The RPM Undercarriage

The kit undercarriage legs, moulded out-of-register, were used as a guide for the scratchbuilt units of brass rod and plastic pipe; some new details were added. The scratchbuilding of compasses with bent plastic strips has given a particularly good result.

The small parts of undercarriage doors must be not only bent, but cut out and thinned or rebuilt, too.
The main undercarriage doors are good, only the two pairs of small rectangular pieces could be changed with something thinner. Two small rectangular parts should be added.

We have to scratchbuilt the mechanism for closing the small doors, a sort of U-shaped rod on which the wheels press while retracting.
 

Below: the undercarriage bay.

Our best reference for undercarriage colors is this detail from the only known color photo of an original MiG-3. The wheel hub looks factory green, while the interior surfaces are probably light blue-green metal primier. The shades of the photo looks to have a too orange hue due to the sun's light.

Note the use of dark green on the internal surfaces: a dark color is visible in the undercarriage bay from a videotape; it could be dark green.


The example restored in Novosibirsk wearns light grey undercarriages as postwar MiGs (photo on the right).
 
 
 

In some other photos the undercarriage doors, wells, legs and wheels appear to be painted with a dark colour, probably blue grey (2 photos below).
 

 


 
 
 

The flexible cover of the shock adsorber is probably black rubber; here it looks cylindrical, perhaps because it is fully extended.
 



 
The kit's tail wheel is fair; its doors are by far too thick, and represent the ones used on the early production MiGs, (with short nose; I have only one photo showing a long-nosed example ). They must be scratchbuilt by shaping (by force or by heat) and cutting some plasticard piece.

It is possible to thin the inner fuselage surfaces and add some internal detail.



Before scratchbuilding the doors, we have to choose our example; the tail undercarriage was often locked in the open position, and the doors removed and substituted by a fabric cover, particularly on late series aircraft. Here are some different examples.

 
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