Academy 1/48 Mig-21 MF

The most popular Soviet fighter of the 60's, 70's, and into the 80's is the Mig-21. It is very much a contemporary of the US F-4 Phantom II, though built to very different specifications. Basically, the Mig-21 is a point defense fighter. It is designed to get to altitude as fast as it possibly can and shoot down incoming enemy aircraft. As a result, the airframe is quite small, weapons are not very extensive and range is equally small. Typical mission flight time is in the area of 30-45 minutes depending on if auxiliary fuel tanks are carried.

Weaponry for the Mig-21 MF variant consists of twin 30mm cannon in a small pod under the fuselage and as many as four Atoll air to air missiles, similar to Sidewinders. If wing fuel tanks are carried, the number of missiles is reduced to two. Unusually, the wing tanks are generally carried on the outer wing pylons. The type also can carry unguided rocket pods for use in ground attack.

The plane seems to stay in service somewhere around the world even today. Its relatively low operating cost, ruggedness of design and high speed make it perfect for those air forces that don't have a lot of money to spend on hi-tech aircraft. The airframe is basically sound and several countries have been doing avionics upgrades to keep it a viable weapons system.

 Academy was good enough to produce two Mig-21 kits. The first was the earlier PF variant and this later MF version. Both share a number of similar sprues, mainly the central airframe, wings and accessory sprues. The differences being in the canopy/cockpit, forward fuselage, spine and fin.

The detailing is all that one expects from a kit produced in 1998. Engraved panel lines, a well detailed cockpit and plenty of bits and pieces. Under wing stuff includes Two different types of missiles, two fuel tanks and two different types of rocket pods. Other options are separate flaps and ailerons. I'm not sure why the separate flaps other than they were expected. The Mig-21 is almost never seen with these deployed while on the ground unless it is on the landing roll or undergoing maintenance. Also offered are the option to have the forward and aft speed brakes deployed. Again these items were rarely seen open while on the ground. Often a fuel tank was carried on the centerline instead of the wings. If one is used there then the builder cannot put them on the wings as only two are provided in the kit.

The instructions are quite good offering not only the usual construction sequence, but also photos of completed subassemblies. This will come in handy to make sure things are properly aligned. Markings are provided for three aircraft. One is the box art plane from the Soviet Air Force in sand, green and brown with light blue undersides. Another is from the Hungarian AF in dark green and light brown over light green, a very fetching camouflage. Finally an Indian AF Fishbed in overall light grey. Kit decals are well printed and should work without too much trouble. If you want something different, there are a number of aftermarket decals for this plane available. In addition, there are resin and photo-etch bits out there so you can trick out the kit to any degree you wish.

Just as a note of information. Several readers have contacted me about this kit; specifically about the juxtaposition of the spine and the fin. To quote one reader, "...(the kit) does not represent a true MF version.  The most prominent giveaway being the point where the spine blends completely into the vertical stabilizer.  In MF version it's noticeably closer to the front of the aircraft.  I'm not sure if it is a true "Bis" either, but it's not a true MF."

Here is an additional note that you may find of interest "...I am a Mig 21/ Mirage 2000 pilot from the Indian AF. Just wanted to sort out some issues.  The decals on the IAF were earlier issued by Aero master, the decals are for 26 Sqn 'the warriors' thus the warrior with a spear on the nose. Further, C2281 was a bis.  All Indian T-96s or MFs were 15-- or 17-- series.  All bis were 22-- series up to 28-- . ' SANU' was short for Sanu Kenikara, a pilot with 26 Sqn who left as a wing commander and now resides in the US.  Each ac had a pilot in charge of its serviceability and appearance and had his name painted on it. It appeared on both sides."

I had held off building this for many years because of the fin issue. However, I've built most of the MiG-21 kits in this scale including the Revell, Trumpeter, OEZ, and Eduard versions so felt that I should build this one to complete the collection. First thing is to deal with the fin issue. The first quote is correct in that the spine blends in too far back for it to be an MF. There is a resin correction for this from Quickboost, but it is not inexpensive with it probably adding $20 to the price of the kit by the time it arrives. That being said, it is also not long enough to be a bis, but it is close so that is what this will be.

After the Revell and OEZ kit, this is the oldest 1/48 MiG-21 and that shows in the kit's detail. Regardless, it will be built as it comes in the box. First I assembled a bunch of parts for the cockpit and painted them that sort of turquoise green shade seen on many Soviet aircraft. The bang seat is fairly nice and has molded on harness. Black Box and others make replacement cockpits for this kit if you want more detail. Then I misplaced the instructions. I'll undoubtedly find them once the kit is done, but for now, I've been using a set downloaded from Scalemates.

Once the cockpit was done, I gathered the required 15 grams of nose weight, installed the nose radome, the nose gear well and the cockpit tub. Take your time on getting all these in place and you'll reap the rewards later. With that done, the holes for the fuselage pylon were opened, the exhaust assembly made up and installed and the rear fuselage halves closed. Next the nose section was mated to the aft section. Fit on this is pretty good. Then the fin was assembled and attached along with the spine. Do both of these at the same time for the best fit. The spine section is a bit pinched where it attaches to the back of the cockpit section so it is up to you if you wish to deal with this. I then attached the various separate intakes to the fuselage. There are small guide areas engraved on the fuselage to help with placement. The gear wells and inner gear doors were painted a light grey and when dry, the wells were filled with Silly Putty.

Wings were next and actually fit quite well as do the horizontal stabilizers. Note that if you want to use pylons, the holes for those need to be opened. I then attached the forward speed brakes in the closed position. Fit on these is not that great as they appear to be a little bit too small. I also masked the clear parts and installed those. I did not attach any of the forward probes as I knew I'd break them off while building the rest of the kit.  

I chose a sheet that was in an Eduard MiG-21bis Profipack kit as it had a bunch of options and all I'd use are insignia and unique markings. For colors I chose those in the AKAN enamel line from one of their Russian Jet sets. I've used these colors before and liked them. For the metallics, those were Alclad 2. I first did the two exhaust area shades and when dry, masked them off. Then the green radome bits were painted and masked followed by the underside and yet more. The upper colors were all freehanded starting with the lighter and moving to the darker shades.

While all that was going on, the rocket pods, centerline tank and the missiles were assembled and painted. I also painted all the landing gear items and wheels. With all the colors on the kit, I installed the landing gear. Main gear was rather wobbly and the retraction strut was a bit too long for the wing attachment socket. Fitting the outer gear door was a real challenge to get everything to fit right as Academy molded the oleo scissors and part of the brake line as a separate part that goes between the outer door and the gear. Inner main gear doors were fine as was the fit of the nose gear. Nose gear doors have small tabs to assist in placement. Before attaching these I installed a small sensor as it fits very close to one of the doors.

With all the doors in place, I then sprayed on an acrylic clear coat in preparation for decals. For markings I chose one of the Bulgarian Air Force. Both the Eduard decals and kit stencils fit well and succumbed to MicroSol. When dry, Tamiya flat clear was lightly sprayed on everything. Only then did I attach the nose probes. This was followed by the rocket pods with pylons and the missiles with pylons. For the rocket pods, I installed small sections of wire to help hold them in place while the glue dried. I removed the masks from the canopy and landing lights and for a last assembly, attached the small rad alt antennas. Some touchup painting was done and that was it.