discussion Chris' 1/144th F-Toys MiG-21F-13

[Steve-the-Duck]

Right, this is pretty much going to be an OOB build
Almost

I'm going to do an open canopy, so there's a bit more cockpit detail to add (especially in light of a YouTube vid showing a load of bright yellow piping in the rear cockpit that isn't on any kit in any scale, so far as I've seen)
Markings will be for India, the first foreign user of the -21
So, not just a paint job then!

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

Here we go

The F-Toys kits are pretty much snap-together, but I'm gluing and filling, just a little. This original colour scheme is for an East German tactical job, but I'm going for an Indian Air Force job, using Heroics and Ros multi-scale transfers. And fineliner pen for codes!


You can see the difference in scale between F-Toys and 'actual' 1/144. The other seats here are the Eduard ones (two parts to a 1/144 seat, and a six-part cockpit in this scale!? Sheesh), and a pair of Retrokit resin jobs. They're actually KM seats, rather than the SKs the Fs carried


So, adding my usual extra lumps and bumps around the tail. The fin pieces aren't on this kit, and the mounting points above the tail are a bit more 'subdued' than they should be. The shims in the cocpit fill in the slots for the canopy mounts
Fortunately, the cockpit bucket fits in with the fuselage halves already joined

And the cockpit bucket, with brass rod joy-stick added, and the real thing. The intention is to have the cockpit open, so a lot of little detail will be painted in

The kit nose wheel doors are way too small, so they're replaced with 10 thou strip. The ventral strake is enlarged, just to b e in proper proportion

The undercarriage has no actuator arms, so they're added out of brass rod and tube
Will I regret adding the pitot tube so soon?
Time will tell

All over silver next up