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Academy MiG-21MF in 1/48 scale


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I have had my MiG-21 for quite a while now. I was excited when the kit first came out but my excitement was soon tempered by all inaccuracies. I am not a MiG-21 expert but I could tell that all was not right. Sure enough, after a while, CMK decided to help modelers enhance the otherwise very nice Academy kit.

The most obvious error was that Academy included a MiG-21bis spine rather than a MF spine. A bis spine is much fatter than the MF and extends further back no the fin. Here is an old photo from back when I just got the CMK parts.

DSCF0512.jpg

The next thing that struck me was the small diameter of the afterburner. Well, trusty CMK came to the rescue yet again!

DSCF0513.jpg

The thing that kept me from getting on with the kit was the shape of the nose. It didn´t look right too me but I soon forgot about the MiG-21 and got on with other kits. It was just recently, when I had a thorough discussion with a French friend, Laurent, at ARC that things began to come together for me. Laurent had come to the conclusion that the nose was too high just at the front base of the wind screen. After a long study of MiG-21 noses on photo, I came to the conclusino that the nose needs to be lengthened a bit too. Then it would look much more like the slender nose of a real MiG-21. After some more discussions with Laurent, I set to work. The drawing below illustrates my take on what needs to be done with the Academy nose:

AcademyMiG-21modifications.jpg

And here are the results of my work:

AcademyMiG-21MFmodifiednoseleft.jpg

AcademyMiG-21MFmodifiednoseright.jpg

AcademyMiG-21MFmodifiednosetop.jpg

And finally I have some shots of the the entire fuselage with the CMK add ons:

AcademyMiG-21MFmodifiedfuselagerigh.jpg

DSC_1060.jpg

DSC_1052.jpg

I am on a schedule to try and finish this kit before a competition so in my eagerness to strive forward, I shot the entire fuselage with Mr Surfacer from the rattle can before I took photos of my mods! It looked quite impressive at first, with large amounts of yellow resin and white plasticard (and different greys, black and whites because of different fillers). However, after sanding and correcting a few flaws, the resin, filler and PC shines through to give you an idea of what it looked like before. I have since sanded, re-filled, sanded and re-scribed/re-riveted lost panel lines/rivet, sanded some more and finally shot a new coat of Mr Surfacer 1200 on it. Tonight will see the wings and stabilizer come on.

The canopy is another sad story. As Laurent pointed out, the canopy should pince inwards at the rear end. That requires a new vacform canopy and some sanding at the front end of the spine. However, that is not all. The kit windscreen is too long, the canopy too short and the wind screen is too high as well. This prevetns the canopy from getting the slight slope downwards at the front end, that it needs to have to resemble the real thing. I will get on with painting before vacforming a new canopy. I have casted masters from the kit canopy that I am slowly re-shaping.

I will be back!

Martinsson

Edited by Martinsson
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Great job and very good looking Mig... But since You are paying so much attention to correct every detail I must point out that exhaust and parabrake container on Your model isn't quite correct in position.

If You compare back end of Your model and picture of the real thing You can notice the difference:

back2ozb.jpg

Hope You don't mind for this little critique. I'm looking forward to see it completed...

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Hello Mr Spock!

I don´t mind any critique at all. Thanks for taking time to help me! However, I know that the brake chute housing and fairing rides a little high in the fin. But I decided to skip correcting this error since it would mean too much work to correct the resin fin and also the resin after burner profile. I think the CMK after burner slopes a bit too much downwards on the top side and this helps throwing the parabrake out of place. There are other faults I have decided not to correct. For instance, apparently the main gear bulge needs a bit of re-alignment and there are soem inaccuracies witht eh panel lines on top of the wings. I can live with that once the basic shapes are right.

Cheers

Martin

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Hi Martinsson,

I love the way you corrected the measurement problems...good job.

I corrected them by using much more easier methods.

The 2 mm oversize by the afterburner was cut away and I made a new profile for the afterburner in the fuselage halves.

The wrong angle of the intake was corrected by a saw:I cut the fuselage from the underside almost until the top,creating a gap which was glued with CA together.So I created the hanging nose of the MF.I placed the nose cone similar than you did.

Otherwise the wings have the same problem.I cut 1-1 mm from each wing tip because they are a little bit oversized.

Mr Pock has right...if you are a detail and measurement maniac you should correct the look of the para container...

Otherwise it seems OK for me. :lol:

Regards,Laszlo

Edited by Tripio
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Hi Martinsson.

You're doing very well. You have sanded the top of the nose which is great. Did you check the impact on the windscreen location ? I've noticed on drawings (not confirmed on photos) that the glass part of the windscreen is simply put on top of the fuselage. There's a continuous line passing through the top of the nose and the bottom of the glass part.

noseMf.jpg

Sandind the top of the nose may mess this up.

Ps: I see that that you've used the +4 drawings at one point. I'm repeating myself but I really don't trust these at all and I wouldn't use them for reference in the canopy and front fuselage area.

Edited by Laurent
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Hi Martinsson,

You have done some excellent work with your MiG-21! I'm not an expert on the MiG-21 either, but your conversion to the Academy kit really makes a difference. It certainly looks more right now.

Keep up the good work! You said you are trying to finish the kit for a competition, would this be the IPMS Open? I'm going there and hopefully I will see your MiG "live" there too. Looking forward to that.

Cheers,

/Johan C

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Hello,

Thank you all for your kind and encouraging comments! I used the 4+ drawings back in 2001 I believe, but have since come to understand that they are not really usable. So I promise, I don´t use them as reference for this build!

I haven´t test fitted the kit wind screen yet so I don´t know what the nose mods will do to it yet. One good thing is that the forward end is lower. That is good because the the wind screen needs to get lower where it meets the main canopy. The main canopy has a slight slope downwards at the front edge. I have decided to move on and attach wings and tail planes. However, I need to modify the tail planes attachments on the CMK afterburner. It looks like they missed something and the kit tail planes doesn´t fit without modification. I need to get my PC out again!

I will deal with the canopy issues soon.

I´ll be back!

M

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I used Revel Mig-21PF canopy and humpback. Canopy in academy PF too wide.

http://www.dishmodels.ru/gshow.htm?p=961

Very interesting too ! The Revell canopy is good (narrow at the rear, widest at 1/3rd) ? What drawings are you using (they look like the Zlinek ones... they aren't conflicting the Aviatsia i Vremia or Andrei Klimov ones for example ?) ?

Is it me or it's only now that people start to find the Academy kits questionable almost ten years after it has been released ?

Edited by Laurent
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Sergei,

Thanks for your comments and the link to your work. I will definitely modify the kit afterburner next time and not use CMKs items. I have sent you and Laurent a message through the ARC board.

The Revell kit, isn´t that a PF only? How much too wide is the Academy kit? I am narrowing my canopy at the back, where it meets the spine but is it too wide at the front (where it meets the wind screen) too? I will soon get on to the canopy so any good information is of great value now.

Best regards

Martin

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Great work correcting the Academy MiG-21MF..... I applaud your efforts.

I'm no MiG-21 expert either - but doesn't the major problem with most current MiG-21 kits concern the main wheel wells and bulge above the wings??

The fuselage bulge above the wing should line up centrally over the wheel well - on the Academy kit (and most others) it is offset.

You can see it in the side view photos of your model.

...and it isn't easily correctable.

You can just about make it out in this photos of a -bis....

m21bis02.jpg

Ken

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I'm no MiG-21 expert either - but doesn't the major problem with most current MiG-21 kits concern the main wheel wells and bulge above the wings??

It is a problem indeed and it is correctable: Sergei did it. Personally I'm not sure it's really important. It is if there's no underwing stores to hide the wheel well but otherwise perhaps not.

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Hello Ken,

You are absolutely right about the fuselage bulge. It is very evident from the photos in the links below, found at Airliners.net.

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Romania---A...next_id=1460395

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Romania---A...next_id=1387242

I have left it alone because to me, it is not as disturbing as the shape of the nose, afterburner, spine etc. But I will give it some more thought during the day. I still have two weeks before the competition...

Best regards

Martin

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Ken,

I decided to re-do the bulges. Academy didn´t just mis-place the bulges, they are also shaped incorrectly. They need to be more centred over the main gear bay and they also need to be extended upwards, almost to the panel line. Since I have done so much work on the rest, I will fix the bulges too! Thanks for giving me a push in this direction :salute: .

I will use as much as possible of the kit bulges, but shorten them at the front and use Tamiya epoxy putty to build them up at the back and up towards the horizontal panel line. I will hopefully be back with pictures tomorrow once the putty has hardened and all sanding is done.

Cheers

Martin

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I decided to re-do the bulges.

Now that's what I call committment!...

Having moved the bulges myself, I have since decided it's not worth the hassle; on the other side, once you've spent so much time and effort improving the other areas, it would be odd to leave in place the most infamous inaccuracy of this particular kit.

I had never realized that the bulges are taller, tho - waiting for interest the completed correction.

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Hello,

Thank you all for your encouragement and advice! It is much appreciated. I re-did the fuselage bulges. I moved them to a place centred above the main gear bay. Academy´s bulges are to thin and too symmetrical compared to the real thing. If you look at Ken´s photo, you can see that the bulges reach their maximum thickness at about 1/4 in height from the top of the bulge. The bulges should also have a top that just curve slightly, while the bottom forms a curve, reaching down towards the gear bay in the middle.

The first step was to sand down the kit bulges at the front. Then I decided to cut masks from a drawing that Laurent helped me to acquire. After I had studied another bunch of photos, I concluded that this drawing had bulges that looks like they should. I taped the masks in the right location and carefully filled the masks with Tamiya two part epoxy putty. This was left for two days to cure properly. I removed the masks as soon as I had finished sculpting the bulges.

DSC_1067.jpg

DSC_1069.jpg

After that, I had a couple of joyful hours with my sanding sticks! The Tamiya epoxy is a wonderful invention. It dries homogeneously, has a very fine structure and sands easily. This is the result:

DSC_1077.jpg

DSC_1078.jpg

Tomorrow I will make sure to get the wings on. I painted the CMK wheel wells yesterday. Then it is time to focus on the canopy and wind screen. Lets see what happens!

Martin

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Very nice job and attention to small details, I also building nowadays Mig-21MF in this section on ARC but 32 scale. For me is the first Mig I am building so I learn lot also from your job. Actually I am "fighting" with the green radome nose color, can you suggest me reference paint for it? Enamel or Acrylic, I use both.

Thank you to share

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