Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted August 20 Share Posted August 20 (edited) I was 17 when I bought the original 1/48th release when it came out in 1988. I know it isn't everyone's cup-o-tea, but I totally loved it. So ugly that it grabbed my heart. As I grew up and went through flight school, I realized the problems in this otherwise neat bit of fiction. PROBLEM 1: It can't carry hardly anything in its TINY bays to make it worthwhile to operate in the first place. PROBLEM 2: Really, it is about 30-35% too small. A stealth plane with internal weapons bays should be plenty larger than an A-7 Corsair. Even the undersized cockpit barely fits. I finally figured out how to fix one of these issues (#1). Here we go. Edited August 22 by Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted August 20 Author Share Posted August 20 I tried figuring if any Soviet/Russian air-to-ground weaponry would fit into the tiny weapons bays. NOTHING. Worse yet, Russian A-G missiles are pretty huge. I finally realized a solution. Connect the two weapons bays, fore to aft, right through the maingear wells, and it would be JUST BARELY big enough to hold a single Kh-31 missile, perfect for a Wild Weasel type. Also add two smaller bays for a pair of self-defense AAM's. The gear legs themselves already mount 'way outboard, so they won't have to be moved for the bays to be connected. So, extend the gear bays forward so the gear would retract forward instead of to the center. Simple. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ExchefAndy Posted August 20 Share Posted August 20 Hahaha... ah, the memories! I remember building one of these back in the day. Love the idea behind the modifications, great work so far bringing a little fact to the fiction I'll definitely be following this build Andy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
habu2 Posted August 21 Share Posted August 21 But what about the main wing spar? /s Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted August 21 Author Share Posted August 21 (edited) 1 hour ago, habu2 said: But what about the main wing spar? /s Well, I'm hoping the weapons bay fits snugly under it....somewhere between the bay and the dorsal intakes.... Edited August 21 by Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted August 22 Author Share Posted August 22 (edited) Besides the main weapons bay, I really liked the idea from another build I found online of two tiny additional bays for self defense AAMs. As I wanted this to be a late Cold War bird, which is when the model was produced, I figured R-60/AA-8s would be feasible, even though R-73s/AA-11s would be more desirable. Why did I go with the 60's? Because I had a pair of 60's that I had modified the forward fins on. And because I had no 73s. After cutting out for the small bays, I changed my mind about the shape of the forward end, and added wedge shapes to give more pointy ends... And, testing the weapons load. The aft end of the Kh-31 is a bit too snug, but it'll have to do. The aft fins (not yet installed) of the missile would not actually fit, so I figure they would have been folding fins for stowage, as I've seen on other missiles. So, maybe this is a version produced specifically for the MiG-37s to carry. I'm just glad I FINALLY made this work (mostly)! Edited August 22 by Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted August 23 Author Share Posted August 23 I was going to make it simple, but I failed...decided to detail all-out. I have a couple dozen PE frets with leftover parts and decided to use them plus some styrene to detail the fictitious bays. Lengthy process but fun! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted August 25 Author Share Posted August 25 Cockpit is too small to be realistic. Found a way to shave off the bottom and corners of an Airfix MiG-29 cockpit tub and make it fit in the VERY confined forward fuselage, although it took carving away a big chunk of the aft decking. For detailing...well....more than 25 years ago when I was young and ambitious I tried scratchbuilding a MiG-31 (it was literally a decade before a decent kit emerged). I scratchbuilt (but did not complete) a VERY detailed cockpit, incorporating bits of Eduard MiG-29UB brass. Years later I only saved the cockpit; it was too good to scrap. Well, the time has come. I can use some of it for the MiG-37. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted August 27 Author Share Posted August 27 No way to make a MiG-29 instrument panel fit this thing, nor any other panel I'm aware of. Solution: Make a panel for the upper combing and fit a display screen to that. Then, cut off the upper half (or more) of the MiG-29 panel, add another screen and other detailing, and fit that part to the tub. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted August 29 Author Share Posted August 29 Cockpit is painted MRP MiG-29 blue-gray, although in retrospect I think I should've gone for a darker shade. Well, what can I say for a scratchbuilt 1/72 cockpit tub and panel.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted August 30 Author Share Posted August 30 For the intakes, first remove the curious position lights or whatever they are.... Also, no idea why the compressor face (engine front) is literally half the diameter of the exhausts. Almost tried to install bigger compressors from spares, then thought, on a Stealth plane, this should be hidden. Once the bulb-items were removed, the intakes just seemed 'WAY too open and exposed for a Stealth plane. I just felt it needed strakes or something inside the intake ducting. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted September 2 Author Share Posted September 2 Added the HUD from the Eduard PE set for the MiG-29 along with the kit's HUD glass. Figured it wouldn't be far off since, technically, the -37 is a late 80's design. 😋 Also removed the curious position lights, RHAW gear or whatever they are from the tails and wings. Funny how the top of the wings fit the fuselage with Tamiya-like precision, but the undersides decidedly less so. The flaps have serious sink marks that need filling, both top and bottom. The tails fit even less well than the wing undersides. Also added wingtip lights (imagining some sort of Stealth treatment) using pieces of the kit's clear sprue, glued then sanded to shape. They'll be masked with liquid masking before priming, then painted red/blue after painting. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted September 4 Author Share Posted September 4 Decided to take care of the weapons bay doors now, early. Can't really do one long door on each side since the belly changes to angle upward right in the middle of all this. Was originally going to make both fore and aft doors longer, but realized the forward doors fit the upward-angled bit fine. So, need to extend the aft doors. I calculated the total length of the revised rear doors need to be 43.5 mm, lengthened from 32.5mm. Decided to make resin copies of one end of the doors. Went for four, so as to have twice as many to choose from. Doors are marked so as to know which was which (fore/aft, L/R) Found out the oval-shaped indentions do NOT align while making the 43.5mm goal. So, just have to make a super-lengthened rectangular-shaped area. Priming shows it basically good, but still some sanding/scraping to get the shape just right. But so far, so good. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Whiskey Posted September 5 Share Posted September 5 Man that is a lot of work just for a couple doors lol! I have to say though this is really cool watching your progress on such an obscure subject and kit Andrew. The F-19 kit from Testors has always been on the top of my "to-do" list with modifications so watching your MiG-37 project is inspiring. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted September 5 Author Share Posted September 5 Much appreciated, thank you! Detailed the wheel wells, still lots left to do on the airframe bodywork, though. Admittedly looks a LOT better not all blown up to larger size like this 😄 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted September 9 Author Share Posted September 9 All the gear bay doors ready for priming, plus the newly scratchbuilt doors for the small AAM bays (upper corners) Detailing and painting of the gear bays and weapons bays finally done. Went with a mix of gull gray and dark gull gray to approximate the color I see on MiG-29 and -35 gear legs and bays. Decided on a mix of white with a bit of light gray for the weapons bays (Su-47 had white weapons bay), just to make it a bit more interesting. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted September 10 Author Share Posted September 10 Payback for all the work on the totally remodeled gear and weapons bays is having to mask it all. Sprayed a blue from AKAN that is used on MiG-23 and Su-17 undersides. Upper surfaces will eventually be black with some fading, with white dielectric panels on the tails. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted September 12 Author Share Posted September 12 Painted the black uppers; used jet black first, then went back to highlight it all with Aircraft Interior Black slightly lightened with gray, extra-thinned. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted September 13 Author Share Posted September 13 Masked and painted the dielectric panels for the tail as any good MiG should have. Took some thinking to figure out just what angles to use to complement the angles of the tails. Disaster when the tape actually lifted some of the weathered black from the starboard tail, but it was touched up fine. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted September 14 Author Share Posted September 14 A word about the main landing gear. The kit designers BASED the gear on the MiG-23 landing gear, but they did NOT copy it outright. That being said, they did unknowingly copy one detail, part of the gear bay door that is permanently fixed to the gear leg. Obviously the kit designers were not familiar with the MiG-23 other than in a general sense, and copied this detail without realizing what it was. This needs to be removed. A landing light was added to the nosegear (acrylic gemstone with facets sanded smooth & polished), and wires/lines added to all 3 gear legs. Color is same as gear bays, a mix of both light and dark gull grays. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brian P: Fightertown Decals Posted September 15 Share Posted September 15 This is nuts!! In the best possible way. Such a cool product from out of the almost obscure 80s kit world. Great job. Love your ingenuity and creativity in making this a real world version. brian Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted September 16 Author Share Posted September 16 Thanks Brian, much appreciated! Got the markings done; was going to use generic stuff from the spares, but ended up mostly using the kit decals (red below against the blue, and light gray above against the black) except for the insignia plus the red dotted stripe at the intakes. Blue "05" came from an OOP Wolfpak sheet. I avoided the stencilling that was oversized enough to read, except the simple "OPASNO" markings, carefully placed (kit decal instructions often disregarded). Interesting that after 30+ years the red decals were generally okay, while many of the gray simply crumbled to bits. They also had 'WAY too much adhesive, so each surviving decal was heavily rinsed before placement. Really starting to take shape, at long last! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted September 17 Author Share Posted September 17 I wanted to improve the look of the exhaust area, with the simple, toylike engines molded as one piece to the bulkhead. We'll have to ignore the fact that exposed engine exhausts are NOT stealthy. I discovered that Hasegawa F-4 Phantom exhausts are the perfect size, and much more detailed. So, cut off the kit ones from the bulkhead, and the afterburner petals from the Phantom cans. The F-4 cans were painted and airbrushed for exhaust grime, then installed once the bulkhead was painted. I did have to add a .040 strip of styrene to the bottom of the bulkhead to make it fit the MiG. Trying to install the tails probably messed this up, but if you've ever tried this kit you'll understand. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Thadeus Posted September 20 Share Posted September 20 Very cool projects. I feel Italeri Ferret is just asking for some crazy modifications. Cool scheme too! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Whiskey Posted September 21 Share Posted September 21 I like the idea of the exhausts still being round as it adds more credence to the project. Knowing that Russian stealth aircraft are more like 4.5 generation aircraft and not 100% 5th generation mainly by means of the exhausts, this makes sense. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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