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MiG-23ML in Angola


Madmax

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Cleaning up a botched paint job isn't all bad. It gave me a moment to rework some aspects of the model that were bugging me anyway. You will notice that the horizontal stabs broke off during the scrub. The styrene hinges were just too weak, and I have replaced them with brass rod. Now I can leave them off until final assembly and make the painting a bit easier.

 

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The two hydraulic jacks that move the rudder are poorly portrayed in the kit - too shallow. I added some styrene to the back of the piston cylinder, and now they fill the opening. Much better.

 

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There are three vent holes on each side of the spine on the MF, and in the kit. The MiG lollipop at Sinsheim made me aware that the ML only had two, but that was only on the right hand side. There are four vents on the left. Fixed.

 

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And then, finally, a chance to paint!

 

You would have noticed just how faded these aircraft had become, and even at the end of the bush war the Cubans were flying them in pretty sun ravished paint. Here is an example of one that UNITA shot down.

 

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Then, on Friday I got to meet Gregair and compare notes. We discovered that our interpretations were very similar indeed. Obviously the top views are different as it is just speculation. I have discovered that the left wing LE is in fact dark brown, and slightly modified my take on it. Here you can see Greg's profile alongside mine - remarkably similar!

 

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Having two great pieces to experiment on, I tackled the horizontal stabs. First I applied a dark base camouflage, similar to the original Soviet four-colour scheme.

 

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And then came the sun bleached colours as I interpret them.

 

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Now to tackle the fuselage...

 

Sean

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks Gentlemen!

 

Here is some more on the paint and how it appears to weather.

 

This MLD is essentially painted in the same four colours as the Angolan MiGs. It has faded naturally under the Soviet sun (or rain), and displays similar results to what happens under African skies. I imagine that it is largely UV light that fades the pigments in the paint, but water also seems to have an effect. You can see the spray application pattern in the faded upper surface over a darker base colour, and some "chalking" as the paint degrades. Notice also how the rivets and screws start to show up as darker spots through the paint. 

 

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I once again sprayed a darker base version of each colour...

 

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and then slowly built up a faded shade on top of this. The light green and sand colours show a more chalky surface than the dark green and dark brown. Here are the two light colours being applied.

 

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And here you can see the more "doodled" faded spray pattern of the dark brown and dark green. More dark base shows through on these colours for some reason.

 

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The blue underside was treated in a similar way, but it is hard to tell how it actually weathers as it is in the shade of most photo's, and for that very reason, not as subjected to the sun. It just looks dirty in my opinion, and that will come later. One issue with a big bland blue canvas, is trying to create some randomness. Here I borrowed a bit of Fancherello's idea and used a sponge and masking fluid to create some random texture. It works!

 

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Talking of techniques, I tried to get a pinkish brown undercoat to show through under peeled-off dielectric grey paint on the radome. Hairspay and a toothbrush didn't work on my first attempt for some reason, but then as the masking tape came off - voila! Accidents are much needed in the creative process.  :whistle:

 

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The squadron numbers and "yin & yang" roundels are coming up next. I am very fortunate to have a friend who is not only generous with his encyclopaedic knowledge about Mirage intakes and drop tanks, but is equally generous with his Silhouette Cutter...

 

Sean

Edited by Madmax
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Hi Gaz, Andy and Karl. Glad you're still looking!

 

Nick, alias Cheetah11, is getting very good at cutting vinyl. He very kindly offered to cut masks for this model, and I am grateful that he did since it is a heck of a job to weather a decal. Nick actually copied the number off the side view photo I posted and slightly corrected it for size and perspective. It is a thing of beauty.

 

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On this side the numbers have differing shades of red, so I dabbed some light paint on with a sponge, and then sprayed the red. Works very well.

 

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On the left side I did a bit of the same, as well as sponging on some masking fluid to get the number to look chipped off in places. The chipping from the ladder is painted on with a white/silver mix. Notice how the C is tilted slightly to the left compared to the numbers.

 

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Then came a bit more of a challenge - the "yin and yang" of things. Mine must be out of harmony because I measured incorrectly off a photo. I confidently asked Nick to cut them 20mm in diameter, and didn't brief him on the orientation of the colours, which on C 454 are all "reversed" to the standard, if there is one. Linden Hill's research on this aspect is actually quite good, except they didn't have a photo of the left side of the tail (which I luckily do), and that roundel is reversed too!

 

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I used a photo which I thought to be pretty "square on" to measure the roundel relative to the chord of the rudder. Turns out it wasn't square on and I got caught by the foreshortening trap. I didn't know this at first and happily cut a reverse yin & yang on Nicks stars which were conveniently in a circle. I sprayed a yellow base and then placed the roundel mask over that. Peel off the top yin and spray red - replace mask, then remove the yang and spray black. Easy!

 

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It didn't take me long however to realise that they were too big. The circle should be a shade under 18mm diameter - Linden Hill were right! Here you can see that it is too big. 2mm may seem trivial, but 64mm on the real aircraft would be noticeable, or at least to me.  :unsure:

 

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Since Nick hadn't intended the star to be included in the mask of the yin & yang, it wasn't fully centred, and I was able to use two of the spare masks to cut a 18mm circle around the star. This new mask was then placed over my roundels and I redid the background. Now I believe that the MiG is in a harmonious state.

 

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Thanks Nick!

 

I have Linden Hill's set of airframe stencil data decals, and that will be the next challenge...

 

Sean

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This is looking tremendous Sean!  I really like all the extra effort paid to detailing and painting. It will most definitely pay off in the end.   

 

NOW you know the potential power of the Silhouette mask cutters! There are several models available, but I chose the smaller and less pricey "Portrait" model cutter, as I did not really need the extra size the Cameo offered, and with the upgraded software I can also import/export Vector files, as well as nesting and and all cutouts on the same sheet to save room, all for substantially less than the Portraits larger brother.

 

If I calculated all the money I would have spent to buy decal sheets, or worse, have custom decal sheets made, my little Portrait cutter and upgraded software has likely already paid for itself quite a few times over. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Brian,

 

I must say that I am thrilled that Nick has the Silhouette Cutter! I would love to be able to do away with decals entirely - no more gloss coats to contend with and one can weather away at will without fear of destroying (or worse still, maiming) a decal. What I really would like to see is a Milhouette Cutter so that Nick can mill metal parts like Kai has on demand for his Ramstein F-16 :)

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