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Photo Review: Cold War Studio's 48 MiG-23BN Nose

Sharkmouth

Information Overload
Staff member
Designed for the Trumpeter kit, this is Stenka's 5 48th scale product. Trumpeter's MiG-23BN & MiG-27 series noses have a horrid shape and incorrectly angled canopies which throw off the looks of the aircraft. Since my interest are sharkmouth schemes, the nose is VERY important!

Cold War Studio (CWS) of Bulgaria have released this comprehensive set:
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Why show the box? It shows pride in CWS' work.
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The contents were very well packed with all items in separate Ziploc bags, then wrapped in bubble wrap, plus a few styrofoam peanuts to secure the items from damage. As you can see, masks (at the back left, PE, and a mini CD (for the instructions plus 118 reference photos), are included.
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The next five images are of the replacement nose which corrects the slope and cross section. The end is hollowed out so it is a convenient place to put a nose weight. I will need to clean out the panel lines and rivet holes.
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Take a closer look and you will see what one would think is a flaw (raised area) but this is correct and serves as a mounting area for PE7 to be hanging perpendicular.
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Replacement forward fuselage corrects the slope of the cockpit, and armor, which Trumpeter failed in representing correctly. Clean up of panel lines and rivets are in order for me.
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Replacement nose gear bay doors and mud guard. I am glad to see the latter as the one in the kit is incorrect. The nose gear bulges are correct but the look of the scabbed panels are not to my taste. I will drill the rivet holes slightly deeper, scribe straight panel lines, then sand and file the raised areas around the bulges.
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Replacement canopy. One is asked to use plastic strip for the inner frame but no mention of the thickness, width or length required.
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The inside does have some preliminary detailing.
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The rest of the details make me wish I hadn't already ordered the QuickBoost items as they are here!
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Two looks at the PE fret shows that we will see it in other boxes for the MiG-27, MiG-27D/M, and MiG-27K.
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Two vacuum-formed canopies with windscreens are included. I may not use the canopy as it seems too flat on top but then gain, I may be wrong.
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I already have plans to buy two more of these sets as the nose itself is better than what I was working on. The rest of the items are simply cherries on the cake!

Regards,
 
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