Academy MiG-21MF in 1/48 scale

[Martinsson]

Hi,

I will try to find Laukkanen´s book about Finnish MiG-21s. I have heard a lot of good about, I just never got around to buy it. I would like to do a Finnish Bis with the Lynx on the fin. I really like the early colors.

I haven´t done much modelling in the last few days. We almost had summer temperatures in Sweden the last two weeks, which meant that the garden practically exploded! The kids also have a lot of activities this time of year. I am working on the landing gears and missiles. I decided to do some work on the landing gears because they look a little crude and over simplified. I hope to be back soon with more interesting stuff - decals!

Martinsson

Edited May 5, 2009 by Martinsson

[Martinsson]

Janman, I am sure you would make the day for a lot of people, including me, if you were able to do a proper walk around of a Finnish Bis! I don´t know how far you have to go to get to one but it sure would be nice! Now that I know exactly what to do to the next Academy MiG-21 in terms of corrections. :)

Or perhaps Laurent or somebody else know of a good Bis-coverage already?

Janman, can you also tell us a little bit about your secret brush paint techniques? I know you have written some on your threads but I would be a happy camper if you could expand a bit. I am very impressed with your skills!

Cheers

Martinsson

[janman]

Thanks, Martinson!

I still have to stress that there is no magic involved in my brush painting technique. The basics include a good flat brush, good paint (diluted if needed) and applied in several thin layers, steady and longitudinal brush strokes that preferably start from the front edge of some panel and end aft of some other panel. By this I mean that one should never stop the stroke in the middle of some panel. If some larger brush stroke marks still remain, they can be sanded off with MicroMesh pads.

What comes to that future bis walkaround, there's one near the Helsinki-Vantaa airport. It's stored outside so it's not in pristine condition. Two other examples are about 100 kms from Helsinki (in two different museums). The other one (in Vesivehmaa) is not that far from where my brother lives, so I should be able to visit it in the near future. The one in Karhula should be in taxiing condition and not impossibly far from here either. I'll definitely try to visit one of the latter birds this summer and take as much photos as I can. Naturally they will be shared with all Fishbed fan boys of ARC!

I've got some photos of MG-129 (if I can remember correctly) that were taken during an airshow two years ago. Not a proper walkaround though.

[Laurent]

Or perhaps Laurent or somebody else know of a good Bis-coverage already?

Nope. Nothing but some walkarounds like the Angolan plane in Primeportal.

To my knowledge the visible differences between an SM/MF and a bis are:

- of course the spine and how it goes deeper in the fin

- the afterburner (concentric rings in the bis, radial in the MF)

- the base of the radar cone (different cooling intakes; circular slit in the MF, also holes in the bis)

- wheel rims

- the bis nose that looks more cylindrical

- some engine and avionic control panels in the cockpit

I may be wrong though and there are more Fishbed-competent ARCers like some guys from Poland.

Edited May 5, 2009 by Laurent

[vrsa]

Wing panels, no long oval panel on the top of the wing in the bis.

Cockpit upper right corner & also different arrangment on entire instrument panel

The spine has different panel

I'll remeber more

I made most of the changes on mine but I never finished it entirely.

Croatian bis-es are a bit different because they have some communication equipent,

And yes they are still flying. I will find pictures for you.

Edited May 6, 2009 by vrsa

[Laurent]

Wing panels, no long oval panel on the top of the wing in the bis.

The oval panels in the MF ? Weren't they specific to non-SPS versions (up to PF and FL versions) ? I don't think that MF and bis wings are different.

[vrsa]

Left picture, a bis wing; right picture a MF wing. Academy has the right wing type

Edited May 6, 2009 by vrsa

[Laurent]

Your are right vrsa. I take drawings cautiously but there's a picture page 14 of the Lock-On book that validates the right drawing. Where does it come from ? I'm afraid that I'm more interested in shape differences than in panel lines differences.

Found on Airliners:

- bis pic showing not oval panel

- MF pic showing the oval panel

Edited May 6, 2009 by Laurent

[Martinsson]

Thank you for sharing your brush painting technique Janman! Do you prefer oil based paints or acrylic paints?

Very nice picture of a Bis! The two green tones are just beautiful. I think I can see a difference between early paint jobs and later paint. The later version of the light green seems to be a bit darker compared to the earlier one. Can you confirm this or is it just my imagination?

Laurent, thank you very much for pointing out the main difference between the MF and Bis. Very helpful - now I know what to look for in photos.

Vrsa, thank you too, for pointing out the difference wing skin of this particular wing panel. The rest seem to be just like the MF. In your drawing, there seem to be a blister added to the Bis on the spine, right in front of the fin. Very interesting. Looks like I am in for a multiple -21 build sooner or later! I have the spine from OEZ´s MiG-21 kit too. It is just a pity that Neomega don´t do the -F and -UM conversions any more. I missed out on those sets.

I am very grateful for the help of you Fishbed experts! Thank you for taking time to help.

Martinsson

[Martinsson]

No photos right now but I have delved deep into MiG-21MF landing gears! The Academy parts are not surprisingly very simplified, even if the capture the most prominent features. Limitations of injection moulding also contribute to the lumpiness of some parts. The most prominent feature of the main landing gears are the retraction mechanism. It is rather complex and takes some scratch building to replicate justly. But I am enjoying myself even though it postpones decalling a few days.

I forgot to add that I will use Davide´s (Starflyer´s) landing gears as reference for the cables! He posted such useful pictures!

Just wanted to let you know what I am up to so you don´t think I am just sitting on my , doing nothing!

Martinsson

Edited May 7, 2009 by Martinsson

[janman]

Thank you for sharing your brush painting technique Janman! Do you prefer oil based paints or acrylic paints?

Oh, sorry. Forgot to mention that. I use - almost exclusively - enamel paints. I just find them easier to use, somehow they are more forgiving in brush painting, since most acrylics dry too fast. Humbrol is still the number one for me, although I've used also White Ensign paints lately and I'm really fond of them.

Very nice picture of a Bis! The two green tones are just beautiful. I think I can see a difference between early paint jobs and later paint. The later version of the light green seems to be a bit darker compared to the earlier one. Can you confirm this or is it just my imagination?

Yes, there were a lot of differences between production batches and it seems there are no two similar paint schemes. Patterns varied and the colours varied. Also, in overhauls some MiGs got camos that were done with Finnish paints. Some even received a whole new pattern with new colours.

When you do a Finnish bis, it's thus important to check your references and paint the bird accordingly. I mean, there was somekind of basic pattern (and colour palette) for every batch when they were delivered from the Soviet Union, but the details between individual planes varied a lot.

By the way, I'll have a special opportunity to photograph "MG-135" this saturday at "Suomen Ilmailumuseo" (Finnish Aviation Museum). This example is stored in a storage shelter outside the museum and is not open for public. I just hope there's enough light for proper photos since I only got a compact camera.

[Laurent]

Very nice picture of a Bis! The two green tones are just beautiful. I think I can see a difference between early paint jobs and later paint. The later version of the light green seems to be a bit darker compared to the earlier one. Can you confirm this or is it just my imagination?

Please forgive me if I'm not Janman but I can't drop the keyboard when there's a MiG-21 discussion.

The Finnish camo when the planes were delivered from USSR had toad-like colors. The dark green had brown in it and the light green had yellow in it. Personally, I don't like this camo at all. Then the camo turned low-viz with small roundels and fin panther not outlined in white. The colors turned into pure green tones. A lot more elegant to me.

[Martinsson]

Thanks Laurent! I really appreciate all the information you have provided for my build and research! I did not mean to excluded anyone from the Finnish Bis color question. So please don´t drop your keyboard! We (I) need you! What you are saying makes sense! Janman´s additional info is also very interesting.

Janman, if you bring a tripod or some other kind of support for your camera (a small bag with beans is good) then you won´t have a problem with long shutter times. Better than using the flash for a big subject like this, except for smaller details. If I may ask, please see if you can capture the cockpit differences described by Vrsa as well.

Thanks

Martinsson

[janman]

Please forgive me if I'm not Janman but I can't drop the keyboard when there's a MiG-21 discussion.

The Finnish camo when the planes were delivered from USSR had toad-like colors. The dark green had brown in it and the light green had yellow in it. Personally, I don't like this camo at all. Then the camo turned low-viz with small roundels and fin panther not outlined in white. The colors turned into pure green tones. A lot more elegant to me.

Well, yeah. If we are looking for a bigger trend in the camo development, that's not far from the truth.

All the planes were originally painted with the same colours. That's how for example Laukkanen himself sees it. Some sources suggest that there really was some colour variation between bathces and I would say there's even some photographic evidence to show that. Not probably much, but still. Again, check your photos when doing a model and use that good old Mk. I eye ball! The fact is, that at least the patterns were different. Even the bottom fuselage gray reached the mid fuselage in some batch.

Then, in overhauls, certain birds (12 exactly) received a new paint that closely followed the original pattern but was painted with Finnish paints. Another twelwe were never repainted, but even those eventually received small markings. The original bigger roundels and numbers were overpainted with a colour that didn't match the original, but otherwise the original camo was retained.

Only two aircraft (MG-114 and MG-128) received a totally new camo with new pattern but with colours that were the same as on those twelwe repainted birds. This info again from Laukkanen's book.

The feline off course is a lynx, not a panther.

Janman, if you bring a tripod or some other kind of support for your camera (a small bag with beans is good) then you won´t have a problem with long shutter times. Better than using the flash for a big subject like this, except for smaller details. If I may ask, please see if you can capture the cockpit differences described by Vrsa as well.

I'll see what I can do. I have no tripod of anykind, but I'm sure I can manage to take somekind of photos.

Cockpit photos. Hmm... I truly hope I can take some. The cockpit surely will differ from the MF and even from the standard bis, since the instrument panels were later modified with Western instruments. I would even like to see under the "bonnet" (the avionics bay in front of the windscreen) since the Trumpeter kit has an option for an opened bay and I need to see how it differs from the MF bay.

[Martinsson]

Hello friends,

I am still working on the landing gears and have made some progress. Just to get the project up to speed again after all house and garden chores, I decided to apply decals to my MiG-21. As you all know, I am using Albatros 48013 Weird MiG-21s and doing the Vietnamese bird. However, the instruction doesn´t talk anything about stencils and it doesn´t include any. I have no photo reference of blue Vietnamese MiG-21s, which makes me unsure if I should apply stencils from a separate Aeromaster sheet. I get the impression that the MiG-21 on the sheet is from the end of the 1990´s but the sheet doesn´t state so specifically. What do you guys think, was the a/c re-painted in Vietnam or were they delivered in this colour? If they were delivered in this scheme, it is perhaps logical that stencils were applied. If the a/c were in fact re-painted in Vietnam, it seems appropriate to question whether the stencils were masked and kept or perhaps re-applied? Would the Vietnamese maintenance personnel benefit from this last alternative?

I am grateful for any thoughts. I wonder if Eli has any inputs on this?

Best regards

Martinsson

Edited May 22, 2009 by Martinsson

[TaiidanTomcat]

Nice looking model so far

[starflyer]

Hi Martin,

you miss me too much time, I hope your garden is beautiful sinc eyou spend so much time on it

I have pic about your rare subject, and it seems there's no stencil, but check it out !

I hope is useful.

Ciao

[scotthldr]

Nice Mig ;) I have the Begemot complete Mig 21 stencil sheet 48-003 Parts 1 & 2, which covers every version of the type and comes with placement instructions.

[Martinsson]

Hello everybody and thanks for your help regarding the stencils. And thank you for sharing a photo of a blue Vietnamese MiG-21 Davide! I have never seen one before! Looks like no stencils.

I am sorry to be such a stranger to this forum lately. Most of it depends upon that fact that the entire family will move to the US next week. I got notified that I had been accepted to an academic programme in the US about six weeks ago. It affects the whole family who will join me. LOTS of things to take care, both at home and in the US!

Just a short update. I got the decals on. A swift operation since I do not need to deal with stencilling. I can report that the Gunze clear straight from the can works wonders. It is very gloss and sturdy.

The landing gears are almost sorted out!

Martinsson

[Laurent]

Great pic ! But, er, this plane looks like a MiG-21 bis-SAU (spine wraps around the fuselage a bit too much, there's a notch on the spine-fuselage junction, it's half hidden but it looks like an RSBN antenna under the intake lip). And the Famous Russian Aircraft book confirms that 5210 and 5212 are bises

Edited May 29, 2009 by Laurent

[Martinsson]

Laurent, you may be right. The spine stretches too far back into the fin to be a MF. That is certainly the case with the -21 in the background, where the spine almost meets the brake chute fairing. It looks the same for 5210. :)

Is there a picture of 5212 in the book that confirms the Bis status? I´d rather see a photo before taking the books word for it. I guess I have re-learnt the lesson that photos are the only credible sources in the end.

And even if photos of 5212 proves it to be a Bis, I am not going to redo this kit, so it stays MF. Too bad but at least it looks like an MF!

Cheers

Martinsson

Edited May 29, 2009 by Martinsson

[Laurent]

I there a picture of 5212 in the book that confirms the Bis status?

No. I've got the info from the serials list. However there's a picture of 5214 which is clearly a MiG-21 bis-SAU. Yefim Gordon does some mistakes but not this time.

And even if photos of 5212 proves it to be a Bis, I am not going to redo this kit, so it stays MF. Too bad but at least it looks like an MF! :)

Who is gonna blame you ? Fujimi, Academy, Albatros Decals, guys that have posted walkarounds on Primeportal, 90% of military aircraft enthusiasts aren't able to distinguish 3rd and 4th generation MiG-21s...

Edited May 29, 2009 by Laurent

[Martinsson]

Well the problem has been a lack of references. I have never seen a photo of blue Vietnamese MiG-21s before. I should have tried to find photographic evidence before I settled for this scheme. I took Albatros word for it this time... Lesson re-learnt! Won´t happen again! No more sloppy research! :)

Martinsson

Edited May 29, 2009 by Martinsson

[Girolamo LORUSSO]

lovely camo colors! I like it so much.

keep us update!

[dsmith]

Martinsson,

Did you ever get this beauty finished?

Cheers,

-Doug :)