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Mig 21. Eduards ridiculous photoetch nonsense.


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Don't know if anyone else finds this annoying but I picked up Eduards Mig 21 humpback for the first time recently. Looking at the parts it looked like a nice kit but then I came to the nose tube. A length of thin plastic but there wasn't any vanes on it. Ok I thought you obviously have to stick little plastic vanes on there. A bit fiddly but it should be ok with plastic cement if I'm careful. So I looked and looked ......... and no little plastic vanes.

So then I finds out that...........you have to stick tiny little photoetch vanes on there. I shook my head in disbelief but I thought I'd at least have a try anyway.

Ages later after much cursing and feeling like putting my boot through the tv I sort of got one stuck on................or so I thought. That's right it took about 5 minutes to fall off so I just gave up.

I ask you. Tiny little pieces of metal to stick onto a really thin piece of plastic??? It wouldn't be so bad if the little vanes were made of plastic as at least they'd stick then and be welded to the plastic even if it was fiddly. At least include an all styrene alternative. Why the hell couldn't Eduard just do the whole thing in plastic like Academy too? Looked perfectly good and no need of this photoetch nonsense. Absolutely ludicrous.

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Its all in the name of hyper-realism - I guess... :( I feel your pain. Eduard is so hit and miss sometimes.

When I built my eduard Mig 21 I broke down and got the Master pitot tube for it. I actually get brass pitot tubes for everything, I have really bad luck breaking the plastic ones during paint/assembly. The Master pitot vanes are photo etched, but there are little locating pins on the vanes and corresponding holes in the tube. Assembly was a breeze, and they give you extra vanes, to help with the carpet monster's appetite. It was worth the few extra dollars.

HTH

Mike

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Ah Eduard... I hear you brother. I did their MiG-29 and nearly every piece was either a disaster or took so much time that it spoilt the fun. Typically I only use 25% of any Eduard photo etch set. Some are so ridiculously fiddly that you think how on earth is it possible to put this together? I've got the kit you're working on...might take up Skinny Mike's suggestion and but the Master item.

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...might take up Skinny Mike's suggestion and but the Master item.

Do that. The Master pitot is a work of art, a breeze to assemble, and worth every penny. The screwball Academy MiG-21MF pitot is a nightmare.

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Have you seen the latest Master pitots? They're not even on MasterModel's website yet, but Ultracast has them -- I bought a couple and they are GORGEOUS. They used 3D printing for the section with the vanes, so no more going mad trying to glue on tiny bits of metal.

http://www.ultracast.ca/products/Master/48%20Scale/MAM-48-123/AM-48-123_1.jpg

http://www.ultracast.ca/products/Master/48%20Scale/MAM-48-123/AM-48-123_2.jpg

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Eduard is almost the Father of Photo Etched parts.

Long before being a plastic model kit... Eduard was a Photo Etched Part After Market Company...

do i have to write more? nonsense really??? c'm'on!

i do admit that some parts are ridiculously too small for my ability... but this is my problem.

the MiG-29 was academy plastic... only reboxed by eduard... little to do with Eduard.

the Eduard's MiG-21 are maybe "overrated" for some... but they are still the best MiG-21 available in any scales... (so i don't know what "overrated" could mean in this very occurrence...)

none the less, all of my 8 Eduard MiG-21 have metal pitots from Master.

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The question of how much detail is put into photoetched parts and how small they are is a long standing debate. Of course this is also a question of skills of a given modeller. For some there is not enough detail/not small enough for others it is far too complicated/too small.

Photo etch can reproduce some fantastic fine details which is not possible with any other technique, There is basically no limit to detail but who will be able to build the very fine, tiny parts? Very few, so the manufacture has to balance between detail, part number, buildability, the amount of research put into a new set as well the time spent on design. The frustrated modeller is a bad customer in the future so a good middle way has to be found. Eduard has changed the approach in recent years and the sets are far closer to the average modeller now, but of course there are always mistakes in some design, part fit. Nothing is perfect.

Personally I would prefer more detail . . .

As to DUAS vanes (the real name of the items) on the MiG-21 pitot, to produce them from plastic parts would result in a grossly oversized item. Injection moulding has its limitation! Photo etch was a perfect solution for DUAS vanes, and I say WAS since by now we have a better solution! The Polish Master in his latest range has introduced readymade 3D printed DUAS vanes together with turned brass pitot tubes. The only thing you have to do here is to glue the single 3D part to the brass pitot. No gluing individual vanes, no alignment, no adjustment, no cutting from the sprue frame or casting block . . . The accompanying photo shows a 48th scale Su-25 pitot which has all the small antennas properly placed on the single 3D printed part. I added a layer of grey primer to the top one to highlight it’s details. The set for the Su-17/22 includes DUAS vanes reproduced in a similar way and they look fantastic! One additional plus to this product is that it is made from a soft 3D print material and will not brake easily! Some resin parts are far to brittle, not this item!

Master%20Pitot%20Su-25_zpsb5edzu1v.jpg

As to where it all started in plastic scale aviation, I would say it all comes from PP Models and Tim Perry who in mid 1980’s started producing boarding ladders for 72nd scale kits, something that was not possible to make with any other technology to achieve authentic result. He is a true pioneer of this hobby developing some fantastic multimedia kits under the PP name apart from a fabulous PP range of photoetch and resin/white metal cast bits and pieces. Eduard came only in the wake of PP Models.

Best regards

Gabor

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I think Eduard's only error here is that they didn't provide both, for those who don't want to fiddle with the etch.

Totally agree with you! even more truer when you think that there is no PE frets in the WeekEnd Editions of those MiG-21...

Edited by mingwin
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