MiG 21MF Interceptor
Eduard 1/72 Scale MiG 21MF Interceptor ProfiPack Edition by Tim Upson-Smith
MANUFACTURER: Eduard
SCALE: 1/72
KIT NO: 70141
PARTS: 183 Injection moulded parts over 3
sprues, 15 Injection moulded clear parts, 49
colour photo-etch parts
MASKS: 2
DECALS: 5 markings options printed by
Eduard, decals for 2 styles of stencil (blue
and black)T
his kit has been on my
radar now for quite some
time, as Eduard has been
teasing us with 3D cad renders
for what seems like forever. At
the Nuremberg Toy Fair we got
our first glimpse of the plastic
as the Eduard team had the first
test shot. And I certainly liked
what we saw and it served to
whet my appetite even further.
Before we look in the box let’s
take a moment to appreciate
the box, which shows a pair of
Polish Air Force MiG-21s doing
a low fly-by of a crowded beach.
If the box art doesn’t say buy
me I don’t know what will.
So, what do we get in the box?
Inside this ProfiPack Edition you
will find three sprues of grey
Injection moulded plastic, one
sprue of clear Injection moulded
plastic, a colour photo-etch
fret, a set of yellow tape masks,
a decal sheet covering the five
options, a very comprehensive
decal sheet with what looks like
hundreds of stencils and a full
colour A5 instruction booklet.
When you look at the sprue
layouts you will see that there are
quite a few parts marked as ‘not
for use’ especially on the sprue
with all of the ordnance options.
Most of these parts will feature in
a forthcoming Royal Class Editionwhich will have the option to
build an example produced by the
Moscow factory, this release is for a
MiG-21 built by the Gorky Factory.
I must confess I didn’t know
that there were any differences, butEduard have released a diagram
highlighting them. This level of
attention to detail is a hallmark
of this latest release from
Eduard and it is continuing
to live up to the Eduard 1/72
Scale Revolution, started by the
excellent Avia B534 family.
The quality of moulding in this
kit is superb and to my eye just as
good as anything coming out of
Japan, if you look really closely
there is a slight mould seam on
some parts which will need to be
cleaned up. Also, the fit tolerances
are quite tight so make sure the
mating surfaces are clear of paint.
The surface detail is some of the
best I have seen with raised and
recessed detail as appropriate.
The parts breakdown has been
designed for ease of assembly and
hints at further versions to come.
I particularly like the separate
fuselage spine and vertical finand the separate nose ring and
cone which will make masking
and painting so much easier.
If you build this kit out of the
box you still have a lot of options
on the level of detail you can add to
the cockpit. You have the option to
go down the full colour photo-etch
detail route, decals over moulded
detail, paint or a combination of
all three! For the MiG interior
turquoise Eduard gives you a mix
of three Mr Colour paints, these are
not readily available in the UK, so
I will be using the cockpit colour
from an AK Soviet jets set, which
I have found is a good match for
the Eduard colour photo-etch.
Eduard has supplied a number of
options for the exterior detail, you
can use either plastic or photo-
etch for various aerials and those
odd bits the Soviets seemed to like
bolting onto the exterior of their
aircraft. You also have the choice42 • AUGUST 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
FIRST LOOK!
040-45-FirstLooks-0818.indd 42 12/07/2018 11:42