Militaria i Fakty MiG-1/MiG-3 Book

[Massimo Tessitori]

Hi Jim, 
I suggest to use only bare metal on wingroots, because this is the only damage of paint that is nearly ever visible on most MiG-3s due to the feet of pilots and technicians, forthemost on the left side. A small amount of metal could be on the locks of the engine panels. The adhesion of paint on the wooden parts is good. Forgot primers on the outside of metal parts, it is not clear if they were and which were their shade, but photos don't encourage to smooth off paint on the leading edges.
Massimo

[jkiker]

Hi Massimo,

As soon as I read your response, that aspect clicked into place in my thinking.  The available pictures here and elsewhere do seem to show very little deterioration of the paints from either weathering or harsh conditions.  That certainly makes my paint job easier!

One additional question about Yellow 9, please?  Do we know that the summer of 1941 is correct for the pictures we have of this plane?  Unless it was late summer/fall, I am not so sure that field commanders were choosing to do field repaints within the first couple of months of operations.  Or am I missing something?  Could this airplane have been photographed later in the fall?  It just seems to me that even in combat, military decision making regarding something like better camouflage via painting is not arrived at very quickly.  Please note that I am playing a bit of a guessing game here, based on much too small an amount of information.  I am learning however, but mainly I seek clarity to understand this particular airplane.  How often I seem to pick difficult subjects!

Thanks, Jim

[Dark Green Man]

have you seen this ?

http://vvs.hobbyvista.com/DigitalModeling/monthly_profile/aug06/aug06.htm

[Massimo Tessitori]

Hi Massimo,

As soon as I read your response, that aspect clicked into place in my thinking.? The available pictures here and elsewhere do seem to show very little deterioration of the paints from either weathering or harsh conditions.? That certainly makes my paint job easier!

One additional question about Yellow 9, please?? Do we know that the summer of 1941 is correct for the pictures we have of this plane?? Unless it was late summer/fall, I am not so sure that field commanders were choosing to do field repaints within the first couple of months of operations.? Or am I missing something?? Could this airplane have been photographed later in the fall?? It just seems to me that even in combat, military decision making regarding something like better camouflage via painting is not arrived at very quickly.? Please note that I am playing a bit of a guessing game here, based on much too small an amount of information.? I am learning however, but mainly I seek clarity to understand this particular airplane.? How often I seem to pick difficult subjects

Hi,
unfortunately, all what I know on the date and unit is already written on the page of the profile, and is from a Russian book.
On my part, I think that it's easier that non-standard camouflages were made on early planes that were paint overall green, than on later planes that were already camouflaged.?
However, I suppose that such camouflages were improvised at a low hierarchical level, in brief time. A lot of Russian planes were destroyed on the ground, so this justifies such doing.

have you seen this ?

http://vvs.hobbyvista.com/DigitalModeling/monthly_profile/aug06/aug06.htm

I've already commented this on a previous post.
http://sovietwarplanes.com/board/index.php?topic=121.0

I've received an information from Oleg that has interviewed a pilot:

he said that instrument panels were either light-blue (same color as underside), or black (so called Kuzbass-Lak)

Massimo

[Dark Green Man]

I provided the link for Jim[/b] in case he had not already found it.
it was not meant for you Massimo, as I assumed you had already seen it.
please do not be offended , I do not mean to be rude.

[/font]

[Massimo Tessitori]

I provided the link for Jim in case he had not already found it.
it was not meant for you Massimo, as I assumed you had already seen it.
please do not be offended , I do not mean to be rude.

You did it well. I have just given the second link for him, just in case that he had not already read it.
Massimo

[jkiker]

Massimo and DGM,

Thank you gentlemen for the additional inputs; I had not seen Pilawski's alternate take on this aircraft nor the other link, so both add ingredients to the stew!

I must say that I was wrong regarding the time of year the aircraft was flying or when the pictures were taken.  I read about various MiG-3 pilots flying the plane during the summer with the canopies removed, then read about the lack of a canopy for this aircraft when the pictures were taken, and added those facts together incorrectly.  More of a fall timeframe makes better sense to me, and Massimo's thumbnail link clearly says "late 1941."

Massimo's additional information from a pilot is also very suggestive; I have been thinking of using the blue-green primer for most of the cockpit interior plus the blue gray wood primer behind that (although in this scale, little of it will be seen).  This is based on Peter Vil's great 1/32 scale build up.  I had decided to paint the main instrument panel black with a light instrument cluster- it looks like the underside blue is a better choice than the primer color.  Massimo, your color cutaway drawing of the fuselage indicates that underside blue was also on the inside of the fuselage panels, with the cockpit tube structure in the blue-green.  Do I have that correct, or nearly so?

Again please excuse all the questions, but even though the scheme is hard to determine, I want the details to be as right as possible.  I also expect to post some more photos over the weekend.

Thanks again, Jim

[Massimo Tessitori]

Hi,
I think that light blue is a good choice for the inside of fuselage panels visible through the cockpit, but I suspect that the tubes were painted of some dark color, green or grey.
Massimo