Academy 1/48 Mig-29A - Part 5

Back to Part 4

Major Assembly

The fuselage is finally complete.  There is a bit of filler where the joins could have been better but sometimes it's better to bite the bullet and glue stuff knowing that you can fill and sand rather than tinker for ages trying to get a perfect join.

Wings and tails are on.  I've removed the rudders as I want to post these slightly off centre.  I think it makes the aircraft look more alive.  The clothespeg is on the tail to ensure that it is flush against the rebate in the fuselage while the glue dries.

I used the cockpit surround from the Eduard "Big Ed" detail set.  There was some surgery of the part in order to get it to fit over the Aires cockpit set.  With a cleanup and a bit of paint it's going to look the business.

The HUD assembly was completed and the front canopy section was given a polish, a clean in isopropyl alcohol and then dipped in Future and left to dry under an upturned container to keep the dust off.  It was then masked in preparation for painting and then glued onto the fuselage.  All of the joints were given a coat of Mr Surfacer to ensure that the final finish will be seamless.

Kick the Tires and Light the Fires.

While the Mr Surfacer fuselage was drying on the fuselage I decided to make a start on the Burners.  The Eduard burners are a really nice addition to this kit.  The level of detail is miles better than the ones that come with the kit.  I started by spraying them matt black and then drybrushing the compressor blades in a gunmetal colour.  The burners come with photetch for the afterburner assembly.

After installing the afterburner assembly I glued the separate sections together and then sprayed Mr Metal Color Dark Iron.  This is a buffable paint making it look like real metal once dry and given a buff.  Afterwards a coat of Alclad II Jet exhaust was sprayed towards the exhaust end followed by a highlight with Alclad II Pale Burnt Metal.  Once dry I use water and salt to mask off random patches on every other exhaust section.

Once the salt was dry I sprayed Alclad II Transparent Blue to represent the heat bloom you often get on hot metal.  You can see this on the burner on the right.  I dropped the one on the left and the salt fell off so I'll have to do that one later.  The flash on the camera makes the heat bloom appear a brighter blue than it really is.

The effect I am trying to get can be seen here on the real aircraft.

As I said these burners look really cool.  I love that you can see the detail on the after burner once it's all assembled.

On to part 6.

Academy 1/48 Mig-29A - Part 4

Back to Part 3

A Wing and a Prayer

The ailerons are finished.  After careful sizing and shaping plus a tiny bit of scratch building I think they will really look the part.

The white plasticard on the edges of the ailerons adjusts for the gap that was left after cutting them out and getting them to the right shape.  In particular the plasticard at the leading edge of the ailerons is half round so it can pivot more realistically and the inside mating surface on the wings has been shaped to accept them.  I have also scribed the trim tab on the trailing edge of the ailerons - a feature missing from the kit.

Venting my Spleen

Given that the FOD doors were to be posed in the down position I needed to open up the intake vents on either side of the cockpit.  The kit does come with both open and closed vents but they look pretty crude.  I opted to open them up more realistically.  You can see the kit part on the left and my correction of this installed into the forward fuselage.

Once they're both opened up it looks much better.

I then turned my attention to the intakes themselves and installed the FOD doors - the first of many bits of photo etched metal.  Remember I had to pose these in the closed position as the main wheel wells would have been visible otherwise.

Finally those wheel wells.

In order to make the main wheel wells fit the detail from the upper fuselage had to be removed and the plastic had to be thinned quite a bit.

The parts with the front compressor blades had to be shaped so that the wheel wells fit properly.  You can see the notch that had to be cut into the assembly on the right.

The final step to fitting the main wheel wells was to remove a section of the intake trunking.  The correct shape of the section to remove was worked out by painting the part of the main wheel well that mates against the trunking and, while the paint was still wet, using it to "stamp" the shape that needed to be removed on the inside of the trunking.  When that was done the shape was easily transferred to the opposite side.

Once that was done I was comfortable in cementing the intakes to the bottom of the lower fuselage.  The fit was not too good.  There's a step in the join that I'll need to sand back, fill and then re-scribe any panel lines destroyed in the process.

The front wheel well was a lot easier.  After thinning the plastic on the inside of the lower fuselage and then test fitting to make sure it didn't interfere with the cockpit it was glued into place.

The last part that needed fitting before I could start assembling the fuselage was the parachute brake housing.  The locating slot for the kit part was removed and the plastic thinned to accept the resin replacement.

Time For Some Paint

With all of the surgery to the fuselage out of the way I could finally paint the wheel wells.  They were first given a coat of Tamiya XF-66.

Wiring was picked out in black, ivory or silver.  Cable ties were painted silver or red and a few pipes were painted yellow.  The wheel wells were then given a gloss coat before giving them a wash with AK Interactive's Engine Grime AK-082 and then everything was sealed in with a flat coat.  They look nice and dirty - just like the real thing.

Once all of the painting was done I could glue the wheel wells into the fuselage and finally assemble it.  It's now starting to look a bit like a Mig-29.  There's still some clean up to do as some of the joins did not line up as nicely as I would have liked but it's a major step forward in the assembly of this aircraft.

Things on the Peripheral

While the glue was drying on the fuselage I thought I'd check out the Quickboost replacement nose.  Here is is on the right with the kit nose for comparison.  The profile of the kit nose is too conical from about halfway while the replacement has the graceful curve of the real aircraft.

I also decided to start assembling some of the missiles.  The Eduard AA-10 Alamo C missiles are beautifully cast in flawless resin.  They assemble to make wonderful replicas of the real thing.  I can't wait to get some paint onto them.

In the next installment I'll start cleaning up the fuselage and maybe get the wings on.

On to part 5.

Academy 1/48 Mig-29A - Part 3

Back to part 2

Ok I did say I was going to finish off the cockpit, which I did, but I didn't do much on the wheel wells yet.  That's because I got more interested in the wings as you'll see later.

Finishing the cockpit

After the wash had dried I gave the cockpit a coat of flat varnish to lock everything in.  I then glued it into the top of the forward fuselage section.  It looks pretty good even if I say so myself.

The Aires cockpit coaming is a bit smaller that the original coaming that was on the kit so to get it to stay in place I had to use some milliput putty.  

There's a bit of a gap that needs filling where the cockpit tub meets the fuselage sides but I'll take care of that later.

What's Going on with the Wings?

Remember in the previous update I could not explain that fairing on the upper wing surface and I was unimpressed with the aileron actuator.  Well I took care of the former by carefully removing it with a small chisel and sanding it back.  I then went on a search for a picture of the actuator and found one.

After thinking about the actuator for a while I decided to remove the ailerons completely and scratch build the actuator.  I'll pose the ailerons offset slightly as I have seen in many photos of the actual aircraft.  So out comes the trusty razor saw and we end up with something like this.

I'll scratch build a little hinge to fit into that slot cut out of the aileron.  I also drilled out the fairing for the actuator ready for the brass tubing I'll use to make a new one.

An Intake of Breath

When the Mig-29 is at rest the FOD doors are open.

That means that I'll have to make sure the insides of the intakes are seamless.  Remember all those ejection pin marks I mentioned in part 1 - well they'll have to go.

Of course after doing this and test fitting the intakes to the fuselage with the replacement main wheel wells in place I noticed that, unless I want to rebuild a circular cross section into the intake trunking, I'll be able to see the resin block of the main wells.  It looks like the FOD doors will have to be closed anyway.  Good thing that they can be closed while the aircraft is on the ground even though the engine is not running.

It's not usual but I don't have too much choice.

Well Well Well

I did manage to get the nose wheel well cleaned up and test fit into the lower part of the forward fuselage.

The detail in that gear bay looks wonderful.  With some paint and a wash the detail will pop.

Shiny Object Interference

My those Eduard nozzles look nice.  Maybe I should assemble and paint them now :-P

On to part 4

Academy 1/48 Mig 29A - Part 2

Link to Part 1

Assembling the cockpit

A bit of surgery was required to the forward fuselage section in order to get the Aires cockpit to fit.  I am quite happy with the result - its a vast improvement over original cockpit that came with the kit.  The detail is nice a crisp and should really pop when painted weathered.

Unfortunately some of the little details broke off as I was trying to get the cockpit to fit.  No biggie - I'll replace these with small bits of lead wire and once painted they'll look just fine.

The Aires cockpit set comes with a printed acetate representing the dials on the instrument panel.  In order to make these look realistic I painted the back of the acetate white (after removing the HUD glass)

When placed behind the photoetch instrument panel these look quite realistic.  I'll add some crystal clear to the instruments to represent glass.

The cockpit has been painted up.  You may also notice that I have replaced those little details which broke off.  The details on the right, behind the pilot are some of the avionics of the aircraft.  There is the opportunity to open up one of the side panels just behind the cockpit to reveal these but I won't be doing that - too much necessary surgery to the kit and having too many panels open on a model just does not look believable in my opinion.

The left-hand side panel was glued into the forward fuselage.

The cockpit was given a coating of clear varnish and then a thinned wash of AK Interactive AK093 interior wash to add some shadow and bring out the details.

While the wash was drying I decided to have a look at the wings.  There were a few ejection pin marks on the inside of these which needed removing in order to ensure a good join.  The location holes for the weapons pylons were also drilled out and the pylons were test fitted.

The fairing ahead of the aileron does not appear in any of my references for this aircraft so I'll have to remove it.  I cannot even find this feature on the prototype aircraft so I don't know where Academy got the idea from.  I'm considering removing the ailerons and posing them slightly deflected from their neutral position.

The aileron actuator underneath the wing is crudely represented so it will have to be replaced with something that is more accurate.

In the next installment I'll finish off the cockpit and start work on the wheel wells.

On to Part 3