MiG Ye-7R

Development of the Je-7R reconnaissance aircraft began in 1963 based on a government decree. An aircraft was sought to fly rapid reconnaissance and radio jamming in the near front area.  

The starting kit is Eduard's MiG-21PF. For this purpose, an Eduard kit of the MiG-21MF was cannibalized. The 490 liter additional tanks, the braking parachute tank of the MF or a PFM and the wings were used.  

The rudder for the E-7R gets the braking parachute container implanted and is modified a little in the upper area according to the photo and drawings.
 

The outer thrust tube is completely smooth at the rear on this machine. A new maintenance cover had to be engraved on the right side of the hull.  

The matching red numerals with black border were years ago in a Hasegawa kit of the MiG-25. It was painted with different Alclad II colors.  

The fuel capacity of 2800 liters was insufficient. The wing was then modified, adding two wing mounts. In this version, the scout could carry two 490-liter auxiliary tanks, increasing the total capacity to 3780 liters.  

A viable and quick way was to equip the MiG-21PF with a unified container hull for photo and electronic reconnaissance equipment. In the same year, the OKB-155 sent a draft of the machine to Plant No. 21.  

This machine (red 78) became one of the first among the reconnaissance planes in the Soviet Air Force, on which electronic means were used in addition to optical ones.  

Due to the further development of the reconnaissance container, various and different equipment became possible in the period that followed.  

The new capabilities of the MiG-21R led to further experiments with equipment called "Spire", which provided 24-hour reconnaissance with illumination of the terrain at night with a laser beam and an information transmission line, with infrared reconnaissance equipment "Prostor" and with aerial cameras from Egypt for recordings from particularly low altitudes.  

In addition, one should know that Arab pilots had excellent command of the technique of flying at particularly low altitudes, around 10 m. Domestic (Russian) cameras did not achieve the desired quality at altitude.  

The armament of the reconnaissance aircraft usually consisted of two R-3S air-to-air missiles or two UB-16 unguided rocket blocks.  

The suspended auxiliary tanks were mounted on the outer hangers. Internal pylons for hanging weapons were often removed, which made it possible to increase the duration of the flight and, consequently, the amount of information provided by reconnaissance.  

Together with a MiG-21MF, both Eduard 1:72 

The prototype probably flew in Gorki and was presented for state tests on the last day of 1964. In early 1966, the assembly shop of the Gorky Aircraft Plant left the main serial reconnaissance MiG-21R (No. 030101).  

A little ground equipment 

Even more variants can be built from the Eduard MiG-21 kits.