Although I have been
an avid follower of ARC for years, this is my first submission. So here it goes.
Back in April, Andy
Stephenson, a long time friend and aviation buff told me about an article on the "Vintage
Wings" web site about Canada's purchase of 30 MiG 121 "Fishbeds"
The article is quite extensive, must have taken a lot of work to compile and is
well worth reading. You can find it by going to "Vintage Wings
CF-121", next click on "The Breaking point - Redhawk"
According to the
article Canada was looking for a replacement fighter for the scrapped Avro Arrow
and decided on the MiG 21. It goes on to explain the political problems, their
deployment, resale back to the USSR and their eventual use by the North
Vietnamese Air Force. They even show it on the Canadian Armed Forces web site!!
As I read the
article red flags started to pop up. First the only RCAF 121 was the CP-121
Grumman Tracker. I could not find any reference in any of my research material
and I know the "gate guards" at Cold Lake are CF-100, CF-101, CF-104
etc. but no CF-121!
At the end of the
article the is a link to "Save the Strat Program" to donate. Being
cheap I did not go to the link, if I had I would have found out it was an April
Fools joke!
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The build.
I found an old Revell kit of a MiG 21 that was produced back in the 70's. I built it basically out of the box adding a few extras and opening vents and gun ports. I tried to replicate the faded aluminum finish by mixing a little flat white with Model Master's
aluminum.
The checkerboard tail decals and the label were produced using Printmaster, the rest of the decals are from my spares box. I then sprayed the kit with Dullcoat, then weathered with pastels.
After modeling for
over a half century, I have not been able to do much due to some medical
problems. It is satisfying to get back at it, although a little frustrating at
times as it's like learning all over again. The following are some shots of my
hobby room.
Robert Heeps aka
Fireboss
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images below to see larger images
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