Afterburner Decals has released the second of two decal sheets to celebrate the MiG 21 use with various Air Forces. This release has markings for 29 aircraft covering 14 Air Forces around the world.

Contents:

Packed into a re sealable plastic bag, the nine double sided coloured A4 sheets and three decal sheets offer the modeler a fascinating collection of markings for the MiG 21. There are markings for twenty nine aircraft covering eleven Air Forces around the world.
The decal placement guides are colourful and provide port and starboard side profiles and upper plan view of each aircraft. A lower plan view of a wing is included to help with the location of any national insignia. Each profile is annotated with useful information concerning windscreen shape, antennae’s, individual paint differences, etc.
The decals are printed by Cartograf so the quality will be assured. Colour density and registration looks excellent. The carrier film is kept to a minimum. Most of the serial numbers have a narrow bridge of carrier film linking them.
As you can see from the images opposite, there are plenty of interesting schemes to choose from the four colour upper surface scheme on the Yemen AF MiG, to the popcorn scheme on the Ethopian AF MiG. For something very unusual then the two Indian AF MiG 21’s covered in polka dots will certainly peek your interest. The experimental Finnish AF Mig 21 and the ocean colour scheme of the Iraqi MiG 21 are well worth a look. If you interested in aircraft with victory markings, then black 1019 of the Iraqi AF with a Israeli and Iranian scores under the canopy will float your boat.
Paint references are subjective, colour names such as “red brown”, “ purple brown”, “grey brown”, etc are given, but it’s up to the modeler to create their own colours, although some FS numbers are provided. There are limitations in deducing colours from photographic images so Afterburner has provided their best guess.

-MiG 21 bis, Black 1087, Ethiopian AF, 1980’s
-MiG 21 bis, Black 1042, Ethiopian AF, 1970’s.
-MiG 21 R, Black 1464, Ethopian AF, late 1970’s.
-MiG 21 bis, Black MC-130, Finnish AF, 1987.
-MiG 21 bis, Red 899, Luftstreitkräft der NVA, 1986.
-MiG 21 bis, Black MG-128, HävLLv 31, Finnish AF, 1998.
-MiG 21 bis, Red 570, Luftstreitkräft der NVA, 1976.
-MiG 21 bis, Red 493, Luftstreitkräft der NVA, 1984.
-MiG 21 bis, C2728, No 24 Sq. Indian AF, early 1990’s.
-MiG 21 bis, C2133, No 15 Sq. Indian AF, early 1990’s.
-MiG 21 M, C1531, No 101 Sq. Indian AF, early 1990’s.
-MiG 21 M, C1503, No 7 Sq. Indian AF, early 1980’s.
-MiG 21 MF, Black 1184, Iraq AF, early 1980’s.
-MiG 21 MF, Black 1019, Iraq AF, early 1980’s.
-MiG 21 bis, Black 4086, Iraq AF, early 1984.
-MiG 21 MF, Black 2349, Syrian AF, 1982. This aircraft was possibly shot down by an Israeli AF F-15.
-MiG 21 bis, Black 704, Libyan AF, early 2007.
-MiG 21 bis, Black 804, Libyan Republic AF, early 2011.
-MiG 21 MF, 22 59, Federal German Luftwaffe, 1990.
-MiG 21 MF, Red 651, Nigerian AF, 1977.
-MiG 21 MF, Red 643/Red 652, Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea AF, 1985.
-MiG 21 bis, Black 17163, Serbian AF, 2006.
-MiG 21 MF, Blue 226, Somali AF, late 1970’s.
-MiG 21 bis, White 2230, Yemini AF, 2005.
-MiG 21 bis, Red 9818, Ugandan AF, 2007.
-MiG 21 MF, U-906 Ugandan AF, 1976. Destroyed by Israli Forces during operation “Thunderbolt”.
-MiG 21 S, Red 16, Frontal Aviation, Soviet AF, August 1968. Tail stripes indicated this aircraft took part in the invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968.
-MiG 21 bis, White 12, 112th Guards Independent Aviation regiment, Soviet AF, Afghanistan, 1988.
-MiG 21 bis, Blue 20, PVA, Soviet AF, 1986.

Application: Decals respond very well to Microsol, you will see the decals crinkle slightly, but don’t be tempted to brush out the creases. I found that the decals conform very well too low relief detail. Afterburner has reduced the amount of carrier film to a minimum so do not attempt to cut too close to the decal in order to reduce the amount of carrier film. It’s not necessary. In fact it is well worth your while taking a close look at some of the markings to determine the extent of the carrier film. You will notice that the carrier film will follow the shape of the letters or stencils very closely rather than surrounding them with excessive carrier film. This does have an effect when moving decals from the sheet to the model and you need to move them with a little caution. As there is little carrier film the decals look almost painted on after a coat or two of Kleer.

Conclusions:

This second part to the Afterburner Decals MiG 21 marking fest really whets the appetite to build a few more of Eduard’s kit. Don’t expect the same attention to detail as their home grown subjects as it would be impossible and expensive to visit the subjects represented with this release. Enjoy these marking for what they are and try not to worry too much about colour descriptions or why there are no stencils with this release. Excellent work Afterburner.