Italeri's MiG-37 ("Ferret") - what did you make of it?

[Dizzyfugu]

Since I am currently working on one of these kits from the late 80ies I wondered if some models could be found here? To my surprise the "Ferret" has not been covered well? Too fantastic?

I am just curious (since I already have a conversion concept for the basic 1:72 kit, WiP) what others have already done with the fictional stealth aircraft? 

[Mossie]

There's a few here, I opened a discussion thread about it some time back:
http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,21328.0/highlight,mig-37+ferret.html

There's a good handful of Mig-37 builds on this forum.  I found these, there are also others were the pics have expired or the builder has used a different name to describe it.  If you do a Google search on Mig-37 Ferret you'll find a lot of builds on other forums too.
http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,27432.0.html
http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,2548.0.html
http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,26387.0.html
http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,10371.0.html

[Dizzyfugu]

Ha, the Pink Panther version is glorious, and the VTOL conversion is pretty cool.

Thanks for posting these specimen - I tried the forum's search function, but it did not turn up results, what surprised me? Maybe my browser is outdated... 

[Mossie]

The forums search function can be a little flaky sometimes.  If you use the bar in the corner, it only searches the sub thread that's open.  If you use the search function on the file bar it'll do a search of the full forum.  You can trim down the results with the Advanced search option, search in titles only, dates, and limit it to particular threads.  That's how I brought those up, I entered MiG-37 Ferret as the search item, clicked on Advanced Search, unchecked the Check All box then clicked on choose a board to search in, then picked the Picture Post Thread.  Seems quite in depth, but it's pretty simple once you've used it a few times.

[Dizzyfugu]

Here's my current take on it  .

Beauty pics to come soon, as well as some WiP details and a background story.


1:72 Italieri - MiG-37Sh 'бе́лая сова́'/ 'Snowy owl' (Ferret G); (Whif/kit conversion) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

[bearmatt]

Well, mine was already posted further up.
Stunning result, dizzy. I find it very difficult to get something out of this kit. It takes a lot in order to make it look like "real".
I like the paint job. Nice shades 

[Dizzyfugu]

I find it very difficult to get something out of this kit. It takes a lot in order to make it look like "real".

Totally agree. The "sad" thing is that the kit was issued in the stealth rage of the 90ies without much thought. I like the basic design and idea, but the overall execution is rather so-so. The landing gear is IMHO much too low (HOW are you supposed to load something into the bomb bays? Esp. in an improvised airfiel?), I am not sold on the wing shape and area, and the thing has some edges and bulges that are surely non-stealthy.

BUT: it has some Soviet charm, but (IMHO) you really have to change some things.

Hence, mine received transplanted wings (from an equally poor early F-117 kit from Revell), a new and higher landing gear, auxillary air intake scoops, a new nose, separate 2D vectoring nozzles and two additional weapon bays for AAMs under the forward fuselage. It has become a more dedicated ground attack aircraft.

The paint job was kept pretty simple - upper sides are a worn Dark Sea Grey, and from below the aircraft is Dark Grey. I did not want to use the typical black, and exotic paint schemes (e. g. splinter or the garish Greenbottle Fly) were IMHO too much for this fantasy thing. The grey is not as dull as expected, the weathering (a light black ink wash plus overall dry painting) created a nice finish, though.  Thanks a lot fro the positive feedback on this!

[chrisonord]

I have made a SHADO interceptor out of one with swept forward wings and some bigger exhaust nozzles on it too. It is in the sci-fi bit of the current builds thread.
Chris.