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Last fall as I was making my way
through the local hobby shop’s bargain bin I came across the DML/Dragon 1/72
Mig-17 at a relatively good price. Having been very impressed by the performance
of the aircraft at an airshow the year previously I immediately scooped the kit
up.
After
getting the kit home I was very impressed with the recessed panel lines
throughout the kit and was looking forward to a nice easy build. Unfortunately
my happiness with the kit went down hill from there as I began a quick dry
fitting session and came to realize that there were numerous fit problems
especially along the wing/fuselage joint. Construction of the kit was straight
OOB and was slow and tedious with much filling and sanding. I will not get too
heavily involved in the weak points of the kit as many other modelers have
discussed this topic in this forum and others, but I will add that my kit is
very heavily laden with putty.
I
had originally decided to finish the aircraft in two tone camouflage scheme with
Syrian markings as I had an old Microscale sheet laying around and this scheme
would help to hide some of the imperfections of the kit that a bare metal finish
would easily point out. One evening while searching through the ARC review
section I came across the Hi-Decal Line set 72-035, which gave a choice for six
different Mig-17s. I had seen the LIM-5 Polish version done in 1/48 and I
thought I would make an attempt in 1/72.
This
being my first endeavor at a bare metal finish I chose to use the Alclad II
Aluminum instead metalizer and SNJ only because I hadn’t used it yet. As an
under coat I gambled and used some Polly Scale Reefer Yellow that I was trying
to use up. After letting this dry for a week I sprayed on the Alclad II Aluminum
in three light coats. I was quite pleased with the results as the finish was
better than any of my experiments with other products.
The three blues on the tail all began with Tamiya Royal Blue and were
lighted up with white to get the proper colour match.
The
Hi-Line decals were quite thin and went down with no problems. The kit was
finished up with hi-lighting the panel lines using the chalk pastel wash
technique found on ARC. This was followed with a coat of future to protect the
decals, which unfortunately dulled the beautiful Aluminum finish. Although the
decals are hard to find in this part of the country I highly recommend them. If
your interest lies in Soviet or Eastern European aircraft, Hi-Line may have the
set you are looking for. I am looking forward to building a few Mig-19s, 21s and
SU-22s as there are some interesting schemes available from this company.
Overall
it would probably take one more pass with the filler and sandpaper to make this
kit acceptable enough to enter a contest and although there may be a few
inaccuracies in my building and finishing techniques I am pleased with the
eventual outcome.
Chris
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