Mig-31 from AMK in 1/48 - The grey Beast

[DocRob]

Hola Compañeros,

today I was not sure what to do in my cave, till I remembered the sheer amazement, when I opened the box of my Mig-31 BM-BSM (Limited Edition) kit from AMK or Avantgarde Model Kits.
besides the sprues in separated bags, there where some boxes included for special protection of the front fuselage tub, the weapon sprues and the upper fuselage. Than there was a plastic box containing superbly cast white metal parts for the wheel struts, which not only look better than the plastic, but sometimes make living easier, because multi part plastic affairs are cast as single parts. The metal is sturdy and not like this soft SAC stuff.
Clear parts are doubled, one in -yeah, clear- one one version in a golden tint and there is a fret of PE
The offering is so overwhelming, that there is only minimal need for AM. I bought Brassin wheels, which are definitely nicer than the supplied ones, Canopy masks from HGW and a big sheet of stencils as wet transfers made by HGW. My last more or less modern jet was and Eduard/Academy F15, with lots of fit issues and a stenciling nightmare, because I couldn't get the decals blended into the paintjob. I hope these wet transfers will behave better. 

When I started building the feeling of near perfectness continued. engineering is great, detail very crisp, the fit is very good and there is minimal cleanup to do. Most parts would just snap fit, you rarely have this with kits.
The engines build up fast and are ready for painting. The wheel wells are a piece of art and are prepared for painting too. When you insert the sub assemblies into the fuselage components (snap fit again) and close up the fuselage everything is aligning well, with most of the seamlines hidden, vey clever.

Up to this point the kit is a clear 10 on my wow scale and I'm not that easy to excite.

Cheers Rob

[Sir Desmond Glazebrook]

I have that kit. It is so gorgeous. I am worried I may not be good enough for it. 

[DocRob]

53 minutes ago, Sir Desmond Glazebrook said:

I have that kit. It is so gorgeous

It is indeed, and I actually had no plans in building it now, I only opened the box and there was a voice in my head saying; 'build me'. Sounds weird, maybe, but may you have the same sensation .

Cheers Rob

[Clunkmeister]

Rob, I have the two different versions of that kit, plus one of the additional boxings for the extras.  I so very much want to delve into mine as well, but Large Scale Models just claw me back.

After my B-36, I have three 1/48 kits I want to build:  The AMK Mug-31, Kitty hawk Mug-25 recce bird, and the Kitty Hawk Su-24.

I love the look of modern Russian jets, but fo me, but in 1/32 they are just way, way too big for my allocated jet space, so 1/48 it'll need to be.

I've heard stories that AMK kits are simply sublime when it comes to fit, finish, and general buildability , with scale fidelity being almost perfect as well.   Why this line of kits isn't more popular is beyond me.

Their new F-14D Tomcat is supposedly flawless as well.

[Clunkmeister]

Rob, I've seen 4 or 5 builds of this kit on contest tables over the years, and every single one of them looked stunning.  I'm super, suoper excited to see what you can do with this kit. 

[DocRob]

4 hours ago, Clunkmeister said:

I've heard stories that AMK kits are simply sublime when it comes to fit, finish, and general buildability , with scale fidelity being almost perfect as well.   Why this line of kits isn't more popular is beyond me.

Hi Ernie, this kit makes you a believer, it is purely awesome, yesterday I had to tie my mouse hand on my back to not hit the buy button on their Tomcat.
The only kit I remember being equally made was the Birdcage Tamiya and if I look at it design wise, I tend to give the edge to AMK here. They do everything to hide the seams. That paired with the snap fit accuracy of the parts makes it outstanding.
The finished cockpit slides into the one piece front fuselage, which is such a great solution, no seams and again perfect fit.
The supplied wheels are not the best and after sawing the Brassin wheels off their cast blocks, I'm lucky that I bought them.

Today I finished building the wings, where two sets of flaps are included, neutral and lowered, Then I sprayed the wheel hubs and some engine parts Radome green and finally prepared the cockpit in that weird turquois shade, where I used my firs AK Real Color and it worked great. After a coat of Future I'm ready for decaling the pit.

Cheers Rob

[Clunkmeister]

I wish there was a "love" button instead of just "like".  I'm building mine in my mind right now.....

[DocRob]

9 minutes ago, Clunkmeister said:

I'm super, suoper excited to see what you can do with this kit

Me to, thanx for raising the bar, so epic fail is the only possible option .

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

Don't open the box Ernie, you're done instantly.

Cheers Rob

[Clunkmeister]

14 minutes ago, DocRob said:

Me to, thanx for raising the bar, so epic fail is the only possible option .

Cheers Rob

Epic fail would be my result!

[DocRob]

Don't be so cruel on yourself, only because there is no resin to grind .
But some truth is there, because failing on a near perfect kit will us make feel worse than to destroy a super unrefined resin kit.

Cheers Rob

[Clunkmeister]

On 1/27/2020 at 1:47 PM, DocRob said:

Don't be so cruel on yourself, only because there is no resin to grind .
But some truth is there, because failing on a near perfect kit will us make feel worse than to destroy a super unrefined resin kit.

Cheers Rob

Yes, I'm quite used to epic fails, but mostly because I truly enjoy taking some really crude and unrefined old resin half kits and attempting to make winners of them.  I usually win, but occasionally there is one seriously epic crash and burn

[Sir Desmond Glazebrook]

I have 3 AMK kits, the Delphin, Nesher ang the 31. They all look amazing. When I complete my current builds I may build one of them. 

I shall be watching this thread with much interest. 

[Sir Desmond Glazebrook]

I also have the complete range of MRP Soviet paints. All never having been used. MRP + AMK seems too good to ignore. 

[GusMac]

These AMK kits do look sublime but I just can't get into 48th scale. I do wish they would scale them up.

The AK paint makes a good match for the Soviet 'barf green' so must remember that. I have used the Citadel paint for that in the past but it goes 'off' in the jar very quickly.

Nice start with this Rob. 

[DocRob]

44 minutes ago, GusMac said:

These AMK kits do look sublime but I just can't get into 48th scale. I do wish they would scale them up.

The AK paint makes a good match for the Soviet 'barf green' so must remember that. I have used the Citadel paint for that in the past but it goes 'off' in the jar very quickly.

Nice start with this Rob. 

Thanks Gus,

you recently finished your great Corsair Gus, but the Mig-31 in large scale is a different breed size wise. It's huge even in 1/48 and I would had chosen this scale, even if there would have been a decent 31 in 1/32 scale.
I'm not dogmatic about scale, to me the subject has to attract me, but yes, I prefer large scale too, generally.
Never heard the expression barf green before but it fits. I have the Citadel emerald in my paint rack as well, but found it to - yeah emerald. The AK tone is a little taken back on the colourful side and sprays exceptionally well.

Cheers Rob

[Clunkmeister]

The Soviets had “Barf Green” in their cockpits and we had “Puke Blue” and “Babyshit Brown” on the walls and floors of our barracks

[DocRob]

5 hours ago, Clunkmeister said:

The Soviets had “Barf Green” in their cockpits and we had “Puke Blue” and “Babyshit Brown” on the walls and floors of our barracks

The full palette of horror. I felt a little dizziness while spraying and it was not the odor of the AK-paint .
There is one example of psychological warfare against the own pilots.

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

Some minor works were done today like the air intakes, which, no wonder, fitted great and some priming of the metal wheel strut parts and then it was test fitting time, which seems almost senseless with that kit.
I don't know if you ever had a test fit session nearly without adhesive tape. All major components are snap fit and only the nose cone needed tape. I had bigger gaps after trying to fit and glue parts, like with my dreaded Meng Komet. I raise my hat to the AMK engineers.

Cheers Rob

 

[GusMac]

Thanks Rob for the info. Just as a matter of interest how do the AK paints smell when you spray them. I've heard a lot of good things about them and they do seem to have a good range of colours but my wife can't cope with anything too smelly.

There's lots of interesting stuff out there on the psychological effects of different colours on mood, etc. Stuff about painting prison cells yellow or pink to reduce aggression and making areas where you don't want people to linger very vivid fluorescent orange. Not sure what this means for the turquoise cockpits? It's not even as though the Soviet cockpits had much glazing so the crews could stare out and avoid it.

[DocRob]

I found the AK real Colour not very smelly, I use a spray booth and didn't notice any stand out smell. When I clean the airbrush, I did smell the cleaner with an agressive odor.

Cheers Rob

[Clunkmeister]

This is looking amazing!!

I must try AK colours for Soviet stuff

[Ryan]

Love it Dr. Rob

I have both of the boxings as well Ernie.

[DocRob]

13 minutes ago, Ryan said:

Love it Dr. Rob

I have both of the boxings as well Ernie.

Thanks Ryan, I hear a group build looming, where I have a head start .

Cheers Rob

[Clunkmeister]

I like it the idea of a world class build of a basically snap together kit