Academy 1/48 Mig-29A - Part 8

Back to part 7

Russian Engineering

Russian engineering can sometimes be amusing.  Underneath the Mig-29 there is an exhaust for the auxiliary power unit (APU).  However when the centre-line drop tank is being carried it interferes with this exhaust.  The Russian solution - make the APU vent through the drop tank.

On the Academy kit the APU vent is represented as a raised circular area on the bottom of the drop tank.  This needed to be drilled out to a diameter of 7mm, a rather tricky task requiring a sequence of successively larger drills.  I didn't have a 7mm drill but I did have a 6.5mm drill so I got the hole up to that size and used some wet and dry sandpaper wrapped around a suitably sized piece of dowel to get the hole to the required 7mm.

The next challenge was to roll a photoetched insert into a tube to fit into the hole.  I started with this...

...and using my Small Shop photoetch rolling kit I managed to get it to this.

I was then finally able to insert it into the hole created in the drop tank.  This did not go as smoothly as I would have liked as on two separate occasions I managed to push the piece in so far that it fell in and was rattling around inside the drop tank.  It was quite difficult to get it out again but I persisted and eventually got it into place.

Time to Prime

I decided that the I would put the ailerons back at this stage.  They were slightly offset to give a bit of life to the model.  Once the cement was set I masked the wheel wells and gave the model a clean using a paper towel soaked in isopropyl alcohol.

I sprayed a light primer coat using Vallejo Grey Polyurethane Surface Primer.  It's the first time I have used this product and I have to say I was impressed.  I'll have to get a larger bottle as I will definitely be using this product again.

I had a cursory look over the model to see if there are any areas that need further attention but none jumped out.  I'll have a more careful look before I start to spray the camo.  I am happy with how it's looking so far.

While the primer is curing fully I started on the undercarriage.  The gear legs are from Scale Aircraft Conversions.  These are detailed with some of the Aires resin and Eduard photoetch.

That's all for now.  Next time I will start on the camo and maybe get the main gear done.

On to part 9.