History

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (Russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-21; NATO name "Fishbed") is a supersonic fighter, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. Some 50 countries over four continents have flown the MiG-21, and it still serves many nations a half-century after its maiden flight. Development of what would become the MiG-21 began in the early 1950s, when Mikoyan OKB finished a preliminary design study for a prototype designated Ye-1 in 1954. This project was very quickly reworked when it was determined that the planned engine was underpowered; the redesign led to the second prototype, the Ye-2. Both these and other early prototypes featured swept wings—the first prototype with delta wings as found on production variants was the Ye-4, the Ye-4 made its maiden flight on 16 June 1955. The ‘MF’ is an export variant of the ‘SM’ which was produced from 1970 with the NATO reporting name of “Fishbed-J”.

MiG-21MF (1970; Izdeliye 96F; NATO "Fishbed-J")

M = Modernizirovannyy ("Modernised")

F = Forsirovannyy ("Up-rated [engine]")

Export version of the MiG-21SM, with RP-22 radar and R13-300 turbojet.

The Kit

The parts arrive in a end opening box and are contained in a plastic sealed bag. The Kit consists of forty light grey plastic parts, and a resin cockpit. The parts are nicely moulded and are quiet thin with very fine panel lines in evidence on the wings and fuselage which do not appear over done, but in places the detail is a little soft.

Of the forty parts several are not required as these are for different versions as kitted in other releases; these include a pair of wings and a recce pod also a pair of rocket pods are included and shown on the box art but no mention is made of them in the instructions.

One loose part is also found in the bag and that is the clear canopy, although mine does not show any signs of scratches the chance of losing it is quite high.

I don’t understand why they choose to supply the cockpit as a resin part but I don’t think the part really is necessary and could have been achieved with normal plastic parts.

The Instructions

These consist of a folded sheet about the size of a A4 plus half again, a parts break down is shown on the front page followed by the two building stages on the reverse side. Construction as a whole should not cause an issue but for the pylons you need to refer to a guide on the instruction sheet which shows you how far each pylon should be from the centre line, also note that no mention is made of fitting nose weight which I would recommend. Colour call outs are made during construction by name as well as Humbrol numbers.

Markings

Five marking options are supplied for unnamed units of the following countries:
1) USSR
2) Czechoslovakia
3) Germany
4) Syria
5) Iraq

In Conclusion

Not a shake and bake kit but with a little work could be a winner.

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