After looking at most if not all of the extra sets for the MiG-21 series for us here at TMN. We look at this new set of MiG-21 PFM Exhaust nozzles under the Brassin banner for Eduard. Always a decent read, this is another good review from Gary.
Kit No: 648 117
1/48 scale
Resin parts: 6
Photo Etch parts: 1 fret
Available from: Eduard directly & most model shops
This
review will examine the Brassin Exhaust Nozzle detail set designed for the
Eduard MiG-21PFM kit. The set is a direct replacement for the kit parts and is
made from resin with one small PE fret.
The
MiG-21PFM, like most Generation Two variants of the MiG-21 was fitted with the Tumansky
R-11F2S-300 engine. The R-11F2S-300 was an upgraded version of the Tumansky
F-11 designed for the MiG-21PFM, PFS, S, U and UM.
The
Tumansky R-11 was a twin-spool axial-flow high-altitude non-afterburning
turbojet. This engine was the first Soviet twin-spool turbojet. It was first
run in early 1956. The basic design was very successful and it evolved into the
Tumansky R-13 and Tumansky R-25. A total
of 20,900 R-11 engines were built. (source: Wikipedia)
The
Brassin set provides us with the parts needed to model the “outlet” section of
the Tumansky R-11 engine. The motor output system of the R-11F-300 consists of
a diffuser chamber afterburner, extension tube and an adjustable outlet nozzle.
The
set consists of six resin parts, one PE fret and the printed instruction sheet,
all packaged in the signature Brassin cardboard box.
As usual the Brassin resin is free
of blemishes or imperfections. The casting blocks are designed to be easy for
the modeler to remove with a razor saw without putting unnecessary stress on
the resin part (something which many other resin makers could learn from)
Starting from the front and
working back, the diffuser chamber afterburner there are two flame stabilizers,
two fuel ramp fuel injectors and spark chamber.
The extension tube connects the
diffuser afterburner chamber with the adjustable discharge nozzle at the very
rear of the aircraft.
The adjustable output nozzle
section of the R-11 provides critical diameter changes of the outlet nozzle of
the engine in the range of 526mm to 680mm according to the engine power requirements.
Position changes of the nozzle segments
are handled by the power ring, which is activated by three hydraulic cylinders,
each fed by hydraulic fluid pressure from the hydraulic system of the aircraft.
Assembly of the Brassin resin is fairly
straightforward. The most care will need to be taken cleaning up the resin
parts after separating them from the casting blocks. I like the Eduard resin as
it’s easy (and predictable) to work with.
Eduard provides color callouts in
both Gunze Aqueous (Acrylic) paints and the harder to obtain (at least here in
Australia) Gunze Mr Color (Laquer) paints. If you don’t use the Gunze paints,
then substitute suitable colors from your preferred manufacturer.
As you can probably tell, I really
like the Eduard Brassin sets, and this one is no exception. They are
consistently excellent quality and I almost always use one or more on my models
if they are available for the kit I am working on.
The only hesitation I would have
around this particular set is that once you fit it to the interior of your
MiG-21 you simply are not going to see that much of it. I suppose the same
could be said for many things we do to our models.
Highly recommended.
Gary Wickham
Thanks to Eduard for sending this kit for us to review