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Chuck A. Villanueva
122 articles

ESCI 1/48TH MiG-27 FLOGGER “D” IRAQI Evaluation Demo Anniversay MIG GB

January 20, 2020 · in Aviation · · 7 · 2.7K

When the Iraqi Air Force settled on acquiring the to fulfill the air combat role supplementing the . They also were evaluating the for the close support role as well. With the Su-22 and Su-25 also being evaluated in the mid 70's. The Iraqi Air force would eventually settle for the more enhanced MiG-23BN for the role which also was supplemented by the Mirage F-1EQ which could also fulfill the strike fighter role and maritime duties when equipped with the Exocet missile.

This is my own artistic license to what may have what the MiG-27 in Iraqi markings would have looked like. The Iraqi Air Force flew the MiG-23BN strike version of the Flogger. With the duck bill nose, is very similar, except for the intake ramps. When doing the research and checking out Iraqi MiG-27 images, which were not Flogger-D's but actually the BN.

The kit is the old kit from the 70's. I have had the kit since around 1998 long before Trumpeter's MiG-23/27 series came along. Only others in this scale was the Hobbycraft and AMT/ERTL kit which I believe both were ESCI repops. Italeri now has the molds and has re-released the kit in their plastic. ESCI back in the 70's were hit and miss on their 48th scale series. Some were good like the Mirage F.1, and some poor like the A-10. The MiG-27/23 were ok, with fine raised panel lines. What is quite noticeable is the parts in the ESCI kit compared to the Trumpy MiG-23 I built a couple of years ago. Much simpler approach, but then this is what we got in the 70's. Though I tell you the main landing gear is far more superior in assembly than the Trumpy one. Why? as the ESCi is one main piece that supports the weight of the model and will not break. Where as the Trumpy keeps breaking just sitting on the shelf which was made up of 4 pieces of a very complicated main gear strut and also made it quite fragile. The model was quite basic, no cockpit details, the seat resembled a K-1 only in somewhat in shape, there were no side consoles and in 48th scale that was not going to be acceptable despite the canopy being small you can still see what is missing. So to enhance the Flogger, I used Eduard's PE set to get side consoles and improved the instrument panel. Also got a resin seat from SB Models, which was a vast improvement over the kit seat.

I noticed the wheels seemed to be under sized. So a set of resin wheels from Armory helped here as well.

I replaced the kit Gsh-23 gun with the Quickboost replacement.

And finally the way to shallow exhaust nozzle with a nice resin set from Metallic Details

The decals were from a Linden Hill set for the Iraqi Air Force series of aircraft. As well as the stencils. Paint use were Ammo Mig, using Desert Yellow/Dk Green/Clay Brown over Tamiya Undersurface Blue. It was the first time using the Ammo Mig paints, they sprayes quite well out of my Paasche H.

Pretty much all the new bits were plug and play. No cutting or modifying the basic air frame. It really helped the overall appearance of the model than just leaving it bone stock. It was an enjoyable build.

Chuck

Fly Navy

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35 additional images. Click to enlarge.


7 responses

  1. Well done! Nice to see it finished, Chuck. What’s the story with the red inside the exhausts? I’m used to seeing green in Russian afterburners.

    • True, I had used a red oxide primer first and a wash of grime to dirty it up. I had intended then to overspray the Green in light coats over that. But it was late, and the next morning I assembled it totally forgetting to mist the Green. Nice catch though it does look ok, though the color should be green.

  2. Your MiG-27 turned out very well... and I thoroughly enjoyed watching the build journal as well.

    Thanks for sharing this with us. The camouflage paint looks great ! I have the old 1/48 scale Hobbycraft MiG-23 and MIG-27 in the stash. I wanted to build them both as part of our recent MiG Group Build, but I ran out of time.

    "liked"

    • It was a good time to build the older kit. The AM parts really helped in bringing this kit up. I will pop that canopy open to display it that way. Now to fix the landing gear on the Trumpy MiG-23 so I can display them together. Thanks for looking.

  3. A masterful Mig! Nice job.

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