MiG-21MF “Bunny Fighter” Eduard 1\48
A few words about the history of the plane. In late 1995, the Democratic Republic of Congo acquired eight former Czech MiG-21mf aircraft. During the 1997 civil war, with Congolese forces led by President Colonel Denis Sassou Nguesso. These aircraft were used due to a lack of qualified pilots. They were flown by foreign mercenary pilots. Most come from Ukraine and other former states
Soviet bloc. One of the most colorful aircraft was owned by the mercenary pilot (Igor Valenchenko). It was painted in a strange “Bunny” shape. Valenchenko used this unusually colorful MiG 21 as a decoy to lure Angolan aircraft into dogfights.
Congolese Labor Party led by President Col. Denis Sassou Nguesso used these MIG-21s alongside Chinese F-7 Skybolts.
In addition to major battles between Lissouba and Sassoon forces in the capital Kinshasa, there were regular skirmishes across the country with local warlords attempting to loot any nearby military assets. The extreme corruption of the air force meant that the aircraft were more often used for private government “operations” than for counterinsurgency operations.
One of the more unusual disputes centered around the ownership of local carrot fields with the neighboring country of Angola. This conflict, the so-called “Carrot War”. He had a small piece of land around the border town of Tsikapa. One of the most experienced Ukrainian mercenary pilots (Igor Valenchenko) had one of the Congolese MIGs. Painted in an extravagant “Bathroom” system.
Valenchenko used this unusually colorful MiG as a decoy to lure Angolan aircraft into dogfights. This proved to be a highly successful tactic which gave Valenchenko three victories, in addition to a series of ground crashes in Angola! But the MiGs were short lived. Like the other services, the Congolese Air Force was unable to maintain its aircraft.
Even today, few of the Air Force aircraft can fly. Most remain flying. Unfortunately, the fate of this distinctive MiG was the same as most Congolese aircraft. Today it is abandoned in an aircraft graveyard on the outskirts of Kinshasa, subject to the ravages of the harsh African climate and vandalism.
Construction
I always liked it as an airplane!! So I decided it was time to fix it… So I started looking for pictures of it. I liked everything until the “Bunny Fighter” caught my eye then I started looking for pictures just for that particular plane. The only thing I was missing was the model. So I bought the wonderful Eduard kit full of many enhancements. I decided after a “stolen” idea that I will make it abandoned with a very small base.
A few words about the kit.
I had never built an Eduard model before so it was a big surprise when I opened the box and saw the pieces, the perfect detail, the decals and even masking tape!! With all this it didn’t take long to start the model so I started from the cockpit which was resin. I had no trouble fitting it in perfect detail as always… So then I started removing some of the fuselage caps. I started making the pieces that will show through the missing caps and gluing them to the fuselage. The kit didn’t bother me at all with its perfect fit
So I then wanted to emphasize the suffering and abandonment of the plane and so on
1st, My step was to paint the whole plane silver. In the
2nd, I stepped on all the places where I wanted the maskol wear to be visible, in various places on the fuselage and on the wings. I did this because when I give him the base color and remove the mask it will make his wear look even more realistic. For the base color of the plane I used Gunze acrylic paints, diluted and very lightened with white the base color I started to paint. I then did some airbrushing on many of the parts of the plane.
3rd, Step his Rusts: I started with a brush to highlight the rusts and damages in many places on the plane. But the decals also had to “stick” with the rest of the plane, so they were also damaged. Initially, with great care and some sharp object, I took out some of their pieces, (after I had first placed them on the plane) so that it looks as real and abandoned as possible..
4th, Then I sanded them with a very fine sandpaper (2000) and sprinkled powder in various places. Finally, for the tanks I used the “lacquer” technique to show their real wear and tear… The varnishes I used were also Gunze’s.
The MiG-21MF “Bunny Fighter” was awarded by IPMS Hellas – International Plastic Modellers Society Hellas Group. In the annual competition 2017, with a bronze award in its categories.
The base is a creation of
“Dioramania”https://www.facebook.com/dioramania.gr/