Mig-15 Build

1
April 8, 2022
The cockpit on this model is probably its weakest part. There are decals for the control panel, and detailing is ok for this scale, but the control stick looks like a thick log punched into the cockpit floor - out of scale and out of shape. The fact that the whole cockpit is a one piece tub makes it quite hard to make any improvements - there is very little place for the tweezers to operate.
2
April 8, 2022
Still I decided to add a little more details. The seatbelts are just strips of old decals. I also added the "black boxes" on the sides, the yellow throttle lever and few details for the seat. Obviously I replaced the control stick with something more appropriate, adding the blue cylinder on the floor on the way.
3
April 8, 2022
The little screw glued to the back is just for weight. I don't want this guy to sit on its tail, and there is very little space in the nose part of the plane (filled with some putty - also for weight). I need to remember to do a balance check before closing the fuselage.
4
April 19, 2022
Shame on me, but I lost the tiny front gear part somewhere. Luckily the box contains two kits and this part is identical for both, so blue stuff + mulliput to the rescue. I'm happy with the result, although I did loose some details of that wheel, and getting the flash of this tiny thing will be a challenge. The original part, with the pattern on the tires reproduced is really impressive.
5
April 25, 2022
So while getting the flash of the recreated part, the wheel broke of. So I decided that I'll try to use the wheel and recreate the part that holds it in place with a piece of tin. The idea was to have the wheel visibly separated from the gear. Worst case scenario I would just make another copy of the original part. The effect is far from perfect, but just good enough to go with the idea. I still need to work a bit on that wheel, and repaint it.
Also, I attached the gun barrels.
6
April 26, 2022
Dry fit for now. The upper and lower fuselage parts fit perfectly, but when I added the cockpit there was a significant hole between the two fuselage halves. I needed to sand down the jet intake splitter a bit, and then everything fitted ok.
7
April 29, 2022
The opening for the cockpit in the upper fuselage part is really small and it's hard to see inside. It might not be the best decision, but I widdened it a little, to let in more light. Funny/annoying thing about 1:144 scale is that looking at a photo of a model one can see more details then with ones own eyes.
8
May 5, 2022
Another dry fit. While the canopy is very good, it doesn't really allow to see almost any of the internals.
9
May 8, 2022
My first attempt at making a home made canopy. I used the original part as a master to make a form in blue stuff. Then I made a die of mulliput. Last part was to make the canopy itself from a piece of transparent plastic and...it's a failure. The effect isn't acceptable. More attempts will follow.
10
May 22, 2022
A dry fit of failed scratch made canopy - just to see if it really improves visibility of cockpit interior. Looks promising.

Komentarzy

6 8 April 2022, 21:53

Spanjaard
Very interesting. I just faced the same issue, and used same solution. Part is missing and duplicated with bluestaff/milliput. 144 too.

8 May 2022, 19:20

Cosiek
Hi Spanjaard - how did that work out for you? As one of the photos show, I broke my copy trying to remove to much flash in one go. Tiny, fragile stuff.

9 May 2022, 13:39

Spanjaard
well, removing the flash is really tricky, i had similar problems. and if the part is thin, it is very easy to break. i made several copies with 2 different putty bland. And eventually got one to work. it broke, but i could still use the pieces since they do not need to support any weight, unlike the one you are duplicating. in your case, i would have may tried to add a piece of wire inside of the putty, to make it more resistant
about the canopies that you are trying, i would make the one with putty, and then cut a piece of thin wood almost to fit completely. then staple the plastic to it, warm it up as much as you can, and then press it against the puty to get the right size. i did that a couple of times ages ago, and for example manage to make a decent canopy for a Mig-29 in 1/72, and a dome for a scratchbuild project. a very very long time ago.

9 May 2022, 14:31

Spanjaard
this reminds me that i need to post an update on the zero where i did duplicate that part.

9 May 2022, 14:33

Cosiek
Thanks for advice about canopies. That is pretty much what I did, except I used a piece of cardboard instead of wood. Yes - next time I will use something harder then cardboard, but I think my main mistake was to let to much putty on the outline of the die. This prevented the plastic from sticking closely to the right part of the die.

10 May 2022, 10:11

Project info

Mig-15

10 zdjęć/zdjęcia

1:144

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