1/48 Eduard MiG-21, natural metal (kitchen foil)

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Hey fellow ARCers. Have been 'radio silent' for quite some time, but thought I'd post an in-progress of a build where I learned a few things about using aluminum foil. I also wanted to try out Quinta Studio's 3D cockpit decals, and show you how they look.

 

I've also invited my good friend, Allen Pelletier, to link our Facebook modelling page to this thread. In keeping with my self-imposed withdrawal from Facebook, I will not go on FB to create such a thread, but will gladly interact with modellers both on ARC and on FB.

 

The kit I used is Eduard's excellent 'Vietnam' MiG 21 boxing. Without further ado, here goes nothing!

ALF

[ALF18]

I had a good look at the cockpit instructions from the kit. It comes with a great PE cockpit, that actually looks really nice, but I wanted to try out the Quinta Studios set. Also, for the purists out there, it's true that in the early Vietnam era, MiG 21 cockpits were a light grey overall colour, and Quinta's set I used was the incredibly ugly vomit-green, but I like the green colour (especially because it's the colour of the cockpit I sat in at the 'petting zoo' at Nellis AFB several years back).

ALF

 

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I was a bit worried at first about Quinta's instructions, because I wasn't sure just how clear it would be which kit pieces to use, which to discard, if it was necessary to shave off surface detail, etc. Turns out, the instructions from Quinta are superb! Eduard includes two MIPs - one with raised detail, and the other one blank, which lended itself nicely to the use of 3D decals.

In the shot of the Quinta instructions with just the MIP, you can see that it lists in blue the Quinta decal numbers, and in black the kit part numbers (N8, N37). Nice!

 

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I was also wondering how easily the decals would stick to the surfaces. Here's some examples of the superb directions from Quinta. First, I built the kit parts C39, C44, N39, and N43 to make this side console assembly (completed assembly shown on top of the Eduard directions). Those Eduard directions also show where the PE parts would go, if the modeller used the PE from the kit vice just painting the kit parts.

 

Next, to the Quinta directions. They show the part numbers in black, and give clear instructions. The red asterisk says to 'rotate this element with the perforated side towards the kit part' (pointing to the III circled on the image). It says with the blue asterisk to use CA glue (which I did, with great results). The Quinta decals come off the paper with water slide, but I let them dry on a clean, hard surface before applying CA glue and sticking them in place. Again, kit part numbers appear in black. Super easy to follow, with real pictures of the process.

 

In the 3rd pic, I show the perforated white parts with the little roman numeral III next to one of them. On the back of that one, after you slide it off with water, it says 'place part 10 here', just like in the photo from the instructions next to the decals. The last pic shows the perforated part, perforations down on the kit instruction sheet.

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Sorry for the blur, but here I've used CA glue to stick decal III in place. 

 

In pic 2, I've glued decal 10 in place. Perfect fit. 

 

Third pic, have added the other panel. I absolutely love the 3D detail! The switches, with their recesses, look exactly like the real ones.

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For the other side console, you can see how clear the decals themselves are. The white part says 'place part 2 here', while the blue-background part has roman numeral II. The other decal I slid off has a number I on it.

 

The first one in place.

 

Following step by step, the rest in place.

 

Finally, here's the MIP almost done.

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For comparison, here's a close-up of the kit's PE. Great detail, but the 3D aspect is far better with Quinta's decals. I did, however, use the kit's PE for the seat belts.

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A reminder for those who have lost sight of my situation. I have been living in a rented condo for 2 years, and cannot use my airbrush. I hand-paint with mostly Tamiya or ModelMaster Acryl acrylic paints.

Here's what I used for the nose cone, and the wheel hubs on this model. I needed 2 coats to cover some of the thin spots.

 

I painted the insides of the nose and tail sections with Tamiya silver, but it turned out those areas were almost invisible once everything was closed up.

 

Another area that's almost invisible is the main gear wheel wells, but I had fun painting the red and yellow and silver bits anyway. 

 

The engine comes with all kinds of detail that isn't terribly visible, but it looks good.

[ALF18]

First time I saw a real MiG up close, I was amused at the green colour of the wheel hubs. One thing I like about this kit is how the hubs are separate from the tires, making it very easy to get a good demarcation between the black tires and green hubs.

 

Lots of little bits to stick into the fuselage, but fit was great (even when I closed it up).

 

A bit of tape, and the fuselage is nicely buttoned up. CF-18 coffee cup mandatory at this stage.

[ALF18]

Now for some of the uglier bits. I used cheap Betty Crocker foil from the dollar store, because it was thin. I bought some glue from the Bare Metal Foil company in the USA (ordered online). After spreading the glue on the foil on my glass desktop, I let it dry until transparent. If you look closely at some pics, you can see a tiny bit of unwanted texture caused by slightly uneven glue application to the foil (especially on the front part of the wing in the first pic).

 

Foiling can be tedious, and at first it doesn't look like it's going to work. Here's the saga of one area, the upper left fuselage above the wing. First, I attached a huge piece very lightly by rubbing with a finger at the bottom centre (just below where it crinkles here). Also note that the leading edge of the right wing has a bit of foil that has lifted up - I fixed that later. 

 

Same area. I carefully burnished the foil down from the centre toward the front edge (at left in the 3rd pic). I used the wooden toothpick you see on the instruction sheet to burnish it down, using the edge of the pick to emphasize the panel lines. There is a complex curve above the wing on the fuselage, but with some patience it can be moulded to.

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I burnished all the way to just beyond the panel lines where I had already applied foil. I then used a super sharp exacto blade to cut along the outside of the panel line, and lifted off the excess with a small pair of tweezers. 

 

In pic 2 and 3, I've moulded the excess over the leading edge of the wing to hide the seam under the wing where NOBODY is allowed to look. 

 

Pic 4, starting to peel off the excess.

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Now I'm trimming off the excess above the wing.

 

Second pic is the complex bulge above the wing. Aluminum foil is amazing pliable, and can be stretched gently and burnished in place with a toothpick to achieve this.

 

Third pic is the large sheet sitting in place, with some crinkles on the upper spine that needed to be further massaged in place. I did this over several weeks.

 

One thing I learned is that using huge pieces is not a great idea. It's better to attack small panels one at a time, and make sure you use the natural panel lines to camouflage the seams between foil sheets.

[ALF18]

I used a custom mix of Tamiya paints to do the rest of the cockpit and inside canopy. For the tail sections (hot parts) I used some Tamiya silver and gunmetal colours, hand-painted again. For the canopy rails I used a metallic silver artist's pen, but could have used foil if I had the patience for it.

 

This was not one of my best projects, but I'm using it as a refresher to relearn some lessons before I attack some kits I care more about. It makes for an ok 3-footer, though.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

ALF