August's Chengdu pair - Finished!

[K5083]

These are simple kits that i will build in parallel so I may as well put them in one thread.

The Trumpeter 1/144 Chengdu F-7-II and F-7EB are very similarly laid out.





The F-7EB was the special version of the F-7 for the August 1 display team. It carried no armament but a full loadout is provided on the sprues.

The molding is pretty good but the recessed panel detail is heavy handed for this scale. I have brushed all of the major parts with fingernail ridge filler, which is good for reducing or even eliminating such detail. My method is to brush it on, then quickly wipe it off with a fingertip, leaving it mostly just in the recessed panel line to be filled.

I feel like putting pilots in these models, but crew figures rarely come with 1/144 kits, and these are no exception. You can buy bags of N scale (1/150) figures for model railroaders that work well in 1/144 models. For a little extra money, you can buy ones that are all seated, like in this bag of 50:



I found a couple that seemed about the right build and have added blobs of CA to their heads so they look like they're wearing helmets. You can see the one I picked for the F-7EB in the sprue shot above. It even came already the right color, although in some pics the team during this era appear to wear red flight suits.

August

[Brickie]

Thanks for joining in August, we're quorate now!

I've never got the hang of 1/144 and admire those who can make it work...

[Dazzled]

Looking forward to seeing the double-delta built. They're not something you see modelled often.

[ShaunW]

The only aircraft I have ever built in 1/144 are airliners. I bet this pair of Chinese MiG-21-alikes are pretty small in this scale and the N Gauge pilots will be an eyesight test as well. I look forward to seeing your efforts with these as there is no doubt that the scale is catching on for fighter types.

[K5083]

It is pretty small all right. I took this picture of it in my hand to give a sense how small. The fuselage is barely longer than my middle finger.



Researching the cockpit colors, they seemed to be dark gray or black. Luckily, the Chinese evidently did not adopt Russian turquoise for their MiG cockpits, probably because of the horrific feng shui implications. I painted them Extra Dark Sea Grey with a few black washes. The pilots were painted and installed, with a red suit for the F-7EB and green for the F-7-II. I discovered that the sprues for the fuselage and tail feathers are identical in the two kits. As you can see the pilot is surrounded by hopefully enough hardware to keep the nosewheel down.



The fuselages were then closed up. This is the F-7-II. That's a 1-inch grid it's sitting on.

August

[bobblelink]

The N gauge seated figures are a great tip- thanks for that

[ShaunW]

Oh wow, that is small but perfectly formed.

[K5083]

The shape generally looks pretty good. Panel lines are still too obvious but better than how it came. The canopy is great, nice and thin. This is important because if it were thick, the pilot would have to hunch unrealistically down to fit under it. Detail parts such as ordnance are not terrible. I will fit the F-7-II out with an air-to-air load. The EB will just have a centerline tank.

I branched into 1/144 for the same types of thing as you Shaun: airliners, cargo, patrol planes and postwar bombers that were too big to collect in 1/72. Then I decided I needed a few smaller types for scale, sort of to bridge my 1/72 and 1/144 collections, and then, you know, things got out of hand. Now I have stuff as small as a Nieuport 17 in 1/144.

August

[ShaunW]

That Nieuport must be totally tiny in 1/144 as it's hardly massive in 1/72nd! I tend to mix and match scales depending upon the subject and, broadly speaking, prefer 1/48th for single engined fighters, 1/72nd for larger subjects such as bombers and then down to 1/144 for the largest subjects that take my fancy such as airliners. Of course, being a modeller I don't always stick to my own rules but one of my main problems, as for a lot of us, is storage and display space or rather the lack thereof!

[JamesPerrin]

Great source of pilots. Luckily I've collected a handful of Aeroclub 1/144 figures that also come with nice seats

[Chris]

That is some small Mig!

[novokits]

Nanotechnology in action!

[K5083]

These having been coming along gradually.



Numerous engineering issues have emerged as they go together. As you can see from my second photo of May 8, the main gear wells go right up through the wing root. This results in an unavoidable gap in that section when joining the wings. Both the wing and tailplane locator tab holes are positioned at different heights, left vs. right, on the fuselage, so the wings and tailplanes will end up at different heights and incidences unless the tabs are cut off and the parts slighly repositioned on one side.

I had planned to paint the display team paint scheme on the EB before joining the wings and tailplane, but my experience with the other MiG convinced me there was no way to prepare the parts for accurate fitting without a lot of post-assembly putty work, so both models ended up being assembled first. Now there is just canopy masking and a few other things to do before paint.

Accuracy-wise, the flying surfaces look too thick. Otherwise the birds are acceptably MiG-shaped. I would not really recommend these kits, except that I don't think there is an alternative in 1/144 for either version.

August

[Old_Tonto]

Great work on these August, they certainly look like Migs to me.

I love the double delta wing on the J-7E. Very cool

[K5083]

I was traveling last week and didn't get to work on the F-7s. But I did get to do a little research.









I confirmed (assuming these planes are accurately preserved) that my cockpit should be gray, although possibly a slightly lighter shade than I used. The NMF bird gives me a good guide as to which panels I should darken when I paint my F-7-II later this week.

August