As a warm up a simple "decals" and weapons whiff of one of my favourite aircraft.  I have a selection of 21s in the stash and decided to build the one which should fit best - namely the Airfix kit (the others are KP, ZTS Plastyk and Bilek).
Airfix are not specific as to which model it is but it's an early one with the low spine and small cone which looks like an F.
Unfortunately the vertical tail on one of the fuselage halves had got hooked up in the bag and bent so its sitting being flattened under a beer bottle.
NMF for this one with some colour in places.

I hope you have some white metal landing gear for it, both the Airfix -21s that I've built have ended up on the scrap dump because their well over-thin main gear legs collapsed.

I do not have white metal gear but I do have a complete Viggen undercarriage or if worst comes to the worst, jumbo paperclips...

I may have been optimistic in my assumption that the Airfix kit (which is BTW, according to the date moulded inside one fuselage half, only a year younger than me) would have a good fit.  Fuselage seam on the underside is going to need filler as one half stands proud.
The wings fit well - unless you want them both to have the same dihedral -  so there'll be some PSR there as well.
Sanding is always fun with raised detail.

I have a vague memory of having built one of these before.  Silver airfix enamel would have been the finish back then.  With fingerprints and runs.

I really should treat myself to a decent 1/72 kit of the 21.

Shot coat of primer today which showed many places where filler is needed.

As it's mostly in one lump (fuselage, wings, tails & nose cone all combined) i've been flying it round the shed.  Odd how while flying something like a piston engined fighter one moves it slowly to admire it's lines yet with this Mig all I want to do is zoom it around at high speed making the appropriate noises.

First shade of silver paint is on and i've filled the nose with fishing weights.
Now to mask of various panels and spray then with various other shades of silver.

Decals next.

 

Wow!

Of your 3 builds for this GB (so far) this is my favorite - although that may change as the others get closer to completion.

MiG's are always a favorite of mine, and the MiG-21 is no exception

You have done  very well  with that kit.......I'm sure i have a Matchbox kit in Finnish markings a slightly more modern version and having built both years ago i think i preferred the MB one......

Thanks folks.
I decaled it today so more clear next and then the fiddley bits and sort out some stores.

Shiny!


Work on fiddley bits has commenced.  I can confirm Kit's observations re the weakness of the undercarriage.  It is pretty insubstantial - possibly because Airfix wanted to make it as close to accurately scaled size as they could.  Unfortunately they didn't mould it from unobtanium.
I'll use the kit parts and if/when they give way i'll replace them.

 As i said before, i  it!
About the ZTS kit, i can say it's not a bad kit, wasn't my first build but one of my earliest, and the first model i've ever completed.

I know you can do a much better job than that so give it a go, it's a cool build with not much to worry about. I don't recall using any putty at all, i didn't know about it at the time...
I do have both Revell and Zvezda's kits and those are simply beautiful, that's why i'm saving them for the future, i don't wanna mess up such beautiful plastic. You should definitely try those!

That looks great DFZ.
I'm keeping an eye out for both the Revell and Zvezda kits.
My plan for a big wing 21 is being stymied by the refusal of the replacement wings to separate despite being in and out of the freezer for a week.

No.
Its an old trick for separating well glued together parts. The mechanism is unclear but i think it is due to the expansion of the water (you run the parts under the tap before putting them in a ziplock bag and then into the freezer).
However, in this case it doesn't seem to be working.  I can get a knife blade along the join but that'll probably mean i'll have to PSR the join when I put the parts back together correctly aligned.  I was hoping not to have to do that.

Another slight setback today.  I've lost the part that fits in between the two ventral air brakes and have had to make a new one.