MiG-21 MA (MF) in our “kitchen” (Kuchyna Air Base, Slovakia) Pt. II.

Here is the follow-up of my previous article depicting the Slovak MiG-21 MA (MF) planes in Kuchyna Air Base. I photographed one of these planes – No. 1208, standing alone and engineless earlier in 2001. I made several close-ups shooting the areas I consider interesting for me (as a modeller). I hope these pics will help you building your own MiG-21 model kits too.

This is the canopy close-up. The pilot’s seat is removed I think. Please note the surface details like two canopy hinges, tiny air vents and the riveting – nearly invisible compared to the screws.

I photographed the nose section from the left side too. Please note the  canopy periscope and the aerodynamic fence under the auxiliary air inlet hatch – both match the MF designation of the plane.  Also note the wolf head emblem and the gun mounted beneath the fuselage:

Here we have the tail section with plenty of interesting detail. The surface plates’ varying shades and colors are well visible too:

The pointed cone is the drag chute cover, well visible from the left and right side here:

This is the mid section photographed from left and right side. Do not overlook the varying surface colors – Lt. Gray (several fuselage panels, undercarriage doors and well), Green (antenna covers, narrow underwing panel), Lt. Blue (the flap actuator), Red and Blue stenciling (following pictures). 

Note: Some authors mentioned that MiG-21 planes were probably oversprayed (do not know whether overall or partially) with alluminium paint – so what seems to be the natural metal (alluminium) should be the weathered (alluminium) paint. Seeing the Slovak MiGs from this (close) distance I think they were all natural metal (not ALLU painted) with several panels painted – using not equal Lt. Grays or blue-grays.

Here you can see the close-up of the gun (in front of the main undercarriage) and retracted forward air-brake (adjacent to the gun edge). The red object near the left edge (of the shot) is the main undercarriage well FOD cover:

This plane was left with no engine mounted – as we realized after someone from the Airbase staff removed the engine exhaust FOD cover. This was a great opportunity to document the inner fuselage structures of the engine section. This can be usable for those of you who would build something like the “Removing the engine” diorama. The camera is looking inside the fuselage toward nose.

Here you can see my endeavour to make a shot of the areas’ deeper inside, where the engine was connected to the air intake duct. The cockpit tub is positioned in the middle of the air intake duct dividing it into two C-shaped tubes.

The air duct edge is visible as a black circle with two light spots inside – as the daylight is shining from the front – throug the uncovered air intake in the airpane’s nose.

The latter two pictures are similar – can be magnified by clicking – so you are able to get deeper inside the picture:

I hope the above was helpful and interesting reading – and I will post the undercarriage details in the next MiG-21 post Pt. III. This post is included in the References Category, where you can find similar articles. If you enjoyed this post, I’d be very grateful if you’d help it spread by sharing it on Facebook.

Images & Text Copyright © by Marcel Meres.