Hobbycraft MiG-17PF on the go....

[Radish]

The Hobbycraft MiG-17PF in 1/48th is pretty awful, and is simplistic, quiteeasy to put together, generally ill-fitting and so obviously based on the old War Eagle vac-form kit, albeit, now in injection-moulded form. The plastic itself is lousy.

So, the thing is virtually together, and it'll probably be just tweaked slightly with some new aerials, etc., not in the slightest way accurately positioned. The wing/fuselage join is dreadful as you need to set the correct angle for the wing/fuselage junction, which opens up a massive gap in the upper join.
I'll add some fiddly detail bits to disguise (I hope) the kit's poor basis.
I'll probably use the wing pylons and missiles from the Fresco "E" option.

Ideas?

Well, so far I could:

do it as a Mick Coyne MiC-17 of the Irish AC, an idea expressed a week or so ago.

do it as a Japanese Army Migsubishi Ki-117

do it as a captured/defected MiG-17 in RAF colours

do it as a Bolivian fighter

Orkenwaffe?

from "The Return of the Rosarious Circus"

Ukrainian??

Why not Finnish WW2  

[monkeyhanger]

I'd go for the Irish version

[John Howling Mouse]

If the fit is as bad as you say, perhaps do a "Russian Boneyard" diorama?  You can knock off a few parts, add some greeblies in the right places and go to town with the weathering.

"Grayman" posted an outstanding link recently to a Russian aviation boneyard.  The website is very graphic-intensive with plenty of ideas.

http://englishrussia.com/?p=533#more-533

Just a thought as I know how much you appreciate weathered beauties!    ^_^

[Radish]

Hey Baz, great site and some outstanding iron mongery there!

I've layered the filler in trhe gaps now, so will sand it down tomorrow. All the additional "bits" are in sub-assemblies so it'll just take a day to put together.

However it turns out, as Barry says, it'll be weathered!!
Just imagine something flying through a subterranean sewage farm to give lots of smearing, erosion from the winds of the Sirocco off the Sahara, and fading due to  sunlight of the Arizona sun and BINGO, a Radish model!!

Tending towards Irish, but.......

[Sentinel Chicken]

Bright orange USN drone colors to be flown into nuclear mushroom clouds.......

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

USN Aggressor/Red Hat ??

Ian

[Radish]

In the latest SAM there's a Chinese MiG-17 all over white, except for two blues disruptively added to the upper surfaces....  

[BlackOps]

I'd go with the Irish MiC-17 or the Orcenwaffe version. Either one would be cool

[Geoff]

Northern Italy ( Italian People's Army Air Force)?

Overall white with dark grey "squiggles" for winter camo, like the Junkers Ju-52 in "Where Eagles Dare"

[Radish]

Now I can't find my damned sanding sticks.
Buggar.
I'll improvise!
Sod it!!
I'll sand the wing joints..."The Alamo" is on the telly......

If they appear OK, the rest will be done by tonight....then Black Primer tomorrow!

[Radish]

OK chaps.....all the bits together and aligned. I had to fiddle with the nose gear to make sure it was long enough to give a nose-up configuration when on the ground.
It's got two 23mm cannon and the big 37mm one, but in slightly different positions.
It's a spray job for tomorrow or Tuesday, depending how I feel after New Year's Eve, the disco, the neighbour's afterwards and a ?? curfew  

I've still to add a few bits.....possibly missile pylons....definitely aerials, scoops and some new panels courtesy of thin plasticard.

Colour scheme?
Black with the upper surfaces (probably in "plan view") in a two-tone splinter scheme.
All heavily weathered and chipped.
The idea behind the straight-edged splinter scheme is purely cosmetic....I want the Irish "swirly" roundels to stand out, which they're less likely to do on my usual bendy uppersurface schemes.

I bet you love all this "technical" language....swirly, bendy, thingies, etc..