Academy's 1/48 scale
MiG-21PF

by Bucky Sheftall

Academy's 1/48 scale MiG-21MF is available online from Squadron.com

Here is the Academy 1/48 MiG-21PF done up as an early model Fishbed in North Vietnamese Air Force scheme circa 1967.

Most of the Natural Metal Finish is foil, but wingtips, tricky fillet areas and, most notably, the "tube" portion of the forward fuselage are Alclad "Aluminum" and/or "Polished Aluminum".

The kit employs a mixture of Eduard brass and FM Details brass and resin.

The pitot tube is scratched from telescoping brass pipes. "Atolls" are AIM-9s shanghai'ed from the Hasegawa F-86F-30. Canopy is acrylic (my source was plastic from name card holders) "blown" over kit part on my homemade vacforming setup. Decals are from the kit.

The pix with the vermilion Japanese-style "chopseal" signature are "oeuvres" that have been, in the parlance, "optimized" in Photoshop. Said "optimization" consists mainly of: thinning out unrealistically thick edges (e.g. Atoll fins) ; extending model base out to merge with "virtual" landscaped; adding 'Nam-like foliage to the background (photos on Vietnam tourism websites are good sources for realistic digital vegetation!), and of course, the jet exhaust thermals in several of the shots.

Overall, I had a great time building my Fishbed. The kit deserves every iota of the accolades it has garnered over the years.
 

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

Arab MiG-19 and MiG-21 Units in Combat (Combat Aircraft 44) Author: David Nicolle and Tom Cooper Illustrator: Mark Styling US Price: $19.95 UK Price: £12.99 Publisher: Osprey Publishing Publish Date: March 25, 2004 Details: 96 pages; ISBN: 1841766550 Shop Buy it from Osprey Publishing

Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2005 by Bucky Sheftall
Page Created 26 May, 2005
Last Updated 25 May, 2005

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