Subject: Re: MIG-21MF Submission
From: "Submissions for ARC" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 27 Aug 2013 01:05:29 -0700

Hi,
I just wanted to let you know your article went on ARC today.  Thanks again for sending it in.

Steve Bamford
ARC Air - Aircraft Resource Center
http://www.arcair.com

Live like there is no tomorrow;
Love like you've never been hurt.
Work like you don't need the money.
Dance like nobody's watching.
Sing like nobody's listening.
Live like it's Heaven on Earth.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: [email-masked] 
  To: Aircraft Resource Center 
  Sent: Wednesday, July 31, 2013 2:45 AM
  Subject: MIG-21MF Submission

  "1/48 Scale Eduard MIG-21MF" 

  by "Burt Gustafson"
  --------------------

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  For your viewing pleasure, here are some photos of my Eduard ProfiPack MIG-21 MF. The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet fighter aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau in the former Soviet Union. Early versions were considered second-generation jet fighters, later versions are considered to be third-generation jet fighters. Some 50 countries over four continents have flown the MiG-21, and it still serves many nations a half-century after its maiden flight. North Korea is said to have many MIG-21s still in service.

  Aviation history shows the MIG-21 as the most-produced supersonic jet aircraft and the most-produced combat aircraft since the Korean War. It also had the longest production run of any combat aircraft (1959 to 1985 over all variants). A total of 10,645 MIG-21s were built in three factories in the USSR. The MIG-21 has seen its share of combat over the years in a number of wars and conflicts. Its kill to loss ratio is not all that great, but with a well trained experienced pilot, the MIG-21 was a formidable fighter aircraft.

  The model here depicts a MIG-21MF (aircraft number 7809) serving with the 10th ELT of the Polish Air Force, stationed at Lask AB, Poland, between 2001 and 2003. 

        Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 03.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 03.jpg Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 04.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 04.jpg Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 05.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 05.jpg Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 06.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 06.jpg 

  Construction
  This was an out of the box build—no after market accessories. Overall, construction is straight forward just following the instructions, which are very good—the illustrations are excellent. The parts fit was pretty decent except for the wind screen and canopy. I spent a lot of time trying to get these two pieces to fit properly. I may have caused the problem when building the cockpit. Some gap filling and sanding was required when joining the two halves of the fuselage. Also, some seam filling was required when joining the wings to the fuselage. The rest of the kit went together nicely—very little filler was used.

  I did have a bit of trouble attaching the main landing gear struts to the landing gears—the attachment points are very poor. Construction of this kit took a long time because there are so many parts, for example, the ejection seat is made up of 20 some parts. Many of the parts are very small, and there a lot of PE parts. The cockpit instrument panels are all PE parts. For under wing and fuselage things I equipped my MIG-21 with two R-3S air-to-air missiles, and two under wing fuel tanks.

  Painting
  All paints used for this model were Model Masters and Floquil enamel paints. Here are the paint colors I used:

    a.. Nose gear                       Light Gray
    b.. Main gears                      Light Gray
    c.. Wheel wells                    Interior Green
    d.. Fuselage underside        Light Ghost Gray
    e.. Fuselage topside            Medium Gray
    f.. Camouflage pattern        Gunship Gray.
    g.. Fuel tanks                       Light Ghost Gray
    h.. R-3S missiles                  Reefer White

          
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  Decals
  In preparation for decals I brushed on two coats of Future and let it dry and cure for three days. This is an intense decal model. Most of the decals are small stencils. The instructions recommend using red and blue decals for camouflaged aircraft. I found that the blue stencils almost disappeared on my model. So I used red and black stencils.

  The decals for this kit were a bit fussy. Typically I cut out a decal and immerse it in warm water to loosen the decal. However, immersing the decals for this kit in warm water made the decal difficult to place on the model. I found that as the water cooled, it was easier to move a decal on the model. In fact you could use cold water with these decals. Note also that these decals come loose from the paper almost immediately after hitting the water.

  Despite the fussy decals, they are well printed and they adhered nicely with no silvering. Just as a precaution to prevent silvering I applied a touch of Micro Set setting solution to each decal. Solvaset is too strong for the decals. Once decaling was complete I cleaned up the model with a damp cloth, then applied a light coat of Future over the model. To finish off the model, I airbrushed it with a coat of MM Gloss Lacquer Finish.

  Comments
  To sum up, I found this kit a bit difficult to build, mainly because of the large number of parts, the fit problem with the canopy, and the fussy decals. This is definitely not a week-end build. The parts fit was reasonably good and the cockpit and external detail was good. Additionally, the instruction illustrations were excellent. Despite the problems and the large number of really small parts, I was satisfied with the look of the finished model. This is not a kit for beginners. I would recommend that only modelers with a good deal of modeling experience tackle the Eduard MIG-21MF.

  "Burt Gustafson"

        Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 07.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 07.jpg Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 08.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 08.jpg Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 09.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 09.jpg Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 10.jpg here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 10.jpg 

  Just delete any of the boxes below you don't need.....it's not important to include them.....they are there to give you an idea of the finished article.  It is best to limit your article to no more than 60 or so photos, so the finished webpage won't take too long to open.

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  Photos and text © by "Burt Gustafson"