Work in progress
Comments
27 April 2017, 10:01

I recently bought the kit and was impressed by the nice details all around. So I will take a seat to follow 🙂
27 April 2017, 19:59

i love the fulcrum, and i am sure you will do an amazing job with it. i would not miss this one 🙂 looking good already.
27 April 2017, 23:17

I'm in too David and looking forward to see how you build your Fulcrum. Why are the pictures black and white? Is there a special reason?
28 April 2017, 13:41

Thanks guys, make yourself at home.
@Stefan: The reason is that I had to use LED light and the yellow tint was ugly. I've decided to turn them black and white because the plastic is grey anyway. I am waiting for proper camera, then the painting will pop up 🙂
28 April 2017, 15:16

Hm, looks like I commented wrong thread beforehand, but still following!😉
28 April 2017, 20:08

I'm inclined on building a Polish Fulcrum in the future and am doubting on what kit to use so I will into this this build to see what the Trumpeter kit is like. Good luck and enjoy your build!
26 September 2017, 13:48

@ David: Looking forward to seeing how the AH parts will fit. I'm really curious.
@Patrick: Trumpeter is said to be the most accurate. Italeri on the other hand has lovely Polish decals in their last edition.
27 September 2017, 06:31

Thank you gentlemen!
@Łukasz Is it? I don't want to know how are others compared to this one. Area around the cockpit is wrong, LERXs is way shorter than it's supposed to be, so it makes nose look quite long even though overall length is correct. Not to mention gear legs too long, main gears by at least 2 mm. Engineering is quite nice so far though.
27 September 2017, 12:12

Too late Łukasz... I ordered the Trumpeter kit yesterday evening. 🙂 But.... I ordered the AH Polish update Set along with it! 🙂 I couldn't order their Stencil Decals Set though... Have to wait until it comes available.
27 September 2017, 14:39

I like those huge paintings on it's back but wanting to build a line jet. I could still order the AH Special Markings Decal Set if needed.
27 September 2017, 14:40

In picture 9 you have cut out the gun muzzle, what are you going to replace it with?
27 September 2017, 17:22

@Patrick I've designed my own PE parts for this kit. Same goes for the grills behind the gun muzzle.
27 September 2017, 18:19

@Patrick: I presume you mean Modelmaker decals actually. Beware then, as they like to have mistakes included, so watch carefully, some of them are great, others not. Caracal made also the decals for the ones with the Polish aces on the fins, this set may be bit harder to get, but those aircraft are regular line jets.
27 September 2017, 18:33

@Łukasz: Yep! Those are the ones I mean. Good to know to be careful about them. What I meant with line jet, is that I'm going for one without the aces on the fins. Would the Modelmaker stencils work for them?
@David: If you have some leftovers from those parts, I would gladly help you get rid of those! 😉
27 September 2017, 18:41

@Patrick If they will be good enough, they will be available through some manufacturer for sure.
27 September 2017, 18:52

@Patrick: Stencils should be the same for all currently flying Polish Fulcrums. However I recommend getting the Attack Sqn set (scalemates.com/kits/1010843-..100-mig-29-polish-af-upgrade), as our MiGs underwent some faceliftings in the meantime.
@David: Sorry for the offtopic 🙂 Looking forward to seeing the PE fret available 🙂
27 September 2017, 18:57

@Łukasz: Thank you for mentioning! I ordered that one yesterday and the set should be underway to the US.
27 September 2017, 19:27

That is fantastic detailing! And 1/72 too... Hell, I can't even do that in 1/48. Lol.
8 October 2017, 00:25

„Some detail work...." Understatement in its most extreme!
Exemplary !
8 October 2017, 20:05

Thanks mates! I've replaced some grills and vents with PE detail parts of my own design and painted Eduard nozzles.
1 November 2017, 19:25

@Alexander Only the grills and vents. PE parts around the cockpit are from Eduard set.
1 November 2017, 19:45

Brassin cockpit sorted out I guess. I'm not excited about the prepainted and flat instrument panel, but there's nothing better on the market at this moment.
4 November 2017, 13:48

i have used one of those in my current build. but honestly, even if it is a lot of hard detail work. i like to paint it myself.
No complains about having the dials for example in a black and white film, but the rest, i am happy to do it myself, if the details are good enough to do it
Eduard prepainted looks good once finished, but leaves me with a sense of... "i did not do that part"
4 November 2017, 14:35

Thanks mates 🙂 I've painted the bang seat from Quickboost range. It's a little bit wider to drop fit into the cockpit, so the details on the sidewalls went away, but it looks better than pre-painted PE belts from the box.
18 November 2017, 17:33

Great cockpit and the seat. And a nice holder for painting the seat 👍
18 November 2017, 20:12

Many thanks mates😉
I've uploaded a picture of my first ever scratch build. It's supposed to be a small hatch located in port LERX next to air intake. It housed diagnostic device on early variants of the Fulcrums.
4 December 2017, 17:35

more than successful i would say, and it is not yet even painted 🙂 but anyway, ice is the expert in scratchbuilding here😉
4 December 2017, 19:02

Thanks guys, I am flattered with your kind comments. Especially when it comes from seasoned expert like @ice.
Anyway, I have added some wiring and harness into the main gear bays and started to tinker with the surface. Replaced panels required some extra work and sanding. Kit engineering is great but the trade-off is poor panel lines on the sidewalls, so i went into rescribing all panel lines and rivets. I also drilled out some vents around the fuselage. I'm in it for a long haul.
28 December 2017, 14:58

Thanks mates, your comments keeps me going 🙂
I've finally managed to actually glue something together - jet intakes are in place and some minor details with them. Rescribing of the auxiliary intakes went bad, so I had to fill the whole area again and decided to go for scribbing template of my own design. It arrived recently, so I was able to finally make it right. Meanwhile I was working on main gear door details, various tiny bits around the fuselage, weapons and so on. There's just a couple of things that needs to be done before I seal the fuselage. I hope the next update will be about the MiG ready for paint booth 🙂
15 February 2018, 15:23

Looking forward to the paint job. Lovely detailing work David. I just got this for my BD so even more interested now. And the cockpit - lovely. Is that also custom built ? That HUD/Gun sight looks so like glass.
15 February 2018, 20:46

Thank you very much guys, your comments are very flattering 🙂
I have done some more detail work around the fuselage - namely finished the boundary layer bleed air vents with the nylon mesh taken from pyramid tea bags. I was little bit worried about the glue, but super thin CA worked very well. Black primer Gunze also looks good, so I was able to build interior ramps just to make sure no daylight will come through from below. I also added vents on the spine and circular gauge for pressure. Some new wires and boxes added around the cockpit edge. Now it's the time for the graduation work - shaping of the gun muzzle panel - that will be hard.
19 February 2018, 22:52

Thanks gents 👍
Another update: tail fins, beaver tail and nose tip are in place as well as some minor details around the fuselage. There was some stuff to fix, mostly panel lines and tiny details which wouldn't be visible anyway, haha.
6 March 2018, 19:41

Thanks mates 👍
Surfacer applied and black finishing primer as well. It revealed some minor blemishes, but the paint booth is really close now.
13 March 2018, 09:55

Thanks chaps 🙂
@Cuajete I'm using Gunze Mr. Surfacer 1200 and on top of that Mr. Finishing Surfacer 1500 Black.
14 March 2018, 10:53

@Cuajete Yes, they are diluted roughly 3:1. And I am spraying clean leveling over the finish as well.
14 March 2018, 12:08

Freehand camo done, majority of painting as well. Now it's time for stencils😉
31 March 2018, 16:18

Thanks for your kind comments guys. I just added quick snapshot of the underside after decals, gloss varnish and panel line wash.
8 April 2018, 18:41

Thanks chaps, I am on the home stretch now. Adding last small details around, weathering touch ups and small error fixes. I have added one last snapshot before final photoshoot. Hope you will like it.
12 April 2018, 18:12

With all that colorful stenciling the plane becomes really visually appealing! 👍
12 April 2018, 18:13

This is some marvellous work, David! You self made etched parts look fantastic!
12 April 2018, 19:22

Thanks mates 🙂
There was not enough stencils on the aircraft itself, so I did some more on the pylons and missiles from Eduard weapons set for MiG-29 😄
15 April 2018, 19:40

Youve treated those missiles with love, each like it was a model itself, beautiful.
15 April 2018, 22:01

MiG is finished, feel free to check it out in the separate gallery here -> Finished | Album by david.lengyel (1:72)
Thank you for your support, kind words and attention throughout the build progress 🙂
27 April 2018, 07:21