Hobby Boss 1/48 scale
MiG-17F

by Sasha Miloshevic

MiG-17F

Revell's 1/72 scale F-4F Phantom II is available online from Squadron for only $19.96!

This is the fourth model I finished after I returned to the hobby.

It represents a Vietnam People's Air Force machine, flown by Luu Huy Chao on 24 April 1967, when it shot down a US Navy F-4B Phantom, during the Vietnam war.

The build was time-consuming and spanned several years, as I was determined to finish two previously started builds first.

Many issues of this kit were addressed during this time. I replaced the kit seat with Pavla's KK-2, scratchbuilt a slightly bigger gunsight, and filled a hole in the rear view mirror housing.

I sanded off portions of the windshield framing and masked it to a more accurate shape. I used Montex vinyl masks and they had to be trimmed and cut a bit. I should have done the same with the bottom of the canopy framing, as it's too thick.

Cannon barrel housings were sanded down where they meet the fuselage, and the protective plate for the big cannon was extended a bit to the rear. Kit barrels and pitot tubes were replaced with Master Model ones.

Height of the innermost wing fence was increased with stretched sprue, the middle one was extended a bit to the rear and had its frontal curve fixed, and all of them were thinned down.

I added a small blister in the provided engraving on top of each wing, in front of the aileron.

Landing gear indicators are way too thick and it's a pity I didn't replace them.

Main landing gear pegs were shortened by 2mm, as well as their corresponding holes in the wings. Nose gear leg was extended by 1mm, thus creating a more appropriate nose-up stance.

I added brake lines to the main gear legs. Kit wheels were replaced with the ones from Ciro Models. I added actuators to the main gear innermost doors. For this I used airbrake actuators from the kit.

The air intake ring was smoothed out on the inside with Mr Surfacer 1000.

Sway braces on the fuel tanks used in the VPAF were different than the kit ones, so I added bits of plastic and superglue to form a more accurate shape.

I also added two weld lines, made from stretched sprue, to each tank.

I scratchbuilt a landing light in the bottom of the port wing. For this I used an old 1/72 spinner from the spares. I added a "lightbulb" and filled everything with Glue 'n' Glaze.

The ARK-5 radio compass compartment and its antenna in the rear lower fuselage were also scratchbuilt.

A few holes were drilled here and there and a few non-existent panel lines were filled at the base of the tail.

The model is brush painted. I used Akan acrylics for the first time and they're excellent. For the overall gray, I mixed 73059 gray with around 15% white. Fuel tanks and air intake were painted with Tamiya XF16.

Two tones of DecoArt artists' acrylics were used for panel lines and control surfaces.

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Thumbnail panels:

The decals are from Kopro's Vietnam war VPAF MiGs sheet. The numbers are much darker, because they don't have yellow printed underneath, like the roundels. I tried to replicate the uneven vertical alignment of the numbers on the port side, as per the reference photo. Weathering was done with oils and everything was sealed with Akan matt varnish, except for the fuel tanks (Humbrol Satin Cote).

Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2016 by Sasha Miloshevic
Page Created 27 January, 2016
Last Updated 27 January, 2016

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