1/72 Italeri Mig-29N

Malaysia 50th Merdeka Day Update

by Mohd Amzari

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  Malaysia National Day 2007 

 

This is my first 1/72 MiG-29 built.  I used the Italeri kit for this project since it was the most accurate rendition of MiG-29 variant 9.12 in 1/72 scale.

The kit was easy to assemble, just be careful when attaching the upper & lower fuselage to prevent big seams especially near the radome area.  Another gap occurred when joining the intake trunk into the lower fuselage.  Otherwise, it was a perfect fit.

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To build the MiG-29N, some modification has to be done such as:
- Deletion of "Odd Rods" IFF antenna
- Adding the AAR probe
- Adding fuel pipeline behind the auxiliary intake
- Adding some antenna below the nose

All this modification was easy to do & has been explained in VFA Productions MiG-29N decal sheet.  The kit's K-36DM ejection seat was a pitiful sight.  Since this is an OOB built, I had to add some plastic card & masking tape to spice up the seat.

I choose current wrap-around "air superiority grey" scheme for this project.  This colour scheme was great for a lazy modeler like me.  Even the landing gear door & wheel was painted in this colour.  I use the Anchor "No 5 P/S Grey" industrial spray can because for me, it's quite matched with the air superiority grey.  Gun vent, afterburner can, parachute cover etc was painted using various Gunze acrylic paints.

The model then was coated with Gunze Gloss Coat & start decaling.  I used VFA Productions "1/72 Russian Connections" decal sheet.  The decal sheet was among the best I ever use & it's adhered well without using any decal setting solution. After decaling session was finished, I coated the model with Gunze Gloss Coat one more time & finish it off with Gunze Flat Coat.

For weapon, I use the kit's supplied missiles which is 2 x AA-10 & 4 x AA-8. FYI, TUDM never use AA-8 as their air to air weapon. I had to use this missiles until I could get a pair of 1/72 AA-11 Archer.

Overall, it is a fun built.  It take me about two weeks (about 1 hour per day) to finish this project.  I planned to build the double-seater MiG-29NUB in the near future to complete the story. 

Mohd

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Photos and text © by Mohd Amzari