Piero Posted May 11, 2020 Share Posted May 11, 2020 (edited) Hello, here I am with my last project, a MiG-23BN attack-fighter of the Czech Air Force during the early 1990s. The following is what I need on kit and accessories in 1/32 to start: MiG-23MF Trumpeter kit HpH MiG-23BN resin conversion set Two Mikes resin cockpit set for MiG-23MF Eduard Colored PE interior set for MiG-23MF Eduard PE exterior ser for MiG-23MF Quickboost resin airscoops for MiG-23MF Quickboost resin ventral fin for MiG-23BN Quickboost resin FOD covers for MiG-23 Aires resin undercarriage bays for MiG-23 Master metal pitot tube for MiG-23 PM metal static electricity dischargers for MiG-23 It's a lot of stuff... and other parts I will have to build from scratch. Starting from the cockpit, as usual: the Two Mikes resin set is a direct replacement of the kit parts, so the only effort is to remove the casting resin parts to have a good fit with the fuselage parts and the resin front undercarriage bay. Another matter is for the front Instrument Panel: starting from the Eduard PE part I have to make a sandwich using bezels and switchs from various Reheat PE sheet. Here the result. For the Russian cockpit torquise color I'm using the AK Real Colors RC206 reference. It's perfect to match the Eduard pre-painted parts. It's my first time with the AK Real Colors and they are very good to be used with brush and also airbrush thinned with Tamiya acrylic thinner. All the details are brush panted with Vallejo and AK Colors. Spare instrument decals complete the job. Fitting the cockpit and the front undercarriage bay inside the front fuselage parts of the HpH set is not a problem, but I have to to a lot of dry-fitting of the HpH resin parts to match and align them. CA glue is a must here together with Tamiya epoxy putty. Some recessed panels has to be rescribed. ... Edited May 11, 2020 by Piero scvrobeson, Marcel111, johncrow and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piero Posted May 11, 2020 Author Share Posted May 11, 2020 (edited) First parts that needs to be scratchbuild are the front undercarriage doors because are really different compared to the one used on the 23MF. On the 23BN they have two prominent bulges to accommodate the wheels. Just for curiosity, inside the front fuselage parts HpH wrote the ID number of the resin cast... I think because mixing left and right parts of different conversion set doesn't match... mine is the 08. Next step is to scratchbuild another parts that identify the 23BN: the Delta-N pod under the starboard wing glove. It's made using the front section of a Sparrow missile... Inside the lower section of the wings glove I removed the stubs around the wing rotation pin. Doing this the two wings glove sections will be much tighter at the wings leaving almost no gap. Fitting the resin main undercarriage bays inside the central fuselage section is not a problem. Be careful that I choose to not install the engine parts inside the fuselage... because I will put FOD covers at the jet intakes and at the rear exhaust. I have read about a lot of fitting problem putting the engine inside and to match the various fuselage parts. ... Edited May 11, 2020 by Piero thierry laurent, scvrobeson, blackbetty and 7 others 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piero Posted May 12, 2020 Author Share Posted May 12, 2020 Hello, the resin front fuselage section is securely glued with the plastic central fuselage section. I worked on the main jet intakes. Here the best would be to replace the variable ramp with the resin set made by Zactoman, but because I'm going to cover all with the FOD is not necessary for my case... Just rounding some corners and shortening the ramp lip. Now it's time to mate all with the rear fuselage section. Here there is a big problem with the alignment all of the surface. A lot of details went lost with the sandpaper action. Rescribe new panel lines is a must as the riveting. Same story for the vertical tail. The cockpit is completed with the IP cover and the HUD. The new and correct resin windshield is almost ready to be fitted. A sealing cord made with a plasticard strip is applied along the canopy stop. ... Kagemusha, Lothar, Starfighter and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piero Posted May 12, 2020 Author Share Posted May 12, 2020 ... the general assembly is completed. On the rear fuselage section you can see some details that I have made from scratch around the wing gloves, the attaching points of the fuselage sections and the antennas of the vertical or add others from resin parts as the rear pylons and the upper airscoops. I had to modify the rudder single-hing of the 23BN, because is different compared with the double-hing on the 23MF. ... Marcel111, Kagemusha, Daniel Leduc and 10 others 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crobinsonh Posted May 12, 2020 Share Posted May 12, 2020 Fabulous work as usual. Martinnfb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piero Posted May 13, 2020 Author Share Posted May 13, 2020 23 hours ago, crobinsonh said: Fabulous work as usual. Thank you my friend!!! Martinnfb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piero Posted May 13, 2020 Author Share Posted May 13, 2020 14 hours ago, Jennings Heilig said: Looking great Piero! Have you seen the BN parts I’m having done to complete the missing items from the HpH kit? Hi Jen, yes, really great work you have done... I love the IP!!! Two complete sets for me when they will be ready. CIAO! Piero Martinnfb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piero Posted May 13, 2020 Author Share Posted May 13, 2020 Hello, a couple of pics of the completed cockpit area. Also you can see the work done to align the fuselage parts of the conversion with the kit parts. Clear resin windshield has been polished with Tamiya paste and wax and airbrush painted from the inside. Fitted and glued to the fuselage the result is not too bad. The canopy sealing strip has been applied to the windshield too. Masking tape is applied. Brown-orange paint is airbrushed to simulate the sealant putty around the glass frame... I spayed the some color here and there to check the filling and rescribing job done. ... Marcel111, Starfighter, blackbetty and 10 others 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piero Posted May 14, 2020 Author Share Posted May 14, 2020 Hello, I started the painting phase... my favorite one. First, a solid black cote... everything looks fine. Using a very light grey (off-white) color I sprayed the centre of all the panels. This is the technique I've been using with mt last models, and I like it... before I've use to paint a solid grey base than apply a black pre-shade along the panel lines. The first color of the camouflage is a Light Brown. After using rolls of Patafix to demarcate the limit of the camouflage areas, I went to spray the Light Green color. Again rolls of Patafix and then spraying Dark Green color. For the under-surface I sprayed a Light Blue for the front and central fuselage sections and a Light Grey for the rear fuselage section. ... Landrotten Highlander, Isar 30/07, nicolas96 and 9 others 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piero Posted May 15, 2020 Author Share Posted May 15, 2020 Hello, some details all around has been painted... A "banana" PTB-800 fuel tank is ready for the centerline pylon. ... Lothar, Marcel111, Derek B and 8 others 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piero Posted May 18, 2020 Author Share Posted May 18, 2020 Hello, the painting phase is finished. I painted in metallic finish the rear part close to the exhaust. A gloss cote was sprayed, and when it was dried a good dark wash was applied over. The wings are dry-fitted just to see how it looks all together. Now it's time to put some decals on... Marcel111, Daniel Leduc, johncrow and 9 others 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scvrobeson Posted May 18, 2020 Share Posted May 18, 2020 The large brown heart on the left wing is an interesting touch. Wonder if that was intentional on the original plane, or just an accident of the camo? Matt Martinnfb and Piero 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcel111 Posted May 18, 2020 Share Posted May 18, 2020 Beautiful work! I really like the BN. And yes, that town heart is amusing. Cheers, Marcel Piero and Martinnfb 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piero Posted May 19, 2020 Author Share Posted May 19, 2020 (edited) Hello, thank you my friends! This MiG-23BN will be finished as "9139" of the 28th fighter-bomber squadron of the Czech Air Force in the early 90s. The port wing of this airplane was replace with another one between the end of the 1990 and the beginning of the 1991. This wing has different shade of colors compared to the camouflage of the airplane. I don't know if the heart-shaped patch has a particular meaning... but it looks very particular on a rude fighter-bomber like the 23BN. Other interesting curiosity, on the web I saw a pic of a Czech MiG-23UB with the same port wing... and also in this case the camouflage colors of the airplane are completely different when compared with those on the port wing. CIAO! Piero Edited May 19, 2020 by Piero Dutch Man and Martinnfb 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piero Posted June 1, 2020 Author Share Posted June 1, 2020 Hello, time to go on with my 23BN. Here are the finished undercarriages. I've to heavy modify the front landing gear because the 23BN is different compared to the 23MF. For the front landing gear I used the resin wheels and the mud-guard from HpH conversion set. Hydraulic and electric pipes were added too. External load will follow soon. CIAO! Piero MikeMaben, Landrotten Highlander, Martinnfb and 6 others 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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