**** DONE: 1/48 MiG-3 "Black 12" - Allied Manufactured Aircraft

[Wayne Little]

Agreed great work mate!

 

[Blacklist]

John,

Thanks so much for allowing me to steal your great photos.

I know a bit about builds and I know it takes some time to put photos together to demostrate a task, in all honesty, thank you for your efforts, as I said, I'm a thief but need detail and finishing help with my model.

I'm in an area I've never been before as far as scale detailing on a model.

BTW. I did try a different Forum, but the build didn't get the attention nor did I get the help I needed. They were helpful, and I do understand that my model was actually a bit out of place, a great deal actually, I understand the lack of interest.

I looked around and and found your Mig-3 build, so you're the lucky guy.

I don't feel a build thread is necessary and it may not be interesting for this particular Forum either. My model is 1/8 scale, semi-scale actually, made of balsa and designed to fly.

I would just like my Mig-3 model to be finished with the kind of quality and appearance that I see on models that guys like you build.

Many are remarkable!

Provie

John,

I might try a Thread if I can figure it out. Plenty to gain from that. I'm not shy.

 

[JKim]

Hi John!

Wow! Your MiG is looking very good! Good solution of the wing tip lights, i am going to do that to. How was the fitting of the wing roots, regarding the air intakes? Mine was a true nightmare. I spend days getting the air intakes right by filling them up with styrene ,sanding and re-creating the rivets and panel lines. Everything had to be perfect, due the use of Alclad paint. Good decision not to install the flaps. If you really want to add the flaps, you can pull it off, but you have to sand the inner wing part so thin, you can see throe it... You masked the front windshield perfect! Few people know that the windshield is glued, and not has frames. Unfortunally the Eduard maskings are missing one thing. At the back of the canopy, there are small windows behind. Trumpeter does not have this in his canopy. Therefore i used the ICM canopy from Squadron Signal. This canopy is actually 2mm to long, so i had to ''refurbish'' this to. You are going pretty good with your MiG.

Regards,

Remco

Thanks Remco! The fit between the air intakes and the wings was very good. I was very careful to make sure that the seams lined up as well as possible and was able to accomplish a good fit. The fit between the air intakes and the lower fuselage was good but there is a bit of overhang that you can see from my pics... should be easy to sand down but I will lose some rivet detail. Not too concerned since Trumpeter has supplied an overload of rivet detail on this model!

I also noticed the missing clear sections on the rear edge of the sliding canopy but chose not to correct it. Modifying clear parts scares me and I've had some clear part mishaps in the past.

I briefly considered adding flap detail via Eduard but elected to keep this build fairly simple from an Aftermarket perspective.

There are still some details I need to figure out with this build. Number one: how to get the number "12" onto the tail plane. I'm planning to cut a custom mask from tape but have no idea how that'll turn out. I guess I can also go the printable decal route... that's something that I've always wanted to try.

Finally... I still think the outer wing panels of Black 12 not white but some darker color. My eyes see a demarcation, similar to Red 02 but no other references mention this. Are my eyes playing tricks on me?

 

[Wurger]

I don't think these tops of the wooden outer wing panels were of a darker colour. The leading, trailing edges and the tip one are of light colour in the pic . A dark one wouldn't make the effect but the white or silver gloss one would. The same effect you may notice while looking at the fuselage top in front of the cockpit windshield Here is an enlarged shot ...

 

[T Bolt]

Excellent work there John. Your work in the cockpit is real nice. Too bad the canopy will be closed.

 

[Blacklist]

John,

I see you mentioned a number 12 mask for your tail.

I have a cutter and make vinyl graphics and masks. I'd like to give that "12" a shot. Nothing to loose.

I would need measurements?

Also, I could cut it with flat black vinyl and it would be applied as a peel n stick graphic,

around 2.0 mil thik. Might be a bit thick, but you can decide when you get it. I can send a few.

Let me know.

Provie

 

[Crimea_River]

Interesting. So what's this cutter you have?

 

[JKim]

Excellent work there John. Your work in the cockpit is real nice. Too bad the canopy will be closed.

Thanks Glen! I prefer the look of planes with everything buttoned up... just a preference that I have. If this canopy fits well, I may just leave unglued so that I can pose it in the open position.

Moving along nicely with this build. No major hiccups and the fit of most parts is nice and tight... props to Trumpeter. Have completed most of the puttying and sanding along the major joints.

The control surfaces have been placed in the neutral position. I would've left the flaps down but there is too much cleanup (sink marks and glued joints from the upper wing/fuselage) to contend with. All of the control surface detail has been shaved down and sanded.

The archive picture of Black 12 show that the spinner has a "starter tooth". I guess a mechanism that allows the prop to be manually cranked? Whatever it is, I thought it'd be appropriate to add it so I fashioned one from a piece of brass tubing. A pin vise does a nice job of holding the tubing.

A check of the fit between the spinner/backplate and fuselage... a-ok.

The side intakes were glued into place. Again the fit is excellent.

The front windshield and rear canopy has been glued into place. I used Tamiya liquid glue for the front piece and Elmer's White Glue for the rear.

The front fuselage of Black 12 including the spinner and prop are metal or silver so I used Alclad Aircraft Aluminum and Dark Aluminum to paint the prop assembly. The pieces are not yet glued but you can see how well the pieces fit... typical of this kit.

 

[JKim]

John,

I see you mentioned a number 12 mask for your tail.

I have a cutter and make vinyl graphics and masks. I'd like to give that "12" a shot. Nothing to loose.

I would need measurements?

Also, I could cut it with flat black vinyl and it would be applied as a peel n stick graphic,

around 2.0 mil thik. Might be a bit thick, but you can decide when you get it. I can send a few.

Let me know.

Provie

Thanks Provie... that be great but I'm not sure your cutter can make such small masks. The numbers are pretty small, less than 1/2" high, since they are on the tail and this being a 1/48 scale model. Let me know how small you can practically go and I'll give you more exact dimensions. I was going to use an aftermarket decal set as a guide to cut the numbers... perhaps you could use it?

 

[fubar57]

Coming along nicely John. With regards to your "starter tooth", I believe it was to be used with a Huck starter, similar to this...

Geo

 

[Wurger]

Yep Geo is right. The russian AC-1 ( AS-1) airfield autostarter or the AC-2 (AS-2) one could be used. The AC-1 was mounted at the GAZ-AA truck and the AC-2 at the GAZ-AAA one.


AC-1 ...

AC-2 ...

John, the "starter tooth" for the MiG-3 wasn't too long and seems to be thicker in the diameter with characteristic notch for the "arm" of the airfield autostarter.
Also you should use of some of a putty at the root of the "starter tooth" in order to get the smooth transition between the spinner and the part of the field engine starter . Just my humble opinion.

 

[4bogreen]

I don't think these tops of the wooden outer wing panels were of a darker colour. The leading, trailing edges and the tip one are of light colour in the pic . A dark one wouldn't make the effect but the white or silver gloss one would. The same effect you may notice while looking at the fuselage top in front of the cockpit windshield Here is an enlarged shot ...

View attachment 290154

Hey guys!

The strange effect of the wing color can be explained and is not because it is an other color than white. The wooden parts were primed in a darker color than the aluminium parts. The white color has a difference due the primer. The angle of the sun and maybe some rocket smoke from the RS-82, enhances the ''dark'' effect. We also note that the plane has been waxed. This was often done to increase the top speed by 15 or 20 mph. There was then a ''gloss'' or ''semi gloss'' effect on the plane. The wings were just MK-7 matt white. Jim, your plane is going to be very nice! good choice to delete the Eduard flaps. Its very hard to get it right.

HTH,

Remco

 

[chris brown]

Nice job on the details, John. This mig is looking sharp. Also, nice pics Geo and Wurger. They would make a nice dio. Does anybody make those trucks in 1/48?

 

[4bogreen]

For the aluminium parts, its not bare aluminium. These parts were painted in a aluminium color, like the inside of the pre-war cockpits. Even the aluminium reserve parts were primed when dilivered to the repair units. Aluminium was also accepted as a "winter camouflage" besides MK-7 white. Black 12 was probably damaged at the front. This unit was decorated and upgraded to "Guards unit" (Soviet elite unit like JG-52 grunhertz). Lot of planes were out of order or damaged and grounded. The repair units went to great lengths to fix as many aircraft as possible for the ceremony. This could explain why many aircraft looked "patched" in this unit.

 

[Wurger]

Nice job on the details, John. This mig is looking sharp. Also, nice pics Geo and Wurger. They would make a nice dio. Does anybody make those trucks in 1/48?

The Unimodels offers both of the trucks of the 1/48 scale. Also , a couple more of the VVS airfield vehicles.

 

[Crimea_River]

Good info guys.

 

[Wurger]

... The strange effect of the wing color can be explained and is not because it is an other color than white. The wooden parts were primed in a darker color than the aluminium parts. The white color has a difference due the primer. The angle of the sun and maybe some rocket smoke from the RS-82, enhances the ''dark'' effect. We also note that the plane has been waxed. This was often done to increase the top speed by 15 or 20 mph. There was then a ''gloss'' or ''semi gloss'' effect on the plane. The wings were just MK-7 matt white.

Actually it may be true to a certain extent. According to a book about MiG-1/3 a just assembled plane looked quite patchily becuase of different primers for the protection of plywood and metal, etc.... But it was before a plane was test-flied. When it was done all surfaces of the plane were painted with camo colours including the wooden outer wing panels and other parts that had already been primered and coated with proper camo paints earlier. The MK-7 White paint was very fading and the basic dark camo was showed through the white layer quite quickly. But when a plane was painted with a white varnish while assembling the painting was very durable and the camo was of the same tinge on all surfaces. Here is a pic of a white painted MiG-3 . Please, note the same shade of the white on all surfaces. However I agreed on the idea of the angle of the sun and some rocket smoke from the RS-82 missiles. Therefore I think it is the light trick on the top surfaces of the wings.

 

[Wayne Little]

great build John, and some good info flying around....

 

[JKim]

Thanks for all of the information guys! The truck auto-starter WOULD make an interesting diorama addition.

I'm pushing to get this model done before the end of the month. Here are the little rockets that Black 12 was documented as carrying.

The landing gear struts were spruced up with a brake line and painted.

Exhaust pipes painted...

The MiG-3 body is prepped for painting by masking the canopy opening.

The front fuselage will be painted with Alclad so I lay down a base of gloss black.

The insides of the canopy frames need to be painted in the interior color (in this case light blue-grey). Looking carefully at the canopy, I notice that those small clear panels on the back edge of the canopy DO seem to represented. I didn't see them previously because a molded ridge line on the inside edge of the canopy obscures this detail. Looking through the magnifying glass, the texture of these panels are the same pebbly texture of the canopy frames.

Since the canopy frames are already masked, I chose not to do a complete re-haul of the canopy but the paint over these small panels is carefully removed. I sand and polish the small windows to remove the texture but leave the inside ridge alone since I don't want to scratch the inside of the canopy piece. The small windows are masked with Scotch clear tape and painting proceeds.

I figure I can do some preshading at this point. Like many other Russian planes, there is an absence of panel details on some surfaces (outer wings, rear fuselage) due to wood construction.

Alclad Aircraft Aluminum is used as the primary color on the front fuselage. It looks darker than it is due to the reflections of the dark room background.

Next steps... I'm going to use different shades of Alclad on the front end to add some visual interest. It will then be masked off and I will finish preshading, perhaps using a different color to add texture to the blank areas.

 

[Wurger]

Great!

John, I would like to pay your attention to the undersides at the tail area. Looking at the enlarged shots we can notice that the Black12 didn't have any darker area that could look like being painted with the Light Blue colour. Contrary to that the Red02 had that area painted with the colour what can be clearly seen. I would say the underside colour of the Black12 was either much lighter or just the fuselage wasn't being coated there with the underside colour in the way the Red02 was.