This is the Aero Team 1/72 scale Mig-21US Mongol B, two seat jet trainer. It is fairly crude by current standards, but as far as I know, the only one available in this scale. It required a fair amount of clean up and straightening of rough, uneven edges. The cockpit was just some slabs of styrene and the fuel tanks and missiles look like they were molded by Atilla the Hun. It is reasonably accurate in size and shape for a late model Mongol B and the bright spot is that the decals are excellent. They are in perfect register, opaque, very thin but still strong enough to stay together, the clear background disappears when applied and they snuggled down very nicely with no solvents. They give the choice of Russian, Czechoslovakian or East German. I spent a total of about 20 hours on this model, finishing it with Model Masters Buffing Aluminum Paste Metalizer and then a coat of Future with clear flat overcoat. The Aluminum paint was buffed on some panels about a half hour after painting just as soon as it was dry enought to do so. This seems to work better than letting it dry for a day or two before buffing. The outside of the exhaust cone was done in Titanium metalizer and the inside in Burnt Iron. The afterburner exhaust rings look a lot more like the compressor inlet fan blades. YUK
Thanks for the kind remarks. I have done three models in NMF recently using this procedure and I have come to really like it. The metalizer line of MM paints never seems to dry completely, ie, it tracks onto your fingers if you touch it. A coat of Future is necessary ASAP after the buffing part is finished. Clear laquer or enamel doesn’t work because it evens out the differences in the buffed metalizer and everything looks the same. I still need to try the Alclad system and see how I like that.
