Madmax Posted December 8, 2018 Author Share Posted December 8, 2018 Hi Karl, Marcel, Brian, Alain, Torben and Ben, I truly appreciate your input! I have to say that what Alain and Ben are cautioning me about has turned out to be correct. This issue of inaccurate drawings keeps on popping up in build threads across the vastness of interspace, and will clearly keep on doing so. The 3-views I am using were gleaned off the web and look superb to me (even having a MiG logo on them), but as I work on reshaping the fuselage, I have relied more heavily on photographs and only used the cross sections as a guideline. I actually can't get the shape to match them anyway as I would run out of plastic in cutting back to the profile they suggest! Starfighter 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alain11 Posted December 8, 2018 Share Posted December 8, 2018 hi keep on trusting in your sense of observation , once your reshaping will be done , one will say , : "it's obvious !!! " Alain Madmax 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madmax Posted December 8, 2018 Author Share Posted December 8, 2018 One has to look at a LOT of photographs to get an idea of the shape of an aircraft, particularly if there isn't a real one handy to study. I was lucky enough to clamber around a real MiG-29 when the Design Bureau brought one out to South Africa for our Air Force to evaluate (and I assume hopefully to purchase). I recall being amazed at how industrial it appeared next to our delicate Mirages, and wanted to capture some of that in rendering the model. Look at how much dimpling you can actually see on the surface of the skin, as well as the amount of fasteners! The lighting of this shot gives a good insight into the shape of things, and helped me get to this point - where I have modified half of the upper surface. The left engine bulge has been flattened as much as I dare on top, and the sides filled with Tamiya epoxy putty (nice stuff to work with by the way). Here you can see my plan for the front. I basically cut the panel lines above the grilles (since I want to preserve that detail), and then put in styrene shims to angle the LERX slightly flatter as well as giving me some material to shape round in the blend between fuselage and LERX. Here is the missing part of the LERX, shaded in pencil... which I simply regained by cutting a line behind the shape, and bending the styrene outwards. The gun port need a bit of twisting to get it flatter and closer to its real shape. I will have to put some styrene between the fuselage halves to flesh out the LERX that are a bit emaciated in the kit. Here it is after my plastic surgery. And the behind the scenes support. One of the tricky parts of this kind of surgery is the redoing of panel lines. I'm sure there aren't many modellers who enjoy this, but the right tools make it easier. I have found that for my taste the Tamiya panel line saws and the RB Productions Scribe-R are the bees knees. I used to use Dymo tape, but nowadays I find this flexi tape to be just fine for lining up the cut. I'll post some photo's of the completed half just after our electricity "load-shedding" has ended for the day. It's a long story. jgrease, TorbenD, LSP_Kevin and 7 others 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madmax Posted December 8, 2018 Author Share Posted December 8, 2018 Alain, you are quick to respond! Thank you, I hope my solutions get others (who are facing the same challenge) thinking. There may be more obvious fixes than mine of course... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madmax Posted December 8, 2018 Author Share Posted December 8, 2018 Now that our power is restored, here are some photo's of the corrected half of the upper surface. You will notice the addition of fasteners, and some surface work in places where I felt it would add to texture of the model. These additions are not exact copies of what I can see on the reference material, but rather an interpretation of what I see. As my friend Nick likes to point out, one may have to exaggerate some details to make the model look more like the real thing! Here you can see the airbrake has also had some concave and convex shapes added (or subtracted in this case). A comparison between the worked and unworked sides. Here is the nose area. I did some stressed skin on this portion of the cockpit sides as well as above the main wheel wells. This is essentially how I start it, and the rest is done by sanding the panels to shape. I am quite pleased with the effect, and of course the upright cockpit sides. Now I am going to take a break from the fuselage, and fiddle with the HAD etched exhaust nozzles. This should be fun! Cheers, Sean LSP_Kevin, Starfighter, cib2265 and 12 others 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Posted December 8, 2018 Share Posted December 8, 2018 WOW, impressive work Sean, just amazing! If I'm seeing your pics correctly, it appears you were able to rescribe the Tamiya epoxy at the engine bulges. Did the epoxy chip like putty does? Anything special you had to do, besides the Dyno tape, to scribe it? Thanks Mike Madmax 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcel111 Posted December 8, 2018 Share Posted December 8, 2018 Wow, this is just sooo good! Marcel Madmax 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Ray Posted December 8, 2018 Share Posted December 8, 2018 Beautiful work! Especially making all those curves work out. Madmax 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted December 9, 2018 Share Posted December 9, 2018 Wow, that is some serious work! Madmax 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alain11 Posted December 9, 2018 Share Posted December 9, 2018 hi wow !! that's a bold work !!! now , who will be enough " crazy" to try such "surgeries" on the LERX ???..according to the of the real plane , the fixing of the engine bulge is obvious , now ,"softer" .. all you have to do now , is to make the same thing on the other side ....it's an exciting WIP !!!!! Alain Madmax 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazzas Posted December 9, 2018 Share Posted December 9, 2018 I really dig the way you're improving the shape of the kit! Madmax 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starfighter Posted December 10, 2018 Share Posted December 10, 2018 Stunning to say the least! Madmax 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crobinsonh Posted December 10, 2018 Share Posted December 10, 2018 Great work - love the WIP on this kit. Madmax 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TorbenD Posted December 11, 2018 Share Posted December 11, 2018 Hmmmmmm lurvely.... Love the subtlety after the more major surgery. Torben Madmax 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormer Posted December 13, 2018 Share Posted December 13, 2018 MadMax, What reference book are you using? Those cockpit photos looks ultra Sharp! Madmax 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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