Mark_C Posted January 31, 2018 Share Posted January 31, 2018 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 Unfortunately, the MiG-17 has a shedload of errors (many very difficult to fix) of its own. I would pay good money for a decent '17. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thierry laurent Posted January 31, 2018 Share Posted January 31, 2018 Indeed, the 17 is not really an easy choice either...! To go back to the VPAF MiG-21, I am really wondering if there were VPAF PFMs with the turquoise colored pit. All the wartime pictures I have seen showed a grey pit with a black IP. These were black and white pics but the planes with the turquoise pit do not have a black IP and glare shield. So, the difference is easy to spot. Of course, as the useful pictures are quite rare and only show close-ups, I possibly saw period pictures of a single plane! However, the VPAF got at least 110 PFM. They were the most common mark in this air force. So, who knows...? The stupid part is the fact that a considerable number of them are preserved in Vietnam museums and I have been close to some of them twenty-five years ago! However, at that time, I was not really worried by the color of their cockpit... :-( In spite of long searches, I have never been able to get the final word about that. Frustrating! Oh, well, this is what we name "artistic license"... Thierry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thierry laurent Posted January 31, 2018 Share Posted January 31, 2018 Here is one example: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thierry laurent Posted January 31, 2018 Share Posted January 31, 2018 At last, the front IP will have to be fully rebuilt as the radar scope location was higher on the PFM (on the MF it was more or less right in the middle of the IP)... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark_C Posted January 31, 2018 Share Posted January 31, 2018 I'm surprised they could see out, much less spot an enemy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thierry laurent Posted January 31, 2018 Share Posted January 31, 2018 The Soviet doctrine of the time did not foster dogfighting for interceptors. Ground Control Interception was the rule of the day for such planes up to the end of the war. This explains that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thierry laurent Posted January 31, 2018 Share Posted January 31, 2018 Moreover the PF and initial PFM had no gun...! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Pare Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 I have two Mig-21 PF's by Revell. I am looking for aftermarket landing gear for it and wondering if the white metal ones for the Trumpy kit can be modified for it. One kit I bought on Ebay and it is missing a main gear strut. Besides, they look flimsy and under-scaled. I wanna do one as an NVA and one Syrian circa 73- 82. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thierry laurent Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 If my memory's right,the main landing gear leg is quite featureless. Two sliding tubes, a wheel axis and some strengthening collars made out of aluminum tape and you will get strong and accurate legs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thierry laurent Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 I hope your canopies are nice as the one in my kit has a molding default that will be impossible to remove and rather difficult to hide... :-( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony T Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 Pavla do a vacform for the Trumpy F-13 which might work for the Revell PF version. (But yes, I prefer IM clear parts too.) Still out there on ebay. Interested to see the PF coaming. Does it have that bizarre triple layer like the F-13? (I.e. outer forward-opening hood, inner armoured windshield with side panels behind and gunsight glass behind that). The bits are all included on the Eduard interior F-13 set, including etch and acetate bits, like this... https://www.eduard.com/store/out/media/32081.pdf It's not easy to make. I stuck the inner windshield to thick acetate using Formula 506 canopy glue then trimmed it back. Not beautiful, but the real thing was often a bit rough looking. Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony T Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 Sorry for thread creep, think I've found what looks like a PF cockpit - uses one of those dangling reflector sights behind the armoured inner windshield... http://www.djibnet.com/photo/mig/mig-21-ss-cockpit-5786468844.html Adapting the Eduard set for a PF should be less aggro than I thought. If you enjoy modelling small details using a combo of styrene, acetate and nickel plated brass etch this is really "fun" stuff! Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thierry laurent Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 Well, I finally ordered the Finnish F-13 set from Hannants as this IP is very close to the ones used in the PF and PFM. Moreover, for the front IP, this is cheaper! I did not know Pavla released the canopy separately. I thought it was only available in the pit set. By the way even if I generally prefer working with injected plastic, this becomes an absolute necessity as I have to saw it in two parts to change the PF canopy into a PFM one for a stupid reason: VPAF PFM Migs never got the rear mirror in the canopy. So, no way to use the MF canopy whereas this would not be a problem for a Warpac plane...! With regard to the Revell canopy of the PF, guess what? It has the internal armor missing in the Trumpeter F13 kit! So, you can use the Revell kit to have enough parts to change a MF into a PFM, a F13 into a PF (or at least add the glass armor to a F13) and a Mongol into the early short chord tail mark! Not so bad if you like plastic surgery! Thierry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony T Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 Apologies for thread creep again. Yes, I've used the Kuv F-13 prepainted dashboard in combo with the Eduard interior set. Drew some Finnish black cat markings (Finnish ejection triangles, roundels and black cat tail markings) and had these printed by Draw Decal as my stalled F project is actually one from Finland - this thread might well give me the impetus to complete it at long last. Good old LSP - always the firework that gets thing moving again! Best of luck with yours Thierry. The OP is Vietnam but I really want to make a Polish PF myself. Best, Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Maxim Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 I'm surprised they could see out, much less spot an enemy. Shoot and run was the basic tactic of the day in Vietnam for the Mig-21. The Mig-17 tended to dual as they had heavy caliber guns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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