1/72 AMT/Matchbox MiG-21FL

Gallery Article by Ratish on Jan 26 2014

  India Republic Day 

 

 

The MiG-21 has always been a legend in our times and has been fairly popular with the modelling community over the years. Well, when I set out to build one, I started with deciding to do a MiG-21FL "Type-77" as a tribute to it's recent retirement after 50 years of stellar service with the Indian Air Force. Looking at the different kits in 1/72 scale that offered this particular variant, it struck me that there weren't too many options I had. I finally decided to the vintage Matchbox / AMT kit knowing it had many deficiencies and hoping it would end up looking acceptable.

 

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Before I get into further details, I would like to mention that anyone looking to build this kit is looking at a bit of scratch-building just to get basic details right. The kit is rudimentary and simplistic, but is nevertheless a fun build. The most drastic change I made was to chop off about half an inch of the nose. This turned out to be more difficult than I expected and required a good deal of sanding and putty to smoothen out. Once the nose was done, I set out to scratch build the missing cockpit tub and dashboard with styrene strips. The seat that came in the box resembled a recliner and was replaced by a modified KM-1 seat from a Fujimi MiG-21. (The Type 77 used the SK-1 seat with unique overhead flap). Other changes included adding in the bulge above the wing root to fit the main gear wheels and having to sand down the tail fin.

I decided to paint it a brown-green scheme as seen on an Indian Air Force example from the no.28 sqn. during the 1971 war with Pakistan. These MiGs were hastily painted on the field and the paint was heavily worn as the war progressed. I used Humbrol enamels and decals from the Casper decals 1971 War sheet. In the end, the model did not turn out as good as I would have liked, but mostly does look the part. 

Ratish Nair

      

Photos and text © by Ratish Nair