Hobby Master Archive

Hobby Master 1/72 Air Power Series HA0127 Egyptian AF Mig-21MF ‘8454’ Fayid AFB, 1981

THESE ARE PRE-PRODUCTION PICTURES NOT THE RETAIL VERSION

Mig-21s were Egypt’s premiere aircraft through the 1960’s-70’s with over 220 Mig-21s of various versions. In 1970 aircraft 8454 arrived in the second shipment of Mig-21MF’s. It survived the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Egypt/Libya border war in 1977 through 1981 when F-16’s and Mirages began to replace them. This colorful paint scheme of 2 shades of green and sand with a pale blue under-side is a version of the “spinach and sand” paint scheme. With increased tension with Libya the EAF added black-outlined orange panels as an IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) system.

In 1928 the Egyptian Air Force was proposed by parliament. Over the years British airplanes played a major part in equipping the EAF. However in the mid-1960s Egypt had completely changed to Soviet built aircraft mostly because it was much less expensive than other countries’. With the super-sonic Mach-2 Mig-21 it greatly increased the EAF combat effectiveness. The first Mig-21s started to arrive early in the 60s and would remain the primary fighter until mid 1982 when F-16s started to arrive.

Mig-21MF Specs:

Power Plant: One 41.55kN (9,340lb st) or 64.73kN (14,550lb st) with afterburner Tumansky R-13-300 turbojet Wingspan: 7.15m (23ft 5½in) Length: 15.76m (51ft 8½in) - incl pitot boom Max T-O weight: 9,400kg (20,725lb)

Max speed: Mach 2.1 (2,230km/h - 1,385mph) above 11,000m (36,000ft) Mach 1.06 (1,300km/h - 807mph) at low level Range: 1,100km (683 miles) - internal fuel only 1,800km (1,118 miles) - with three external drop tanks, one under fuselage, one under each wing Armament: One 23mm twin-barrel GSh-23 cannon with 200 rounds in belly pack Various air-to-air and air-to-ground stores carried on four under wing pylons including: K-13A “Atoll” or “Advanced Atoll” a-a missiles, UV-16-57 rocket packs, S-24 a-s rockets, 250kg and 500kg bombs Eventually Sidewinder missiles

True 1/72 scale Professionally painted unique scheme Great attention to detail All markings are Tampoed (pad applied) Option to display the model on a stand that is provided Model can be shown with the landing gear in the down or up positions Canopy open or closed option Extremely heavy metal with a minimum of plastic Highly collectable