1/48 Academy Mikoyan Ye-8

"Super Fishbed"

(Conversion from Academy MiG-21PF)

by Jan Mikes 

--------------------

 

One day I felt like an intellectual wreck in my office. My brain simply refused to perform so I felt really useless that day  …I decided an hour of  careless www surfing could help to catapult my mind back to creative orbit.

After a while I run into into interesting Russian X-plane, the Ye-8 of Mikoyan design bureau. My first thought was, „wow, looks cool, I should do this one one day“. When doing further research on the subject, my interest grew. After one hour, I did decide: „No, not ‘one day’, I will start today!”. So I went to buy 1/48 Academy MiG-21PF  plus the razor saw, and started the project that very evening. 

The Plane 

Originally, the Ye-8 was designed as a prototype for next generation of MiG fighters. The design stage of the project started in 1960. Original designation for new airplane was MiG-23. The basis for this next generation fighter was greatly redesigned MiG-21PF.

Most prominent new features were redesigned front part of the airplane with Eurofighter-style jet intake, canard foreplanes and redesigned rear part of the fuselage to accommodate new engine.  There was great number of other features that were different from MiG-21PF -from new ejection seat and canopy to modified rudder and new fin under the rear part of the fuselage. 

Two prototypes (Ye-8/1 and Ye-8/2) were built in 1962. These prototypes differed in details from each other. These prototypes were subsequently extensively tested. The Ye-8/1 was lost during testing due to engine malfunction. 

The Ye-8 project was cancelled for unknown reason in 1963, but it served as testbed for testing new technologies for later generation of Fishbeds and also for MiG-23 Flogger.

Those interested in detailed Ye-8 story will find more information here. 

The Construction 

My decision was to build second prototype, the Ye-8/2. Most challenging modifications were scratchbuilding of the front section of fuselage and of underbelly jet intake. But also rear part of fuselage, the rudder, canopy and hunch behind it required extensive modifications.

Front part of the Fuselage 

  • The front part of 1/72 F-104 was used as core for remodelled front fuselage section. (The joint with middle part of the fuselage was reinforced by plastic stick from sprue.)

  • On top of abovemtioned core it I glued around-the-canopy portion of original MiG-21PF front fuselage.

  • Ye-8’s nose is made from the nose of 1/72 F-105 (the silver plastic on pictures).

  • The very tip of the nose is made from tip of  1/48 F-16 underbelly fuel tank.

  • To form proper shape for place where jet intake and front fuselage meet, I used part from 1/32 MiG-21 underbelly fuel tank.

  • To finish rough construction of fuselage, I glued strips of plastic on the core front fuselage construction

  • After using the putty, I sanded the front fuselage to the right shape and rescribed the panel lines.  

  • When approaching the final stages of the Ye-8 build, I glued stainless steel needle to the nose to represent the pitot tube. I also used more putty to make proper profile for the Ye-8/2 nose. 

  • The canards were scratchbuilt from plasticard

Click on images below to see larger images

The Jet Intake 

  • The jet intake is scratchbuilt from pieces of plastic.

  • I used the front gear well from the original MiG-21PF (which is not 100% accurate for the Ye-8, but I was too lazy to make it ‚perfect‘)   .  

Click on images below to see larger images

Rear part of the Fuselage

  • When searching through my spare part box, I discovered that 1/48 F-16 jet exhaust has exactly the same diameter (at the end) as Ye-8’s one. So I used it as a basis for Ye-8 jet exhaust.  

  • Pieces of plastic were glued on the original kit’s fuselage to facilitate smooth transition between fuselage and now wider exhaust. 

  • The wind brake of Ye-8 is on different position from the MiG-21, so the relevant area on the Academy MiG fuselage was reworked. 

  • After applying another ton of putty, I did sand the rear fuselage to the right shape 

  • The fin behind the fuselage is scratchbuilt from plasticard.

Click on images below to see larger images

The Fin 

  • I made the Ye-8 fin by combining early-style (narrow) MiG-21 fin and parachute capsule from late-style (wide) MiG-21 fin. The rounded top of the rudder was made of piece of plastic.

  • as always, putty was applied, everything was sanded and panel lines were scribed

Click on images below to see larger images

The Cockpit, Canopy, and the hunch behind it 

  • Ye-8’s canopy was different from MiG-21PF. Instead of vacuforming new one, I did modify kit’s one by sanding.

  • After sanding I used Future to make the canopy crystal clear again.

Click on images below to see larger images

  • Also the hunch behind the canopy must have been reworked. On Ye-8 it was much wider than on MiG-21PF. I did use plastic pieces glued to the sides of the original hunch plus a lot of putty to get the proper shape.

Click on images below to see larger images

  • I did not pay much attention to making proper Ye-8 cockpit. The only modification against MiG-21PF was Pavla resin KM-1 seat (this seat is appropriate for the Ye-8, not the original MiG-21PF ejection seat) 

Painting and Decals 

  • For the natural metal finish I used new line Agama pastes. Agama pastes can be either applied by paintbrush (!!!) and then polished to the high shine (it really works!) or they can be airbrushed. I used combination of both methods. 

  • To get multishade finish, used masking (Tamyia tape). First shade of Agama metallizer was applied by paintbrush, the subsequent ones were airbrushed.

Click on images below to see larger images

  • Decals used were from my spare decals box. According to my reference photos, no stenciling can be seen on the Ye-8, so only red stars and „82“ decals were needed.

Conclusions 

This Ye-8 project have been far the most exciting project I have done so far. Although everything did not turn out 100% as I planned, I must admit that the result looks 1000% better than I expected when I started the project. To be honest, when I was starting the project four months ago, I did not really expect I can do it!

I have found that even such an extensive conversion is no big deal and can be done by anybody who is courageous enough. 

I hope you enjoy my X-MiG,

Comments/Questions/Critique welcome! 

Jan, Prague,Czechia

Additional References: 

Ye-8 Story in Detail: 

Drawings of Ye-8: 

Click on images below to see larger images

Photos and text © by Jan Mikes