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Mig-29 Soft Intake FOD Covers.


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Hello all,

I was looking at close up pictures of the Mig-29 intake doors in the closed position in an attempt to fix the ill-fitting doors on my Airfix 1/72 Mig-29 kit. I came across these photos (taken from Flevo Aviation Hobby website):

0004_zpsm1nx9sci.jpg

MiG-2920HuAF20038_zpsuy3xymdo.jpg

It clearly shows a Mig-29 with soft covers placed over the intakes. I am NO expert or even really all that up to speed on ANYTHING modern Russian aircraft wise so perhaps you folks who are can help me out. Why does the Mig-29 need soft FOD covers when it has intake doors? How common is using soft covers? Lastly, does anyone have any additional photos or links to photo's of -29's with soft covers in place? I have searched and only found those posted above (and one other from the same site) so it must not be SOP to use soft covers I would think or else we would see more. Yes?

I am thinking of putting soft covers on my Mig-29 as it would be both different from other Mig-29 models and save me the hassle of fixing the Airfix doors ;) .

Thanks all!

:cheers:

Don.

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Thanks Janman I will do that. The aircraft that I am doing is a Polish bird in the grey scheme (second markings option in the Airfix kit). I just...like 4 minutes ago...watched a video on Youtube about a Polish female Mig-29 pilot and towards the later part of the video you can see soft exhaust covers covering a Mig-29's exhaust nozzles (in a really cool desert type camo!) which I will be adding to my Mig (2:09 minute mark):

Now, if I could find a photo of a Polish -29 with matching soft intake covers THAT would be totally cool and I would be set!

Thanks again Janman...much appreciated :thumbsup: !

Cheers!

:cheers:

Don.

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Nice video! Thanks for posting.

I really like the Polish colours, so thumbs up for your choice! I've seen a Polish Fulcrum live here in Finland some years ago and I've wanted to do a model of it ever since. I also took a lot photos, maybe I'll check out if the planes had soft covers on them!

What comes to Hungarian Fulcrums (eventhough not what you were planning to do) Hunavia.hu is, by the way, a very good source for detailed walkaround photos for several MiGs and many other Soviet types. Highly recommended!

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Again thank you Janman! I appreciate the link, opinions, and advice.

Honestly the Airfix kit has been fun to build thus far. The fit is not at all like more modern kits and it takes a great deal of work to get everything all lined up. The cockpit is sparse, but I intend on having the canopy closed anyway. But it LOOKS like a fairly good representation of the Mig-29 to this novice Mig builder. How accurate it is I have no idea. My young Son bought me two of the Airfix Mig-29 kits a few weeks back thinking that they looked "cool" and that I should build them. So the first one got jumped to the head of the line. I am learning a LOT for the second one.

Thanks again!

:cheers:

Don.

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Well, it's not so bad kit. I built one as a kid, in my teens actually, and I guess at that time it was a fairly modern kit - in fact arguably the most modern kit I had ever built! When compared to 1/72 Matchbox or some older Airfix kits (not to mention Revell's 1/144 teen fighters) it had a rather detailed pit. But times change!

The main problems lie in the cockpit section that is a bit too slim (as is the canopy) and in the wings that are simply too large in area (chord too long). Still, it manages to look like a Fulcrum! Which is a beautiful aircraft, isn't it! :)

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Yes its certainly a pleasing aircraft to look at. Nice lines, neat features and quite a few camouflage and markings options.

Any idea what the most accurate 1/72 Mig-29 would be?

:cheers:

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Italeri used to be the best 9-12 model MiG-29 (the basic Fulcrum). Airfix is pretty nice, but has its problems. I suppose the new Trumpeter MiG-29 9-12 kit is the best you can get - at the moment. The reason I'm not so sure about it is because I really haven't bothered to do further research on it.

Zvezda has released a new 9-13 ("hunchback" with a bigger spine but basically still the original Fulcrum) and I - like many others - have been waiting for that and the very probable 9-12 that will follow later. Zvezda's should the best there is.

Edited by janman
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You can find many pix of Hungarian MiG-29's on the "Hunavia" site; this is an underappreciated site that has a lot of pix of the various Soviet-era types used by the Hungarian Air Force.

in the last pic, it is interesting to see that the intake doors can be deployed individually:

http://hunavia.freeweb.hu/TYPE/MiG-29%20base/MiG29STAFF/photos/photo70.html

http://hunavia.freeweb.hu/TYPE/MiG-29%20base/MiG29STAFF/photos/photo61.html

http://hunavia.freeweb.hu/TYPE/MiG-29%20base/MiG29STAFF/photos/photo49.html

Edited by Marv
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You can find many pix of Hungarian MiG-29's on the "Hunavia" site; this is an underappreciated site that has a lot of pix of the various Soviet-era types used by the Hungarian Air Force.

There have been some copyright issues with Hunavia where the owner “borrowed” photos from people under the preteens “it is only for my use”, well after all it was only for his use, but on the site.

Going back to the intake covers, all MiG-29 aircraft were supplied with a full set of airfield equipment including all the different covers. Have to say that with years of service (they have been around for few decades!!!), some often used covers will be damaged to a certain degree and in many cases to a level where they could not fulfil their original function. A replacement cover was made, and what would have been easier than to use a textile version. You will find that also on engine exhausts.

The Luftwaffe Fulcrums did have some fancy textile intake covers as well as some really nice pilot helmet bags with embroidered MiG designs! :woot.gif:

So it is not only the Hungarian and Polish versions have textile covers.

Best regards

Gabor

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Okay, I too thought the textile covers were a field modification of some kind and why not, they seem to do the job just as well as the originals.

And from a modeling perspective they are kind of unique in that I personally don't see many models with them on.

Good stuff all!

:cheers:

Don.

P.S. in a moment of weakness I broke down and ordered Trumpeters new Mig-29 yesterday.... :D

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Maybe I overlooked and the answer is already given.

Short answer to the intake doors: the are closed, when engine is running.

When you switch them off, doors open and you "need" the covers.

So most model kits are wrong with closed intake doors and opend aux doors.

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...... and the wheels are down !!!

(or rather, when there is weight on the wheels.)

Ken

Yes, of course.

It was the short answer.

If you say weight on wheels, you have to add also velocity < 200 km/h. ;)

Or you cheat with the switch in right main wheel well. :D

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I've seen the soft covers on Slovak Fulcrums:

2007_0908Image0031_zpsg5aarhh2.jpg

Great pic thanks! I actually found another video showing the front of a Polish Mig-29 with the matching desert type camouflage soft intake covers as the exhaust covers I mentioned quite a ways above in a video I linked. So my plans are to depict my Mig-29 with matching camouflage soft intake and exhaust covers and scratch built red "hard" auxiliary intake door covers for the upper doors.

Thanks all, great info :thumbsup: !

:cheers:

Don.

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There's also this hard intake guard I saw on a Polish machine that might interest you:

Zvezda's lovely new 9-13 comes with hard covers for both the intakes as well as the exhausts.

I'm not sure how well these would fit the Airfix thingy, though - the exhaust covers are way too big for my Italeri MiG-29 nozzles, at any rate.

HTH,

Andre

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