Old_Tonto's Tepee

[skypirate]

Great to see the hangar queens coming out to be finished!
Very interesting variety!

cheers,

David

[Old_Tonto]

Finally finished this bench queen:



I'll put some more images up in the Aviation section.

[Marek]

nice!

[Old_Tonto]

Any other pics of the Cheetah?

Here you go Zen:



And next to the Mirage IIIEZ from which it was developed.



With the Mirage F.1 out of the way it's time to progress with another bench queen. This time the MiG-21UM.



I had to make some wing fences from plastic card.



Cockpit done with pilot in situ.



The canopy was broken but I have a vac form one somewhere. Not sure if it was for this make though.
I also need to source the under carriage, pitot tubes etc. I have plenty of spares though so its just a matter of plodding on.
More to follow.

[Marek]

I like the 'lineage' project with ZA airplanes! 21 is coming along nicely too

[Old_Tonto]

More work on the two seat MiG-21 this weekend.

The kit canopy was cracked beyond repair so my only option was to use a vac form one I had which obviously was not intended for this kit as it's a bit small. As I had no other choice it was fitted as best I could get it.
Then I masked and painted the interior colour over the framework.



A long way from perfect but better than scrapping the kit.

Next I spent a lovely couple of hours listening to Boro beat the Mackems whilst tidying up seam lines on the tiny air scoops at the fuselage rear. At least it's not a MiG-19.
Then I noticed that the tail was bent and needed filler at the base so that got some attention. Looking at my reference photos there is a very visible set of hinges on the canopy that is not represented on the vac one so once the canopy paint was dry I added some made from stretched sprue.



Whilst I was in a fettling mood I also scratch built the gun gas deflector plates as none came on the kit but are definitely a feature of the UM.
See here:


All this will need cleaning up and a squirt of primer just to even things out and identify any outstanding issues. So i've masked off the underside colour ready for doing that tonight.
Unfortunately all this work has destroyed the few panel lines that the kit had.

[Marek]

This will be a gem OT, you know you are becoming to be a victim of AMS when you use word 'hinge' with respect to 1/72 . Seriously though, the basis for your plane, the UM kit by itself looks like quite a crude friend, seems you are basically reshaping it into submission. Amazing work.

[iggie]

Nice detailing OT!

[ShaunW]

Some cracking SAAF builds OT and IIRC does the MiG have a replacement nose made from a pen or suchlike? it's been a while since I've seen this build so could have confused it with someone else's!

[skypirate]

Love that brace of Mirage/Cheetah models!

cheers,

David

[Old_Tonto]

Thanks guys.

IIRC does the MiG have a replacement nose made from a pen or suchlike? it's been a while since I've seen this build so could have confused it with someone else's!

Correct person, wrong MiG Shaun.
That was a MiG-23 nose extension. That build has been abandoned as Kopro released a nice kit of the MiG-23. Don't you just hate it when that happens?
It may yet be converted to a MiG-23BN by cross-kitting with a MiG-27. Watch this space.

This will be a gem OT, you know you are becoming to be a victim of AMS when you use word 'hinge' with respect to 1/72 .

Yes I'll have to watch that, thanks for the intervention.
Not much chance of this being a gem though it may avoid the bin until someone brings out a better twin seater.

I gave it a quick squirt of primer to see how bad it is.



That canopy is a nightmare and may have to come off.

[Stuart]

That Mig-21 is coming nicely OT - great stuff!

That F.1 and those SAAF Mirages look superb (I've just started a Kfir) - what kits are they?

[Marek]

Not much chance of this being a gem though it may avoid the bin until someone brings out a better twin seater.

That canopy is a nightmare and may have to come off.

OT, with such kits, my standard is if it is still going to the display not straight to 'aircraft recognition bin' then it is a fantastic build. Yours is definitely a display unit in making.



For some reason I lost patience with kit like this. However non-prototypical newer kits may be, they provide less challenges that kill mojo (mine at least) for months.

[Zen]

Awh man, i've been away from this thread too long, thanks for the Cheeta and MirageIII pics, those and also the Mirage F.1, really look great!

[celt]

Wonderful array of models, I have a Mirage F1 as my second ever blowtorch!