MiG 37U. NATO reporting name Migraine. Completed pics page 5.

[zenrat]

I'm starting this with the Whiff in a box Italeri MiG 37 Ferret - the 1/72 version obviously.
I will be grafting on the cockpit of an A Model Yak 38U.
I spent part of today sorting out the Yak parts into the MiG box.  A Model have their OK kits, they have their poor kits and then they have their Yak 38 kits.  I had thought about grafting a Harrier nose onto the remains of the Yak but i'm not sure if its really worth it as the parts are so poor.

Now the hard part begins - the waiting.

[zenrat]

Starting pics.



Other than taking photos, progress today consisted of filling two badly placed ejector pin marks inside the exhaust outlet and gluing some A Model parts together.  I had to treat the cockpit halves like vac form parts and sand them flat on wet & dry taped to a piece of glass.  It will come as no surprise that the box for the Yaks nose gear is shorter than the hole in the fuselage.

[Snowtrooper]

I've always had a thing for "MiG-37", so I'll be following this with great interest 

Funny thing is, despite what the instruction booklet claims ("typical Soviet features"), it looks to me much more American than Soviet - heck, EDIT the wings look like (and probably are) smaller-scale F-15 wings but tails are straight from a larger-scale F-111! Of course, it wouldn't be the only 80's stealth kit to use the kitbash approach, after all Monogram's F-19 had F/A-18 main landing gear, F-5 nosewheel, and F-16 canopy...

[zenrat]

Sanded the ejector pin marks and glued the fuselage halves (split upper and lower) today.

I've always had a thing for "MiG-37", so I'll be following this with great interest 

Funny thing is, despite what the instruction booklet claims ("typical Soviet features"), it looks to me much more American than Soviet - heck, EDIT the wings look like (and probably are) smaller-scale F-15 wings but tails are straight from a larger-scale F-111! Of course, it wouldn't be the only 80's stealth kit to use the kitbash approach, after all Monogram's F-19 had F/A-18 main landing gear, F-5 nosewheel, and F-16 canopy...

I like the idea of it - that Testors cooked it up - but its always looked too short in the nose department.  So i'll be solving that issue with the Yak cockpit.
The wings also need some sorting out and I am not keen on the forked air brakes.
I've not decided on a scheme yet but the irony of a NMF finished stealth aircraft appeals to me.

[Old Wombat]

I've not decided on a scheme yet but the irony of a NMF finished stealth aircraft appeals to me.

This ^^ I like!

[zenrat]

Today, a simple cut and slot-in job.
And though I say it myself the result looks fantastic.  Amazing the difference a spot of rhinoplasty* makes.

I also built up the cockpit interior.  As expected there is no way it will fit in the space provided by A Model without major sanding of both side panels and seats.

*As it involved a complete cockpit should it be phalloplasty?

[Snowtrooper]

Well that certainly changed how the plane looks! It's a surprisingly good fit, even blending the new cockpit to the fuselage back shouldn't require too much PSR.

[Old Wombat]

*As it involved a complete cockpit should it be phalloplasty?

I really shouldn't comment but ...

I surgical terms it would be two procedures, a rhinoplasty & a phalloplasty.

Of course, if they performed a phalloplasty & a rhinoplasty, the results would be rather ... unsettling ... Although you could probably sue for malpractice.






Hat! Coat! Whoosh!

[DogfighterZen]

*As it involved a complete cockpit should it be phalloplasty?

I really shouldn't comment but ...

I surgical terms it would be two procedures, a rhinoplasty & a phalloplasty.

Of course, if they performed a phalloplasty & a rhinoplasty, the results would be rather ... unsettling ... Although you could probably sue for malpractice.






Hat! Coat! Whoosh!

Whatever it's called, it's looking good...  and this just might make me pull out my mig-37 kit out of the stash...

[jalles]

That's awesome!  I really like how you worked the old nose into LERX on the new cockpit.  It just looks like it was meant to be.

On a side not, I'm so jealous of your grey kit.  I have the black one and would much rather have grey, I never even knew it came in grey.

Anyway, I can't wait to see this finished!

[Captain Canada]

Looking good so far !

[Dizzyfugu]

OMG, the first Italeri Ferret I've ever seen moulded in grey!? I've built some of them, and they were all black. 

[DogfighterZen]

OMG, the first Italeri Ferret I've ever seen moulded in grey!? I've built some of them, and they were all black. 

Weird, mine's grey too...

[Dizzyfugu]

  Weird?!

[zenrat]

Jalles - i was actually thinking "ooh, black.  That would be better than grey".
This is because my shed floor is painted a colour you could almost label as "styrene grey" and any dropped parts moulded in that colour just vanish (like an old oak table).
The LHS had another one last time I was in there.  I'm tempted to buy it just to see what colour it is.

Fit of the new cockpit is aided by the fact that it has completely flat sides.  In fact, the cockpit to fuselage fit (parts not meant to be fitted together remember) is better than A Model's canopy to cockpit fit.

Today I ground down the sides of the cockpit tub until it fitted and then painted it.  I also fettled the canopy to make it fit.  Ish.
Given it's lack of opacity i'll either not bother too much with the interior or try to find some replacement parts in my bag'o'clear.

Still thinking about NMF.  If I can get it shiny enough I can claim its laser proof mirror paint.