AMK MiG-31B/BS WIP 5

there were alignment marks between wheels and tyres, 

I did a little washing with Oil colors, then attach the legs to the airframe 

Free hand painting: adding various metallic colors to the main gear bogeys and struts. 

AMK provided a few types of refueling probe and doors. The MiG-31B has the probes and MiG-31BS was upgraded version of MiG-31DZ (Also has in-flight-refueling probe), so I attached them. There is a refueling light inside the fairing, I painted it orange over a gray base after studying some reference photos. This model airplane has refuel probe door , although on many of the MiG-31B/BS/BM/BSM the door was missing 

Only two or three hours per week, nearly no vacant time for modeling. The dry fitting of landing gear and doors is still underway. Some parts, such as the air intake flaps needed adjustment badly, reduced my pace. I am wondering if Tamiya will release a MiG-31 some years later.
The doors and linkages of MiG-31 were sophisticated, it was difficult to place the components at the right place in merely one try. Repeatedly adjustment really took great amount of time. While building Tamiya’s Tomcat, doors and gear links just snapped in easily in the right place
And that may be the exact reason I made a wish to Tamiya🙂 

Here came the most sophisticated part: the links that actuated landing gear doors when extending and retracting the main undercarriage 

Managed to put two small LED lights inside the afterburner cans. Dim light came out from exhaust nozzle and some afterburner effects was achieved in door at night. If I am going to add similar effects to day light photos, I may need stronger LED lights  

The intake flap did not match with the lower part of fuselage very well, needed some trimming 

Managed to attach the nose gear leg door to the strut. The drag strut need some treatment when the mold line seemed so obvious 

And this is the overview of the complete airframe from above (with the airplane inverted) 

The main gear doors are made up of 3 parts: the airbrake door, the middle door and the strut door (most aft). I finally managed to put the link that actuated the middle door in place. It looked good. 

Attaching the door to nose gear strut, it looked better than watch at the door alone 

I somehow messed up with the nose strut door, the landing and taxiing lights has shrinks in the center(And I had applied Super Metallic Chrome to the lights). I would like to apply some Mr.Surfacer to check if there is mould line or shrink prior to painting next time when building AMK 

The main gear doors are made up of 3 parts: the airbrake door, the middle door and the strut door (most aft). I finally managed to put the link that actuated the middle door in place. It looked good.