Wingman Models WMKD 48007 MiG-21F-13

The Mig-21 was a supersonic interceptor fighter conceived and designed in the early 1950s, featuring its familiar delta wings during the early prototype stages. It was a Mach 2 capable aircraft for those high speed dashes to intercept expected swarms of opponent bombers.  It was a second generation jet in its earliest forms, but after the successful upgrading of the airframe was also a third generation jet, which extended its production run to 1985. Its first production airframe coming off the line in 1955.

The Mig-21F was the first production variant, the basic Mig-21 being neglected in favor of the “F” model, and that was superseded by the F-13 after a few examples had rolled out of the factory.  The MiG-21F-13 was upgraded with the capacity to carry the AA-2 Atoll, known in the USSR as the K-13 missile. The F-13 could carry two of these missiles on launch rails mounted on hard points under the wings, although they could be switched out for unguided rocket launchers.  A number of license built examples were used by the Chinese under the local designation Chengdu J-7.  Chinese built examples were exported under the F-7 designation to a number of other nations, most notably in Africa and Pakistan.

The Decal

I found a very interesting set of decal markings for the MiG-21F-13 provided by Wingman Models who are well known as a premier re-packaging source of state-of-the art complete model kits with Kinetic plastic matched to beautifully cast resin, premium decals and etched for advanced modelers.  I recently saw a television show featuring the Arab-Israeli conflict aerial warfare which showed among its historical narrative some films of the first MiG-21 defector coming from Iraq and in formation with its Israeli Mirage welcoming committee. Eduard has provided a fantastic series of third generation Mig-21s but the Arab Israeli conflict used MiG-21F-13’s for the most part in its initial phase. Trumpeter has provided kits representing the earlier versions such as the MiG-21 F-13 in their release # 2858.  

This Wingman decal sheet is well printed, no printing source is identified, but the colors and markings are in register, thinly printed, sharply defined, and in perfect register. A seven (7) page color illustrated booklet comes with the decal offering historical airframe details, color profiles as well as actual photographs of the airframes in their unique color schemes. They are for the MiG-21F-13 variant and gave me a reason to acquire the Trumpeter MiG-21F-13 kit which I had not procured due to a backlog of Eduard MiG-21 pending construction kits in the stash.  I am looking forward to building this variant and will have to take a new look at Wingman Models decal line because if this offering is any indication of the quality and great value for its price point  decal series I am on the hunt for getting more of them.  

Andrew Garcia

February 2016

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