The SAAF Forum

As you guys know I have been playing with a Trump 1/32 MiG 17 PF that I am doing in the sceeme of "21" of the Mzambique AF in wich Lt. Adreano Bomba "visited" SA

The build has been on ice for a while but today something went horribly wrong and I had some time to do some actual progress on it

The major parts have been glued together and this kit will need loads of filler to get the bad fitting seams to look good. Luckely the Mikoyan factory didn't pay to much attention to "nice looking" planes

The cockpit detail is "OK'ish" to start working from but I added a few pipes and lines plus PE harnass to add some feel to it.
The front windshield is totally incorrect for this plane and I needed to cut out the front armour plate ,shorten the rest of the assembly and re-glue in the plate.

I still have to find the correct colour for this plane, but it seems that a mix of sky blue and light grey will have to do. As for decals I might try to paint on the AF markings, otherwize if it is to complex I will go the Mav route.

Strangely this plane didn't come out with a Bang Seat, wonder how the driver got out in a hurry

Pix to follow.

Theuns

It seems that the MiG 17 of the Mozambique AF was a tipe of "Sky blue" according to some eye witness statements.(in to pix it looks grey to me )

I found this "walk arround" site and this pic of a Syrian AF MiG 17 of wich the underside is sky blue. Would you recon this to be a "standard" colour blue for eastern block Migs???

This side is a treasure for walk arrounds and I strongly sugest you guys bookmark it

Theuns

And the website is ...

http://www.primeportal.net/the_airstrip.htm

Scroll down to Mig 17 f (Syrian brown camo one) to the the underside blue I am refering to

Theuns

OK, so here goes.
The cockpit I did some time ago, The extra pipes and electric cables were made from copper wire and the O2 hose from sprue.
PE belts were left overs


This is a rather big plane in 32nd scale (I usually do 1/72!) hobby knife for scale effect.
There are a huge ammount of seams to be filled and even with carefull pre sanding, I still needed to fill the wingroot gaps with strecthed sprue. I hope it will sand easier than putty


I will have to do some extra work to make the wheelwells a little more "real" they are very bare and some extra formers and hoses/cables will be added. Same with the airbrakes, wich can be posed open


For some or other odd reason there are cutouts on the top of the wing just ahead of the ailerons, none of my reference pix show these, so I will fill them in.


T

Here is the new correct canopy


I can't figute out why Trumpeter supplies a beautifully detailed jet engine for this plane ,but no intake trunking
I will do the engine as a little project by itself

As a matter of interest to other builders of this model, it took about 40gr of lead in the nose to ensure it is not a tail sitter
T

Port UC bay


Theuns

Looking sweet.

Schweet like a lemon ek se!

T

Lekker subject Theuns. Got a soft spot for those cold war soviet agricultural designs. Look forward to seeing it completed.

Looking good Theuns! You also finding that the big Trump kits have some good points and some bad....? I am busy with their 32nd Super Hornet which has some parts that fit beautifully and others that require lots of filling and sanding!

Looking forward to seeing the end product of your build.

this is my first Trump kit sofar and the detail is OK, not I think up to Tamiya standards, but still good. On the MiG 17 I have read many reviews and all of then state the incorrect shape of the front canopy, this I think is not really acceptable for a "name brand" kit

As for the fit of the rear fuse to the front fuse, it is not very good, but in their defence I think it might be the engineering of having the kit split to show off the engine.

That F18 looka absolutely superb It has to be a big beast The Mig 17 is not really the biggest of planes arround

I have added the main UC legs and will add some hydrollic lines to it and the nose UC bay today.

Theuns

Well, bad or not, it is still coming along nicely in your care. Looks pretty big next to that knife...

_________________
EX ALTO VINCIMUS

The undercart is on, with all the hoses and main UC bay doors. The angle that the kit gives with the locator pins for the main doors is incorrect and I had to fox that.

I am missing the rear jet to tail fairing and will have to make one, not to sure how to do it yet

I am starting to get ticked off with all the filling/sanding and re-scribing, I might put it on the back burner for a few weeks to get some insperation again

T

I scratchbuilt the rear tailpipe section I lost and put the front canopy on.
After some sanding I pre-shaded with black over the grey plastic.

As for the colour I "eyeballed" it as in almost every pic I have the shade changes from a light grey to a light sky-blue

I mixed some Tamiya pale blue with Humbrol 147 light grey and I am happy with the results. The shading it just showing throuh. On this big model it was rather difficult to break up the mono tone plastic look with just grey on, hence the preshading.
On the full size there is NO shading what soever, even the pannels are near invisable (for a rather crudely made plane ) but on the model it just doesn't look right without it.

Pix to follow

T