Yaks cross kitted MiG 15 UTI 'Midget' in 1/32 scale

[yak face]

Heres my offering for the 'That wasnt in the box!' GB. Its going to be a cross kitted conversion , taking a MiG 15 BIS and a Shenyang JJ5 ,splicing them and hopefully coming out with a Mig 15 UTI 2 seat trainer. The victims are the 1/32 Trumpeter JJ5 and the 1/32 Frog MiG 15 BIS (actually a rebox of Trumpeters MiG 15 ) They look similar to anyone not familiar with MiGs but the JJ5 is actually a chinese 2 seat conversion of the MiG 17 , a very different bird to the MiG 15 (more sharply swept wings ,larger tail , longer fuselage, different airbrakes etc.). Mikoyan themselves never made a 2 seat MiG 17 ,so the chinese did the same sort of thing I'm planning- they took the cockpit section of a MiG 15 uti and grafted it into a MiG 17 airframe, the reverse of what my build involves.The Trumpeter (Frog) kit of the 15 has a few issues , mainly the totally bogus canopy shape but the canopy on the JJ5 is spot on for a UTI so thats why I decided to cross them and get an accurate 'Midget' Heres some sprue shots , the white ones are some of the bits I'll be using from the JJ5 , plus the canopies of course , the different colours should also help show up whats been spliced in . So its razor saw and p cutter at the ready , roll on April 1st !!! cheers tony

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[Guest]

I don't understand nothing about planes but think I catch the idea

Good luck with this project Tony! Will follow this thread with interest

Cheers

Polux

[Ian M]

See now that is a great idea.

Ian M

[flyjoe180]

It is, yep, will watch this one with interest Tony.

[yak face]

Hi, well despite being very busy doing other things , ive managed to make a start on this. As is usually the case with a job like this its never as simple as it first seems! I started by cutting off the canopy section from both sets of fuselages , using an Olfa P cutter and the trumpeter scriber. These came off nicely , just a bit of cleaning up required , but when I offered the 2 seat section up to the fuselage of the Mig 15 it didnt seem right . Out came the scale plans (1/48 , I have to scale everything up!!) and sure enough Trumpeter have made the cockpit section on the jj5 about 1 cm longer than the on on the Mig 15 UTI . Whether this is correct for a JJ 5 I dont know but it definitely needs sorting if I'm going to make a Mig 15 UTI !! After endless studying I found that it needs a bit out of the middle and the end and unfortunately so does the 2 cockpit canopies!. I worked out that I can cut a bit off the front of the forward canopy and a bit off the back of the rear one and it should look ok, Ill have to shorten the inner cockpit tub section too.Heres some pics , cheers tony

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[papa 695]

Rather you than me Tony. Great idea and a great start

[flyjoe180]

A lot of work there Tony, nice start.

[Gern]

I have every faith in you Tony!

..... and when you've finished this one, I've found someone that does a 1/72 Skipjack so you could do us a proper one of those - and not just a matchstick stuck in a cake!!!

Gern

[Ian M]

Shortening canopies.... Rather you than me.

Ian m

[yak face]

Bit more butchery done yesterday. Ive cut the 2 seat cockpit tub and taken out a 3mm section from the middle , this should mean the seats will be in the right position in regard to the shortened canopy frame.

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The kit tail fin is another trumpeter mish mash , having the correctly sized rudders but the angle of rake and shape is more like a MiG 17 . Solution? luckily Warbirds do a resin correction which I purchased and involves simply cutting off the kit tail along a panel line and gluing on the replacement .

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Both kits include a full engine ( which I'll maybe detail up and have displayed seperately ) so I was hoping to just use the jet pipe section in the tail, but unfortunately the interior is covered in ridges and the end piece is way too thick. I found that a Marker pen top is just the right diameter , smooth inside and a better thickness and shape , so I glued this to rear compressor face with a few plasticard additions and fastened it to a card bulkhead in the tail.

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Ive also shortened the rear canopy at the back frame line by 2 mm and re glued it together, and had a trial fit with the 2 seat canopy frame on the chopped fuselage to see where I'm going to have to cut the opening further. Another issue that needs addressing is the gun panel under the nose. The UTI only had one 23mm cannon on the port side , the standard MiG 15 having 2 and a 37mm . Both the kit panels are incorrect meaning ive had to saw off the 37mm bulge and back with card and fill. The two 23mm bulges on the port side have been sanded off and will be replaced with a single different shaped bulge courtesy of the spares box (actually its a 1/48 mk 82 GP bomb , from an A 10 )

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[Guest]

Wow Tony, I'm very impressed with the amount of work you're prepared to put into this! Good save on the pen top! Shows the spirit of Barnes Wallace et al hasn't gone from these shores

[yak face]

Before I can stick any of the chopped bits together on the forward fuselage the assembly sequence means Ive goit to get everything in the forward fuselage first. That means the cockpit tub and seats and the intake with nose ring . The intakes need extending a bit to prevent the cockpit tub being seen through the nose , wine foil will be used for this , I'm already preparing the materials (Hic!).The seats have been next to be addressed, like most of the cockpit the details arent far off but are a bit simplified. The kit seat is about the right shape but needs a few modifications and additions and of course a harness (typically though, no one makes a PE harness for a mig 15 so its got to be scratched!).

I started by cutting the panel behind the back cushion , its too wide and too high, then chain drilled out the holes in the side pieces . Levers and a firing handle and cover were added to the sides and the headrest support and tiny bar at the top were added from brass wire ,wine foil and sprue. The major fault with the seat is the flat seat bottom with cushion detail- the actual seat has a dished bare metal pan similar to WW2 seats , the pilot probably sat on his parachute as this was a very early ejector seat. Anyhoo , how to solve this? I thought the best way would be to mould a pair of new seat pans using plastic card and a former so using a wooden clothes peg cut and shaped one to size and mounted it on a stick. The 20 thou plastic card was heated with a candle then the former pushed into it when soft enough. I cut out the mouldings and after chain drilling out the bottom of the seat they fitted perfectly , what a fluke!! all thats left now is to scratchbuild some harnesses , thankfully theyre not too complicated , and add a few more wires and bits . Well thats the first one nearly done ,all Ive got to do now is repeat the whole process - DOH!!

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[flyjoe180]

A nice seat Tony.

[papa 695]

Just catching up on this one Tony, and some great work mate but take it steady with the wine

[yambam26]

Great work Tony liking the progress so far mate!

Cheers,Ben

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