Madmax Posted October 21, 2018 Share Posted October 21, 2018 It all started innocently enough. I was browsing through a hobby store in Johannesburg when I stumbled upon theses two publications from AirDOC. Next thing I knew, I was driving home with the largest cardboard box of injection moulded styrene I have ever tried to nonchalantly carry past my wife's office. It felt more like carrying a microwave oven. Trumpeter's most recent MiG-29, the "A" in 1:32 scale has taken a bit of a beating on the internet, before it even arrived on the shelf I snatched it from. That is already a while ago, and I haven't seen many built and posted on the internet, except for a very entertaining build on this forum that sadly stopped amid some very bold reworking of the kit. I suppose that is a bit of a warning, but I really am in the mood for MiG's at the moment, so here we go. I was intrigued by the notion of this Cold War icon in NATO colours. Aren't these photo's just great? The "Trabbi" was enough of a seller, never mind the great weathering of the radomes. The kit does appear to have some shortcomings, but I think they can be overcome. The mouldings around the nose and radome are not terribly accurate, but a bit of sanding will probably go a long way. The fuselage at the radome join is not circular, and neither is the radome itself. This is very fixable. The sides of the cockpit slope too early and should be more "upright" - hopefully some sanding and re-scribing will do. There are more niggles but I will leave it till I get there in the build. I did buy a couple of extra bits and pieces, and although the exhaust clearly doesn't say for Trumpeter, it might just work... alain11, Dany Boy, Uncarina and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcel111 Posted October 21, 2018 Share Posted October 21, 2018 Wow, I wil be following this for sure! I just received my Trumpeter Mig-29C on Thursday and am very keen to get stuck in. Despite some of the issues with the kit, the surface detailling is nice and fine and I think it's possible to make a standout model from this. Biggest issue to my eye is are the too far back LERX's but I will just live with that. Cheers, Marcel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madmax Posted October 23, 2018 Author Share Posted October 23, 2018 On 10/21/2018 at 7:59 PM, Marcel111 said: Biggest issue to my eye is are the too far back LERX's but I will just live with that. Hi Marcel, If your F-16's are anything to go by, the MiG-29C is going to be brilliant! The LERX is a particularly challenging fix for this kit. I hope to find a solution somehow... Marcel111 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madmax Posted October 23, 2018 Author Share Posted October 23, 2018 I think the Trumpy guys did a great job of the cockpit. After assessing each component individually, I decided what was worth improving on. The circuit breaker box is very prominent, and I felt it needed some fleshing out. The instrument panel is pretty good but somehow missing the recess for the AH. Here are my mods to the circuit breaker box - the wiring looms have a shroud that I replicated with little tubes made from tissue (for balsa models) and shaped with white glue. The AH was drilled out and a piece of styrene rod inserted to the required depth. The brake lever is missing from the joystick, and this one is made from suitable bits in my spares box. The seat is from Quickboost, and is a thing of beauty. The engineering of the sidewalls is particularly nice. Here you can also see the wiring taking shape... I added some depth to the sidewalls in the form of the canopy opening/closing lever on the left and what I assume to be the jettison mechanism on the right. There is another detail aft left on the sidewall that I added, but have no idea what it is. Oh, and I added some adjusting knobs for the primary instruments. Instrument panels are often portrayed very flat! The seat has a lot of fine resin detail parts that once added, look like this. I did trim the mounting rail quit a bit to get the seat far enough back so that the joystick still fits in the cockpit (a scale problem of model cockpits that Cheetah11 taught me about). Kagemusha, cib2265, Kais and 8 others 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimW Posted October 24, 2018 Share Posted October 24, 2018 Wow! Nice work. I have one of these in the stash along with a bunch of Eduard PE, resin wheels, seat and corrected nose cone. Now to get up the gumption to work on it! Keep up the brilliant work! Tim W. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alaninaustria Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 Looking really nice!! Cheers Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 Very nice! I still want a Mig-29 myself Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madmax Posted October 25, 2018 Author Share Posted October 25, 2018 On 10/24/2018 at 1:17 PM, TimW said: and corrected nose cone. Clever move Tim! Hi Alan and Brian, thanks for looking in... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madmax Posted October 25, 2018 Author Share Posted October 25, 2018 The nose distracted me from the cockpit. Just like on any face, the nose says a lot. It is rather important to sculpt it correctly to capture the spirit of the model (pun intended). After some fiddling and contemplation, I decided to modify the kit part. I stuck it in hot water and massaged it round for a start. Then I glued on a thick backing plate in order to shift enough material forward so that I could reshape the taper further towards the pitot. As Karl taught me on the MiG-23 build, you better have the right drawing to base your work on. This drawing appears very accurate, but I still traced a photograph to check the taper line - looks good. I did the work by hand with files and sandpaper, but I imagine those of you with lots of tools will do this on a lathe. It is still a bit rough as I type, but appears to be a doable DIY fix! Then I got back to the cockpit and did a little work on the coaming/dashboard (what is the correct name for that front bit?). I can't find much in the way of photographs of it, and I suspect it isn't terribly accurate, but will do. Added some wiring and the triangular piece that fits on the HUD projector glass. I really enjoy the way the canopy has a frame which you glue into the clear piece - a lovely piece of engineering from Tumpeter. Now its time for some paint. Cheers, Sean Kagemusha, Trak-Tor, TenSeven and 13 others 15 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cib2265 Posted October 25, 2018 Share Posted October 25, 2018 Great work, looks like a relatively "easy" fix on the nose there! I'm curious about the lip of the front of the canopy though, thats the area that's holding me back on mine, doesnt seem to like right to me - too pronounced? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncarina Posted October 26, 2018 Share Posted October 26, 2018 Beautiful work, and I’m taking notes! Cheers, Tom Madmax 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerhard Posted October 26, 2018 Share Posted October 26, 2018 (edited) MadMax, good to see another Saffer on here, Now 3 that I know of including myself. Awesome work as usual. Sit up Gents, you are in for a treat. Oh, I'm Drifter on the SAAF forum btw. Edited October 26, 2018 by Gerhard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcel111 Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 On 10/26/2018 at 3:32 PM, Gerhard said: MadMax, good to see another Saffer on here, Now 3 that I know of including myself. Make that 3.5 since I was born in Cape Town and lived there for 25 years (then 4 years Germany, 8 years U.S., Switzerland since 2010). Cheers, Marcel Gerhard 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madmax Posted October 31, 2018 Author Share Posted October 31, 2018 On 10/25/2018 at 11:26 PM, cib2265 said: I'm curious about the lip of the front of the canopy though, thats the area that's holding me back on mine, doesnt seem to like right to me - too pronounced? Hi Chris, I haven't really looked into this yet. Not sure which part of the canopy you are referring to? Would you mind showing us in a picture? I guess there is more to fix than initially meets the eye... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madmax Posted October 31, 2018 Author Share Posted October 31, 2018 Gerhard and Marcel, Howzit! Cheetah11 is a Saffer, as is Gregair, and Mistral, and Tim Hepplestone. There are probably more. Thanks for the homegrown support! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now