1/48 Academy MIG-29A

Gallery Article by Burt Gustafson on May 26 2011

 

For your viewing pleasure, here are some photos of my 1/48 scale Academy MIG-29A Fulcrum. The MiG-29 Fulcrum is a fourth-generation jet fighter aircraft designed in the Soviet Union for an air superiority role. Developed in the 1970s by the Mikoyan design bureau, it entered service with the Soviet Air Force in 1983, and remains in use by the Russian Air Force as well as in many other nations. The MiG-29, along with the Sukhoi Su-27, was developed to counter American fighters such as the F-15, and the F-16. 

Back in the day the MIG-29 was a formidable fighter jet. Today in 2011, MIG-29s are falling apart from age and serious maintenance problems. MIG-29s are very expensive to maintain, and a number of countries that have MIG-29s are trying to sell them off. For example, India has a good size fleet of MIG-29s they are attempting to unload, $2 million dollars each. So far there have been no takers.

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Construction

This was an out of the box build that posed few issues. The cockpit module goes together well and paints up nicely. The assembled module fits nicely into the fuselage, but lacks detail. However with a closed canopy you can’t see much of the cockpit. The wings, vertical and horizontal stabilizers, and fuselage went together without too many problems. Joining the air intakes to the engine compartments was another story. In short, the fit was poor and required a good deal of filling and sanding. The rest of the kit went together easily, including the two piece canopy—they fit like a glove.

Painting

The Academy MIG-29A kit provides three different paint schemes, but I chose not use any of them. I wanted a MIG-29 with the old Soviet Russian Air Force paint scheme and markings. So the model here is over all light blue (RLM 76) with a Flanker Blue/Gray camouflage pattern. 

Paints used for the aircraft model were airbrushed with Model Masters and Floquil enamel paints. The following paints were used:

  • Floquil Grimy Black                              Floquil Weathered Black
  • MM Flanker Blue/Gray                        MM Dark Gray
  • MM RLM 76 (Light Blue)                    MM Burnt Metal
  • MM Gloss Black (FS 17038)               Floquil bright Silver
  • Floquil Reefer White                             Tamiya Clear Blue (X-23)
  • MM Chrome Silver (FS 17178)           MM Steel
  • Tamiya Clear Red (X-27)                    
  • Floquil Signal Red

Decals

Since I wanted a MIG-29 with the old Soviet Air Force paint scheme and markings I used very few decals from the kit decal sheet, just the stencil decals. The rest of the decals, the Red Stars etc, came from the spare decal cache.

Comments

Overall the Academy MIG-29A kit was a pretty decent kit. The detail was pretty good, and aside a few fit problems, the kit went together nicely. I was pleased with the look of the finished model. Enjoy the photos.

Burt Gustafson

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Photos and text © by Burt Gustafson