it fills the emptiness that would reign in the wheel well were I to leave it as it came out of the box; Eduard's detail kit doesn't have anything for the main gear wells. (!).

I cut out a chunk of the back wall around the wheel well area of the wing (bottom half), gave it a coat of paint (I need to figure out what lighting arrangement will get the most accurate reflection of the actual colour painted on the model... I played around a bit with lights, and reading lights, and such, so that's why some of the following photos might seem a little different in colour). Anyways:

Then I gathered up some random scraps of wire and styrene rod to do the lines inside the well, and filed some styrene rod to shape for the canisters:

Dry fit of the wing halves, viewed from directly above:

And now trying for (and not quite getting) the angle of the photo of the original. Lighting differences and all:

As you can see, you can't see much. And once the gear parts are inside, you'll see even less. So I'm not too worried about the inaccuracy (at least, not for this model. Next one, I'll try harder). But it gives the right impression despite not being exact, I think the canisters do the most to achieve that. Next step will be to do the other wing.

[Tripio]

Hello Litvyak,

I am a Hungarian guy and I just finished my MiG-21PF (Indian Tiger/Fujimi 1/72),so just a few notes on your work,buddy.

- the rudder looks great,you caught the shape of the short tail of the Fishbed right,but if you would like to make it a little bit realistic,here is my advice:

cut out the rudder from the fin if you do not want to place a pilote into the cockpit.The PF has a brake differential connected to the rudder pedals,so if there is no leg on the pedal,the rudder turns to the right AUTOMATICALLY with 15-20 degrees.

- the wings: they are wrong.The PF has a slightly different appearence as far as the ailerons are concerned.The trees of the wings you can find in the box of the PF are the same in the box of MF and Bis,and they are correct for that MiG's but not for the PF.The ailerons shape is not correct and the panel lines aren't either.I try to find a picture from this one and send you soon,to see what I mean.

Anyway,I am waiting the next steps in the building.

[Litvyak]

Hello Litvyak,

I am a Hungarian guy and I just finished my MiG-21PF (Indian Tiger/Fujimi 1/72),so just a few notes on your work,buddy.

- the rudder looks great,you caught the shape of the short tail of the Fishbed right,but if you would like to make it a little bit realistic,here is my advice:

cut out the rudder from the fin if you do not want to place a pilote into the cockpit.The PF has a brake differential connected to the rudder pedals,so if there is no leg on the pedal,the rudder turns to the right AUTOMATICALLY with 15-20 degrees.

- the wings: they are wrong.The PF has a slightly different appearence as far as the ailerons are concerned.The trees of the wings you can find in the box of the PF are the same in the box of MF and Bis,and they are correct for that MiG's but not for the PF.The ailerons shape is not correct and the panel lines aren't either.I try to find a picture from this one and send you soon,to see what I mean.

Anyway,I am waiting the next steps in the building.

Köszi a tippeket! (If it's easier for you, you can go ahead and PM me in Hungarian - but your English is great!)

I've seen some pictures of the PF's rudder with what looks like a plate holding the rudder straight and in place; I was thinking to reproduce that on my model, also to add the "remove before flight" tags and such details.

Thanks for the note on the wings - very timely, I was just about to start assembling them. I have Yefim Gordon's big book on the 21, I'll poke through there too for pics of PF wings.

[Litvyak]

Not much progress yesterday and today, but here's what was:

After tripio's comment about the rudder automatically deflecting when there's no foot on the pedal, I had to think: cut the rudder out, or do something else. I decided on the something else, namely, the little panel with a bolt through it to hold the rudder locked in place. A little piece of styrene and a nut-bolt-washer casting on each side (it doesn't show well in the picture, but on the actual piece it's very visibly an NBW):

Pause with other things waiting for the Eduard parts still and for further info on the wings, I decided to work on the drop tank to practice with seam work. I shortened the fins on the parts because they looked overlarge. Here's where it is, after some little work on the seams - still needs a bit more, though:

And then, waiting, but wanting to do some modelling, I got started on the little tow cart thingy. This was fairly quick and is still quite rough - needs a bunch of work yet - but I'm thinking it'll turn out okay. Just styrene rod and random parts from other stuff that look okay for what I needed:

And that's where I am now.

Edited February 23, 2009 by Litvyak

[papa_bear]

Nice comeback... Waiting more great pics. ;)

[scooter]

Hi all;

I spent some quality time in and around Hungarian Mig-21s last summer. Let me know if you need some pictures!

AC

[TomcatFanatic123]

I've got this kit partially completed...had to quit to work on my Tomcat GB project.

Looking great so far!

[Litvyak]

Thanks for the kind words!

Scooter, is that at Szolnok? I'll be there myself this summer, getting up close and personal with the 21s too.

[scooter]

Yes - it is Szolnok.

Have fun! Lots of Mig-21's and a nice SU-22.

By the way, I just completed a build of "Csapeti" in 1/72.

Regards

AC

[Litvyak]

Scooter: Sweet! I'm very much looking forward to the visit to Szolnok. If you know their website (www.repulomuzeum.hu), take a look after the 1st of March - some nutcase I know has done a chunk of translations, the "aircraft" and "stories" sections are almost done. (I figured there's too much stuff there that would be of interest to non-Hungarian speakers; the webmaster agreed. So here we go, hopefully it'll be of interest to people all over!)

Got pics of Csapeti you'd share?

[scooter]

Got pics of Csapeti you'd share? :D

Here you go! Enjoy them, and say hi to Karcsi for me.

Adam C.

McAllen TX.

USA

Edited February 25, 2009 by scooter

[Litvyak]

Thanks! That looks great! And I'll pass the greeting on for you.

[Bonehammer73]

Hello Litviak,

I, too, saw your thread after you had detailed the mainwheel bays, so I decided against shamelessly plugg pointing towards my own pics. You're doing a fine job anyway, and my gear bays are neither finished nor 100% accurate.

Actually, I'm going to keep in mind your carved sprue trick - those lead sinks were a pain to file...

[Aggressor Supporter]

Good work on the Mig so so far. And nice pics of that yellow Mig with the shark mouth AC.

[Litvyak]

Welll, it's been a while, but the MiG was on hold while I was waiting for some Eduard detail stuff to arrive (in the meantime I was working on a Mi-17). These arrived a bit ago, and progress has taken a great leap forward. I've never used PE before, so I was somewhat apprehensive, but the Eduard stuff for the most part seemed to fold itself. I did the engine first to get some practice (and it's out of view in case I mess up)... but with my luck: that's what I did the best work on. :)

This picture is the best I could do - and had to lighten it a lot in Gimp... but it gets the idea.

Here's the seat:

I stuck one of the belts on the seat bottom badly, but couldn't get it off again... oh well.

And the cockpit with the seat dryfitted:

And here's where things are now:

The fit of the fore half of the fuse to the after half was... well, I thought it wasn't too good, but it was great after I got the spine there - there was a 1mm gap between the end of the spine and the front of the vertical stab piece... so now I'm working on the seams.

Edited March 7, 2009 by Litvyak

[Sebastijan]

where's the pics?

[Litvyak]

Gah. Photobucket is very slow, the forum won't let me post images from Fotopic, this didn't work... arg!! Almost as bad as trying to bend up the frame for the gunsight window!

Anyways, this should work now. Same order as listed in the last post.

Engine

Seat:

Dryfit of seat:

Side view: