One of the Worlds
first level supersonic fighters the MiG-19 is a significant fighter that is often
overlooked by both aviation history texts and model manufacturers. Sturdy and
easy to handle the MiG-19 was popular among pilots (many of which claim
that it is a better fighter in many respects than the MiG-21 which replaced it)
since it can out turn and outclimb its successor up until 20,000 ft. The MiG-19
has been described as a triumph of brute force over beauty and although lacking
in almost every regard compared to modern aircraft, its two 30mm cannon give it
considerable stopping power making it useful in ground attack missions. The
design project was authorized in 1951 just as the Korean War was breaking out. A
'T' tailed prototype proved lethally flawed but the design soon got back on
track and went into production in the closing months of 1954. An all weather
version was also produced (MiG-19P) with the MiG-19PM being the final version in
1958 which replaced the guns with missiles. Soviet allies such as Czechoslovakia
and Poland kept production going into the 1960's and some were even seen
fighting the Mujahideen during the Afghan War. In 1958 China secured a
manufacturing licence and produced the aircraft as the Shenyang J-6. When China
and Russia fell out diplomatically the Chinese were left with no prospect of a
better replacement and an attempt to copy the MiG-21 failing the Chinese upped
production and produced several versions. In 1970 China produced a radically
different version of the MiG-19 as a ground attack aircraft named the Nanchang
Q-5 'Fantan' by the West. This proved a great success as a cheap ground attack
aircraft able to carry 200kg of weapons, twice that of the normal MiG-19. The
Q-5 has been exported by the Chinese to several countries giving the MiG-19 an
amazing record of nearly 50 years in frontline service around the world.
Click on
images below to see larger images
|
|
|
|
The Trumpeter 1/32 MiG-19PM is a
gem of a model and stands up to anything that Tamiya or Hasegawa has to offer.
The kit is nicely done and is a very good effort on Trumpeter’s part. It
comes in a pretty good sized, sturdy box with a LOT of sprues. The same kit
can be used to build a Chinese J-6 version so pay careful attention to the
instructions as to which parts to use and what holes need to be opened up.
There is nicely engraved surface detail (which is not overdone as on other
Trumpeter kits) and two excellent, well detailed Tumansky RD-9 turbojet
engines with resin parts that depict the accessory section of the turbojet
engines. There are plenty of weapons sprues as well, including two versions of
the AA-1 Alakali (RS-1A/RS-2) missiles along with various other bombs. The
bombs are not used on the Farmer E (they were only used on the earlier, Farmer
C models) so you can relegate them to the spares pile or use them on
Trumpeter's MiG-19 'Farmer C' kit (which, for some strange reason doesn't
include weapons)
While the stock cockpit is nice I
enhanced mine with Eduard’s PE detail set. It really makes a difference,
especially on the instrument panel. The kit's ejection seat alone contains
over 10 parts and is enhanced even more with the Eduard PE. The interior was
painted RLM 76 which is a very close match to Russian interior blue/grey. It
was then given a black enamel wash to bring out details. This plane
requires quite a bit of nose weight to prevent it from being a tail sitter
(especially if you install the engines). I was able to epoxy lead shot and
BB’s in the nose air splitter intake halves before gluing them together. The
air splitter is then glued to the cockpit assembly and they are then
sandwiched between the fuse halves.
Trumpeter provides
engine exhaust nozzle covers to hide the fact that if you build the engines and
leave them out of the model for external display you won’t have gaping holes
in the tail end. It seemed to me quite a shame that in order to be able to have
a model with uncovered and visible exhaust nozzles I would have to close up
inside the fuse those beautifully detailed Tumansky RD-9 turbojet engines. I
opted instead for some extra engineering and made the forward and aft fuse halve
separate their intended splice line to allow for the aft fuselage section to be
removable so as to view the finished engines.
In order to do this
I added some music wire guide pins and mating holes to the aft and forward fuse
halves. These pins help hold and align the fuse halves together. In addition,
the installed engines themselves also provide for added rigidity. One engine was
glued in place to its fuselage mount and the other was allowed to be removable
so it could be displayed next to the finished model on its included display
stand. The engines have quite a few pipes and hoses that need affixing. The
various burner sections are made up of several pieces for both length and
circumference.
Building one engine
is time consuming enough and doing two takes even more effort. These engines
could be complete kits themselves. Once they were done they were sprayed with
various shades of Model Master metalizer and Alclad II paints. After the paint
had dried they were then given a black enamel wash to bring out the detail.
Click on
images below to see larger images
|
|
|
|
The model is built in several
sub-assemblies; nose and forward fuse, aft fuse, wings. When the wings were
completed they were joined to the forward fuse. Fit was excellent. Trumpeter did
a good job of making seams on this kit correspond with actual panel lines of the
real aircraft. I primed everything with regular grey auto primer. Because this
was going to be my first NMF model I was a bit nervous. NMF can be quite
intimidating because every surface flaw or imperfection is magnified a
hundredfold. I knew I would need as perfect a surface as possible to lay the
base metal color on to so the entire model was wet sanded with 8000 grit
micromesh. This got me as smooth a surface as possible.
The first color laid down was
Floquil old silver. Most Soviet era aircraft have different shades of aluminum
on the various panels so I reproduced this by masking off random panels and
spraying them with different shades of Alclad II. I then did some post shading
along the panel lines with Alclad II duralumin. I think this resulted in a good
effect of showing a well worn Mig that has been relegated to some rear echelon
area while the front line units are equipped with top of the line Mig-21’s.
Following this the panel lines were highlighted with a wash to really bring out
that fine surface detail.
Once the basic painting was done
all the fiddly bits came next; landing gear, doors, flaps, antennas, missiles,
launchers, pylons, drop tanks etc. These fiddly bits can take almost as much
time as the model. When these sub-assemblies were done and ready for
installation the model was then decaled. I didn’t use any of the placards
provided. There are just too many. My thought was that if this was depicting a
worn fighter than most of the data placards would be gone anyway. So it was just
red stars and unit numbers on the nose. Now all the fiddly bits could be
attached. When I was finally able to set the model on its gear my nose weight
that I added early on proved to be more than adequate. With everything attached
I gave the model a final coat of PollyScale satin acrylic to seal everything in.
So there you have it. A really
nice model of an overlooked Cold War fighter. Good job Trumpeter!
Jeffrey
Visit my web site at http://www.geocities.com/jbrundt
Click on
images below to see larger images
|
|
|
|