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MiG-21MF

Eduard's 1/48th MiG-21 series of jets were highly praised when they first came out a few years ago, and are still one of the best kits of the MiG-21 on the market.
So with the release of a 1/72nd kit of this iconic Cold War fighter, I am hoping Eduard have recreated the magic of its bigger brother.
Now to make this build slightly more complicated I have added Eduard's Brassin Cockpit, Brassin exhaust nozzle, Brassin wheels, and the Brassin R-35 missiles with pylons, to really ramp up the detail.

Brassin MiG-21MF Interceptor cockpit

Item No - 672 180
Price - £12.99 (Hannants)
Link - Cockpit

Eduard's Brassin cockpit is packaged in a black top opening box and contains the entire cockpit and ejection seat in nine resin parts and a small sheet of photo etch. A two page instruction sheet and a small film for the HUD makes up the rest of the contents
The first item to be built is the ejection seat which is made up of two resin parts and seven pre-painted P.E parts. Detail for the seat is more refined then the base kits parts and a full harness set and ejection handle attaches to the seat, which is supplied in the Profi Pack boxing of the kit.
The main cockpit is made up of a resin tub, which has moulded on detail for the side and wall console. These have to be painted as only one photo etch part is attached too each side wall. The kits cockpit has the entire side and wall consoles replaced with photo etch, but the resin part does give it more depth.
The cockpit has P.E rudder pedals, a resin control column and a 5 part resin and photo etch instrument panel.
Matching the paint for the cockpit with the Eduard was actually easier then I thought it would be, as I used Vallejo's Model Air Light Turquoise with a little green added. Eduard's instructions call for you too use Gunze H46 Emerald Green, which is way to green. I do believe this is a major booboo on Eduard's part as the kits instructions tell you to use a mix of 60% C34 Sky Blue + 20% C66 Bright Green and 20% C80 Cobalt Blue for the interior.
Once all the cockpit tub is painted up and the P.E parts are attached the seat can be installed, and along with the rear bulkhead really does notch up the detail.
The HUD is a mix of a one piece resin part, two small P.E instrument panels, which fit onto the front of the shroud and a small plastic film for the glass, which replaces the thicker plastic part supplied in the kit. This part is very detailed and a lot better then the plastic equivalent part.
The cockpit is easy to build, but if I had another to build (which I probably will at some point) I would mix and match the parts, by using the resin ejection seat, maybe the resin shroud, if I can get it too fit onto th plastic cockpit part, and the base kits cockpit with the P.E.

Brassin MiG-21MF Exhaust Nozzle

Item No - 672 181
Price - £9.70 (Hannants)
Link - Exhaust Nozzle

Turning to the rear of the MiG, we have the Brassin Exhaust Nozzle set which incudes three resin parts and four (one spare) photo etch parts, all packed in the standard Eduard blister pack, with a small set of instructions.
The hardest part of this build is removing the quite substantial resin pouring block found on the rear of the part R20. The other two parts the blocks are easy to remove with only a bit of clean up required.
Three photo etch parts go inside the rear of the resin part R20 for the exhaust rings. Detail is a lot better then the kits offering, especially the afterburner nozzle, but how much you will actually see is debatable.

R-3S missiles with pylons for MiG-21

Two sets are available for the MiG-21 with and without pylons, and for this build I have used with the pylons.
Item No - 672 186, with pylons and 672 185 without pylons
Price - £9.70 and £6.60(Hannants)
Link - R-3S missiles with pylons

The R-3S missiles and pylon set is packed in a blister pack with a foam insert backing the resin parts up to protect them. A small photo etch sheet, a sheet of decals and instructions fill the rest of the pack.
Four missiles with the APU-13 launcher rails and four aircraft pylons are supplied in the set.
Each missile is made up of five photo etch parts, four forward fins and an exhaust. A sensor cap is also supplied if you want too add this part for a grounded aircraft. The nose of the missile has to be removed too add this part, which is very easy to do with a sharp scalpel.
Each missile has 14 decals to attach for the various stencils, and actually doesn't take long to do.
Each missile comes with the APU-13 launcher rail, and has a few decals to attach, which are supplied.
The aircraft pylons are numbered, with each pylon going onto a particular station under the aircraft, so make sure you check and double check thier position before installing.
Decals for these pylons are not supplied, so you will have to use the kits decals for these parts.
The instructions are easy to follow, with a handy guide for placement of the missiles and pylons, and where to drill holes in the underside of the wings.
This is a nice set which is a lot more detailed then the kits parts. Eduard do produce a range of underwing weapons for the MiG, with rocket pods and different missiles in the Brassin range.