Now that I had the cockpit done for the MiG-17, I wanted to get them done for the 3 Tamiya MiG-15's.

So I brushed the details and assembled them. I'm very happy with how they look right out of the box.

Part 3 is next... Please stay tuned.

I figured I would keep going... so I glued the wings on the Hobby Craft MiG-17.

The fit was rather bad, so I opted to cut away the locating tabs on the wings. They were completely removed. The next step was to carefully sand down the edges of the wings where they met the fuselage. I wanted a nice smooth and flat gluing surface. Once that was done, I gave the same treatment to the fuselage where the wings were to be glued on.

I didn't take any pictures of this... sorry.

What I ended up with was a very nice fit. Again no filler was needed, as I had sanded away the offending plastic that caused the gaps. Now that I was happy with the fuselage to wing joint, I secured the wings in place using some Tamiya cement. This stuff is a little thicker than most glues I use and it worked perfectly.

I purposefully left the nose open, so I could add some weight inside to keep it from being a "tail sitter". Truth be told, the nose is open on the Hobby Craft kit, so I'll have to fabricate a blanking cover of sorts to go in behind the air intake. This will hide whatever I use for weight.

The exhaust cone was also left off. I'll probably add it after the plane has been painted. The jury is still out on this decision...

Here's how the day's progress ended. It's starting to look a bit more like a true MiG factory.

I'm calling it a day.

As always, comments are encouraged.

Wow Louis, I've been working upstairs on one model most of the day, and in the amount of the same time, you've almost completed 4 planes! I'm still not even close to paint on the one I'm working on.

You Are A Machine! Awesome! 🙂

Great trio Louis, thanks for sharing with us!

I mentioned before the engines look really good. Here I have simply snapped one in place. Friction alone is holding it in place.

Then I slipped on the rear section of the fuselage. Tamiya has designed the kit so that the rear half of the fuselage can be removed to show the engine. It's a very nice option. The fit is very good as far as no gaps are present...

But there is a slight difference between the height of the surfaces at the joint. In some places, the forward section is even, and spot on the money. In other areas, the front area is a little lower, and vice versa. So I opted to glue the rear fuselage section in place.

and promptly got a nice finger print smudge on the plastic ! Oh well. It will sand out. This plane will probably end up as one wearing camouflage, so this might not be a big deal after all.

Time will tell as I complete building the other two Tamiya MiG-15's.

Part 3 is coming up next.

These next photos show how the two kits look sitting side by side. I added the horizontal stabilizers to the Tamiya MiG-15, along with the cannons, dive brakes and various antennae's. ON the Tamiya MiG-15, I decided to raise the flaps, as most often these planes had the flaps in the "UP" position when parked. It was very simple to do. All I had to do was cut off the locating tabs. They fit into the opening perfectly, and were glued shut.

There are some subtle differences between the types. These most obvious are the sweep of the wings, along with the wing tips.

They look very similar from the side.

The MiG-17 looks a little longer when viewed from above. Here you can also see how much more sweep is incorporated into the later 17's wings...

I might get some more work done on these later tonight.

I have a question for anyone that knows the answer... Did the lower / underside portions of the wings receive camouflage paint on the North Vietnamese MiG-17 numbered "3020" ? Or was this area left in Natural Metal ? Did the same apply to the underside of the stabilizers ?

It appears as if the entire fuselage was painted in camouflage colors.

I found this photo online. It could be colorized, I don't know for sure.

Also I am looking to paint one of the MiG-15's in a tiger stripe style camouflage for a Korean War era Chinese MiG-15. Does anyone know if these planes were left in Natural metal on the undersides ? Or were they painted Flat Black or some shade of Light Blue or Gray ?

I'm open to suggestions for the colors that were used on these planes too. I've been gathering some information, but this is starting to look like it could be a mine field.

Meanwhile it's getting close to dinner time !

As always,
Comments are encouraged.

Thanks for stopping by.

Louis, sorry I'm late to the party, BFAM! The MiGs are looking great! For 2 planes that look so similar, I really like the look of the -15s MUCH more! Weird right?!
I wish I had answers to your questions, so I'll be looking at any answers you may get here.

It's great seeing and learning about these capable aircraft from the early Cold War era. I can't wait to see the one in camo when you finish. That stripe camo pattern is pretty doggone interesting, if you ask me!

Thanks gents for the kind words and the information on the colors. I sincerely appreciate the responses.

I have not had much time for building over the past few days. I had a series of unforeseen emergencies that popped up. The misses and I were stranded when the battery died in my truck. It was unexpected, and caught me off guard. I would have replaced it before this happened if only I had my crystal ball. Then we had a computer problem in another vehicle. When it rains, it pours.

Things are good now.

Allan, @kalamazoo
I'll be watching your MiG 17 take shape. You always manage to get the canopies crystal clear... What are the tricks of the trade with that ? Lately I have been experiencing problems in this area in particular. Somehow I manage to fog the insides of the clear parts, and that is often hard to fix.

Jeff , @mikegolf

It's always good to hear from you... Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoy the show with the MiG's. Please stay tuned for another update, and tell Billie that we said hello.

Erik, @airbum
Those links were exactly what I needed. Eduard offers some great color instructions. Thank you ! I managed to get a little more done on the MiG-17. Stay tuned for the progress update. It's coming up next...