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

[Clunkmeister]

Yeah, crack one of yours open, Ryan!

[1to1scale]

I am only building 1/32 kits anymore, but i may make an exception for this.

[Clunkmeister]

14 minutes ago, 1to1scale said:

I am only building 1/32 kits anymore, but i may make an exception for this.

It’s a big model when done

[Clunkmeister]

I think the model needs metal gear.

I taped one airframe together a few years back, and it makes a 1/32 P-51 look small.  But I thought so highly of these, that they’re in my “to do” pile

[Clunkmeister]

You have the kit, Ryan?

I’m not easily one impressed, but these things impressthe crap outta me.

Upgrade kit gives optional canopies,  teal parts, and a different decal sheet with PE

[DocRob]

4 hours ago, Clunkmeister said:

Upgrade kit gives optional canopies,  teal parts, and a different decal sheet with PE

There is a special edition kit on the market, where all the goodies are included. It's the one I have with the number AMK-88003-S.

4 hours ago, 1to1scale said:

I am only building 1/32 kits anymore, but i may make an exception for this.

This kit is a de - may - er , give it a try.

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

Today I sprayed the internal sub assemblies in different shades. For the air intakes and wheel wells I used AK's Extreme metal 'Dark Aluminum' and I haven't made my mind up, if I use a wash here, because the effect might be to stark, given the quality of the pars.
The inside of the Jet engine was sprayed with AK's Jet Exhaust and will be added with some already painted parts in Radome green.
The nozzles were firs treated a coat of Jet exhaust, then some pronunciation with Burned Metal and after that Clear Dark Blue and Clear Smoke of the AK Chrystal range, which are translucent.
Until now I have used primer only for the metal gear struts, as the internal assemblies need no masking, a first for me, but it seems to work and you don't loose detail.

Cheers Rob

 

[Ryan]

Rob you might give it a wash and then tidy it up with a lighter metal color drybrush.
 

It works great to lift detail.

[harv]

WOW, just wow !!.....harv 

[DocRob]

1 hour ago, Ryan said:

Rob you might give it a wash and then tidy it up with a lighter metal color drybrush.

That is a good idea, just leaving it the way it was airbrushed does  not feel right. I will do some detail painting and then decide what I will do.

35 minutes ago, harv said:

WOW, just wow !!.....harv 

Thanks Harv, building this MIG is a breeze compared to other builds I had recently.

Cheers Rob

[Ryan]

I have found the Model Air Aluminum really dry-brushes well. I used it here over NATO or Rubber Black base coat.

 

Ta-152 by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr

 

[DocRob]

Looks promising and better than my TA-152 engine, but mine was not for showing, I had the cowlings closed.

Cheers Rob

[Ryan]

Thanks, back to your thread!

[DocRob]

2 hours ago, Ryan said:

Thanks, back to your thread!

No worries, I like to learn and drift away.

Cheers Rob

[harv]

3 hours ago, DocRob said:

No worries, I like to learn and drift away.

Cheers Rob

Like Dobby Grey......

[1to1scale]

You know....since you are building a Mig-31....you might as well build the new tool SR-71 coming out this year....

[DocRob]

4 hours ago, 1to1scale said:

You know....since you are building a Mig-31....you might as well build the new tool SR-71 coming out this year....

Normally 1/48 is not my prime scale, and modern jets aren't my cup of tea, but in case of the SR-71 I could make an exception after seeing one in Huntsville some years ago. It looks so badass .

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

I made some small progresses with the cockpit tub. I decaled the Ip's, which is a first to me. Normally I hate decals and they hate me equally , but to my astonishment the provided panels went on ok, with a heva dose of Set and Sol.
Next were some detail works in the wheel wells and after everything is dry I will seal it with a coat of future and apply a wash and do some highlighting.

Cheers Rob

 

[Sir Desmond Glazebrook]

On 1/28/2020 at 2:21 PM, 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

Bad grub???

Messy. 

[GazzaS]

It all looks awesome!  I know the plastic of this kit, and was enthralled with it when I bought it for somebody else to win.   So, I've never built it. 

Your work looks great!.  In this scale decals are much better than painted blobs.

[DocRob]

1 hour ago, GazzaS said:

It all looks awesome!  I know the plastic of this kit, and was enthralled with it when I bought it for somebody else to win.   So, I've never built it. 

Your work looks great!.  In this scale decals are much better than painted blobs.

Thanks Gaz, I have a very tensed relation with decals, but wit the pit it worked. For the stencils I helped myself to a set of HGW wet transfers. The MIG will be my testbed for those. I heard there is no residue around the print and no silvering, let's see.

In my personal built plastic rating the AMK MIG went straight to first place (temporary, it's not finished), closely followed by the Tamiya Corsair. A kit where you can dry fit the main components without tape oozes awesomeness out of every sprue. Even the often critical jet intakes seem to fit near seamless.

Normally I start a build, because somehow I'm fascinated by the subject, here it was more, because after opening the box; I was hooked. Some influence though came through your MIG-25 build.

Cheers Rob

 

[Ryan]

Rob, really nice and holds up well to close up shots, I'm sure its perfect and a normal viewing distance.

[DocRob]

48 minutes ago, Ryan said:

Rob, really nice and holds up well to close up shots, I'm sure its perfect and a normal viewing distance.

Thanks Ryan, it's far from perfect, but it is ok in life size. Not that much will be seen through the tinted canopies with these pinkish seals on. I may even use some Aires Pilots.

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

Today I used a black wash for the wheel wells and the cockpit panels. The wheel wells where then added to the under fuselage along the engines. Fit again was perfect. I weathered the metal front wheel struts and inserted them. The metal struts are made of two parts against a four part plastic version, much better.
I test fitted the cockpit with the side panels all glued on. you push the cockpit tube into the front fuselage, nice engineering again.
The only problem I ran in was test fitting the front fuselage with the equipped back fuselage. fit seems tight or even overtight around the front wheel well, lets see.

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

After a long test fitting session, there is definitely the first problem area of the build. The problem zone is, when you add the front fuselage to the back fuselage part. There is a gap in the lower connection as can be seen in the upper picture. It seems to be caused by the connection tabs of the back fuselage by not slipping under the front fuselage tub, even with force applied. Another possible reason might be, that the wheel well is a fraction too wide, I have to dig deeper here before grinding and filling.
I tried to find the optimal sequence of construction and it proved best to first fit the front tub into the back fuselage, then add the air intakes (no problem here) and add the upper fuselage with wings last. But even so there is still a gap.

Cheers Rob