to Ken Duffey: MiG-29s

Hi Seb,

Thanks for the kind words.......

I don't know of any MiG-29 kits review website - and I don't plan to do one.

The MiG-29 just doesn't do it for me.

I can't explain it - it has exactly the same features as the Su-27 - twin underslung engines, twin fins, LERX etc etc - same layout as the Flanker, but to me it is just not as good looking !!

I suppose you could say the same about me - same features as Robert Redford - two eyes, nose, mouth - all the same parts - just arranged slightly differently !!

Regards

Ken

Don't be so hard on yourself.. You're not that old :)

Ken, the Fulcrum is soooo cool :)

Anyway, to answer Seb's question, the only decent MiG-29 in 1/72 is the Italeri kit, but there's still a lot of things to rework to make an accurate model. There's also an interesting kit from Condor (the only Fulcrum C), but it's not so easily available and has raised panel lines and a thick canopy. I did a list of the things to change in the Italeri kit some time ago, try looking at old postings on Google, otherwise let me know and I'll put together another list.

Yuri, please do, or better yet, send it via e-mail.:-) Just remove nospam from the address.

Thanks,

Bostjan

Eastern Express issued a MiG-29SMT. Is the fuselage hump on the SMT the same as that on the Fulcrum C? I thought the SMT was one of the prototypes that never sold.

Frank

The simple answer is no; the hump on the MiG-29SMT and in the kit is more pronounced that on the MiG-29S / Fulcrum C / Type 29-13. Unfortunately the Eastern Express kit represents the hump as on the first prototype MiG-29SMT; the later prototypes and the MiG-29UBT have a longer hump that resulted in the removal of the domed parabrake housing between the engine exhausts. As for the Fulcrum C; Eastern Express do that as well:

Apparently Algeria have ordered a few:

Jon.

in article coqlm2$65r$ snipped-for-privacy@newsg4.svr.pol.co.uk, Jonathan Stilwell at snipped-for-privacy@teamonster.freeserve.co.uk wrote on 12/3/04 3:26 PM:

I have heard that Venezuela has decided to do away with its F-16s and replace them with MiGs. Anyone know which version or type?

MB

Ok, it took me some time to rewrite it...

As I said the best Fulcrum in 1/72 is the Italeri kit, but far from perfect. However some useful parts can be taken from other kits or using aftermarked items.

So these are some notes on how to make a better Fulcrum. The list is quite long, but the kit is buildable: don't give up! :)

Let's start with the cockpit. The whole length is good, however the area behind the pilot (with the circuit breakers box) should be longer and the front cockpit shorter (and deeper). There are a lot of aftermarket sets (both resin and photoetched). I saw a photo of the Part set that seems very good, but still haven't tried it. An alternative is to use the Neomega resin tub and the Airvawes photoetched set (they aren't perfect, but they complement each other and so far I have used this method). The resin cockpit tub is the right shape, however shows a step in the rear cockpit (under the circuit breakers box) that I never saw in Fulcrum photos and has no side walls detail. Also you can sand flush the details on the instrument panel of the Neomega set and add the Airwaves photoetched one. The panels to the sides of the HUD are too high on the Neomega set and must be lowered 1mm. The eyelid covering the instrument panel should either be made more symmetrical or rebuild with milliput and detailed with some pieces of plasticard (the original Italeri one is pure fantasy and too high: the windscreen doesn't fit!) then you can add a photoetched hud (the Airwawes one is a bit small however, the Eduard "old" set has a better one and maybe also the Part set)

You can remove the circuit breakers box and fill the step with plasticard (then either detail and reinstall it later o build another one from plasticard and Airvawes set). Also you must remove the throttle from the left console (it's mounted on the side wall instead) and glue the Airwaves side walls inside the cockpit, then install the resin tub. The photoetched walls are too long (they are based on the wrong length of the Italeri kit cockpit) but it doesn't matter, as the additional lenght is covered by the resin tub. The canopy is good, just add a plastic bulkhead behind the clear area and thin a bit the rear end to that when it's open it can sit a bit over the fuselage spine. Airframe: the general shape isn't bad, but there are a couple of glitches here and there.

First of all, every Fulcrum kit I have seen so far has the same mistake: the main air intakes are closed while the auxiliary ones are open. This happens only during takeoff, landing and taxiing, because the auxiliary air intakes are simply controlled by springs, so they are open only when the main intakes are closed and the engines are running (and sometimes during hi-g manoeuvres). To display a parked Fulcrum you'd have to close the auxiliary intakes and open the main ones and there's nothing inside the intake tunnels in the Italeri kit.

Luckily there are a couple of workarounds: I saw a photo of a parked Czech Fulcrum in the Verlinden Lock-On book with both the main and auxiliary intakes closed, so there must be some kind of device (a manual override?) to close everything when the aircraft is parked (maybe to avoid using intake covers), so you can just close the auxiliary intakes with plasticard. Another workaround is to use intake covers. "Part" makes them in their "Fulcrum airfield accessories" photoetched set. The auxiliary intake covers/service platforms have only a sort of grille on the top (maybe to start the engines during maintenance tests) however from photos seems that also a "blanked" version is available, you just have to add a piece of plasticard from the inside.

The other airframe troubles are with the fins: the outer side should be flush with the fuselage side. It's easier to fill and sand the step if you remove the tailerons. Btw, according to 4+ drawings, these are also a bit undersized, so it's a good chance to enlarge them with a wedge of plasticard in the middle. Airfix tailerons are the right size (maybe a little thin however). The chaff/flare dispenser fit is so-so: you'd better remove some plastic at their rear end, glue the dispenser in place and then fill and smooth the gap.

The wings are good, but their top surface should be flush with the fuselage (it's a sort of lifting body in reality), so you either have to sand down the step or you can make the fuselage a little "flatter" when gluing top and bottom halves: just make a small notch in the top fuselage side where it touches the main wheel well and glue and press the halves using the wings as a dept reference.

The engines are so-so. Part B-16 is too long (it should be a little shorter than the engine covers on top of the fuselage, instead it's a couple of millimetres longer) and the nozzle (B-15) is very simplified. You can either use nozzles from the Airfix kit (shortening a bit their front end) or use "Tally-Ho" resin nozzles (even if I think they are a bit too fat, Airfix ones are better). The air intake FOD doors should be more vertical: there are nice photoetched replacement in the Part and Eduard (the old set, now OOP) sets. But you can also make them with a piece of plasticard. I depicted the small holes in the doors by simply printing a decal with black dots.

The fit is so-so in the nose area, so you'd better glue the rest of the airframe, then work on the nose (and don't forget to add some fishing leads inside). The pitot tube is best replaced with a piece of tube and needs 2 vortex generators made with slices of brass or plasticard. The auxiliary pitot (A-43) is too small and should be replaced with the Airfix one, while piece A-42 is too big, again the Airfix one is better, but you can take it also from any of the aftermarket sets.

Also, the "odd rodds" are grossly oversize. You can replace them with photoetched one, anyway that seems an early fit:

The undercarriage legs are passable, just angle a bit forward the main ones, while the wheels are a bit small: either replace them with Airfix or use the superb Equipage rubber ones. The mudguard can be taken from the Airfix kit, anyway many Fulcrums simply don't have it (maybe to ease maintenance) so check photos of the one you want to depict.

The other problem is the missile rails: wrong shape and too far back (their front should be more or less in line with the wing leading edge). The Airfix ones are passable (as the missiles), but you'd have to scratchbuild at least a couple of rails for a "standard" weapons fit, as most Fulcrums seem to carry 2 AA-10 Alamo and 4 AA-11 Archer (while the Airfix kit gives you 2 AA-8 Aphid instead of 2 of the Archers: that was an early/export fit when few AA-11s were available). Another source for good AA-11 missiles is the Revell/Italeri Su-34 (but only 2 of them), while the AA-10 can be taken from the old Dragon soviet weapons set (you just have to make bigger front fins). You can also use the AA-11s from this set, just shorten them a bit ad widen the rear fins.

If you want to see good AA-10 and AA-11 rails take a look at the Revell/Hasegawa Su-27: the rails are the same (the AA-10 rail should only be a little shorter and rounder at the end) but the struts are shorter and closer in the Fulcrum.

The panel lines are sometimes good and sometimes wrong: you'll have to fill and rescribe some of them (especially in the front cockpit), anyway they aren't so visible on the real thing, so no need to spend much time on them: just fill the deeper and wider (and wrong) lines and don't highly the other ones too much while weathering.

The 4+ book (highly recommended) gives you all the drawings you need to make all the above changes to the Italeri kit (also with drawings for missiles and pylons). There's also a nice set of drawings in a past issue of the Ukrainian magazine Aviatsyia y Vremia: there are some differences between the 2 sets of drawings, in particular in the rear fuselage, but I decided to trust the 4+ ones. The Verlinden Lock On book is another good source of photos.

With some additional work you can also make a Fulcrum-C: just modify the wingtips and build a bigger spine with milliput (the 4+ book has all the drawings you need).

To my knowledge the following aftermarket sets are available:

Neomega: resin cockpit tub and seat. They had also a Fulcrum-C conversion set, but it's OOP.

True Details: resin K-36 seat (very nice!)

Aeroclub: metal K-36 seat (nice)

Airwaves: photoetched cockpit set (good, except for the side consoles that are wrong)

Eduard: there are 2 sets. The old (now OOP, but I think you still can find it) has a lot of details for the cockpit and the airframe (including FOD doors, afterburner rings and a really nice HUD), the new is in the "zoom" line and is simpler.

Part: photoetched sets for both the cockpit and the airframe: haven't used them but from photos they seem good. The external set has also FOD guards and new auxiliary intakes. There's also an "airfield accessories set" with ladder and intakes and engines covers.

PP Aeroparts (now sold by Flightpath): 2 styles of photoetched ladders (free standing and clip-on). The best (and easier to build) Fulcrum ladders I have seen so far.

Extratech: photoecthed set. Haven't seen it, so I can't comment, but they usually make good sets.

Equipage: resin/rubber wheels. Superb!

Tally-Ho: resin nozzles.

Oops...

the "odd rods" chapter is incomplete. The odd rods IFF on top and bottom of the nose seem an early/export fit. Later Fulcrums seem to have replaced them with a blade antenna in place of the bottom "odd rods". The top ones sometimes are still carried, but usually are removed.

Probably some kind of Fulcrum-A or C taken from the ones in stock (or undelivered from the factory) and upgraded with some new avionics and refuelling probe. Maybe MiG-29SD? I don't think the production line is currently making new Fulcrums (but hopefully someone will prove I'm wrong :) maybe they work only for overhauls/upgrading of existing airframes.

A "new" Fulcrum was the much reworked MiG-29M but seems it didn't go beyond the 6 prototypes because of financial issues.

The MiG-29K (half-derived from the MiG-29M) lost the race with the Su-27K for a naval plane, but I heard last year the program was beeing revived because of an Indian interest: seems the Su-27K is too big for them.

The MiG-29SMT was some kind of "cheap" program (compared to the MiG-29M) to upgrade existing Fulcrums: mostly they added more fuel in the bigger spine and a "glass" cockpit with new avionics, but I don't know if they went beyond the prototypes.

There's also a technology demonstrator MiG-29 OVT (it think this is the right designation) with vectoring nozzles (just like the Su-37).

Btw. Just saw that ICM has a "new" MiG-29 "9-13" Fulcrum-C. Probably it's a reboxing of the Condor kit (just like their MiG-31 Foxhound) with better decals.

My 0.02

is the red ladies in waiting book accurate?

I don't have that book, but if I'm not wrong it should be a photo-report of eastern aircraft boneyards, so with probably a lot of Warpac 50s, 60s and 70s planes in various states of disrepair.

yes, quite so. and also some good airfield shots of demil'd stuff doing peace work. it isn't an expensive book and i reccomend it highly. tons of markings, cammo and detail pics. if you have any pics, please post them some where for us. abtest is good.

i'm not sure. i bought mine at the air force museum in 2000.

Have there been any new editions? I recall taking that along on my last trip to the hospital and that was in '91.

Bill Banaszak, MFE