#2 DONE (@ p.7)+++ MiG-71.2 "Fastback" prototype, a 90ies MiG-31 successor

[Dizzyfugu]

Major kitbash, scale-o-rama, chainsaw massacre. Inspired by two real world OKD MiG projects from the late Seventies on, this will be a rather personal interpretation of a MiG-31 alternative/successor that never made it before Soviet things fell apart. Model will probably depict an prototype aircraft.

This project is actually one of the oldest whif ideas on my long agenda, and now it's finally time to tackle it - started to drag the donor kits from the lowest layers of the pile and dust them off... 

Hope it will be as epic as I wish it to be. Who needs a "Firefox", anyway? 

[Dizzyfugu]

After the Lend Lease F4U is done, I revive this thread and collect parts and ideas. Found the pile with donor parts and dusted them off. This one will probably fall into the same class as 63cpe's Tu-34P build - even though become something "different". Major earmarked ingredients include...

• a Dragon 1:144 B-1B
• a PM Model 1:72 Su-15U
• a Kangnam 1:72 MiG-31

...plus some other parts. 

[63cpe]

YESSSS, go for it! I like you "Ingredients"......i'll be following this one (and get me some inspiration...) Maybe share the fire control system??

David

[Snowtrooper]

• a PM Model 1:72 Su-15U
• a Kangnam 1:72 MiG-31

Whatever one does with these, the result can only be an improvement

[Dizzyfugu]

• a PM Model 1:72 Su-15U
• a Kangnam 1:72 MiG-31

Whatever one does with these, the result can only be an improvement

That's the plan! Built both, but feeding them to the saw can only make things better. 

[Dizzyfugu]

YESSSS, go for it! I like you "Ingredients"......i'll be following this one (and get me some inspiration...) Maybe share the fire control system??

David

Well, mine will carry an RM-31 from/for the Foxhound - maybe we are building prototypes for the same specification? 

[Dizzyfugu]

No pics (yet), but, motivated by David's Tu-32P build of the same "class" of aircraft, first cuts have been made and initial dry-fitting seems to confirm my ideas. 

In the meantime, some impressions from the inspiring project(s) for this build, and where things are to move:

MiG's Izdeliye 301 (actually a fast recce aircraft, SR-71ish), in two VERY different renditions:




MiG's Izdeliye 701 (a re-edition of the 301, but now also with cruise missiles on board):


Sukhoi T-60S (also a missile carrier - actually, the Su-34 entered service and this project was shelved but not totally halted):



My 71.2 will be a mix of all of these, but incorporate VG and the engine nacelle - probably very close to the second "301" rendition.

[Old Wombat]

- probably very close to the second "301" rendition.

Probably the best looking of the variants shown, to my mind.

[Gondor]

- probably very close to the second "301" rendition.

Looks very Manga/Macros sort of Japanese mix up in a good way.

Gondor

[Dizzyfugu]

First pics from Ground Zero: lots of sprues...


1:72 Mikoyan-Gurewitsch Izdeliye 71.2 "жура́вль" (Crane); 2nd prototype at Savasleyka Air Base, 1995 (Whif/kit-bashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


...which eventually turn into "something new":


1:72 Mikoyan-Gurewitsch Izdeliye 71.2 "жура́вль" (Crane); 2nd prototype at Savasleyka Air Base, 1995 (Whif/kit-bashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


This combo works better than expected, but quickly the first bigger issues arise: finding a good length for the engine nacelle, and its relative position along the fuselage. Burying it somehow in the structure is the next step, but I also have to keep in mind that fin and stabilizer will have to be mounted somehere (including "special effects" for display).


1:72 Mikoyan-Gurewitsch Izdeliye 71.2 "жура́вль" (Crane); 2nd prototype at Savasleyka Air Base, 1995 (Whif/kit-bashing) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Huge bird, at least when compared to the things I normally build!

[TheChronicOne]

One hell of an ambitious build, right here.  Most glorious, comrade!

[RAFF-35]

Could this build stretch to possibly over 48 hours?!?!? 

[JasonW]

Could this build stretch to possibly over 48 hours?!?!? 

Don't kid yourself, he'll be done tomorrow morning when you wake up........

I don't think Dizzy sleeps. 

[Dizzyfugu]

Hmmm, I might have to use the TARDIS several times in order to keep the 48h limit. Might warp the local 4-dimensional continuum, though, so this might just be a linear build, for the safety of time and space.

This one might really tale some time, no wonder that I pushed the start of this project for several years. Things started to become challenging, pics follow soon to prove this. The cockpit/fuselage intersection is almost perfect and will only need little attention. But the further aft I move, the more complex things become. The landing gear is such an issue. but I found a (rather unusual) solution. Then the engine box from the MiG-31... complicated! Intakes will be turned 90° with a vertical splitter, but the whole box is much deeper - and it has to go somehow onto the B-1's tail section, blended into the fuselage. THIS is horror! The stabilizers will also have to go somewhere, and at the moment it seems as if I cannot use the arrangement I had originally planned, so I will have to improvise. This might also lead to different donor parts.

Things evolve step by step. Yesterday's measures saw an enlarged wepons bay (wider and longer), filling the OOB openings of the B-1B's landing gear and the addition of a new, bigger landing gear well for the 71.2's new arrangement.

And this thing will be huge. Current measures suggest a length of 37cm (14 1/2"), which would mean a whopping 27m (87') in real life! I am already looking forward to put this beast next to my Kangnam MiG-31 from the "real world" collection. 

[TheChronicOne]

"Large and in charge."