MiG-29S ‘Fulcrum-C’ Strizhi (Zvezda, 1:72)
MiG-29, despite being one of the most popular modern fighters, was poorly served by the scale modelling industry. Italeri's kit, which until just recently was deemed the most accurate of the currently available kits (though it had its fair share of issues) is more than 20 years old and the ICM kit of the 9.13 version was actually based on Italeri moulding and inherited most of its problems. Airfix still releases the old tool kit in a new boxing which was blown away ages ago by the aforementioned models, while Hasegawa and Fujimi are grossly inaccurate. Oh and there's a whole bunch of cheap Eastern European and Asian knock-offs of the all before mentioned models which you shouldn't even bother looking at if you strive for accuracy and ease of build.
So it was really great news when both Trumpeter and Zvezda announced and released MiG-29 kits in 1:72 this year. I haven't tried building Trumpeter yet (coming soon though), but my experience with Zvezda, as with all their recent kits, was superb.
Despite some small shortcomings, the kit is really a joy to build, is accurate and it's the first MiG-29 kit in 1:72 that has correctly depicted open jet intakes and closed auxiliary intakes. The later are open only when the aircraft is on ground and the engines are running (from start-up to take-off and from landing to shutting down the engines). The engraved detail is well defined if a bit shallow, mostly on the curved surfaces like LERX. There are no engraved rivets present but I don't mind that, as they are more often than not over emphasized and don't look real. With a multitude of riveting tools present today on the market, making you own shouldn't be a problem. If building the Swifts version, the
easiest way of applying the top decals would be to wait with vertical stabilizers installation until after decaling. Decals themselves proved excellent, thin enough and didn't require any setting solutions.
All in all, an excellent kit and I'll be sure adding a few more to my collection.
Model Data
Company: Zvezda
Scale: 1:72
Aftermarket: none
Paints used: Mr.Paint (MRP-4 White, MRP-45 Dark Blue, MRP-98 Light Gull Grey),
Revell (36 Red, enamel)
Alclad (ALC-101 Aluminum, ALC-104 Pale Burnt Metal, ALC-111 Magnesium, ALC-123 Exhaust Manifold, ALC-405 Transparent Smoke, ALC-416 Hotmetal Sepia)
Nice looking build, sir...I assume it's part of a demonstration team?
Thank you, Craig! You are right, Strizhi (Swifts) are one of the Russian Air Force aerobatic teams.
Lovely work. Great detail. Nicely described.
Thank you, Rob!
Excellent build, Beautiful finish.
Thank you!
I have to admit, I'm not a big fan of pretty paint jobs on military aircraft, but when they are done this well, I have to take notice, and give credit to a well made / nice looking model. Well done Sebastijan !
Thank you, Terry! I have to admit I prefer line jets as well, but from time to time I make an exception. And I really like the Strizhi markings.
Excellent build, the paint work is outstanding.
Guess i will land by Zvezda or Trumpeter as well.
Thank you, Bernd! I plan to start a Trumpeter soon, but the open auxiliary intakes are already troubling me and the curvature below the cockpit doesn't look as good as Zvezda's. I'll probably make a small diorama for it.
Thanks for that information, Sebastijan. My collection is crying for a Fulcrum in every scale.
Yes, very nice Sebastijan, thanks for the info, well done.
Thank you, Allan!
That's a jazzy one! Great markings and fantastic skills.
Feel free to post more of your collection!
Thank you, Richard! I might just do that!
Nice looking MiG-29! I just ended up with a Zvezda Su-27 in my stash and am eager to get to it. Sounds like I should expect a decent build.
I built the Fujimi MiG-29 years ago, and was somewhat disappointed with the experience. I may look to add one of these newer kits soon. I prefer the MiG-29 over the Su-27 as a smaller knife-fighter!
Thank you, Greg! Zvezda's SM is a lovely kit and I cannot wait for them to release other Flanker versions.
Here's a link to my blog of my Su-27SM build: https://vvsmodelling.com/2015/02/18/su-27sm-flanker-b/
Very smart looking. Top workmanship.
Thank you, Anthony!
The plane turned out very beautiful! Congratulations!
Thank you, Dmitry!
Top Build, congrats!
Thank you, Christian!
Well done !
LIKE!
Hvala!
🙂 ... Greetings ... 🙂 :
Nicely stunning build Sebastijan . Very clean, and that paint job is so sharp and crisp looking, very well done.
Thank you!
Otlichnya! Looking forward to seeing more Russian aircraft from you.
Spasibo, Bill! No worries about that, my stash is full of red stars 😀