MiG-21F-13 Painting Question

[gb_madcat_sl]

So I picked up a copy of Trumpeter's new 1/48 MiG-21F-13 over the weekend. Problem is that the instructions are pretty vague on some of the items that need to be painted. Thus, I'd like to ask the gurus out there what the correct colours of the following items are.

1. Gear bays

2. Spheres inside main gear bays

3. Inside of gear doors

4. Landing gear struts

5. Area behind the ejection seat and turtledeck

6. SK ejection seat

Many thanks in advance.

Mark

[Pal]

I can tell a few things about the Hungarian examples, which were pretty standard as per the Soviet version. If I tell something wrong ya-Gabor correct me please.

1) Gear bays were mid-grey colour but with the addition of some natural metal plates. The gear bay doors remained in natural metal.

2) The spheres were either mid-blue (triple bottles of oxigen) or black (single bigger sphere of compressed air).

3) The gear doors are natural metal.

4) The landing gear struts are mid-grey, including the nosewheel strut as well.

5) Area behind the ejection seat is also mid-grey.

6) I am not 100% sure about the seat colour, I think it was also mid-grey or black?

There are some good photos of the F-13 here: http://hunavia.freeweb.hu/TYPE/MiG-21%20base/MiG-21F-13/MiG21F13_74COCKPITHuAFIDNo816/index2.html

I can also send you some photos of the details if you want in PM. You can mail me at palbiegelbauer@yahoo.com

Best regards and happy modelling,

Pal

[gb_madcat_sl]

Thanks for that info.

Mark

[ya-gabor]

The SK ejection seat was originally light bluish grey in colour, headrest and leather padding black. The grey colour is not the same as the cockpit colour but close to it. This is as they came out from the factory. In service and during overhaul the seats were often repainted in different colours, usually the same as the cockpit.

This would apply to Russian built aircraft, all the rest could be different. The Russian aircraft had a light grey cockpit but you will find Czech aircraft with the so called "Russian cockpit blue" colour, that would be exception. The above notes and those of Pal are only general guidelines, do your research into which aircraft you want to build.

Best regards

Gabor

[gb_madcat_sl]

Many thanks for the info, Gabor. I'm actually thinking of doing the NVAF bird from the box. In this case, what colour should the cockpit be? Light blue-grey or Russian cockpit green?

Mark

[Jennings]

MiG-21F-13s had grey cockpits. The jade green didn't come into use until some time after the 2nd generation Fishbeds were on the production lines in the mid-1960s.

[Laurent]

MiG-21F-13s had grey cockpits.

Except for at least some Czech F-13s (like the one in the Le Bourget aerospace museum close to Paris). I believe that some Czech F-13s had such a long service life that the cockpit color doctrine changed during their life. Could a Czech member confirm or infirm ? In Mark's case, grey cockpit indeed.

Edited December 27, 2012 by Laurent

[Jennings]

*from the factory*

The MiG-21F was out of production before the green color started being used (except in China, which is a different story). Certainly there were MiG-21Fs with green cockpits, but not from the factory that I've ever heard of.

[ya-gabor]

Many thanks for the info, Gabor. I'm actually thinking of doing the NVAF bird from the box. In this case, what colour should the cockpit be? Light blue-grey or Russian cockpit green?

Mark

Hi Mark,

The ones in Vietnam where straight from Russia, so according to the "papers" they had a full grey cockpit with black instrument panel.

Laurent is right, many Czech examples had Russian green-blue cockpits. They came from the Czech production line. I know that there are some Czech readers on ARC. We should ask them. They could have built them originally with the "Russian blue" cockpit or they could have added the blue colour during overhaul. You have to know the aircraft did not carry through all the original colours to the last flight in their life.

Mark. The best reference for your kit build is the Czech 4+ publication on the early MiG-21 F-13.

Best regards

Gabor