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East German Mig-21MF Colors


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So,

I am sure I am opening up a can of worms, but I wish to build an East German Mig-21MF using my Eduard kit and am looking at the color options. I can see a dark green in several pics, but is the lighter color another green, or is it a brown or were there two options, a green and green over blue/gray and a green and brown over a blue/gray? I use Tamiya paints, and can figure out the blue gray, and the dark green, but what about that other color? Is it an Olive Drab, or a Khaki or something else completely? I even seen pics of a bright green with a dark green. There is a pic of a bunch of Mig-21MFs on a tarmac which have the Luft markings on them. Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Best Regards

Brad

Edited by Brad-M
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I am doing one and painting it Tamiya Flat Tan and Olive Green over a Black base See your 2nd and 3rd Picture and also the 1st picture 3rd plane from the left....

Edited by viper730
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So,

I am sure I am opening up a can of worms, but I wish to build an East German Mig-21MF using my Eduard kit and am looking at the color options. I can see a dark green in several pics, but is the lighter color another green, or is it a brown or were there two options, a green and green over blue/gray and a green and brown over a blue/gray? I use Tamiya paints, and can figure out the blue gray, and the dark green, but what about that other color? Is it an Olive Drab, or a Khaki or something else completely? I even seen pics of a bright green with a dark green. There is a pic of a bunch of Mig-21MFs on a tarmac which have the Luft markings on them. Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Best Regards

Brad

Brad, When Trenton received their Mig 21 from E Germany in the 90s, it was in a green/green scheme. It has since been repainted, however, I did a mini-walk-around when it was in the hangar and I could dig out those pics if you are interested.

Cheers, Tony

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I am doing one and painting it Tamiya Flat Tan and Olive Green over a Black base See your 2nd and 3rd Picture and also the 1st picture 3rd plane from the left....

Hi, Are you talking about XF-55 Deck Tan?

Brad

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Hi, Are you talking about XF-55 Deck Tan?

Brad

I say Tan but it was XF-52 Flat Earth, XF-58 Olive Green.....Then I used MM Russian Underside Blue or Flanker Light blue can't recall at the moment.... but I might re-mask it and do it in XF-23 light blue with a bit of XF-18 and or XF-8 to darken it.

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Brad, an actual bort number would be extremely helpful. But I'm somehow suspecting, it's "687" you're after, right?

Otherwise, determining adequate XF-shades might become quite difficult, mainly because of too many possible variations - unit-applied, depot-applied, storing/weather conditions, etc.

A few years ago, I was experimenting with various shades from TAMIYA's XF-range, so here a few of my results:

MiG-21bis (SAU/75B), pretty close to XF-13 and XF-49+XF-64 (8:2 mixing ratio).

838

MiG-21MF, pretty close to XF-13 and XF-52. EDIT: correction, XF-13 instead of XF-26

460

MiG-21MF in a rather fresh depot-applied (Dresden) camouflage livery. Pretty close to XF-13 and XF-51.

510

467

MiG-21M in uinit-applied* camouflage, close to XF-13 and a mix of XF-49+XF-55 in 8:2 ratio.

531

*Difference between unit-applied and Dresden depot-applied camouflage schemes:

Colour demarcation lines applied at Dresden are pretty much jagged, whereas unit-applied colours seems to have a more organic/wavy colour demarcation.

Besides, it was not uncommon to use colours different from those applied during Programmed Depot Maintenance (PDM).

.

MiG-21M with unit-applied camo and partial touch-ups in a significantly lighter shade. Close to XF-13 and XF-51 and touch-ups in XF-49+XF-55.

583

MiG-21MF "bort 687" while serving with JG3. Close to XF-13 and XF-49+XF-55 in a 7:3 ratio.

687

"687" on display after restoration at the Oberschleissheim-collection of the Deutsches Museum in typical "Dresden-camo" - XF-2-tinted shades of XF-13 and XF-51.

687

Cheers,

Erik

Edited by Airfixer
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Super, thanks very much Erik! Any thoughts on the colors of the first couple of Migs in the top photo I posted? Why the bright green? Was that done after the fall of East Germany? I looks like the Luft painted over the East German markings, but the brighter green is interesting.

Brad

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You're welcome, Brad.

MiG-21 line-up in open storage at Drewitz:

When the photo was taken, the MiGs had spent more than a year in open storage, and what appears to be a brighter shade of green is actually a rather faded khaki.

The majority of MiG-21 in storage is still wearing the Dresdeb-applied camo scheme, and the khaki was prone to bleach out rather quickly, turning into something "greenish".

On the other hand, the photograph itself has a heavy blue tinge.

Different, less blueish version of your first photograph: Drewitz

The third picture depicts another particularity of many LSK/LV MiG-21 - bleached a**es.

The majority of aircraft spent their service life sitting in open revetments, only partially covered with tarps - forward and mid fuselage/wings. The tail remained "outdoorsy".

See the bleached rear fuselage, fin and stabs in contrast to the remaining green/flat earth colours.

MiG-21UM playing hide-and-seek

Erik

Edited by Airfixer
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Brad, When Trenton received their Mig 21 from E Germany in the 90s, it was in a green/green scheme. It has since been repainted, however, I did a mini-walk-around when it was in the hangar and I could dig out those pics if you are interested.

Cheers, Tony

Hi Tony,

Are the pics you have prior to the repaint, if so, then sure. Just exterior pics are fine, as I have enough detail pics of interior areas and cockpit.

Thanks

Brad

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Wow, Erik, what a difference that pic is from the one I posted. Makes a bunch of sense now, thanks.

Brad

You're welcome, Brad.

MiG-21 line-up in open storage at Drewitz:

When the photo was taken, the MiGs had spent more than a year in open storage, and what appears to be a brighter shade of green is actually a rather faded khaki.

The majority of MiG-21 in storage is still wearing the Dresdeb-applied camo scheme, and the khaki was prone to bleach out rather quickly, turning into something "greenish".

On the other hand, the photograph itself has a heavy blue tinge.

Different, less blueish version of your first photograph: Drewitz

The third picture depicts another particularity of many LSK/LV MiG-21 - bleached a**es.

The majority of aircraft spent their service life sitting in open revetments, only partially covered with tarps - forward and mid fuselage/wings. The tail remained "outdoorsy".

See the bleached rear fuselage, fin and stabs in contrast to the remaining green/flat earth colours.

MiG-21UM playing hide-and-seek

Erik

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A tarp would be a decent fix for quite a few Trumpeter kits... whistle.gif

That picture of the MiG-21UM screams for a diorama. So, how about it? coolio.gif

Erik

We'll see. Know anyone who has an AM tarp that fits a Mig-21?

J/K of course

Brad

Edited by Brad-M
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BTW Erik, I actually never answered your original question regarding what Bort # I was after. I am not actually looking at building the model using Eduard's decals/scheme of 687, but I am using Afterburner decals, and Bort 493. I will use the pics of 467 amd 460 that you kindly supplied me as examples for when I get to the painting stage.

Thanks again!

Brad

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I say Tan but it was XF-52 Flat Earth, XF-58 Olive Green.....Then I used MM Russian Underside Blue or Flanker Light blue can't recall at the moment.... but I might re-mask it and do it in XF-23 light blue with a bit of XF-18 and or XF-8 to darken it.

Thanks for the reply Viper.

Brad

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[...] but I am using Afterburner decals, and Bort 493. I will use the pics of 467 amd 460 that you kindly supplied me as examples [...}

Hi Brad,

Alright then. Since we're dealing with bort 493, I'd suggest to go with bort 460 and a combination of XF-13 and XF-52. 467 is somewhat off.

MiG-21M 22+59, ex 493 JG 2 in "Dresden-style" camo pattern:

6292286644_307254379b_b-001_zpsccc121a7.jpg

Note: Rear view mirror/periscope mounting plate faired over.

Cheers,

Erik

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Brad,

The actual extent of stenciling varied considerably - from the full monty to really, really sparse.

LSK/LV MiG-21 having undergone major/general overhaul and repaint at the Dresden facility used to sport more stencils. And yet, the sheer extent varied a lot.

I'd rather recommend to search for pictures of the actual aircraft than solely relying on the kit's marking and painting guide.

LSK/LV aircraft sporting a tactical camouflage usually had black and red stencils applied. Red was used to "highlight" areas to pay particular regard/place great importance to.

The full stenciling monty:

MiG-21MF "510"

(freshly depot-applied "Dresden-camo" with its distinctive serrated colour demarcation)

MiG-21MF "462"

("Dresden-style" camo, comprehensive stenciling. Note: the stencils are barely visible, mainly due to the low contrast and the practice to use regular typefaces for stenciling templates.)

Stenciling on a LSK/LV MiG-23BN

(stenciling entirely in German)

Sparse stenciling:

MiG-21bis "882"

(almost devoid of any stenciling, typical unit-applied camouflage)

Language:

Upon delivery, Cyrillic stencils - if applied. Upon first depot-level repaint (major/general overhaul), stencils mostly applied in German.

Some areas frequently retained their Cyrillic stencils - servicing points, landing gear bays, landing gear, di-electric covers, placards, etc.

On other airframes, the original stencils had been completely replaced with German stencils, though. A mix of German and Cyrilic stencils wasn't particularly uncommon.

The MiG-23BN on display at the Hermeskeil museum (link above) has a full set of German markings except for the ground servicing points,

which were applied in Russian: MiG-23BN Hermeskeil

HTH

Erik

Edited by Airfixer
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