1/72 AZ models Mig-17F

Gallery Article by Pierre Christian Baudru on Dec 15 2011

 

The Mig-17 is a very beautiful aircraft and was used by several countries around the world like Egypt and even Israel had one.  It was also used in Poland where they received very nice paint schemes. I decided to build the aircraft coded red 1023 of the Polish Air Force. I used decals from Hi-Decal line and they are very good and easy to apply.

 

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The AZ models kit is good with nice engraved panel lines and beautiful cockpit details. Landing gear parts are good too.  To improve the cockpit I used some colored photo etched parts from the AZ models details set designed for this kit.  I had to cut the clear part in order to show the cockpit details and have an open canopy configuration. The original exhaust nozzle part was replaced by the Quickboost part designed for the Hobby Boss Mig-15 kit but that fits perfectly on this Mig-17.  The original ejection seat was used with minor modifications and the photo etched seat belts parts were added.

About the negative points of this kit we have :

  • The air intake area is empty, so I created a F.O.D. to hide it.

  • Clear parts are not very clear, so you should use the Tamiya compound and then apply a coat of Future.

  • It was not easy to find the correct position of the main cockpit part. There are no ‘guides’ to help you.

In conclusion the kit is good but not recommended for beginners.  General details are present, but you can improve them a little bit to have a better result.

Pierre Christian Baudru

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Photos and text © by Pierre Christian Baudru