Albatros Modelworks

 #72-013   #48-013    #3202

MiG-21  Part 2

Preview by Steve Bamford

The Americans had the F-4 Phantom....the Soviets had the MiG-21 Fishbed.  The Mig-21 first flew in 1957 and entered service in 1959.  Between 10,000 and 13,000 MiG-21's have been produced...making it possibly the most produced aircraft since WW2.  In total, 47 different countries throughout Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Eastern Europe have operated the MiG-21 since the late 1950s.  Even today after more than 40 years since it entered service, the Mig-21 is still operated by some airforces.  

The MiG-21 is a pilots plane and relied on expert training of the pilot to make up for the lack of avionics and radar systems of western jets.  Unfortunately this often proved to be the downfall of the MiG-21, but later models had many of these shortfalls corrected.

So what do you get in this decal sheet?  Well this sheet is from Albatros, so right there you know variety is going to be a big part of the package.  In total you get the choice to build 6 different Mig-21's from Rumania, Bangladesh, India, Burkina Faso, Vietnam and Laos.  They all caught my eye to one degree or another, but the Indian one with the yellow lightning bolt on the tail is the most eye catching.  The 3 tone blue Vietnamese Mig-21 has a very modern look to it.  A few of these paint schemes are interesting enough to keep even the most talented modeller busy.   

MiG-21 MF of the Indian Airforce
MiG-21 MF of the Bangladeshi Airforce
MiG-21 MF of the Vietnamese Airforce
MiG-21 RFMM of the Rumanian Airforce
MiG-21 MF of the Burkina Faso Airforce
MiG-21 MF of the Laos Airforce

The quality of the decal sheet is up to the usual hi standards of Albatros and the 3 separate decal sheets included in my review set were clearly printed and in register.  Colours look good.

(resolution of decal sheet has been reduced to 75 dpi protect the art work)