discussion Chris' Trumpeter 1/144 Chengdu J-7E

[Steve-the-Duck]

Is it a MiG? It's in my MiG-21 book!
So, No.3 is going to be built entirely OOB, as I really ought to do at least one of these that way!

The J-7 series are the ultimate development of the Chinese licence-built MiG-21s. They may still be the largest number of fighter aircraft in the PLAAF inventory. Trumpeter do three different J/F -7s, and the J-8, which is so far a development from the MiGs it doesn't really count as one
Sort of
I got a whole slew of the F7-IIs cheap, with the intention of back-dating them to the various prototypes, and then discovered with the Ye-2 just how much work that entails. Nil desperandum though

So, I intend to do one of the five aircraft from the 2008 Olympic Ceremony displays

Just a case of careful masking, right?
Right?
I've half a can of yellow spray left over from my Tintin Arado, but that does mean doing the careful black cheat line. All of the colours appeal, though the black would be easiest. Interestingly, and not a coincidence at all, four of the five Olympic colours are both the ancient Imperial colours and the elemental colours of Chinese magic, though in both cases they have white instead of green

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

Apparently, the ASCC reporting name for the J-7 / F-7 is 'Fishcan'

Really
I mean, is it just there's a list of these names to randomly apply?

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

Okay, so here's the whole build in twenty minutes

Couple of bits of strip to go in the airbrake slot, otherwise it just hangs in space
A few places to fill and go over to cover the seam
And the airbrake just pushes in. I wasn't going to have it deployed on the ground. The bit sticking out behind the nosewheel bay may be an aerial, or just flash. Can't find a reference for which as yet. The upper aerial is just a little blade like this. Not fitting that 'til much later
Speaking of photos, I can't find one of these schemes, so all the reference I've got is the book, which is Histoire et Collections Planes and Pilots MiG-21. There are so many interesting schemes in there, I have to stick to just one model of each distinctive type and prototype or I'd have shelves full of just -21s!

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

Wings. Got some work ahead here

The undercarriage bay usually has a bulge above the wing, not a blinking gert hole. Not insurmountable, just lots of little gaps to fill all round

Fit of parts is pretty good, without too much work needed. But then the kit is only just legally allowed to drink in pubs!

 

[flyjoe180]

Off to a good start Chris

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

Well, the little shims worked, and filled the wing root a bit too. Every one of these adds to reducing he learning curve for the next one to do!

You can see here only the starboard side has the wheel bulge in the fuselage, which is too small and too far forward

Hmm. A bit more filler than I would have liked, and in this scale the surface detail (of which there is a lot), just disappears. So, clearing that back as I go under the magnifier

So, the start of two new bulges added above the wings. they'll get a bit of shaping later. Also added the customary extra bit of control panel detail, just to cover the big hole. I will not, at any stage, be adding a HUD window there
Probably
Unless I have an open canopy on one some time...

Adding the blade aerial behind the cockpit at this stage, before all the little clean-ups to come, may have been an error. Especially as I didn't make one out of a more robust brass offcut

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

And lastly on the wings, the illustration show the inner weapon pylon fitted, but not the outers. Not that either are mentioned on the plans, but there's a complete weapons sprue in the kit
Just had to remove the actual weapons rail
And there we go

Still a bit more filling, and clearing to go, then on with the aluminium overall colour. And I wonder how much of this surface detail will disappear with the paint

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

On the Ye-2, I just painted the door detail, there being two indentations, but I've gone a bit further this time
Looks a bit scrappy, but the image is like five times enlarged!

I might not put any of the extra framing in

And all over Metalcote aluminium

And just because they take less than an hour to put together, even with fettling and filling and framing, here's what might be the only one of may stack of F7-IIs to be built as such OOB. Can't decide wether to do Iraqi, Iranian, or Bangladeshi scheme. But that's a whole 'nother story!

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

While leaving the aluminium to dry for a couple of days, just in case the masking pulls it off, or some similar disaster, time to do a bit more photo research. Still can't find one picture of the Olympic 'planes, but I did find lots of photos of the PLAAF August 1 display team. Trumpeter even released their 1/32 J-7 in the team colours

The scheme is practically identical to that in my MiG-21 book, except for the wings. And that the base colour is white. So, I'm thinking that some of the August One planes were repainted, and all the Olympic logos were added. There were five different mascot logos (which are available as transfers for airliners, all in 1/144), so that's a different one for each 'plane. As 04 is the only one I have any reference for, I'm going with the yellow, but with this layout, and still the base silver

Naturally, once it's finished, I will find a definitive actual photo of the Olympic 'planes!