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Russian Air Force MiG-29S 31st GIAP

The Finishing Touches

The final colors for the Jet Exhaust area varied quite a bit. The turkey feathers got a light coat of Duraluminum while directly below was aluminum with a feathered mist of heated blue. The nozzles are aluminum with jet exhaust while inside was misted with smoke and flat coated.

The anti glare was painted a tire black color but my airbrush decided to spit huge blob out and announce it was alive. A stunt like that it's lucky to still be. The Targeting sensor call out was silver but I've seen them high polished under the glass. then the inside reflector was done in clear green. It might be a bit too green yet looks cool.

The instructions suggest 5 grams of nose weight but I couldn't tell you how much that is to save my own life... so, I jammed that sucker full of tiny lead bits and got them to stay put with PVA school glue. Yeah, it's more than was needed HA HA. Later some trimming was needed to make the cone fit properly.

The amount of detail continued to impress when it was time to add all the landing gear components. There are excellent connection points for the tiny piston arms and doors plus gear itself is super sturdy. I really liked how the doors are perfectly spaced away from the engine walls and how the nose gear parts slid into place like a champ! After this uneventful part of the build I moved on to attaching the weapons. Here too you'll have no issues so long as the racks and inserts are cleaned of paint.

After putting so much work into this model it seamed curious that Zvezda wouldn't add some weight to the tires. After this was done there was a bit of time spent in making sure they were all on the flat spot and using foam to hold the plane in place until the cement had dried enough. In this case it was 12 minutes because I was constantly watching to make sure the wheel positions hadn't moved. It adds a really nice touch that is hardly noticeable and yet if you didn't do this it would be apparent.

And last but not least the windscreen and canopy got put in place and the MiG-29 was complete. Well sorta. Ever taste a dish and think, "Something is missing?"

The Base

In no time at all a little trolley was scratch built for the covers because they look really cool and a shame to throw them in the spars box. A few scuffs with silver and that was done. The pilot figure too has enough detail to make good use of. In the photo he looks pale but got a bit of sun for the final beauty shots. The Base is a sheet of cardboard covered with a 0.3mm sheet of plastic that was inscribed, primed and pin-washed with a dark dirt clay wash. Some Tacom sprue lengths made for perfect barriers after being course sanded to look like concrete then painted. The guard rails/fencing is stretched sprue and haphazardly built to look well used and bent up a little. Finally the landscaping was done with few tablespoons of sand mixed with PVA and blotted with dark wash and a few shoots of dried grass.

Conclusion

You most definitely do not need to build the base and details for this kit. You're going to get something excellent either wheels up or down in any of the different markings options as well. The kit was a blast to build and really gave my Mojo a recharge to continue working on a major project far more challenging.

Very Special Thanks to all of you took the time to read another of long articles and if you have any questions or comments please get in touch, I'm always willing to help where and when I'm able. Enjoy your hobby!