Hasegawa

1/72 MiG-23 Flogger B Czech Air Force Special

Kit Number: 00892

Reviewed by  Jim Pearsall, IPMS# 2209

MSRP: $28.95 Kit Supplied by Dragon Models USA: www.dragonmodelsusa.com Hasegawa Web site (English version): www.hasegawa-model.co.jp/e-w/E-index.htm The Aircraft This is a special paint job for 1 slp (First Air Regiment, Czech AF), which was based at Ceske Budejovice AFB celebrating their 50th anniversary in 1994. This MiG-23 was delivered to 1 slp in 1978. The plane was transferred to 11 slp at Zatec, but was returned to 1 slp in 1989. After being flown for the 50th anniversary celebration, 3646 was sent to the Czech Air Museum at Praha-Kbely for preservation. Because the aircraft is stored out doors, the paint job has suffered some wear. The good news is that it has been at least partially restored. The bad news is that it's still sitting out there in the weather. The decal sheet (see below) has both the weathered and original / restored devil. The Kit This is a reissue of Hasegawa's earlier MiG-23. As such, it has raised panel lines, but is otherwise a good kit. The only decals provided are for the "Hell Fighter", so if you buy this kit, it's to build this particular aircraft. In fact the instructions provided are for the standard MiG-23 with an additional sheet covering the special markings. The added sheet has the disclaimer that the markings noted on the original instructions are NOT included in this kit. I have built this kit before, and it goes together fairly well. There is no need for much putty, the wings don't droop, and they move back and forth smoothly. The only problem I had was that the wing upper and lower surfaces do contact the wing gloves, and there was some paint damage to the wing. This was easily fixed, just a slight detour in the project. Painting Here is where the project becomes interesting. The aircraft is painted red, black and light grey, front to rear. There are flames painted in the areas where the black and red come together, and also where the red and grey intersect. The decal handles this by having a series of red decals which cover the black at the front of the red area and cover the grey at the back of the red area. This requires a pretty heavy-duty set of masks. I painted the center portion of the fuselage red, and then covered this with a mask.

I then painted the rear fuselage area with the grey paint. Then more masking to cover the grey, and then the black. The third photo shows the wings painted, before the front of the fuselage was done. Decals The heart of this project is the decals. Notice that there are two sets of "devils" on the sheet. The one with large grey patches is as the aircraft appeared after weathering, but before repainting. I had a fairly tough time figuring out where the decals at the front of the red area went. Once I got it through my head that the red area goes forward, and shows up as black "flames", it became easier. Then came the moment of sheer terror- What if I missed the black/red demarcation line and the decals don't cover the area correctly? I cut out the decals and checked them against the lines. Then went back and fixed the demarcation lines on the top of the fuselage behind the cockpit, and the bottom too. Fortunately I figured this out before I applied the Future. Because there are so many decals, and they cover so much of the aircraft, it's necessary to do the application in more than one session. In fact it took me 3 evenings to get all those decals on. Because the decals for the nose face and stripes, and the flames are large and go over complex curved surfaces, they had a certain degree of difficulty. I had a couple of spots where they wanted to crease or fold on me, but a quick application of solvent took care of them. I used Micro Sol ®. The good news here is that the decals stood up well to handling, and didn't flake, tear, or crack when I was trying to get them to mold around the nose and fuselage contours. The other really good thing was that they actually fit the model. Getting those devils to fit the tail is fairly easy, but getting those stripes to fit the nose cone and then match up is no trivial task for the decal designer. And whoever did this decal sheet deserves an extra coffee break. I put on another application of Future to seal and smooth the decals, then added a layer of acrylic dull coat. The Last Parts Then comes the flurry of activity to finish. Find the landing gear doors and the landing gear which have been set aside "someplace safe" while I do the decals, paint the canopy, add the antennas and other fiddly bits, and it's pretty much finished. I don't remember if I put any weight in the nose, but it sits nicely on all 3 wheels, even with the wings swept full back. Overall Recommended, with one caveat. If you're looking to build an "operational" MiG-23, this isn't your kit. If you want to build this particular MiG, then you NEED this kit. There have been decals released for these markings in 1/48 scale, but they were not as complete as this kit's decal. The aftermarket set is lacking the "tiger" stripes on the nose and the triangles in front of the devils on the tail. Thanks to Dragon USA for the review kit, and IPMS/USA for the motivation to build another Flogger.

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