Trumpeter 1/48 MiG-23M Flogger B

[JKim]

Username: JKim
First name: John
Scale: 1/48
Manufacturer: Trumpeter
Model Type: MiG-23M Flogger B
Aftermarket addons: Aires resin exhaust nozzle, Eduard Brassin resin wheels, Aires resin cockpit, Eduard Brassin resin wheel wells, Dream Model pitot tube, Model Maker decals

Technically not a true "Start to Finish" project since I'll be jumping into this kit about halfway through. It started in Group Build #26. My first jet project and I really went to town on the aftermarket stuff. I think that contributed to the feeling of being overwhelmed and as the GB deadline approached, my will to finish the kit diminished to the point where I took it offline and put it on the Shelf of Doom. I'm between Group Builds now and looking at this kit, I feel an urge to finish what I started. So I'm going to attempt to do just that. Frankly, I'm still leery of some of the things ahead of me like the fiddly connection between all of the undercarriage parts, which is more complicated because of the resin and photo-etched stuff I've added. But maybe I'm just psyching myself out? I dunno... we'll just have to see.

For reference, I've included the link to my GB post, which chronicles the first half of the build...
http://ww2aircraft.net/forum/-26-th...-been/1-48-mig-23m-flogger-jet-age-43243.html

 

[JKim]

Just to let you guys know, I'm building this as a MiG-23MF, which is slightly different than the kitted MiG-23M. Most obviously, the MF canopy has a frame on the top that the M lacks. Me, not knowing much about jets, didn't realize that Trumpeter offered an MF kit but I think I was scared off by the box art and didn't even consider it...

When I left off the kit, the fuselage halves had been glued together and I was in the process of filling and sanding the seams, most notably between the intakes and the fuselage. So picking up from there, I attached the tall vertical tail fin. There is a bit of a gap between the base of the fin and the fuselage. For these types of gaps, I like to use White Milliput worked into the gap using a toothpick and then using a brush wet with water and a damp paper towel to remove the excess.

The nose cone is glued into place and seam is addressed with some Mr Surfacer 1000.

The canopy is masked using Eduard masks. The front windscreen is glued into place using Testors Glue but the canopy is left unglued as I am planning on having the canopy hinged open.

The horizontal tail surfaces are glued into place.

I've noticed that the folding ventral fin is short shot on the tip of one side so I use Milliput to fill that in.

There are lots of small bits and pieces, plastic and PE, that attach to the front of the fuselage and I'm unsure as to when those things should get glued into place. If I do it now, I'm afraid they'll get snapped off but if I do it later, I may mar the finish. I've chosen the latter. So the nose cone gets some preshading. I also do this on the central drop tank just to test out the camo colors. You can see the panel line around the nose cone that I rescribed after sanding.

I've been applying grey primer to certain areas to check the surface and doing spot repairs all along the fuselage. The joint between the vertical fin and the fuselage needs one more bead of Milliput.

The drop tank has been sprayed with camo colors. I'm not sure about the colors and I'll have to check my references to see if they are a good enough match. The rest of the ordinance has been glued together.

I am doing a camoflaged Polish fighter, so these are the colors I'm looking to replicate...

The missles are pre-shaded.

The bottom pre-shading is started. I will be using dark scribbling to produce some tonal variation, similar to what I did to the nose cone and drop tank.

 

[SANCER]

It is an excellent start John, I do not know much about jets, but the colors are very similar to the picture show us.
I see a very fine job, so I'll be pending development.

Saludos cordiales amigo.

Luis Carlos
SANCER

 

[Airframes]

Nice work John.

 

[Wurger]

Great ! I'm looking forward to the assembling. The MiG-23MF no.456 was of the 28th Fighter Regiment at the Slupsk airbase, delivered in 1981. She was wearing so-called Kharkiv painting ( camo scheme ). Later the red tactical numbers got the white outline and the antiglare, black strip in front of the cockpit windshiled was added. And then there was applied the emblem of the unit at the nose port side that was overpainted later. Also there was applied a "Sioux head" ( the emblem of the 1st squadron) on both air intakes and then covered with another colour at the same time the unit emblem. In addition there was the emblem of the flight ( Hornet ) above the "4" digit also overpainted. For the overpainting coat it was used a mixed paint by a maintenance crew. There is no FS number but I found info it should be a mix of Humbrol 24 and 88 with the ratio 10:6 what should give a kind of a yellow-green colour. Finaly these yellow-greenish areas got a new coat of a light green colour and the black anti-glare strip was re-painted. The number "1000" was applied on both sides just behind of the radar antenna cap that got the white ring at the back. The overpainted "Hornet" emblem was replaced with a "Scorpion" one.

Colours for the 456:

FS 34092 Dark Green
FS 34172 Light Green
FS 35189 Middle Blue
FS 36231 Gull Grey
FS 30450 Flesh
FS 30061 WW1 Purple

The pic source.... the net.

The image above was found ... MiG-23MF, lokalizacja: Powidz - (EPPW), autor: Wacław Hołyś

 

[Airframes]

Great info on the colours Wojtek - award yourself a 'C Stoff' or two !

 

[Wurger]

THX my friend.

 

[Gnomey]

Nicely done so far!

 

[herman1rg]

Looking good

 

[Crimea_River]

..and a T-Stoff chaser Wojtek. No, WAIT!

Looking realy nice John. I may steal your preshade technique on a future project. By the way, I think it would have been fine to just continue your GB thread to the end rather than start a new thread. You won't need a separate finished thread either.

 

[JKim]

Thanks guys! Wow, Wojtek... you really found some photographic gems there! I was wondering about the starboard side camo and you've found a very good picture of that side.

Looking realy nice John. I may steal your preshade technique on a future project.

Thanks Andy. The preshading I do adds a bit of tonal variation to the camo. It's an adaptation of Doog's black basing technique. Just make sure you water down your paints accordingly as it can be easy to completely obliterate the effect using a normal thinner/paint ratio.

Here is the bottom of the Flogger with the preshading complete. Significantly more area to deal with when jumping from a single prop WWII aircraft to a post Cold War jet so this quite a bit of time.

The bottom light blue/grey has been applied over the preshading. Can you see the effect? I usually keep this on the subtle side but the choice is up to the modeler.

Missles have been painted white.

Dialing in the camo finish, I've adjusted the tone of the tan color by making it a wee lighter.

Based on the pictures and info that Wojtek has provided, I'll have to add a couple of colors to the camo mix... a lighter green and that olive drab color that is hard masked on the engine intakes.

 

[Lucky13]

 

[Crimea_River]

Real nice John.

 

[Airframes]

I agree.

 

[Wayne Little]

NICE!

 

[Wurger]

With all above. But the preshading of the missiles seems to be unnecessary. They are always white without any weathering because the missiles are kept in an arsenal and boxed in quite airtight chests. Usually , the missiles are taken form there and delivered to an airfield just before flights are going to start. So there is no time for getting any dirt , dust etc... and in result these look always clean and fresh.

John.. I sent you a PM. Have you found that?

 

[JKim]

Thanks gentlemen! Yes, Wojtek... I got your PM and have replied. Greatly appreciated!!!

You are quite right about the condition of missiles. They are not reusuable and as such they don't get as dirty as other parts of the aircraft. But they aren't always pristine.

To me (and I know this is subjective), there are things that signal that a model is just a model... an aerial wire that's too thick... gun barrel or exhausts with solid ends... visible brush strokes and sloppy glue seams... canopy frames that aren't opaque... decals that don't conform to the surface... paint chips that don't look random... among others. I consider an untreated panel line one of those things. To me... it looks like a groove in the plastic and that takes me completely out of the illusion of reality.

So... I do panel line stuff... pre-shading, panel washes and post-shading... not only as a way to show some wear and tear but to also hide the fact that your subject is only a few inches long. There is some exaggeration required to achieve this and the degree to which this is done is based on personal preferences. But I will almost always treat my panel lines someway somehow just because I think it looks "better" than to leave them untreated. That's where I'm at right now anyway... I'm learning as I go so maybe this too will change in time. I hope that makes sense!

 

[Wurger]

The e-mail has been sent John. I hope these can help.

Regarding the missiles.. I would like to pay your attention to the fact the these two pics above show a missile attached to the plane that is a part of an exibition "under cloud" actually. Being affected by the weather ( rain, sunlight , snow etc... ) both the plane and its armament got the worn uniform. Here are shots how it looks like in fact.

The picture source: the Internet....

 

[JKim]

Thanks for the pictures! Always a plus to have these photographic references that you have an uncanny ability to find! Greatly appreciated! I need to change the color of the dual R-60 rack from light blue to grey.

I understand your point regarding the condition of the missiles. I see that they are clean. But I also see details like subtle shadows, panel lines, bolts, surface irregularities and wear marks that won't be possible to replicate. My highlighting of the panel lines and other details that ARE present are a way to create the impression that this is not a piece of plastic. So it doesn't change the way that I approach the preshading. I'm not trying to "replicate" reality but rather "give the impression" of reality and I think those two can be quite different in approach and technique.

 

[Wurger]

I can see your point. Please keep workiing.