MiG-19PM 'Farmer E' - Kovozávody Prostějov

The usual KP side-opening box. I prefer boxes where the top can be lifted off, they provide such a nice holder for frets and instructions and stuff. 

Three versions provided: East German, Polish and Hungarian. I will build the Hungarian version in natural metal finish. Color callouts are just generic color names, so use your own references. By the way, number 28 is the airframe on exhibition at the Szolnok aviation museum in Hungary that I had the fortune to see with my own eyes. 

Fret 1. Quite nice molding with fairly precise recessed panel lines. Some of the fuselage panel scribings however are very shallow and vague and will probably disappear under the paint. Also notice that there are two vertical fins provided with slightly different panels so you may pick the one suited for your model. The instructions do not provide any information, so it's all up to you.  

Fret 2. Notice the amount of teeny tiny air scoops i the middle row - that will be fun! 

One transparent piece. It's reasonably clear, but quite thick, so I won't bother trying to separate the windshield from the canopy. That large molding gate is annoying, but fortunately it runs into the canopy frame so it should be possible to remove without harming the glass part. 

A lovely resin seat and some dashboard parts (radar scope shroud, gun sight and gun camera) purchased for the PM version. These are not part of the kit and are not really necessary. 

3rd party PE seat belts and an ejection seat handle. I guess not much of it will be visible through the thick canopy, but at least I won't need to use masking tape. 

Brass pitot tube and replacement director tips for the APU-4 pylons. I am not yet sure that these will be used apart from he pitot tube as the kit's parts are quite adequate. 

Decent instructions, but I can already see that I will need to do some deviations if I don't want to end up with a headache. Especially regarding the cockpit and intake area - I am soooo not going to follow the instructions here. 

The first bad news. The decals are roughly pixelated and misprinted with the white being offset by half a millimeter, making it completely unusable. Also, the green center circles of the Hungarian insignias are way too small. Furthermore, the instrument panel decals have a completely different shape than the plastic they are supposed to go on, so, yeah, they are going to the bin. Good thing that I have spare decal sheets.  

The instructions would want you to assemble the cockpit inside the fuselage walls. I think that is a terrible suggestion, as you would have no way of verifying the fit of the cockpit tub. It's much better to regard the cockpit as a complete subassembly and fit it into the fuselage as a whole. 

Starting to assemble the cockpit parts. 

The instrument panel doesn't even remotely resemble the real thing and does not even match the decal provided, but it should be okay with the canopy closed. I leave the joystick and the ejection seat off for now. 

Cockpit parts primed with UMP Ultimate primer. The resin ejection seat is absolutely beautiful but is wasted on such a crude cockpit. Note that there are virtually no internal location markings where the cockpit should fit inside the fuselage, just some vague lines and dimples. The important part is to make sure that the C-shaped front of the intake on the cockpit walls should sit flush with the front end of the fuselage. 

Painted light grey and assembled. But first I need to tackle that intake before even considering detailing the cockpit any further. 

This model kit was originally designed as the S-version of the MiG-19, with an intake with a very simple separator in the middle. The nose cone for the PM version on the other hand has a fairly complex hourglass shape, while the insides of the intake ducts are just two arches with their backs to each other. I started thinning the intake sides to an inch of their life to make them a bit less obtrusive. This picture is half way through the thinning so you can see how much material is sanded away. 

As you see, they still don't fit to the radar nose (here just dry-fitted), but at least they don't stick out any more. I will need to use a good amount of padding to make the radar cone match the inside wall, but at least is starts to feel manageable. By the way, here you can also see that the fit of the inner radar part to the outer ring will need a lot of filler - it should be a smooth transition with a slightly protruding "lip". 

The front of the nose gear well is capped off with a triangular piece of styrene to avoid see-through. Note how thin the plastic is at the intake fronts - it is nearly transparent. 

Nose compartment crammed with lead-free fishing weights. I also added some spare decals from an Eduard MiG-15 kit to to spruce up the cockpit somewhat. Yes, yes, it's all just a bunch of artistic bollocks, but at least they make the driver's office look a bit busy. And besides, I reckon, not much will be visible once the canopy is in place. 

Cockpit tub cemented to the right fuselage half, and another set of weights attached, pretty much everywhere I could think of. Don't skimp on the weights, the model is so tail heavy that every gram matters.  

Fuselage halves cemented together, carefully and slowly moving from the back and towards the front, where some gentle but firm persuasion is needed to create a solid join. A little filler will be required on the front, but nothing alarming. 

The MiG-19 is absolutely festooned with air scoops, and the KP has molded them all as separate tiny pieces. There are 25 of them, count them if you will - I know you won't. Drilling up the openings with a 0,6mm drill bit in a Tamiya pin vice and adding them to the model one by one is time consuming, but also strangely satisfying. 

All scoops added, I only messed up one slightly on the underside. There should actually be a few more, but these are the ones provided. Watch out, the instructions mix up some of the scoops (numbers 61 and 62).  

The MiG-19PM did not have any guns whatsoever, so the molded on barrels need to be removed and the ammo access hatches need to be sanded off. This step is only vaguely addressed in the instructions (strangely enough with a "glue" icon). 

Gun stuff removed and lost panel lines rescribed. It's not perfect but the imperfections are smaller than they appear in this here macro photo. 

Wing upper and lower halves joined. I just realized that those two rectangular holes very close to the insides of the wings are the ammo casing ejector chutes for the S version and should be filled for the PM version. Fixed after this photo was taken. 

Wings joined to the fuselage, ensuring the correct anhedral as per the instructions. Watch out, with such long and low wings. it is easy to end up with a lopsided Farmer! The exhaust shroud part (number 66) is slightly too wide, so it needs to be sanded down to sit flush with the fuselage. 

Since the nose ring is a bit too wide, it can be used as an advantage. If aligned with the underside of the aircraft, the cone-shaped central radar locator housing will almost completely cover the front of the intake walls. The ring can then be sanded flush with the fuselage and the small remaining gap inside the intake can be filled with dissolved white putty. It's far from perfect, but I was expecting much worse! 

The larger outer wing fences are provided as separate pieces. They are easy to thin down and sand into shape so they fit the wings flawlessly. 

Fin and stabilizers added - it's starting to look like a MiG! There are some gaps around the wing and fin joins, but these are easily remedied by applying some Tamiya White Putty dissolved in Tamiya lacquer thinner and then making one swipe with a cotton bud moistened with thinner to remove the excess. If not enough, wait for 15 minutes and repeat. No sanding needed! 

Assembling the four RS-2US (NATO name 'Alkali') missiles. Main fins and the exhaust pipes (on the sides) are separate pieces. And yes, I drilled out the exhausts, because masochist. 

The Hungarian MiG-19's in day/night scramble readiness were equipped with all this stuff under their wings. No inert dummy missiles for those Hungarian boys. The fins of the missiles need to be thinned down substantially to look reasonably accurate. 

The fuel tanks have locating holes under the wings, but there is not a scrap of indication where the missile pylons are to be attached, so again, reference photos are a must. As you may notice, I also drilled out a hole for the swiveling landing light in the fuselage just aft of the nose gear well, which I will later fill with a circular transparent piece of plastic. The white sanding residue in the panel gaps are cleaned out with a pointy wooden cocktail stick. 

Ejection seat painted, equipped with the seat belts and cemented into the cockpit tub. Some final details added before it is time to close the canopy and hide everything from view for ever. The black and grey overspray areas around the windshield and outside the shelf behind the seat will be wiped off with alcohol before spraying on the primer. I was just lazy with masking it off. And I just noticed that I lost the tiny acetate sheet of the gun sight. 

Canopy attached with a careful application of Tamiya Extra Thin cement. Normally I try to avoid this kind of styrene adhesive with clear parts as it may creep up into tiny cracks and mar the transparencies, but if you are super gentle and work slowly, it can be done. It also helps filling tiny gaps.  

Transparencies masked off with the precut masks from New Ware and some Mr Hobby Mr. Masking Sol Neo. All surfaces are then meticulously polished with Tamiya polishing cloths to remove tiny scratches and rough surfaces in the plastic and then cleaned with isopropyl alcohol to remove dust and handling residue. 

Model primed with UMP Ultimate Primer in gloss black. I used my H&S Evolution airbrush with a 0.4 mm needle and 25 PSI. This primer levels beautifully to a very smooth glossy sheen, perfect for a metalizer. The shallow panel lines actually survived better than I thought they would. Some minor imperfections will obviously need to be taken care of and buffed out with polishing cloths before it is time for the final aluminum coat. 

Oooh shiny! Sprayed with AKI Xtreme Metal Polished Aluminum, using my H&S Infinity airbrush with a 0.4 mm needle and 15 PSI. A few very thin layers for a lovely metallic sheen. This super nice surface is however is far too shiny and will later be toned down with flat varnish for a more realistic sheen - I am experimenting with how to make the surfaces look silvery from some directions and almost dull grey from others. 

But before masking off the final details, remember masking rule number one: never put masking tape on an unprotected metalized surface! Model coated with a gloss coat (Alclad II Aqua Gloss). I am using a broad fine quality Tamiya paintbrush to apply the coat as it levels out to invisibility without any brush marks. This stuff is so clear that I cannot use an airbrush as I simply cannot see where it has been applied and where it hasn't. 

Mixing that weird cold-green Soviet radome color (according to photos such as the MiG-21 nose cone in the picture) from various Tamiya acrylics on a piece of scrap plastic. A blend of XF-67 Nato Green with a pinch of XF-4 Yellow Green for a deeper tone, a lot of XF-8 Blue to cool it down and then a certain amount of XF-2 White to make it look sun-faded. I know that I could buy it pre-mixed from Hataka and AK, but I cannot make myself wait another week for it to arrive from Poland. And also it's fun to experiment! 

Radome masked and painted and then some gentle pinwash weathering applied on a few selected panels with 502 Abteilung oils to break up the uniform appearance. I find it super difficult to do this on a metal surface as the oils not just change the color, but also the sheen, which sometimes can only be seen in daylight and not under the workbench lamp. 

A few minor details picked out with Citadel Mephiston red, and the few available decals are added from the HAD Hungarian National Insignia decal sheet. I also added one or two random red warning stencils from a MiG-15 kit, but I don't have the blue stencils needed for the maintenance areas. Strangely enough, the position of the stars seemed to differ quite a lot between individual aircraft. I used the photos from the Szolnok aviation museum in Hungary, showing the aircraft before the restoration. 

A few more things added, a gentle coating of flat varnish to seal in the weathering and she is all finished! Now I just need some proper sunlight for the "finished model" photos! 

The belly of the beast. Not very weathered, but let's say that this is a very well maintained aircraft. 

Ready for a midnight scramble mission at Taszár air base, Hungary April 1964.