1:48 Mikoyan MiG-21F-13 cockpit set with etched parts

The real subject

The Mikoyan MiG-21F-13 is an early production version of the most widespread supersonic fighter of its day. You can tell it by the slim fuselage with a circular air intake in the nose and a movable cone in the middle of it, together with the delta wing. The cockpit of the early version has its own instrument panel and equipment, which differ from the later machines, and that is exactly why it is worth dealing with separately on a model.

What the set contains

The set replaces the inside of the cockpit with more finely made parts and supplements them with a photo-etched fret, as the product designation states. The cockpit parts are not polystyrene and ordinary plastic cement does not work on them; they are joined with cyanoacrylate, and the surplus material should be cut off with a sharp blade a little away from the part and the face then sanded. Cut the photo-etched parts off the fret, clean the edges up and make the bends on a bending tool or on the edge of a steel ruler, so that they stay crisp and straight.

Building and painting tips

Before building, always dry-fit the cockpit assembly to see whether it will go between the fuselage halves and sand the walls down if needed; with aftermarket cockpits this is the most common place where a model stops fitting. Wash and degrease the parts, spray a primer on and only then the paint. Photo-etched instrument panels come into their own when a backing is placed behind them and the front face is carefully polished after painting.

Who it is for

The set is for modelers who build the MiG-21 with an open cockpit and want it detailed. The package contains only the cockpit parts and the photo-etched fret, unless stated otherwise; the model, paints and glue are not included.