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paul teixeira
98 articles

1/48 Eduard Mig-21 SMT/MT in Cold War Theme (USSR)

May 9, 2018 · in Aviation · · 7 · 3K

I built this about 2 years ago, maybe a bit longer. I apologize for the terrible photographs but they are the only pictures I have of this cool model and wanted to share. I actually sold this model on a well-known auction site so I can no longer take pictures of it. I guess I will just need to build another one and take much better pictures!

This was the 1st kit I had built and the 1st Mig-21 since I was a youngster and built the old Revell Mig-21. Overall It was a great kit but only the weekend edition so I needed to purchase a few after-market goodies to improve the overall detail and appearance. I dont recall having any significant problems with the build and the molding was excellent demonstrating good surface details and panel lines. I recall the hardest part of the build for me was finding and/or mixing the right color for a Russian jet interior. I think I got it right. I know now a few well known paint companies make a perfect match and I own a bottle in preparation for another cold-war Russian bird.

My goal for this build was to create a model that resembled a real, hard-working, and worn out Russian war machine. As a result I spent a lot of time on weathering of the multi-colored Russian camo. I needed to use techniques which toned down the brightness significantly. I accomplished this by doing a lot of dry-brushing of the whole aircraft with lightened colors in the same family as the camo colors. I also misted some highly lightened and neutral colored very thinned paint over the whole surface until I achieved the desired faded effect.

BTW the white stuff you see stuck under the landing gear is a blu-tac like substance. I used this to hold down the plane on the clear display stand to avoid it sliding around every time I moved it. Broke the pitot tube a few times due to model sliding within the display box...ouch! Any how not my best work and not my best picture taking but hope your enjoy the article.

Reader reactions:
5  Awesome

15 additional images. Click to enlarge.


7 responses

  1. Looks like you achieved that "well-worn" look pretty well, Paul...almost looks brush-painted.

  2. You gotta get a camera, so the pix are worthy of the model. Go up on eBay and get an old Nikon Coolpix picket camera for cheap- it'll do the job perfectly.

  3. Like the weathered and worn look you achieved with this. Very nice!

  4. Great job! My favorite Mig, had a silhouette of one painted on my flight deck jersey.

  5. Classic version of this cold war jet, looks really great. Try using double sided tape instead of that "white-tak" to keep the wheels in place, it should look a lot neater.

  6. Great work. Always like the looks of the humpback SMTs!

  7. Great Mig, Paul. A real winner!

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