1:144 Paint mask Mig-29 (ZVE)

A light fighter of the 1970s

The MiG-29 grew out of a brief that the Soviet Air Force split into two machines: a heavy escort fighter, which became the Su-27, and a lighter frontal type for work over a battlefield. The prototype flew on 6 October 1977, the machine reached the units in 1983 and in the West it is known as the Fulcrum. Two RD-33 engines gave it a reputation as an exceptionally agile aircraft.

One structural detail stands out for a modeler. So that the machine could take off from improvised strips, the main air intakes are closed by a door while taxiing and the engines breathe through louvers on the upper side of the wing roots. It is precisely this feature that makes every MiG-29 model recognizable, and it decides whether a finished piece looks faithful.

Working with the mask

In 1:144 scale the frames of the canopy are as thin as a hair, and cutting them from tape with a sharp knife succeeds only with great luck. The set does away with this part of the work, because it brings shapes exactly to the outline of the part.

Wash the clear part with lukewarm water and detergent before sticking the mask down and let it dry without touching it with your fingers. Spray the paint perpendicularly and in thin coats, or the edge will lift and the varnish will run under the mask.

Anyone building this type at a reduction this small usually runs into three places where a model is decided: the canopy frames, the transition between the fuselage and the wing leading edge, and the color division of the camouflage on the spine. The first of these is dealt with by this set; the remaining two are left to patience and to good filler.

The camouflage on this machine tends to be three-color in blue-gray tones with soft transitions. Spraying them freehand, that is without a mask laid on, gives a better result than a sharp boundary, because the blur matches the way the subject looks from a distance.