I’m planning on building Eduard’s 1/48 MiG 21 Vietnam edition. I want to do a NMF with a green camo covering and am wondering what type/ shade to use. Any ideas welcomed.
The color callouts on the profipack version say gunze mc218 for the silver and h340 for the green Vietnam bird. No Mr color for the silver, but c 340 for the green.
Vallejo has a cold war “silver darts” set, has three slightly different silvers and a good cockpit green. The mig 21 set isn’t really usable for a 'nam bird
Doing the same bird for the Secret Santa GB. Haven’t gotten out of the office yet though. Will keep an eye out for your build.
Nice kit . I built one in nmf Czechoslovakian Air Force . I would check the Russian green shades of paint but they used any green paint that was Available.
Thanks for the quick reply. I just started Tamiya’s Spitfire Mk. 1 so it’ll be awhile before pics are posted. BTW, I was super excited to get to use the MRP Russian cockpit, turquoise but saw where the N Vietnamese used grey instead.
I want to use a different shade than the one I use on the nose cone, etc. so it will stand out a bit. Also I’m going to take artistic license with the camo pattern as I understand the N. Vietnamese ground crews had some latitude when it came to painting.
Callout for the intake spike and front third of the ventral strake are H26, or
Mr color 66. Darker green than the camo green. Gives the gray and turquoise option for the interior areas, but not specific to what color for which marking version.
The PE pit IP and side panels are precolored in the turquoise, so that might throw you off somewhat if you want to use it. Kit gives you the choice of molded detail or flat panels for the PE.
Hello!
Here’s how the MiG-21 looked like from the sixties to nineties:
As you can see the silver isn’t very silver - if you used one of the older silver paints (like Humbrol-11) you would basically have it pretty close. The green - also used on the wheels - is a signal green colour.
For the green camo colour on the vietnamese bird I wonder if they didn’t use the standard russian green (4BO) for that - such paint would be easiest to get I believe.
Good luck ith your build and have a nice day
Paweł
Wow, you’re right about the “silver”. I was hoping/thinking it was more of a shiny metal than dull silver. I think perhaps Vallejo air aluminum would work. Thanks for the picture!https://share.icloud.com/photos/0KjpUekicGGBbA09Kb8b5xcAQ
Is the pic you linked of the scheme for the Vietnamese bird?
If so my boxing is a different scheme, mottled more akin to German mottling of WWII, only applied to all upper surfaces.
Not saying either is right or wrong, just different. Haven’t done any research on it.
Hello!
Nah, the pic above is of a Polish Air Force machine (the red and white checkerboard, see?). It just illustrates the silver well, as well as the green (it was applied at the factory, so I think it would be the same on all new MiG-21s). The mottling would then be applied on top of that, wouldn’t it?
Good luck with your build and have a nice day
Paweł
Sorry Pawel, was referring to the pic that mikey linked. Shows a streak camo instead of a mottle camo.
I’ve seen the camo scheme on a North Vietnamese MiG as you described but found the one I linked to in a picture as well. The camouflage is wrap-around on the one I was looking at, meaning the entire plane was mottled as opposed to just the upper portion. Also the Green seemed a bit more of a darker shade.
I’m still deciding which type to do. Thanks for your ideas and input. Good luck with your builds!
The Cold War time frame mig’s were painted with a thick silver blunt dope .Just like the Viet Nam early F-105’s.Very early mig’s that flew in the Viet Nam war were "silver spit polish"scheme which one U.S. ace quoted .
One of the F-100’s that I flew had the silver dope color.Yes, this information comes from me an old jet driver.
Here is a nice line up of North Vietnamese Mig-21s for you. Decide for yourself.
