Scale Plastic & Rail

MiG-21 Surface Panels S.A. from Eduard

MiG-21 Surface Panels S.A.
Eduard
Catalogue # 48727
Available from Eduard for 14,95€

Eduard's love affair with the MiG-21 continues with this set aimed at their own 1:48 MiG-21 range of kits. The first thing you must ignore is the fact the package states this is for use with the Great Wall Hobby kit. As far as we are aware, such a kit doesn't exist :) Eduard's site do correctly show this as for their own kit.

Packaged into Eduard's familiar clear wallet, the Surface Panels set comes on a single etch fret measuring approximately 90mm x 70mm. This fret is also self-adhesive, and has a backing paper attached to protect the glue. In total, there are around 130 parts in this set, all beautifully and thinly etched for realism. Most panels exhibit small amounts of rivet detail, and even surface detail on a number of them. The panels vary in size and shape from the rectangular, through to oval and beyond, plus a few rings thrown in for good measure.

I did find that my sample had a very small amount of adhesive residue around the upper faces of some of the panels, and this made it tricky to remove the fret from the package initially. Since taking the photographs, I have used a small amount of acetone on a cotton bud, and this glue is now removed fully.

The MiG-21 family did have variations in the number and position of some panels, and as this is a generic set, Eduard have tackled this by providing both port and starboard fuselage drawings for the MF, SMT and BIS families of this aircraft, with every single panel having numerical identification in relation to the etch fret.

The wings of each family must have been the same in relation to panels, as only one upper and lower plan is shown for the wing.

The instructions for this set are easy to follow, but that won't mean that you'll apply all these various parts quickly. Set aside a couple of full evenings, and pour yourself a stiff one before you start!

So what do we think?
It's a simple set to create authentic looking panels for your MiG-21. There isn't really much more to say apart from that the appearance of your finished model should look quite spectacular with a full compliment of these attached. I'm building a MiG-21SMT at the moment, so I'll use these and post some images up in our forums when I'm at that stage.

Recommended

Our sincere thanks to Eduard for the review sample used here. To purchase directly, click THIS link.

James H

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