MiG-17PF Fresco D, 11 Fighter Aviation Regiment, Czechoslovak Air Force
Everything I need: some reference material, some replacement decals, some pretty old instructions in Czech, and old technology plastic. For the time I think it has some pretty good detail, but that detail is often inconsistent.
I'm building everything out of the box except the decals. I found a site that sells replacement decals that are essentially reproductions of the orginals. This cost less than $8 CAD including shipping which was reasonable.
This kit had been started. The work does not conform with all the cockpit images I have reviewed so I’m going to give it a try and redo the whole thing.
This is the previously assembled cockpit completely refinished. I think it look ok considering it’s my first cockpit in forty years ?
I thought the earlier work I did on the cockpit looked too clean so I weathered it a bit to show some wear and tear.
Here is another view of the reworked cockpit. Too bad it will barely be seen once the canopy is in place, because the canopy for this kit is terrible. ?
As mentioned previously, the canopy is terrible. It is foggy, warped, crazed, distorted.
A dip in Pledge (aka Future) cleared it up but…
The cloudiness and scratches are gone but nothing will help the bubbles in the plastic.
I like the light grey and smooth plastic but the raised panel lines are a mess. There are a few recessed lines, but the majority are rised...
This kit is rivet, rivet, rivet, rivet, rivet... A lot of them!. I'm not brave enough to sand them down and also rescribe panel lines. Maybe my next project.
I didn't like that the intake was not deep enough and didn't want to paint its black, so...
I drilled out the back of the intake and carved out what I think it probably should look like. None of my reference pictures give a good indication of shape, so its best guess.
I caught this little oddity during the dry fit...! The two halves of the empennage are not the same shape...!
Once again during the dry fit I see I will have my work cut out for me. Maybe this old kit wasn't a good choice to ease back into the hobby on 🙁
On with the build. First thing I did after a lot of clean up and sanding was glue some weight in the nose. However, later on I discovered the landing gear is crap so this bird will be a flyer (...and the weight is superfluous).
I was getting frustrate with the fitting so I washed the whole kit in panel liner to privde more contrast as I insppected all the oddities.
Wow is that ever a bad fit...!
The wings also have a bit of alignment issues, but what really puzzled me was that the little trim tab on the right wing does not exist on the wing on the left. Don't know if that's how the MiG-17 is design or an error in the kit...?
Even the bask is out of whack!
The detail looks ok, but I'm pretty sure it won't be visible.
Yup, that dashboard will never be seen again.
Another dip in the Pledge
Ok, fuselage glued together relatively.
Ok, wings on and look straight.
Yup...they look straight to me.
Well underway with the masking and painting after a coat of primer.
On such a small kit I found the masking difficult.
I had trouble with my airbrush and had to do another coat to even things out. Unfortunately, it obscured a lot of the pre-shading and dark aluminum I laid down earlier.
The decals we fairly easy and settled well.
Even though the decals settled well, I still hit them with some softener for an even better fit, and see if the carrier film would be less noticeable.
The only other decal type other than the roundels were the fuselage numbers. I think I got them placed pretty close to what I saw in the reference photos.
I completely forgot I had to pain the black step strips. Had to be careful where the masking went so as not to disturb the decals.
I think things look OK. There is some contrast between the dark and light aluminum panels here and there. The jet nozzle looks used to, but the decals are bugging me.
I tried the salt technique for the first time and I hate the result. The crystals are obviously too large and I think they dissolved into the paint.
I think I'm finished.
Yup... I'm finished. If I tinker with it anymore, I'm just going to mess it up like the last kit.
Not happy with how the walk strips turned out. My first attempt at 'salting' for chips and it looks like the salt reacted with the black paint 🙁
I do like the hack job I did drilling out the intakes. I don't think it would have looked good with black paint to simulate the tunnel.
At least I got the wings straight LOL
I have to study and learn my paints. The airbrakes were initially much lighter, but something went terribly wrong and they darkened considerably 🙁
Yup...do not like the dark airbrakes. Must resist trying to repaint them, because I'll mess something else up.
I think I got the right 'hang' on the drop tanks.
As mentioned in the earlier build pics, the canopy is garbage. The dip in Pledge/Future helps a lot, but as we can see in the close-up, not enough.
I'm fairly happy with the canopy frame paint. All brush painted and a lot of guessing as to where the frame actually was because the clear mould lines were non-existent in some areas.
Well that’s it.
Comments
48 30 May 2021, 04:16
Łukasz GlińskiLove the pic #37. Really brave choice for a return to the hobby, though I love these vintage kits. You'd better pick the new Airfix Fresco to enjoy the building next time 😉
2 June 2021, 07:21
RuiThanks Lukasz. My first kit was that Lindberg Do 335. Not a great kit but I was doing well with it and then disaster struck when the flat varnish I used reacted with the paint. I got a little discourage and decided to try this kit. I learned a lot. I do have my eye on that new Airfix Fresco but recently it became hard to find. Anyway, I'm working through my duplicate kits in my stash and the next one might be a Starfighter in Canadian livery.
3 June 2021, 04:26
Gordon SørensenLooks good, Rui! Nice NMF, what did you use? When you said there was a lot of oversized rivets, you weren't kidding...
3 June 2021, 08:41
Łukasz GlińskiAirfix released rebox recently (with Polish silver-blue livery) which might explain the availability issues
3 June 2021, 10:11
RuiThanks Gordon. I used Vallejo Air Aluminium and Dark Aluminium. First time using Vallejo paints. The metal ended up looking textured which didn't show in my test sprays so I think it was the Stynylrez white primer.
4 June 2021, 05:53
Johan DNNice result with an old kit.
I had this kit and several others from KP in my stash. I sold them all. Instead I have build the Airfix and Hasegawa Mig-17. More fun.
Only brave men or women are able to build the old KP kits 🙂
4 June 2021, 07:37
RuiThank Johan, I figured that if I can do a half decent job on a old difficult kit like this, then I should be able to a reasonably good job on a modern quality kit.
5 June 2021, 06:02
Charlie Spitfirei have a airfix mig and am exited about building in in the future after my Blenheim is done
6 February 2022, 04:57
RuiIf, the Airfix MiG you have is the latest one, then you're in for a sweet build, because I have it and it looks great...Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17F 'Fr..g J-5) (Airfix A03091, 1:72)
6 February 2022, 05:03
Charlie Spitfirethat same one i have i got it for my 15th birthday but i think airfix have another one to come i think it is a mig 15
6 February 2022, 07:05
Charlie Spitfirecheek out my albums as we have a mig 17 at our air museum here in Ashburton i was allowed to stand on it so i could get inspiration
6 February 2022, 07:06
RuiThat's pretty cool Charlie. We have some air museums near me, but I don't recall any MiGs or that anyone is allowed to stand on the planes.
I have the Airfix box set of a Sabre and a MiG 15. It looks very good in the box so I think it will build up nicely. I did the KP kit as part of redeveloping my skills to return to the hobby. Saving the better kits until I learn a few more skills.
North American F-86F Sabre & MiG 15 (Airfix A82011, 1:72)
The only thing I really didn't like about the KP MiG 17 was the raised panel lines and the rivets. The fit wasn't too bad and it has some good detail, but the detail is a little soft. I really built this kit to develop techniques for painting metal finishes and trying panel variation. Learned a lot: especially about how metallic paints mess up the airbrush 😜
6 February 2022, 17:53
RuiThanks Robert. Sometime in the future I plan to build the new tool Airfix and then dare to compare side by side. If there is no improvement then we can only blame the builder because the new mig looks great in the box. 😁
6 February 2022, 21:28
Charlie Spitfirei have i picture of me on the mig if you want to cheek it out i know Robert has
7 February 2022, 00:57
RuiHi Charlie. I saw the pic of you on the MiG. I mentioned that a few comments earlier that it look very cool.
9 February 2022, 04:34
Charlie Spitfirein the picture you can see the nose of the harrier jump jet the only one in new zealand
9 February 2022, 04:52
Charlie Spitfirethe thing i dont like about the sabar in that club kit is the wait is visible sorry about the spelling
9 February 2022, 04:55
Thomas KolbAnybody who was ever able to build this kit is worthy an applause for sheer resilience! Well done and a nice MiG!
9 February 2022, 08:40
Thomas KolbŁukasz, I have already built the MisterCraft version: it is the same as the KoPro, only with removed rivets and instead panel lines carved in by a one-eyed chimpanzee with arthritis.
9 February 2022, 09:00
Łukasz GlińskiI have the KP kit on my to-do-list and I hope to get at least as decent result as Rui's got.
9 February 2022, 09:07
RuiThanks guys. This build was really to learn how to do a metal finish and try out a few techniques like chipping. I had no idea how poor the quality was so it also thought me a valuable lesson in filing gaps and sanding 😁.
20 July 2022, 00:10
RuiLt. Schaefer - I have that new tool Airfix MiG-17 in my stash and a very nice kit. The detail is great. I hope to build it some time soon.
8 September 2022, 02:02
Ludvík KružíkIt is nice to see that even outside the Czech Republic someone can build a machine with Czechoslovak markings.
For me this kit is also a nice memory of the time many years ago when I started modelling. Back then it was a great kit for me. I still remember how I built the model very quickly, without any puttying or painting the interior (I didn't do that as a kid). I painted the Egyptian camouflage on the model with a brush using regular water colors. You can imagine what the finished model looked like. But I was duly proud of it and very pleased when my friends admired and envied it.
Rui, your model is really nice considering what it was built from. Thank you for the fond memories of my modelling beginnings and I wish you a successful return to this beautiful hobby.
8 September 2022, 08:43
RuiThanks, Ludvik.
I had to order the markings from a company online that specializes in replacement decals, because the kit decals were nearly 50 years old.
I lived through that later half of the Cold War and generally ignored contemporary military topics (my interests was always the Second World War). However, in recent years I have taken an interest in post-second world war topics, with a keen focus on the 50s, 60s and 70s, hence the choice of Czechoslovak markings for an aircraft from the very early stages of the jet age.
Glad I could trigger some fond memories. 👍
9 September 2022, 02:17
Pierre PierreJust find your built thisbmorning. Indeed it was a courageous. I built one too. I was younger I was more impatien, i did not dare to go silver and used old decal...
20 August 2023, 05:27
RuiThanks Pierre. Yes it's a terrible kit, but My goal was practice. Only enough the fit wasn't too bad, but the plastic was terrible with poor details and so main rivets, and then more rivets, and they were not subtle rivets either LOL. The canopy was also a joke. Anyway, the object was achieved and I think it was a bad result considering I had never done a natural metal finish before.
20 August 2023, 08:33
