The Little World

Readers of this column will remember that I have built several other MiG 21 aircraft.

One was a Condor from Eastern Europe, one from Academy, and one from Hasegawa, They are marked for Israel, East Germany, and Uganda respectively. Now a second Hasegawa kit has fallen free to me and will join the Egyptian Air Force.

Interestingly, the box art has a clear space where Japanese lettering once was and the logo of the British importer printed there. I think this places it in the UK in the 1980’s and calls into question the viability of the decal sheet.

I am not worried – the prototype selected lives in the Egyptian Air Force Museum under a shed roof and has obviously been repainted numerous times. The scheme is simple but distinctive, and may well be due to the imagination of the museum staff and the paint special price week at the local Al-Bunnings…

Same old hard, but precise, Hasegawa plastic and a slightly foggy canopy. This is fine, as the plexiglass on the one in the museum is starting to craze as well. No weapons load-out and no ventral tank – just the plane painted in gloss colours.

Note: considering the state of the Hasegawa box, perhaps this one should have had the NATO name of FLATBED…