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Here
is my recently finished 1/48 MiG-29 Fulcrum in Czech Air Force camo
scheme. This is my first
model after about seven years. I decided to come back to the hobby after my
accidental last year’s visit to Israeli Air Force museum (near Beersheva in
the Negev desert). The history connected with the planes, the colors and the
beauty of the planes made me want to have similar
museum at home for my everyday pleasure.
So
after I came back home, I found my old modeling equipment and started to work on
MiG-29 that I started and later abandoned in 1995.
My
MiG-29 is an Academy 1/48 model. I do not want to get into reviewing the kit
because it was done by many people many times before. For me it is a beautifully
engineered model with good fit …just cool looking.
The
only major disappointment is cockpit area and ejection seat particularly. But
again, this is something notoriously known for anybody who has seen academy
MiG-29 or Su-27 kits.
The
kit was built without any improvement. The only area where I tried to add some
detail was cockpit. Adding new ejection seat is a must given the sorry look of
the original Academy thing. I used beautiful Pavla Models 1/48 K-36 ejection
seat.
The
model depicts MiG-29 of ***
‘tiger’ 1. letka (flight) based in Zatec airbase, Czech Republic, in
1993.
The
total of 24 MiG-29s were delivered to Czechoslovakia from the Soviet Union in
1989. They remained in service for a very short period. After the dissolution of
Czechoslovakia in 1992, 24 MiG-29s were split evenly between
Czechia and Slovakia.
Czech
government and military authorities found cost of operation of only 12 machines
too costly. To make Czech MiG-29 squadron fully operational, at least 24
machines would be needed.
New
weapons acquirements from Russia was politically unacceptable and supplies of
spare parts from Russia seemed unreliable and furthermore, so the government decided to sell twelve Czech MiGs to
Poland.
The
MiG-29 era of the Czech Air Force ended in 1994, i.e. only after about five
years.
However,
I think that MiG-29 in four-color Czech camo and with No.1 ‚Tiger‘ flight
badges on tails and jet intakes makes a beautiful subject.
The
markings come from Propagteam decal sheet. You can build about any
Czech/Czechoslovak MiG-29 using this sheet. The sheet also contains stenciling
for one airplane (100+ stencils).
As
for the weathering, I have practically done none as this particular plane had
been only three years in service in 1992. I accentuated panel lines with pencil.
I also tried to do some pre-shading, but as this was new technique to me, I
airbrushed too much of upper coats of color, so the pre-shading does not show
up. …Well … Next time…
So
that’s it. I hope you enjoy my MiG.
Jan,
Prague,Czechia
P.S.
If you have any questions/comments, e-mail
me. Jan
Mikes
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