MiG-23MF - Romania - 1995

Romania received a total of 46 MiG-23s in the late 1970s, which became operational in 1979. The exact count was: 36 MiG-23MFs and 10 MiG-23UBs.
Once the Iron Curtain fell and Romania was no longer supplied with parts for its MiG-23 and MiG-29 aircraft fleet, these jets were facing imminent premature withdrawal from service. There were efforts made to keep the MiG-29s in service through an independent upgrade program called MiG-29 Sniper, but this effort failed due to cost reasons during challenging economic times.

Instead, it was decided to upgrade the MiG-21MFs to western standards, leading to the MiG-21 LanceR (A, B or C). See my LanceR project for more information:
MiG-21MF LanceR C - Romania - 2012 | Album by Redicus (1:72)

No such plans were intended for the MiG-23s, for which the fate of withdrawal towards the 2000s was already sealed.

The Romanian MiG-23s had at least five different camouflage schemes. They were initially painted grey but later received different camouflage schemes involving different tones of green, brown or beige. The model I am building captures their most popular camouflage as seen in 1995 with beige "snakes" on top of a kaki-green, my absolut favorite.

The MiG-23s were officially withdrew from service in 2003, many of them with barely 500 flight hours. By approximately 2011 all but a small number (5?) were ultimately scrapped.

My initial subject was the number 222, also known as "The Disident". The nickname was earned after presumably the engine of the white 222 refused to start in a demonstration in front of the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, or so says the legend. Unfortunately, there are extremely few photographs of the 222 so I couldn't really manage to reproduce the camouflage. I decided in the end for the 224 included in the KP kit, for which sufficient photographs are available from different angles.