MiG-23 Walkaround (UB & MF) - Szolnok Hungary, 2019

The MiG-23's were originally all painted in this Soviet "teflon gray" scheme when they arrived to Hungary but were later repainted in Hungary to a three-color camouflage. This aircraft (no 15) was then repainted by the museum to its original gray color. 

Molniya R-60MK Utka ('Aphid') short-range air-to-air training missile (without its wings). The black stripes are used to mark inert dummy missiles. The two rectangular apertures on the fuselage are the auxiliary intakes to provide additional air to the engine during low speeds or high angle of attack to minimize the risk of compressor stall. They were just spring-loaded and would open and close by themselves because of the air stream, without any pilot intervention. The small pod with the black tip under the right wing housed the Delta-N datalink equipment for the Kh-23 radio guided missile. 

Hungarian Floggers were never flying from improvised fields, so the usual mud guards were removed to simplify maintenance. Note the titanium part of the nose gear bay door to protect the fuselage from overheating while using the guns. 

Note the tan colored canopy seal. The pointy thing in front of the windshield is an auxiliary pitot tube to measure dynamic air pressure for the airspeed indicator. In the middle of the pilot's canopy, you can see the tan colored folded screen, which could be drawn over the canopy to prevent outside vision so the student pilot could train IFR flight, using only the instruments. 

Splitter plates and intake flow director vanes. Because of these large intakes on the sides (as opposed to the central intake on the MiG-21), the original nickname of the MiG-23 was "Cheburashka", a Russian cartoon character with large ears. It's worth noting the similarities with the F-4 Phantom - the splitter plate (with the tiny holes) is more or less identical. 

Right main gear and wing glove pylon. For model builders, the yellow and black hoses in the gear bay are worth reproducing as they are pretty dominant. Also, check the angle of the gear bay door mounted on the wheel axle - it has a very slight forward leaning position, not at all as dramatic as some model builders tend to do. 

Check the position of the weapon hard points and the angle of the undercarriage bay doors.  

Fixed 23 mm Gryazev-Shipunov-23L twin-barrel autocannon with 260 rounds. These were firing "Gatling-style": the recoil of one barrel prepared the second barrel for the next round. The accuracy was pretty poor and it took only 4 seconds to run out of ammo. 

Molniya R-60MK inert training missile with "dummy" stripes. You can see the rusty attachment points on the missile body for its four tail wings. 

Here's a shot of the intricate landing gear mechanism. It had its own pneumatic container so the landing gear could be extended even if the aircraft lost main pneumatic pressure. 

The round opening is the inspection point for the compressor blades (it says so in the Hungarian stencils). 

The ventral fin automatically folds sideways as the landing gears are extended or otherwise it would hit the ground. Its purpose is to provide addiditonal stability in flight with a high angle of attack. It was mechanically connected to the landing gear so no pilot intervention was needed to fold it. 

The large dome-shaped end on the bottom of the fin is the housing for the brake parachute. The spear-shaped thing on the top of the fin is for the RSBN system ("Radiosistema Blizhney Navigatsii"), which is a short range nav system (similar to TACAN). 

Panel lines clearly visible in black. Thin, but still visible. Again, note the angle of the gear bay door mounted on the wheel. This is the lean forward, not more than this. 

From a certain distance ("1/72" distance), the panel lines are almost invisible. BTW, note the distinct nose-up stance. 

The centerline hardpoint was exclusively assigned for the PTB-800 drop tank. In case of a long distance ferry flight, two additional drop tanks could be loaded onto the swiveling part of the wings but the wings would then be fixed in a fully forward position.  

The small "handle" in front of the "15" is the angle-of-attack vane, measuring the relative air flow. It swivels surprisingly easily. 

The twin seater trainer did not feature a radar in the nose cone and the corresponding instruments were removed from the cockpit. However, the instructor in the back seat could simulate various instrument malfunctions for the student pilot to handle. 

Rudder detail. Also note the heat discoloration of the jet exhaust petals. The black dome under the RSBN antenna is the receiver for the IFF system, used to identify the aircraft to friendly fighters. The small "blob" on the fairing is the IFF transmittor. Beneath it, on the extruding pin is just a white position light. 

The least attractive angle... From here the Flogger resembles ... a crow. 

Here you can see some of the folding mechanism for the ventral fin. 

Left shoulder weapons hardpoint. Note the red painted stripes on the inspection panel screws - when they are all closed tight, the red stripes form an unbroken line. Screws left open will be easily spotted as they would form a "cross". Also, model builders, do not forget to paint the tip of the "dog tooth" of the wing dark gray. 

More gear bay detail. It is amazing how the entire undercarriage is engineered to fold neatly into the bay. That ridged area is where the wheel rests when retracted. The open lids on the right are the covers for the APU, a kind of starter engine used to start the jet engine. These were always open when the aircraft was on the ground. 

That's an engineering marvel - but a very sturdy and reliable system.  

MiG-23 MF repainted in the Hungarian three-tone camouflage. This one also has the more recent Hungarian national insignia (the red-white-green chevron). 

Dummy R-23UT missile (without the large stabilizer fins) on the wing glove hardpoint. The round badge with the horseback archer is the insignia of the Sámán squadron that was located at Pápa Air Base in Hungary. 

Tha canopy is now completely opaque and discolored having been exposed to sun, rain, snow and ice for the last decades. That small "box" just ahead of the nose gear is the housing for the TP-23 detector used to passively track enemy aircraft based on their heat emission. The system would make the MiG-23 hard to detect since the system does not emit any radiation and so infrared seeking missiles could be launched against targets withut triggering warning systems.  

Note the color demarcations and stencils. This particular aircraft was repainted by the museum in a rather nice way - during its active life, the camo paintjob was applied rather roughly by hand, without masking with oversprays and blotchy uneven lines as result. 

Another view of thr landing gearm and for the third time, note the angle of the gear bay door on the wheel. 

The wheel mud guards were always removed by the maintenance staff to provide easy access to the wheels. 

Cheburashka ears. A clear view of the splitter plates and the flow director vanes inside the intake. 

This guy has a powerful radar - the twin seater doesn't. The "radiation hazard" symbol warns ground crew from getting too close to the nose cone without ensuring that the radar is turned off, as it would otherwise function as a gigantic microwave oven. The small intakes are ventilation openings for the radar. The box with the two brown "windows" is the housing for the TP-23 IR receiver. Originally the windows were clear but turned brown and opaque by old age. 

Pitot tube detail 

The text in the dashed arrow says "Rescue" in Hungarian. 

Nose gear detail. 

Here you should be able to get a good approximation of the colors used for the camouflage. The underside is kind of very light blue, almost "duck egg shell blue". The radome is not white, but kind of light gray. The hump on the top of ther canopy is of the rear view mirror periscope - the pilot did otherwise not have any backwards vision whatsoever making a solitary MiG-23 into a sitting duck. 

The paint is kind of semi-gloss. 

The camo pattern was applied by hand without a clear template, so they were different for each aircraft. Repaints in the field were furthermore done with whatever paint that was available as long as it resembles some kind of green and brown. Npbpdy cared, these aircraft were just regarded as tools and not objects of TLC. This was typical for all Hungarian cold-war aircraft. 

The landing light (on the top of the photo) folds in and out. The small "tube" is the total outside temperature gauge, used for correcting the indicated air speed. 

A picture of the swiveling part of the wing going into the wing glove. The fit is almost air tight and not easy to represent in a model kit.