Trumpeter 1/32 Mig 3 "White 21"

[mywifehatesmodels]

Thanks, Mike!

 

I certainly hope to do more stuff wheels up in the future and I'll be looking for options. The plastic/acrylic rod would be a huge plus.

 

 

Today I spent some time getting the clear parts ready. Wow, are they thin! I was terrified through the whole process, but I managed to get the windscreen bars sanded and polished. Once that was complete, everything got a coat of Pledge floor polish (Future). Once that was dry, I did a test fit and check for clarity. I was surprised the windscreen came out as well as it did, since it was still a bit cloudy before the Future coat. Here are some pics.

 

 

 

 

My intention was to model this with the canopy open. Being that the pilot is so "unbuttoned", it would seem conceivable that he had just taken off, or was about to land (but I would want to be "buttoned up" to land! ). I may try leaving the canopy loose, but it's so thin that one fall could be the end of it. So, we'll see. 

 

Thanks for following along!

 

John

[vvwse4]

Hi John,

 

Looks great. About the canopy thing.

 

As far as I know they always flew with the hood open or even removed, there was no emergency release so no way to get out when necessary.

 

Look forward to see more.

 

Rick.

[66misos]

Hi John,

I do not know whether cockpit + pilot + canopy are already glued together, but maybe you with to check following details:

 

1.) pilot seat should be green, not light blue:

 

2. rear part of the cockpit behind the headrest was combination of the wood and green paint:

 

Regards,

   66misos

[mywifehatesmodels]

Thank you for the photos 66misos. At this stage, I'll be leaving the seat back the way it is. However, I have already painted the rear-most portion with same AMT-4 green that I will be using for the exterior. As for the radio shelf, I sort of built myself into a corner on that one, but I do plan on trying to replicate at least some semblance of the wood, as your photo shows. I'm in the middle of masking the clear parts, right now. However, before they're attached, this paint work will be completed. 

 

Thanks again,

 

John

[mywifehatesmodels]

The painting has commenced! 

 

I started by priming the "wood" areas of the plane with Mr. Surfacer 1000 (with the exception of the horizontal stabs/elevators, on which I won't be doing any paint chipping). The "metal" fuselage and wing roots were primed with MRP's black primer. After that, I sprayed that area with MRP's White Aluminum. 

 

\

 

 

After that was finished, I started working on the underside, using AKAN's AMT-7.

 

 

 

From there, I added some hairspray to the traffic areas and then the MRP AMT-4 green to the upper surfaces, building the color up as I went. These photos make it look much brighter and more green, when I used the black background for photos. It's actually much darker and has an olive brown look to it, not too far off from a U.S. olive drab. The last photo is closest, but even that doesn't really capture the way it looks in person.

 

 

 

I'm going to call it a day. I'm hoping that I can get the darker camo color applied tomorrow. I've been experimenting with mixes for the "flat black" I want to use. I know there's some speculation out there about this aircraft's colors. It was most likely AMT-4 green/black. However, this plane has already strayed away from the look I thought I was going to get before I started. Most profiles show a lighter scheme than standard, but mine is probably not going to be light, by any stretch. 

 

John

 

 

Edited November 26, 2023 by mywifehatesmodels

[MikeMaben]

Looks good this way 

[dennismcc]

Looking good, for some reason my camera also does not like green and it ends up showing some vey strange shades which I used to correct, so I only use my phone now.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[mywifehatesmodels]

Thank you, Mike and Dennis.

 

20 hours ago, dennismcc said:

Looking good, for some reason my camera also does not like green and it ends up showing some vey strange shades which I used to correct, so I only use my phone now.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

This may be part of the problem. I got a new(er) phone over the summer and have noticed that the camera is more sensitive to certain things. However, I know that the LED lights in my shop are terrible for photos. They pull out/exaggerate colors and the glare is ridiculous! This is one reason I prefer to take photos outdoors, especially shots for the RFI forum. Unfortunately, I'm getting to the part of the year where it's usually too cold and windy to do so.  So goes the battle....

 

I managed to shoot some more paint today. I mixed up my own version of flat black (Tamiya Black Green, Rubber Black and Flat Black), made some raised masks from thick paper and went for it. Once that was done, I noticed that there didn't seem to be as much contrast between the two top colors as I had anticipated. So, I added a light, black oil wash to the upper surfaces, just to get an idea of what it would look like and it really brought it to life. On the downside, when handling the plane while applying/removing the wash, I had oil paint and mineral spirts on my glove and it quickly removed some of the AKAN AMT-7 from the belly of the plane when I went to wipe it off.

 

 

A minor setback, but it was going well up to that point (I just noticed that, in that last shot, you can also see the canvas cover I made for the tailwheel, from Milliput). 

From here, I'll do the required touch-ups and then start working on the masks. If the stars turn out to be too much of a hassle, I have the decals to fall back on.  The number "21" needs to be painted on, however, since I'm going from the yellow provided in the set, to white. 

 

Thanks for checking in!

 

John

Edited November 27, 2023 by mywifehatesmodels

[Troy Molitor]

Great looking scheme so far.  I'm really enjoying this build.  Thanks for sharing this with us John.  

[mywifehatesmodels]

Thanks, Troy!

 

Well, I'm going to call this one done. At least the plane, anyway. The stand has stain drying right now and the rod is being epoxied into place. I may also get a small nameplate made for it, but we'll see. I'll post in the RFI forum once it's attached to the completed stand.

 

I cut some corners to just get this thing done. Not bad for two weeks of work, but I wanted this one to be a "quick" build, from the beginning. I did make the "21" masks with the Cricut cutter, but had trouble getting the graphic for the stars with the borders to work. I'll chalk that up to my inexperience, but I finally said "screw it" and just used the decals for the stars, instead. The FCM decals are printed by Microscale and are very nice. I did have a couple of cracks, but one was certainly my own fault when I folded the tip of one star and it broke. I was able to get the decals on without any real trouble, though. The one thing that gave me an issue was the landing light lens. I recall debating with myself about whether or not I should install it before painting and just mask it off. I'm wishing now that I had done it that way, because it didn't want to fit very well and I didn't want to risk screwing it up (or the surrounding paint), so it's less than perfect. The Quickboost exhausts went in easily, with just a small amount of trimming. For the underside, I didn't do much weathering, as I didn't want to risk more damage to the AKAN paint, as I had already fixed it once and I only have but a few drops of the stuff left. 

 

So, here's where it sits right now.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for following along!

 

John

Edited November 28, 2023 by mywifehatesmodels

[Alain Gadbois]

What a great looking MiG! 
I really like the camo and markings. The scratched paint is also well done!

 

Alain

[Troy Molitor]

Love it.   

[mywifehatesmodels]

Thanks, all!

 

6 hours ago, Alain Gadbois said:

What a great looking MiG! 
I really like the camo and markings. The scratched paint is also well done!

 

Alain

Alain,

 

This is the first time I've had real success using the hairspray method for paint chipping. I think the problem I was having, every other time I tried it, was that I wasn't using quite enough hairspray. This time I sprayed a good solid layer  on the wing roots, instead of just a light mist, like I had done before. 

 

Thanks again!

 

John

[dennismcc]

Nice buildb and finish, it looks great and it's nice to see a Soviet subject being built, the MiG 3 always looks like a race aircraft to me.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Dpgsbody55]

Very good looking MiG.  You've got me thinking about doing another one, especially as this one is my favourite Trumpy kit yet.

 

 

 

Cheers,

Michael