1/48 Academy Mig-21PF N. Vietnam

[jelliott523]

Well, I've finally got some work done on the Mig-21PF for this build. I know originally I had thought about doing a Mig-21 in US markings; however, I didnt want to spend the $$ to get the appropriate variant to do that scheme. So, I went with Academy's Mig-21PF and will be doing it as a N. Vietnamese aircraft. Here are a few WIP shots. I'm using Stynylrez grey primer for the cockpit and Ammo of Mig Black primer as a base for the fuselage and wings and then various colors of AK Xtreme Metal for the final coats.

[Thomas_M]

I guess I am not the only one who keeps on struggling with a product name like "Stynylrez "...

Ther metal finish looks very promising so far! How do those AK paints behave? Are they easy to clean out of the airbrush?

[jelliott523]

I guess I am not the only one who keeps on struggling with a product name like "Stynylrez "...

Ther metal finish looks very promising so far! How do those AK paints behave? Are they easy to clean out of the airbrush?

Yeah, I still have to look at the bottle of Stynylrez and wonder...."who in....thought of this name?"
The AK Xtreme Metal paints work very well. Overall, they can be very durable; however, on this build, I had some issues with them scratching very easily, I'm still not quite sure what I did differently to cause this issue. On the plus side, I was able to use fine grit sanding and buffing pads and got rid of the scratches and resprayed with the AK and it blended perfectly.
Clean-up is a breeze, I make sure that I only add small amounts of the paint at a time, if I have any left over in the cup, I put it back in the bottle. IF I were thinning the paint, I wouldnt do that! I then add a dropper of mineral spirits to the cup and stir it around with an old brush and dump it into a container that I use to dump waste paint or thinners. I then wipe out the cup with a paper towel with mineral spirits and spray a bit through until I dont get any color coming out. If needed, as a final rinse, I will add a few drops of lacquer thinner, but not very often as it isnt normally needed.

[BlackSheep214]

So Stynylrez doesn't need to be thinned? Do you need to spray it on higher psi to prevent it from drying the tip out?

[Thomas_M]

So Stynylrez doesn't need to be thinned? Do you need to spray it on higher psi to prevent it from drying the tip out?

Today I for the first time sprayed this Stylinapff... Following the instructions given on the bottle I raised the air pressure up to about 20 psi. My Iwata has a 0.3mm nozzle. I must say this stuff sprayed beautifully. No thinning was needed!

I only gave about ten drops into the paint feed of my airbrush. When this had expired I cleaned the needle´s tip with a brush full of "Ultimate Airbrush Thinner". Added another ten drops of primer and hey!

Even in spots where the primer´s coat got a little bit too thick on the part it dried nicely and even tiny detail was still visible. Well, so far I am impressed.

[BlackSheep214]

That is great to hear! I'm sold! Gonna get me a bottle of that stuff after our family trip to Disney the end of April.

[Stuart]

that's a great looking Mig!

[jelliott523]

I've got her ready to start adding the decals. I applied a gloss coat of Alclad Aqua Gloss over the top of the Xtreme Metal. Then I'll do some minor repair work to the canopy seam to fix the boneheaded mistake. All-in-all, I think she is going to look OK, probably be a 5-footer, but this is my first true NMF project, and I've learned a ton from this one.

[Thomas_M]

Did the Alclad Aqua Gloss have any influence on the shin of the NMF?

[Duke Maddog]

Looking great Jelliott! This will be better than a five-footer. You've got a great shine on this, as well as a smooth coat.

Thomas, I've never seen any difference between the shine before and after Alclad Aqua Gloss whenever I've used it.