THE AIRCRAFT
Developed after the Korean War, the MiG-21
very much mirrored the contemporary U.S. designed F-104. It was a
lightweight, point defense interceptor that went on to perform a multi-role
mission. It still remains in service in both its original build and in
remanufactured versions. While not without its faults including poor
armament and visibility, limited avionics, and short endurance, it also had many
good features. Its small size made it very hard to see in combat, and
while it has a high airspeed bleed off in a maneuvering fight, it retains the
capability to point its nose at very low airspeeds. At least as important
as those virtues, it was easily maintainable; an important factor for the many
third world nations that flew it. Egypt has a long history with the
MiG-21, and still flies them to this day. While used primarily in the air
defense role, they have also served in ground attack and reconnaissance
missions. It was this last type of aircraft that I decided to model.
The MiG-21R (NATO designation) carried a centerline pod mounting cameras or
Elint equipment and which replaced the 23mm cannon. While carrying this
pod it was still able to retain a self defense capability of AA-2
"Atolls" and carry the vital, and ever present, external fuel tanks.
Reference sources indicate that at least some MiG-21R's also carried wingtip
mounted ECM pods.
THE KIT
The Fujimi series of MiG-21's have been around
for quite a few years now, and are, by far, the best kits of late model Fishbeds
in 1/72 scale. There have been negative comments made about the size and
shape of the spine and of the wheel well bulges, but these kits certainly look
the part of a late model MiG-21 when assembled. Overall, these models have
engraved detail and assemble rather easily, due in large part to the real
aircraft's simple shape; even the separate spine goes on with no filling.
Turning to
this kit in particular, for a MiG-21R "peeping MiG" (as it's called on
the kit box top) it lacks the wingtip mounted ECM pods mentioned above.
The pitot boom is also incorrect; the real thing lacks the vanes mounted on the
boom. In addition the is incorrect in its radar scope placement and type
of gun sight. The MiG-21R has the radar scope mounted at the top, center
of the instrument panel, and the gun sight is the smaller type used on the
MiG-25 and SU-15. Finally the Egyptian markings provided with the kit may
in fact have actually been applied to a Fishbed J (at least according to color
profiles I've seen). In short the kit seems to be a Fishbed bis (due to
the too large spine) carrying a reconnaissance pod; whether that is possible in
real life is open to conjecture. In any event, this kit was built well
prior to the outstanding 4+ book coming out, so most of these detail differences
weren't known to me when I built it, and I I just wanted to give the paint
scheme a try. Construction started, as always, with the cockpit, which is
rather simplified compared to the real thing. Real MiG's have a large
number of single function toggle switches placed all over the cockpit; these
were not present on the kit. I reproduced these using decals and scrap
plastic, added a radar scope hood, and gun camera. I also replaced the
kit's anemic seat with a True Details KM-1. The rear bulkhead was detailed
with framing and ejection rails as was the inside of the canopy with Evergreen
strips, then the whole assembly was painted Soviet cockpit green from the now
defunct Red Paint line. The seat was painted according to the instruction
sheet that comes with it and from what I've seen of the actual KM-1 seat.
Outside of that the rest of the kit was done OOB with the exception of the
missiles and their rails. The kit offers the option of dropped flaps and
separate
ailerons. I left the flaps up, and glued the ailerons on with a very
slight degree of deflection often seen on modern aircraft following engine
shutdown. The AA-2D Atolls came from Hasegawa's Weapons Set III, and they
are actually AIM-9G's. In real life both the basic and advanced versions
of the Atoll were copies of captured American Sidewinders, so I always use the
missiles (AIM-9B or G) from this set to replicate the Atoll. Because the
AA-2D's were cooled missiles, the launch rails were different, so the kit rails
were replaced with ones that came from the spares box.
PAINTING AND DECALING
I went mostly by the kit instruction sheet for the
paint scheme; although, as I mentioned I have my doubts about its accuracy.
Given the variations that occurred in Soviet schemes, and even more in Egypt's
air force getting totally accurate, verifiable info is problematic at best.
The paints were all Gunze Sangyo, consisting of H55 (tan RLM-79), H306 (gray
FS#36270), and H64 (green RLM-71) for the topside, while H67 (light blue RLM-65)
was used on the underside. The easiest way to paint this complicated
scheme is to work inside out. The green was painted first, then the gray,
and finally the tan. Paper masks held in place by rolled up tape provided
the soft edges to the patterns. Once the topside was done the bottom was
painted again using paper masks. The radome and dielectric areas were
masked and painted using Gunze H340 (green FS#34097) as were the wheel hubs.
The instructions call for the wheel wells to be painted H336 (hemp). I
elected, instead, to use light gull gray (FS#36440) based on photos and real
life MiG's I've seen. It's hard to be dogmatic on wheel well colors for
the MiG-21 given its diversity of users with their varying standards for
overhauls. The landing gear was also painted light gull gray again based
on the same evidence. Tamiya clear was used to provide a gloss coat, and
the kit decals were used
along with some stenciling from an old Micro Scale sheet. The matte coat
is highly thinned Testor's Dullcote which had been "doctored" by
pouring off some of the carrier fluid after the bottle had settled for a couple
of weeks; this provides an absolutely matte sheen. The tailpipe section
and nose ring were masked off and sprayed with thinned Rub N' Buff. While
all this was going on I painted the AIM-9G's that were to serve as the
Atolls. The base coat was matte white, and the nose was painted graphite
with a
silver band at the extreme tip. The forward fins were done in dark
metallic gray, and the rollerons in matte aluminum. The TDD (fuse section)
was painted matte black and the
seeker "glass" dark earth. The missile rails were painted medium
gray.
FINISHING UP
The landing gear and doors were glued on using liquid cement
for the gear and CA for the doors; the AA-2's were then added also using
CA. The canopy was glued on, and the supporting wire added from stretched
sprue. Overall, this was a simple and satisfying project. The Fujimi
kit is excellent in its basic fit and detail, and with a few aftermarket items,
and better looking missiles makes for a convincing replica of the MiG-21;
although, not the MiG-21R version listed on the box top. Eventually I plan
on making an accurate MiG-21R using the 4+ book for references and parts from
the Eastern Express kit.
Murph
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