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Best way to get to a NVAF MIG-21?


Bill M.

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As I contemplate building a mig-killing F-8E and an F-4B, I realize I may need a 1/32 MIG-21 to provide a worthy opponent. So what is recommended as far as kits, aftermarket and decals to build a good and accurate 1/32 VNAF MIG-21 of either the 1966-67 period or the 1972 period? I haven't kept up with Soviet-bloc aircraft or models, so I don't have a clue as to what is good and what is available. Thanks!

Bill M.

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As I contemplate building a mig-killing F-8E and an F-4B, I realize I may need a 1/32 MIG-21 to provide a worthy opponent. So what is recommended as far as kits, aftermarket and decals to build a good and accurate 1/32 VNAF MIG-21 of either the 1966-67 period or the 1972 period? I haven't kept up with Soviet-bloc aircraft or models, so I don't have a clue as to what is good and what is available. Thanks!

Bill M.

 

 

Well, the Trumpeter kit is of the later MF variant, and the Revell kit is available in the Vietnam-era PF and PFM variants, but is quite crude, detail wise. Perhaps the best route would be to graft the relevant PF/PFM parts (fin, spine, canopy) onto the Trumpeter kit.

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Guest Airfixer

1966/1967:

MiG-21F-13 and MiG-21PF(L), the MiG-21PFM started being introduced in 1968.

 

MiG-21F-13:

1-_Mi_G-21_F-13.jpg

 

MiG-21PF/PFL:

2-_Mi_G-21_PF.jpg

 

1972 timeframe:

MiG-21PFM and MiG-21MF.

 

MiG-21PFM:

3-_Mi_G-21_PFM.jpg

 

MiG-21MF:

4-_Mi_G-21_MF.jpg

 

Kits/AM:

https://www.scalemates.com/search.php?fkSECTION[]=All&q=1%3A32+MiG-21*&fkTYPEGROUP[]=%22Mikoyan-Gurevich%20MiG-21%20Fishbed%22

Edited by Airfixer
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Get the Trumpeter MiG-21F-13 for the early and the Trumpeter MiG-21MF for the late.

It looks like theTrumpeter kits are the way to go. Now I need to decide whether to go with the early Mig-21 F-13 or the later Mig-21MF.

Bill M.

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Now that I seem to have the Mig 21 figured out, I just need to get my F-4B started (GT Resin and Tamiya F-4J). Also, need to get started on my Mig killing F-8E. Just waiting on the Y missile racks (and other details) from Paul Fisher and the Mig killing F-8 decals from Zotz. Then I'll be good to go. After all, no point in having a NVAF Mig-21 without an F-4 or F-8 to tangle with!

Bill M.

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There's no such animal as a MiG-21PFL. There's a MiG-21PF and a MiG-21FL. The FL was the export version of the PF.

I thought (rightly or wrongly) that both existed, the PFL being specifically the North Vietnamese variant rather than the regular export FL version.

 

But whatever designation system you use (actual Russian, foreign intel interpretation or modellers' myths) I think we're nearly all agreed that both MiG-21PF front-opening and MiG-21PFM side-opening sports models are needed in 1/32.

 

What a pity Eduard aren't interested in making 1/32 versions of their stunning 1/48 Fishbeds.

 

Tony

 

 

edited. Should have gone to Specsavers.

Edited by Tony T
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Guest Airfixer

Soviet aircraft designations can be really confusing or even conflicting: Western intel/literature designation vs operator designation vs USSR state arms trade org's designation vs actual manufacturer type and product designation.

 

Externally, Vietnamese "PFL" models are virtually indentical to previous PF models. If you want to build one, you'll need a PF kit.

In this regard, Jenning is right.

 

"There's no such animal."

Right, no such kit.

 

The "PFL" was indeed a downgraded export variant (Izedeliye 77) of the MiG-21PF (Izdeliye 76) and was indeed manufactured to meet specific Vietnamese requirements. Official manufacturer designation: MiG-21PFL Izedliye 77VK* (V=Vietnam, K=North Korea). Both the PFL and the FL shared the same Izedliye 77 manufacturer/design bureau designation, however, the FL can be easily identified by the larger vertical tail first introduced with the MiG-21PFM Izdeliye 94. Very early PFM models were still featuring the single-piece fwd opening canopy, by the way.

 

[...]

I think we're nearly all agreed that both MiG-21PF front-opening and MiG-21PFM side-opening sports models are needed in 1/32.
[...]

 

It's really odd that Trumpeter hasn't tackled the PF/PFM models...

"Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of Trumpeter! How unsearchable are their judgments and how inscrutable their ways!"

Edited by Airfixer
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  • 5 months later...

Just a remark for the ones considering cross-kitting a Revell kit with the Trumpeter MF: you must get the old, initial so-called PF/PFM Revell kit, not the more recent MF kit as it looks like Revell did not simply add a new sprue, they also removed the typical PF parts (such as the spine and the canopy)...

 

Note you cannot build a PF out of that initial kit in spite of the PF/PFM written on the box as the kit does not have the initial, smaller chord tail. To build a PF, it is probably easier to cross-kit a F-13 and a MF but the spine will have to be partly built from scratch.

 

In any case, this is not an easy job...

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How available is the Revell PF/PFM kt in Europe? I'd love to buy one.

 

Having a Trumpeter MiG-21F-13 on the SOD I can honestly attest to how much work that kit requires. The cockpit - more specifically, the inner windshield - needs complete rework using the Pavla resin or early (unpainted) Eduard etch set as the kit is grossly oversimplified; some of the scoops replacing with Quickboost items; and the Master etc turned brass 23mm gun barrel, wheel well gas bottles and pitots are all very handy.

The Trumpy 'F-13 also lacks any kind of bifurcated inlet trunking, requiring a penny-sized disc of plastic to be inserted in the nose and painted trompe l'oeil fashion, otherwise you end up staring at the avionics tray and bits of cockpit - yukkk.

 

If I had to suffer the Trumpeter Fishbed again I would build the 'MF. If I wanted a Vietnam contemporary to the F-8E and F-4B I'd probably go down the MiG-17 route instead.

 

A modern, well fitting and accurate range of early MiG-21s is sorely needed in 1/32: F-13, PF/PFL and PFM. It's thoroughly disappointing that Eduard have opted not to engineer these, esp. given their utterly stonking 1/48 offerings. I have most of their Fishbed kits and the Kinetic SHAR and Etendard and look wistfully at them dreaming of 1/32 scale equivalents.

 

Tony

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Well, I just got one old 1974 release from Kingkit for a reasonable price. So, they are available here and there.

 

Don't get me wrong, I only consider that kit as a donor as everything out of the box is totally outdated and would ask for a ton of work to get an acceptable model. However, as there is no other PF/PFM on the market, this is the only option to consider and heavy surgery never frightened me! I'm even considering recycling the early tail to build an early Mongol...

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