Without going into any great detail, the Mig-21 is the most successful Soviet aircraft to have been built in the 70's and 80's, with thousands of them going to numerous countries throughout the world. They were built under license in Czechoslovakia as well as in the Soviet Union itself. The Chinese are still marketing a version of the earlier Mig-21F called the Shenyang F-7. It has been updated with modern safety and avionics systems and has found a number of buyers. Though no longer a state of the art aircraft, the Mig-21 is still a potent and viable interceptor.

A few years ago, Aeromaster decided to give a try at the kit market. Though not producing its own kits, it endeavored to gather together a kit and various resin and etched brass bits to go with an Aeromaster produced decal sheet. The end result was a very high priced multi-media kit that ran in the $30-40 range. (I picked this one up at a swap meet for less than that so I don't know the retail price.) This particular kit is the old OEZ kit that has since been boxed by KP and by SMER as well as Aeromaster. The kit itself isn't that bad, but is also not an easy build. It has engraved detail that would do a Matchbox kit proud but the size of the engravings. In other words, the engraving is large and detailing a bit soft. There are also a few fit problems, specifically with the interior.

However, that may have been taken care of by the addition of the new parts. So, what extra goodies are in with the kit. First thing you notice is that this is a very heavy box. Part of that is the number of resin parts included with the kit. In addition to a resin cockpit, wheels, rudder nose gear well, speed brake and two bang seats, there is a huge resin recce pod. Also included are two vacuformed canopies in addition to the injected plastic ones that normally come with the kit. 

 There is also a very nice etched brass set from Eduard to help spruce things up a bit. On the brass fret are cockpit enhancements as well as some bits for the wheels and a burner can screen. There are parts for the ejection seats and canopy frame as well.

As you might expect, there is a new set of instructions as well as a new decal sheet. The instructions are really quite well done and come in a neat little booklet. The assembly sequences are well done and there are good detail shots to help you get all the etched brass and resin bits properly installed.  Along with this are color profiles and overhead drawings for the three color schemes offered with the kit. 

The kit can be built as an MF, bis, SMT or R, though the decals are only for an MF or SMT. The Russian camouflaged version can be done as an SMT. The other two are Mig-21MF's. The Czech MF is a special 40th anniversary scheme and is quite colorful. The Cuban Mig has a number of color photos included as taken when this aircraft was flown to Key West by a defecting Cuban pilot.

Overall it looks as if the resulting kit would be very nice and one that should bring a lot of comments.

Review kit courtesy of me and my wallet!

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