Garion's Mig-21Mf

[Garion77]

Hello !
So this is my attempt at this GB... Eduard's 1/72 Mig-21. I decided to go ahead even if I'm involve in my buddy build of WNW Pfalz with Digger. I found it's a pretty stimulating way to build. I don't know how much time I will have for it or if I'll time to finish in time but I'll do my best. I don't have much experience with moderns planes so to help it will be build SOB ; and may be help to finish in time. And I heard great things about Eduard's different Migs... they are suppose to be great kits.

IMG_3366 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

This being the Royal Class combo, there's 2 kits inside but I will build only one.

It comes with a lot of sprues and a few extras (PE for the interior, Resin for the wheels and other bits, and paint masks.
IMG_3368 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

The packaging being awful in Eduard's style... a lot of the clear parts broke off the sprues
IMG_3369 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

And to respect the subject of the GB, it would be a really unusual conflict !!! I chose a scheme from a Cuban Mig used in the Angolian Civil War where a few Cuban Pilots (supported by the USSR) went to fight there.

IMG_3367 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

So waiting for paints I've ordered this morning to start. This will be build while taking breaks from my Pfalz. Let's hope I go somewhere with it !

[aur0ra145]

Cool subject! MiG-21 is a really cool plane.

[BigWall]

Looking forward to watching it come together

[digger303]

The camo really makes the plane distinctive and that's a conflict I wouldn't have thought of....well done
The kit is a special boxing ??

[Garion77]

The camo really makes the plane distinctive and that's a conflict I wouldn't have thought of....well done
The kit is a special boxing ??

Actually this is a Royal Class Edition.... I think they stopped making them. If I remember right, usually, in 1/72 you would get 2 kits, PE, resin, mask and a goodie...in my case it's a poster. At 1/48 you would get the same thing but the goodie would be better (a beer glass for example). But don't know if they would be 2 kits... it's the only one I have like that.

[Tomcat64]

Oooh nice - I've only heard good things about the Eduard MiGs so looking forward to seeing how this turns out

[Kevthemodeller]

Superb looking aircraft, looks like it's doing Mach2 just sitting there

[Garion77]

Hello everyone !
Finally my first post for this GB ! They are already really great builds on the way and some interesting conflict depicted ! At first, I was waiting for paints to arrive but, as most of you know, I was hit by Covid. Therefore, the small amount of energy I had was mostly put on my Pfalz. The following thread was mostly done in small work sessions... so not much to show yet but it's better then nothing !

Lets start by a better introduction first ! My main subject is a Mig-21, one of the most known plane in history. It's development started as early as 1955 ! and stop production in the mid 70's. It was used by all the Warsaw Pact countries, produce by 3 different countries and with more then 12 000 units ! And it was NATO that gave it it's common name the "Fishbed". They were pretty well armed.... twin barrel auto-cannon, rocket launchers, air-to-air missiles and more !

As for the my conflict of my choice, the Angolian civil WAR, it is not well known... I've chosen it because, most of all I thought the scheme and story of the plane was out of the ordinary... because it's a plane flown by a Cuban officer in the conflict. And I also remembered studying it in college in a war history course. The conflict started in 1975 and was a proving ground for Cold War protagonists. It all started when Angola, became independent of Portugal...and ended really only in 2002. 2 anti-colonist faction faced each other, one being communist and the other one not. It is estimated that 800 000 people died in the conflict and over a third of the population was displaced. Over a 100 000 children were separated from their families. It destroyed all of the country infrastructures and made it one of the poorest in the world. In the early 2000's, as a consequence of the conflict, it was estimated that 30% of children didn't live past the age of 5. And the life expectancy was less then 40 years old... considering that here in Canada it's more then 80... We're lucky to have been born where we all were....

Now for the build ! As mentioned I was waiting for paints to arrive...
IMG_3440 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
I love those paints !! the easiest to spray in my opinion with a beautiful smooth finish always. I'm not sure I have the exact color match required. But the sand beige equivalent in Vallejo is the one use for the scheme I've chosen. As for the blue (for the underside) I'm not sure it's the right match but the instructions calls for an RLM light blue.

In typical plane construction, all started with the cockpit ; and in typical Eduard's fashion, all was package in one big bag with lots of parts breaking off or scratching each other ! But everything went together pretty well. The fit was pretty great. I decided that the cockpit will be close. So not much attention as been given to weathering and detailing as it's 1/72 scale. I used the PE provided with my Royal Class edition. I'm not a big fan of PE for cockpits but at that scale it works fine !
IMG_3473 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
IMG_3490 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
A bit of weathering was done with a wash and pencil chipping and highlighting.

All the subassemblies for the fuselage closing :
IMG_3489 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
the green parts that a part of the engine is called for bright green...whatever that is. I used a green of Vallejo Model color I had at hand and highlighted it and putted a wash on. As for where the engine goes between the 2 halves it was suppose to be Mr Metal Color Super Chrome, and used Tamiya Bare Metal Silver instead.

Speaking of the fuselage halves, it's funny because the instructions specify what fuselage part to take with a chosen marking but mine is not in there...
IMG_3479 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

Not much going on I know ! But at least I finally started !

[aur0ra145]

Wow, looking good. That is some tiny detail in the PE.

[Tomcat64]

That's an awesome start on the instrument panel & cockpit mate

I had to go back and double-check it was 1/72 given the details you've crammed in there

[Garion77]

That's an awesome start on the instrument panel & cockpit mate

I had to go back and double-check it was 1/72 given the details you've crammed in there

Well, the detail is mostly from PE so I don't have to do with it ! But thank you !

[Garion77]

Hello fellow modelers !
Time for a small update on my Mig. So it was time to close the fuselage halves together and the first fit issue appeared... And that is because of one of the side panels with PE.

IMG_3495 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

As you can see in the picture, it was unglued to make the fuselage halves come together properly. To repair everything, I also remove the PE from the panel and then sanded it at the bottom. That's where it interferes with the rest of the interior. When everything closed properly after testing, I first glued the panel and went with the same process with the PE part. Problem solved !

IMG_3500 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

It's hard to say if it's a kit problem or bad placing on my side... I think it's a bit of both. Because sometimes, I feel Eduard's instructions lack a bit of information. It's sometimes hard to figure out where exactly a small piece goes with their drawings. Or another example here, no information about the drilling size required :
IMG_3497 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
I know ! it's not that bad but as you can see one of the holes is pretty close to edge of the wing. So taking one size too big and you're done. And why make me waste my time checking what drill bit size is required !

Then, I started assembling the rest of the frame. Beautiful details, as always with Eduard.
IMG_3501 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

But a huge seam line on top of everything !!
IMG_3502 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
So big, I had to check to make sure it wasn't suppose to be there. A lot of work to clean it without removing to much details.

After that, another fit issue...this one really on Eduard's side ! Really not that big of problem to repair but that's really bad engineering on their part !!
IMG_3503 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

Just had to cut the insert and problem solved !
IMG_3504 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

And the rest of the assembly was done with 2 minors gaps and one major (last picture)
IMG_3506 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
IMG_3507 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
IMG_3505 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

Will have to figure out a way to properly repair the last one without major damage on the rest of the details around it.

Take care everyone and stay safe !

[aur0ra145]

Fit issues are never fun. Looks like you're working through them! On a side note, that is a very detailed kit, especially considering its' size.

[digger303]

Certainly some work to do on this one that circular seam line is a doozy.

[Tomcat64]

More great progress Francis, but you certainly seem to be in seam/join line purgatory at the moment.

Keep at it mate

[Garion77]

Hello everyone
Really really small update today. Not much is going on and advancing slowly... still a few symptoms left that sometimes makes me prefer doing something else instead.
Most of what I've done was putting small pieces on and cleaning a bit of the joints. A lot of those small parts were hard to put in place because of either the fit or the instructions lacking to show clearly where they should go.

But in the process of all that, I kind of hit a wall with the exhaust... I don't have much experience with that.
IMG_3526 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
So the part in front is the exhaust... I'm wondering what other modelers do... seems I don't have a choice to paint it before putting It in place. Not sure that I would be able too if all the fins are in place. So I paint before and mask it up after for the camouflage painting ? Or paint it in place ? Or paint it in place or not, with the fins being painted separately and added at the last moment ?

Other problem I have with the exhaust, again because of my lack of experience, is how do I recreate this ?
IMG_3527 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
Not having lots of experience with modern planes and with metallic paints, I'm not sure what to use as colors ? Any pointers....

Thanks for the help. letting that aside for now and I'll start working on the seat and landing gears.

[Carles]

Nice kit
Your work on it is really good
Let´s see how´s progressing..
Cheers
Carles.

[Quax]

I built this kit a while ago and you're doing a sterling job, I did have some issues with the stencils but you're more than doing a etter job than.me
Paul

[Garion77]

Hello everyone and welcome back
so time for another small update. Still advancing at slow pace ; and that's for both of my project meaning my Pfalz. I have to pick up the pace, particularly for this project if I want to finish it in time. When we left last time, I was at a stall with the exhaust... so after a lot of testing I decided to paint it first, then put it in place and mask everything for the camouflage painting. But still testing mettalic paints for painting it... After looking at pictures of the real thing (posted in my last update), I realize that I could add details to the kit's one. But realize at the same Time that Eduard seem to had a problem with the molding of this part as they are pretty faded.
IMG_3544 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
The line stops at point and the rivet aren't as pronounced as they should be. And I want to add more like the real thing... and after priming almost everything disappeared. And I went pretty thin layers with Tamiya Fine primer and Mr. Leveling thinner.

On another note, does anyone what does are ??
IMG_3528 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

Remember the ugly joint I had... it was pretty hard to repair properly. Did the best I could ; didn't came out that good but the fit at that area is more then awful.
IMG_3545 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

And on a better note, finish the resin seat... it was pretty hard to clean properly. Hard to detail more being so small and waste of time at 1/72 with the canopy close.

IMG_3548 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
IMG_3549 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
IMG_3550 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
IMG_3551 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

Eduard does beautiful resin !!! But the problem, in my opinion, they have is where the junction is with the mold to cut out. Sometimes it's either not well defined (case of the seat) or not well place (case of the headrest). In the process of removing it, part of the foot plate broke. But doesn't show when in the cockpit. You can also see in the last picture another ugly joints on top of the fuselage.
The kit is beautiful but the fit is barely OK... reccuring problem with Eduard in my opinion... would love a bit less details and more good fit !

[aur0ra145]

On another note, does anyone what does are ??
IMG_3528 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

Nice job with the seat/cockpit, they look awesome! I believe those are SPRD-99 rockets. It's like a rocket assisted takeoff pod, sort of like the JATO. I surmise they were used with short runways.

[digger303]

Still fighting seams it seems.....sorry. Eduard re pop a lot of kits improving them in the process mostly, but underlying problems never go away. This one though is one of there own and tooled not long ago so it really should be better.
After walking away from my G4 with my mojo smashed I can really feel for you.

[Garion77]

Hello all ! And welcome back to my build.
And yes, as Digger said, I'm Still fighting seams...and that's on both of my project. I have an almost perfect one with my Pfalz but the areas that aren't good don't seem to go away ! As for the Mig, well they are a few, but the scale being so small, and having so much details, it's hard to fill and clean everything. So it seems I'm running in circles the last few sessions at the bench.

Trying to progress in other matters in the meantime... So I assembled all the weapons that's needed for my chosen Mig
IMG_3561 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

But what's funny is the instructions calls for a number of each type (4 of a few), and there's only 2 on the sprues... may be I have to take some from the other kit included in the box ?...
IMG_3563 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

Even my puppy, while checking on me, didn't know what to do about that...
66544220724__D5323E4E-21F5-4E75-9C2D-24C8A0B3BF3C by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

And she was surprised by Eduard's constant bad packaging, as most of the clear parts fell off the sprues.
IMG_3560 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
The main canopy is bit scratch.

The main work on the mig the last few times, was done on the exhaust. This is my first mettalic exhaust. My only other modern jet, a Mirage, didn't have one that showed. Not knowing how to tackle it, I did a few test with the paints I had at hand and compare it to the picture of the real thing.
IMG_3527 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

So after priming and gloss coating the exhaust, and looking at the test I did, I decided to go with a coat of Allclad's Aluminum
IMG_3572 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
I also rescribed it and pass over the riveting. But let go the idea of doing other rivets on it. After the Aluminum, I tried recreating what we see on the real thing with different colors, being jet exhaust, burnt iron and pale burnt metal. It's hard to take good picture. But I'm happy with the result being my first. Had trouble spraying them so not the perfect paint job.

IMG_3575 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
IMG_3576 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
IMG_3577 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

Only 2 things left ; the first being putting burnt orange color on it with Tamiya's weathering set and clear coat. But what clear coat to use ?? Gloss ? Matt ?? semi Matt ?? or another ? Help would be appreciated and comments also to improve my technic

[digger303]

Feeling your pain.
The exhaust is well on it's way.

[Tomcat64]

Nice progress Francis despite what the kit is throwing at you & your pup

The jet pipe is looking good already

[digger303]

Nice progress Francis despite what the kit is throwing at you & your pup

The jet pipe is looking good already

Yep a touch of burnt metal color on the back edges to finish off and it'll be done.

[Garion77]

Nice progress Francis despite what the kit is throwing at you & your pup

The jet pipe is looking good already

Yep a touch of burnt metal color on the back edges to finish off and it'll be done.

But do you protect everything with any kind of varnish ? Because that part will be heavily taped off when paint the camouflage pattern.

[Tomcat64]

Nice progress Francis despite what the kit is throwing at you & your pup

The jet pipe is looking good already

Yep a touch of burnt metal color on the back edges to finish off and it'll be done.

But do you protect everything with any kind of varnish ? Because that part will be heavily taped off when paint the camouflage pattern.

I honestly don't know the answer to that one as I've only built a couple of aircraft with jet pipes and was lucky enough that they could be attached at the end with no masking required. It might be worth a look through the Aircraft build sections and see what other people have done, if you can find a @TommyKillander build thread he's usually pretty thorough about all the processes he follows.

[Garion77]

Hello everyone and welcome to my Mojo killer kit !!!

First off, the weapons ! The instructions aren't clear on what to use. After research, I discovered that my Mig, in my conflict of choice, used mainly 4 rockets pods UB-16 or UB-32 and 2 FAB-250 bombs. I have all that included in the kit as they are 2 full sprues of weapons. But there's no indication on what to do with my FAB-250

IMG_3605 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
IMG_3606 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
IMG_3607 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
The only thing I could guess is that they used the same support as the other bombs on last picture. But where do they go ??? Nothing again in the instructions about that. The only thing I can guess is that it goes at the location of the central external fuel tank.

And when looking at the stencils locations on the pylons, they're this info in the instructions... and really don't know what they mean by it
IMG_3608 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

Ok now finish with the boring part !! Back to the main subject. Let's start with, let's say something better... finish the exhaust. After where we left off, I added burnt red from Tamiya's weathering set, smoke oil paints on few areas and made a sludge wash with thinner and smoke pigment to put inside of it. Finish everything with semi-matte varnish.

IMG_3620 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
IMG_3621 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
I'm happy with the result considering it's my first. A bit heavy on the paint, next time I'll have to pay attention to that.

And the exhaust in place
IMG_3622 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
Again, I'm happy with the result. Next time, I'll paint it when it's in place. And you can also see the fit isn't great. Small gap... will have to think how I repair it.

Speaking of repairs... after repairing my seam on my Pfalz and doing the best I can for the ones on this one.. I thought I had gotten enough. But no !!!!
IMG_3615 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
IMG_3616 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
What an awful fit !!!!!!!!!!
So the only thing I thought could do that was the resin seat. So, by luck I was able to remove it, and realized I hadn't remove enough of the mold underneath it. But still after ....
IMG_3617 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
IMG_3618 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

My god that's awful !! DOn't know how I'll repair that !! Me that thought I was finally at the stage of priming and painting... Don't know what can cause this fit problem. The fit of the all kit isn't great at all... that's sad. I had read good things about this kit (but mostly for the 1/48 scale). That does not comfort me back towards Eduard. Again, that's killing my mojo for this kit... but still a lot left for my Pfalz.

[Garion77]

Hello !
hope everyone is having a good week for now. In my part of the world, finally the restrictions are starting to be lifted ! So life will slowly get back more to normal up to mid-march. I realized today that my son (almost 8), has never know school in a normal setting ! He started is 1st grade with a mask, did it by internet part of it. Then started 2nd grade this year, again with a mask, did again part of it on internet. What a way to start your education...well it doesn't seem to bother him or his friend... it bothers more the parents it seems !
So back to modeling. !! We left off with the terrible fit of my canopy Having 2 kits in my box, with the option of open or close canopy, with a different one for each options, I decided to try every canopy I had to see which one fits the best. Found one that wasn't so bad...

IMG_3624 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
I had to retrieve the PE part on the other one on the inside. As for the decals, I had quite a few extras provided.
IMG_3626 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

But even that one wasn't the best of fit. I had to clamp it overnight to glue it in place.
IMG_3627 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

Acceptable at most after
IMG_3635 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
But I have to say, that I saw pictures in modeling books of the same kit in 1/48 by master modelers, and the canopy on those one too wasn't a great fit. You could see a gap between them.

Work continued on the weapons system. A rack, for the bombs, had the attachments points to the sprue located at the worst place possible....
IMG_3628 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
You can imagine that at that scale, it wasn't fun to clean and wasn't the best job !

Paint was done on a few small parts (landing gear parts in the small pot, wheels, gloss black on weapons) and the bird was primed with Ultimate grey primer.

IMG_3650 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

That's it for a small and boring update. Having pass most of the issues possible, painting will start as soon as I find time and should bring the mojo back for it.

Take care everyone

[BigWall]

It looks great Francis! Way to be patient and work thru the problems!

[Garion77]

Hello everyone ! time for an update on my Mig ! About time I do one !

Much as being going on lately in my household so not much was done in term of modeling lately. We've been hit by several snow storms, that occupied a bit of time ! and tired everyone... Also, as everything is finally opening back again well we spent time, lots of time, in restaurants lately. Even plan a out of town night this weekend with the misses in Old Montreal. Not far from where I live, only 45 minutes may be, but just to change the setting a bit, have a nice meal at nice steakhouse and enjoy winter while walking around in the old part of town.

So work was more concentrated lately on my Pfalz. But everything on both fronts is going slowly.... After painting a few little bits and priming last time, I painted the "bright green" sections, for which I use Vallejo's reflective green.

IMG_3651 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

They are several other small spots like that all over the plane. Thanks to Eduard, I have masks for them all. But not thrusting Vallejo paint with masking, I decided to wait quite a while for it to dry before masking it and tackling the main camouflages. While doing that my work was on the Pfalz but everything was halted by a problem at home... was woke up at 5 am by my girlfriend for a leaking pipe through a lamp on the ceiling... not a happy awakening you can imagine ! So after shutting off the electricity, removing the lamp, I opened up the ceiling !

IMG_3690 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

And found the leak... on a drain pipe surprisingly
IMG_3691 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

And reparation were done.
IMG_20220221_145351_01 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

And ceiling was closed back again with a new gypsum sheet (not sure it's the right English word)
66716824649__5D48D9E8-35D5-4616-961A-0937471305FF by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
It seems all nice for now...and it is. Lost my day off on that... but the problem is that the ceiling is around 16 feet high in that area... so I'll have fun finishing the drywall there...

And finally, this week was my son's birthday !! He turn 8 today !! And he could finally get a real birthday, he's first in 2 years because of the COvid. The last 2, restrictions in place made it impossible to go somewhere or even invite friends and family over. But not this year ! And he was so happy !! it made everything worthwhile. And it shows how much the damn pandemic changed a lot of things. Sunday, all my family was here for dinner. Last night, we went to a nice a restaurant and shopping for a gift. And today, I got up early to make him pancakes for breakfast before school. Happy Birthday Alexis !

Back to modeling now ! My green masked up, I started work on the underside. Did a test first of the blue I had at hand for AK RC Colors.
IMG_3653 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
Happy with the result so I went on with mottling (with Vallejo Air Insignia White, which is the worst insignia white ever) and preshading with Tamiya's Medium Blue

IMG_3687 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

Being happy with it, I then applied my blue

IMG_3688 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

I really love AK RC Colors. Easy to apply, forgiving and nice finish whatever the dilution and/or the pressure use. So that's it ! Won't have time for much this weekend as I said (Old Montreal). If I'm lucky I'll post an update tomorrow for the Pfalz.

Take care everyone !

[Tomcat64]

Great work on the undersides there Francis - the mottling really shows through to great effect

[Garion77]

Hello !
time finally for an update on my Mig for this GB. There's a lot of nice build going on for it and kind of behind on it. That's why I put aside my Pfalz and will concentrate more on this build. Let's say also that my mojo on this one had kind of left me, adding all the rest on top of it.

After the last update, that dates more than a month ago, and a few days after it, I had painted the 2 tones camouflage on the plane. And had lots of touch up to do on it because of overspray with dark green. I had struggle a bit with my airbrush trying to do the pattern free hand. It wasn't the best idea but still thinks it was better trying to recreate so sort of mask on that small of scale. But all that contributed also to kill a bit of the mojo on it ! That why I left in the box and concentrated on practicing for my propellers for the Pfalz and doing the damn fabric lozenge wing.

But yesterday I put all that aside and came back to my Mig with an happy feeling. It does look good as plane so I went on given a bit of love by first correcting the camouflage and it came out good.

Sans titre by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
Sans titre by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
Sans titre by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

I lost a bit of my mottling and fading under it. I had prepainted in different colors first (no pictures sorry)

Then I decided I wound paint the Angolia markings instead of using the decals (even if they do look nice). Went on the masking first. I recreate the form of the marking by using an acetate sheet over the decal, then masking tape to drew it. Then mask the rest of the area.
Sans titre by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

And painted the colors one after the other
Sans titre by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
Small touch up needed on the red.

Sans titre by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
Broke the end where my tweezer are pointing. Glued it in place.

Happy with the markings. Always better then decals. Will gloss coat it later today. Have to decide know how I tackle the weathering. I'm thinking of using the salt technic on it.

Stay safe eveyrone.

[aur0ra145]

Looking really nice!

[RangerNeil]

The Mig is looking really good. The marking masking is impressive - well done!!

[digger303]

Looking good it's a great colour scheme.

[Garion77]

Hello everyone,

Decals and stencils are on !
But stumble in a little problem while doing them. May be because of my inexperience with modern planes... and the lack of informations in the instructions. I had already installed four pylons...but in the instructions there's no mention at all to put the markings first !
IMG_3948 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

So I had to transpose the pylons unto the decals so that it insert the right way.
IMG_3952 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
IMG_3953 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
IMG_3954 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
Only one of 2 needs a touch up of black near the pylon.

Here the finished process :
IMG_3957 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
IMG_3959 2 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
IMG_3960 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

If you have a really keen eye, and remember my previous post, you'll notice another little problem I have to deal with.... the nose fell off...
IMG_3946 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
The glue hadn't properly set to it... it's pretty hard to put in straight because they are no pins of any sort to align it... and while trying to put it back...just by my fingers touching the damn Vallejo paint...it came off !! Hate that paint !!

So next up will be the nose, and finishing the weapons, landing gears and small pieces while weathering the plane. A few stencils left to put because forgot to paint small areas in another call out. I'm trying to hurry up on the project to finish in time as I won't have much time at the bench in April. Spent all my day off Monday on it and all my free time on Tuesday.

Take care everyone.

[aur0ra145]

Nice save with the decals! They look great!

[digger303]

Seems this kit isn't done fighting with you yet, but I'm sure you will win through.

[Tomcat64]

Great work on the camo & masking off the colours on the tail fin - that looks really tidy.

Underwing decals & pylons are something that many of us have tripped over - I know I did on a Harrier - so that's a great save

[Garion77]

Hello everyone and welcome back,
even though I didn't have much time at the bench I was still able to make great progress and getting near the finish stage. And had lots of time today as I was to tired for anything else having been up the night before until 4 am for my first blackjack trip in over 2 years because of covid. SO

After a few touch up on the paint job it was time for a panel wash.

IMG_3970 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
IMG_3971 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

And while the flat coat on it was drying I was able to finish painting the landing gears (no pictures yet) and finish painting of the armament I've chosen for my subject. So all those were also weathered to the best of my knowledge with a mix result. I love the rocket launchers but the missiles and bombs not so much. All done with oil paints.

IMG_4037 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
Not sure yet what kind of varnish to put on to protect them. Not much experience on that side. So I presume satin for the missiles, Matt or even ultra Matt for the bomb... ? as for the launcher really don't know.

Weathering of the plane also finish. Again with oil paints. But first, while doing it, again the kit played trick on me !

IMG_4032 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
Second time !!

As for the result of the plane :

IMG_4034 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
IMG_4035 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

All done using reference photos of the real subject. I've used different oil colors but mostly ochre and burnt Sienna to match a bit of the landscape of Angola. But also sand color, olive green and faded green.

I think I may be went a bit too much heavy but still happy with the result. Let me know what you truly think ! Next up will be the Landing gears and all the little bits left.

[aur0ra145]

That wash came out great!

[digger303]

That wash came out great!

yes it worked very well, all the rivets and panel lines look great.
I had that paint bubbling happen once on a Mk iv kit. Just in the one spot and I have no idea why. It happened after a period of time had passed.

[RangerNeil]

The more or less finished build looks great. Interesting and unusual choice of markings, they really suit the 21 though.
The stabiliser dropping off is annoying - what adhesive are you using?

[Garion77]

The more or less finished build looks great. Interesting and unusual choice of markings, they really suit the 21 though.
The stabiliser dropping off is annoying - what adhesive are you using?

It was tamiya's white cap first if I remember ; if not extra thin. And when it fell off the first time Tamiya's extra thin.. But the fit of it wasn't great. CA glue for the repair it will be while using it for other parts.

It is unusual markings ! and suits perfectly the current GB. Stumble on it by accident while searching a project a decided to participate in the GB because of that. And learned a few things at the same time about that conflict that I didn't knew much about.

[DBMiller]

[Tomcat64]

Nice work Francis - I think the wash is giving it a really beaten up & well used look

It's a real shame about the joins popping like that - I remember I had a kit that seemed resistant to the Tamiya cements for some reason so maybe it's something about the styrene that's not responding properly.

Anyway - it looks great

[Garion77]

Hello everyone and Happy Easter !
Hope you all get time well spent with your families, catching up lost times because of covid. Not much time at the bench lately as spring chores and blackjack take time over other things. But I'm nearing the finish line for this bird.

Last time, after looking at the pictures in my post, I thought it was too much weathered. So I removed a bit. And then, put on the last flat coat... deception on that side as I used Allclad's Klear Kote Flat...had trouble spraying properly and it kind of whiten the paint... hard to explain. Like a frost... should have stayed with AK's Matt. The weapons were also varnished.

Not a lot to show, landing gears on...

IMG_4080 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr
IMG_4081 by Francis Pare, sur Flickr

They were really hard to work with. As always with Eduard's one, in my experience, the fit is always quite fiddly. The detail is beautiful for the scale, especially on the front one. But the paint job mess them up a bit... too thick of paint and same for the varnish. The weathering is a deception on my side for them. May be I should have taken more my time on them.

Next time I post should be the finish result. in retrospective, I'm not that happy with the result. Love the plane, love the detail on it for the scale, love the scheme I choose. But, the fit made things frustrating at time. Took experience on modern landing gears and weapons... and saw that I need more practice on them. And time should be taken to properly paint and weather them. Next update for the finish result should be in a week as I'm leaving for a blackjack trip as I have a few days off left to take

Happy easter again ! And take care everyone

[aur0ra145]

Looking good! I'm looking forward to seeing the finished jet!

[BigWall]

I think it's looking very nice. I can't wait to see it finished!