MiGs in Ethiopia - Eduard MiG-21/Academy MiG-23

[Tim R-T-C]

This was for the Britmodeller Africa GB.

It all started when, in a pique of enthusiastic eBaying I ended up with one of the vintage Academy MiG-23s with cockpit insert.

I knew it was going to be bad, but did not realise just how bad until I unboxed the kit.



Some bizarre hodgepodge of shapes that really didn't resemble a Flogger, certainly not around the nose anyway.

But having invested the money I decided to give it a try.



The whitemetal cockpit insert was oddly for a two seater so I had to saw this in half and do a lot of sanding to make it fit into the newly opened cockpit tub. As for the nose, this was 'borrowed' from the fuel tanks of a 1/100 Tamiya MiG-19 and at least to my eyes is fairly passable.

Further back the tailfin needed cutting down and the unusual gear well doors of the type were scratch built as they simply weren't included.

Fortunately I had picked up a Berna Decals African set recently and it had markings for the type in Ethiopian service.

Compared to the Flogger, the Eduard Fishbed just fell together. I made a ladder and added a Heroes Models pilot and it was done.

[MikeV]

Nice job Tim

That diorama perfectly encapsulates how far the hobby has come - the Eduard MiG is light years from the old (crown?)tooling - maybe thirty years old? (anybody know the exact lineage?)

Still great satisfaction to be had from fettling it into shape!

[DH106]

Scalemates gives 197x as the release date for the Crown MiG-21PF.
So getting on for 50.
And still a very nice little kit that even managed to come out with an Airfix label at one time.
We could do with a modern kit of an early MiG-21.

[Stick & Strings Joe]

Very nice Tim