Sergej I Nice, following. Two days left. It's a weekend edition😉
28 April 2020, 19:48
Thomas Kolb @Sergej, I am sorry to disappoint, but I am a slow builder. Like really, r-e-a-l-l-y slow. It can easily take me several months to finish a kit. It's a zen thing.
Sergej I Thomas, I am the same. No disappointment there at all 🙂 I was just making a joke to the "weekend edition" designation on the box.
6 May 2020, 15:45
Thomas Kolb Cockpit finished, and fuselage halves assembled. However, I have no idea if I have added enough weight for it not to be a tail-sitter. I added all I could, but it still feels tail-heavy in my hands.
8 May 2020, 18:54
Łukasz Gliński Already closed the lower lead compartment (under the cockpit)? If not you can still add some more there, this is what I did with my '346' 🙂
8 May 2020, 20:16
Thomas Kolb Lukasz, yes, thank you, I think I pretty much added all I could. No worries, I just realized that if needed, I can still cram in a lot of lead weights deep into the jet intake, far far at the back where it won't be visible unless using an endoscope.
9 May 2020, 08:23
Pierre Pierre great start, I follow as I would like to learn from you before I build mine. hope you will post pics as you go.
Thomas Kolb Pierre & Celliers, thank you! This is really a very nicely engineered kit although there are a few tricky parts. I will try to describe my build in the picture comments.
10 May 2020, 07:12
Alec K Great project Thomas! I say again, it's been MiG-galore on SCM as of late...
Thomas Kolb I am now thinking of painting the MiG in a three-tone camo used by the 101st Recon Regiment during the early 70's, instead of leaving it in natural metal... it sure looks cool, but I need to find some more photos.
Thomas Kolb Sergei, he he, yes, flat-earthers are united around the globe.
13 June 2020, 13:27
Thomas Kolb Thanks to my Hungarian mate Géza here at SM, I learnt that many of the late MiG-15's had a peculiar semi-circular cutout on the inner left wing fence, so I tried to reproduce this. Legend says that Stalin happened to have his thumb on the papers as he was inspecting the chief designer at Mikoyan making the drawing of the wing, and since the designer didn't dare to ask him to move it, he instead draw a semi-circle around it. In reality the cutout is for the pilot to be able to see the brake flap indicator peg on the top of the left wing before takeoff.
Łukasz Gliński Had similar dilemma on my LiM-2, but decided to skip it as I'm building quite an early version with sort-of-conformal fuel tanks. Looking forward to seeing your camo proposal 👍
14 June 2020, 19:52
Thomas Kolb Green layer of paint done, yay!. These are just the generic areas for the green paint - for the chocolate and the pea-soup color I will be using masks.
15 June 2020, 15:15
Andy Ball some cracking tips in the build-dialogue Thomas, thank-you ....would you prime at a different pressure to the subsequent painting? (25 PSI,I note)
15 June 2020, 16:18
Thomas Kolb Andy, well, yes, the primer I am using (Ultimate Primer) is rather thick and should be airbrushed at like 30-35 PSI or it will not flow steadily. Also I have been told to avoid thinning acrylic primers if possible as it removes some of its adhesive properties - not sure it is true though. For the Tamiya acrylics, I find 20-25 PSI to be just perfect, but I thin it like crazy, 50-50 with Mr Color Leveling Thinner.
15 June 2020, 17:56
Łukasz Gliński Hmmm, do Tamiya acrylics work with Mr Levelling? Hmm, somehow I missed this option...
15 June 2020, 20:23
Soeren R. Yeah - because they are also Laquer based like the gunze aqueous colors😉
16 June 2020, 11:57
Thomas Kolb Łukasz, yes, the Tamiyas react beautifully to Mr Color Leveling Thinner. In the past I used to thin them with Tamiya X-20A thinner, but it evaporated too quickly out of the airbrush, resulting in a coarse surface and dotted paint edges. The Mr Color Leveling Thinner has a retarder in it, which makes the paint dry just a bit slower, so it is easier to get a nice finish with smooth gradient edges.
16 June 2020, 12:11
Łukasz Gliński Damn, I should have known this before painting my Glamorous Glennis 😭
Thomas Kolb Lukasz, are you kidding, your orange lightning looks stunning!
16 June 2020, 19:32
Łukasz Gliński That's purely because I limited my use of macro😉
16 June 2020, 19:41
Thomas Kolb Lukasz, that's actually something I have thought of before... 1/72 is a very ungrateful scale, as even the nicest model easily looks like crap in the photos. I mean, even the plastic and the paint itself has a specific "grain" that starts to become noticeable on macros... very annoying. 1/48 builders don't seem to have this problem, hm, maybe I should move over too... My eyes would surely thank me.
16 June 2020, 19:47
Łukasz Gliński Probably the wife and storage space may not agree😉
16 June 2020, 19:59
Andy Ball I'm beginning to think 48 Thomas- I have an extremely short sightedness prescription that allows me to work super close in 72, but I warn you Arma's Hurricane is too 'fussy' with detail...they've squashed a 48'r into a 72nd...making me re-think my scale amibitions.....
Thomas Kolb Camouflage finally applied with a healthy amount of guesswork - removing the masking tape was a bit scary, but I think I got the pattern and the colors to what I had in mind. Phew! So now time for some touch-ups and fixes before starting the initial weathering process.
Łukasz Gliński Really nice camo, what's the green exactly?
7 July 2020, 21:15
Thomas Kolb Andy & Łukasz, thank you! The green is Tamiya XF-26 Deep Green filtered with XF-2 white for a fading effect. The brown is Tamiya XF-72 Brown/JGSDF, also filtered with white. The colors might be a tiny bit too light but I expect them to darken somewhat during the weathering process.
7 July 2020, 21:24
Thomas Kolb Auxiliary gloss applied and the decaling process is ongoing. This is quite a relaxing phase, but also time-consuming. I intend to go for a pretty weathered and somewhat grimy look, so the happy-shiny appearance will soon be gone.
19 July 2020, 09:20
Andy Ball Shiny-happy people to be replaced by grimey-weathered detail?...lovely progress BTW!
Thomas Kolb Most of the stencils turned out to be completely invisible, so I don't think I will bother with the smaller ones. Instead I started to proceed to the weathering phase, using oil paints this time - a new technique for me, let's see how it turns out!
21 July 2020, 12:59
Andy Ball great tip there Thomas, re. the oil painting effects...(I've got a real mental block with weathering at present for the 5 projects I need to complete, so your hints are adding to a range of options I have in my head!), and the Midget looks better for it!!
21 July 2020, 13:00
Thomas Kolb Andy, I watched some YT modelers use this technique and so I thought I would try it myself. It's not so easy but it seems quite forgiving; just work section by section and try to keep the effect subtle. As long as the underlying paint is properly sealed by a coat of clear varnish, you can even carefully wipe off the oils with odorless turpentine if it goes horribly wrong.
21 July 2020, 17:02
Andy Ball is odourless turpentine important (I have the natural, odoured, stuff?)
21 July 2020, 17:03
Thomas Kolb The odorless turpentine is in fact not turpentine at all, but something called a 'turpenoid'. It is pretty harmless to the underlying paint. Regular turpentine is a more aggressive a solvent than turpenoid and might damage the paintwork. This AK stuff I am using is perfect, it doesn't touch the paint layers at all, only the oil wash, and even that only when it is still soft.
Thomas Kolb My dear model building fellows, thank you all very much for your kind words! 🙂
28 July 2020, 21:15
Andy Ball May I add a post-script? - an interesting variant, a rarely depicted AF scheme, and a faithfully represented build that we can learn from. I enjoyed the trip!
28 July 2020, 21:40
Thomas Kolb Thanks, Andy! This Eduard kit is one of the best engineered kits I have ever built, so I had a great time. 🙂
Łukasz Gliński Outstanding. I'm sure it's the cleanest canopy of any MiG ever!😉
What's the story behind the backround? Looks like some competition for my hangar😉
29 July 2020, 12:09
Thomas Kolb Łukasz, thanks! Yes, the ground maintenance crew were waxing and polishing up the canopy nicely for the photo shoot... but they forgot to clean the aircraft itself...😉 About the background, no story really, just got a bit tired of not having a proper background for the photos except for a white wall.
30 July 2020, 09:32
Łukasz Gliński The cupboards hanrdstand looks nice, but the winter ground part is exquisite. Where did you get it?
Łukasz Gliński Thx. Seems to be bigger than it is. My CoastalKits summer background is way to small for me😉 (see P.11a & Avia CS-199)
31 July 2020, 12:27
Thomas Kolb Łukasz, yes I agree, they are really best for small aircraft and closeup photos. Maybe I should learn how to make a realistic diorama base. But I think your summer backdrop is actually quite nice.
31 July 2020, 13:55
Łukasz Gliński They also have a roll-out base, which I find interesting, yet quite expensive.
Thomas Kolb
1+
Sergej I
Łukasz Gliński
Pierre Pierre
Alec K
Andy Ball
Soeren R.
Slavo Hazucha