1/48 MiG-23M Flogger B - The Jet Age.

[net_sailor]

The main external difference between the Mig-23M and MF was a little frame under the periscope on the top of canopy glass. This conversion is very easy to make. All you need is an masking tape and one drop of paint:

About the cockpit - I can confirm Russian blue-green interior colour on Polish MiG-s.

 

[Wurger]

Agreed. The Polish MiG-21s and MiG-23s had the sea green colour of the cockpits.

 

[Donivanp]

Way to go, this will be cool and informative if I can get over this asthma. Don't die, Don't die, Don't die.

 

[herman1rg]

Good looking kit, I'm sure you'll do it justice.

 

[JKim]

First order of business (besides gathering all of the AM stuff that I'll be using) is to see how I can replicate the characteristic blue/green interior color of the MiG-23.

It's very bright and garish...

In some pictures, this color is bluer and others, more greenish. I'm sure there are variations in the field. I mixed a small batch of the color using Tamiya paints (X-14 Sky Blue + X-8 Yellow + X-2 White) and tested it on the cockpit side panels.

Taking a closer look at the twin cannon barrels, it looks like the part is ready to snap in two so I decided to clip it off the sprue and put it away for safe keeping.

The barrels are a little tweaked (crooked) but since only the muzzles are visible, I don't think this will be an issue. Upon closer inspection, I was very surprised to see that the barrel ends are already hollow. In my limited experience, this is very rare to see. I'm thinking these will look acceptable once painted so no AM here.

 

[Wayne Little]

Colour looks pretty good John!

 

[Wurger]

Yep..

 

[Crimea_River]

I agree. I've had hollowed out guns on a kit before but I don't remember which one. Too lazy to go digging through my archived pics.

 

[JKim]

I agree. I've had hollowed out guns on a kit before but I don't remember which one. Too lazy to go digging through my archived pics.

The only other kit that I've personally built that had hollow barrels is the Tamiya P-47D. But my backlog of completed kits is pretty small.

I'm not quite ready to start this kit in earnest (still waiting on some AM stuff) but I'll probably take a peak at some other bits and pieces in the next few days.

 

[JKim]

Shopping continues for this build. I snagged a set of bundled AM parts for this kit off of EBay. I don't think I would've gotten these items (at least all of them) if it weren't for the low package price but I'm a sucker for an subject appropriate deal... seemed custom made for me! I also pulled the trigger on the decal sheet from Linen Hill which has the Polish markings that I showed previously as well as the Aires resin cockpit... I'm really fascinated by the detail that these resin pieces exhibit... intoxicating stuff.

The package deal came in the mail so I thought I'd share it here. First off is set of brass landing gear by G-Factor.

Looking at these parts carefully in comparison to the kit parts, it appears that these legs offer no detail above and beyond what Trumpeter has done. In fact, I'm pretty sure G-Factor simply used the Trumpeter parts as molds. So the advantage? Obviously strength but I'm assuming that the plastic pieces are sufficient for most display purposes. Disadvantages include a rough grainy finish and a bit of flash that would be difficult to deal with being metal. I may use the kit parts here.

Next up is the Exhaust Nozzle in resin by Aires. The additional detail is obvious. I'm guessing most of this incredible detail will not be very visible from the nozzle end but... wow!

Here is a comparison between the Aires nozzle and the Trumpeter nozzle.

The resin set is capped off by a sheet of photo-etch.

Finally we have a set of resin wheels by Eduard.

Wheels and tires are molded separately to make painting easier. Two types of wheels are provided for the main and nose gear. Compared to the kit parts, the resin pieces are crisper with a little more detail. They also lack the radial ridges found on the kit tires... not sure who is right or wrong here.

The set includes the gear doors that are housed on the gear legs. Again, these are a bit crisper than the kit parts with a little more detail.

Eduard provides two versions of the nose gear mud guard and includes a photo-etch sheet for some small details.

 

[Airframes]

Here's the pics, as promised. I thought I had more, but can't seem to find them!
Hope these help.

 

[Wurger]

Great shots Terry. A note though, the kite with the red 71 number is the MiG-27 Flogger tactical attack aircraft.

 

[Catch22]

Nice stuff John.

 

[Wayne Little]

 

[net_sailor]

About the decals, I don't know Linden Hill product but I think MiG-23MF markings by Techmod (No. 48094) would be a better choice cause there are a lot of Polish stencils on the sheet.

 

[JKim]

Thanks for those great MiG-23/27 shots. VERY helpful to see those details, especially landing gear and exhaust areas.

The main external difference between the Mig-23M and MF was a little frame under the periscope on the top of canopy glass. This conversion is very easy to make. All you need is an masking tape and one drop of paint:
View attachment 291837

About the cockpit - I can confirm Russian blue-green interior colour on Polish MiG-s.

Thank you! It took me a while to figure this one out. I didn't realize that the MiG-23M lacked the top canopy frame until I looked at the kit canopy closely. Yes, this should be an easy mod!

About the decals, I don't know Linden Hill product but I think MiG-23MF markings by Techmod (No. 48094) would be a better choice cause there are a lot of Polish stencils on the sheet.

I've already purchased the Linden Hill decals and planning to utilize the kit decals for any stenciling.

 

[Airframes]

Oops! Sorry about the type mix-up - that's what happens when pain and lack of sleep get in the way!
But I'd guess many of the details are the same or similar, so hopefully the pics are still of use.

 

[Donivanp]

Looking real nice, I've heard good things about Linden Hill but have never used the. They look good though.

 

[JKim]

I've started on the Aires exhaust assembly. The unpainted resin parts look so beautiful on their casting blocks... full of detail... but boy, it can be a challenge when it comes to painting and assembling these resin upgrades! There is an array of concentric flame gutters on the turbine blade part that is supported by a crazy delicate photo-etch frame. It was beyond fiddly... like trying to manipulate a spiderweb! I'm surprised I didn't destroy it completely.

The nozzle parts were painted in dark Alclad shades. Also used some green as seen in the down-the-pipe shots.

A dirty wash was applied to highlight the detail.

The inner detail will be all but impossible to see once the exhaust nozzle on.

The Aires nozzle is not a drop-in replacement. The fuselage insides need to be shaved down to accommodate the pipe. I used a Dremel for rough grading and coarse sandpaper as the plastic got thinner. First effort didn't result in a fit. No worries though... I'm not in a rush on this build. I'll do some more grinding and sanding and we'll get it to fit.

I put together the kit landing gear to compare to the G-Factor legs. Confirmed that they are based on the same molding. If I can clean up the brass legs a bit, I may go ahead and use them since I got em. What do you use to cut these brass parts off their sprues? Is there an easy way to fill the surface imperfections without losing detail? I'm thinking of priming them with Mr Surfacer 1000.

 

[net_sailor]

IMO the Mr Surfacer 1000 will cover the parts with uniform layer and won't fill the cracks in the surface. Parts would be need some sanding anyway.
I have another idea. Try with a lower grade Mr Surfacer 500, let them dry, and wash the parts with brush dipped in acrylic paint remover. In theory the remover will wash the layer from raised surface leaving the sinks and cracks filled without loosing details. At the end, check the surface finish with Mr Surfacer 1000.

Honestly, looking at the picture I don't see any significant difference in details between brass and plastic legs (except rough surface on G-Factor kit). Plastic parts looks a little thicker, but still nice detailed.