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
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‘)
.
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.
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
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.
- 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.
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.
- 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:
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