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eduard
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Info Eduard - November 2011
HISTORY
eduard
17
Info Eduard - November 2011
THE SAGA OF MOSNOV MIG-21MF
‘4127‘ IN EDUARD COLORS
By way of remarkable coincidences, this specic
aircraft permeated throughout my life, and sel-
dom was I even aware of it. It was only recently,
when Eduard released their kit of the MiG-21MF,
that I began to search for photographs of it,
and after some months, light had been shone
on the noteworthy and until now, forgotten, air-
plane. It was considered noteworthy enough by
my buddies to ask me to write an article on the
subject.
KAREL CVANCARA
The story begins with the manufacture
of the brand new MiG-21MF on August 1st,
1975 in the former Soviet Union. It received the
serial number 96004127, with the last four digits
forming the fuselage bort number. The aircraft
was destined for the CSSR Air Force, and after
several necessary inspections, tests and ights,
the aircraft was accepted by military inspectors
and was own to the 1st slp (Fighter Regiment)
at Ceske Budejovice on September 17th, 1975.
With that, the aircraft’s service career with the
Czechoslovak Air Force began.
The plane remained at Ceske Budejovice until
June 1989, when it was reassigned to the 8th
slp at Brno. The 8th slp (VU 8548 – milita-
ry unit number 8548) was formed on October
10, 1945 at Kbely, and its rst Commanding
Ofcer was S/Ldr. Jiri Hartman (the last CO of
No.310 (Czechoslovak) Squadron RAF). This en-
tity was formed out of ‚A‘ Flight, 313 Sqdn, RAF
and was subordinate to the 3rd ld (Air Division)
in Brno. This squadron, which was also located
at Mosnov for some time, was eventually disban-
ded in Brno, and became the 82nd sslt (Inde-
pendent Fighter Squadron). In May, 1991, air-
craft of the 82nd sslt were reassigned back to
Mosnov. Due to the frequent moves of the unit,
it was jokingly dubbed the ‘82nd Independent
Nomad Squadron’, which, in Czech, remained
true to the actual ‘sslt’ acronym. It t, and
it stuck. The unit bounced around from Brno to
Mosnov, then to Prerov, and nally to Caslav.
It was at Mosnov where I came into con-
tact with MiG-21MF ‘4127‘ for the rst time.
I served as an engine and airframe engineer for
the unit. The CO of the 82nd sslt at the time was
a friend of mine and a passionate modeler, pplk
Ing. Oldrich Mlatecek. For me, this was an air-
craft like any other, but I had no idea how often
our paths would cross in the future.
At the time, Eduard had been around for a bit,
and was developing successfully. In a conversa-
tion with a friend of mine, and one of the rm
founders, Karel Padar, I indicated that it would
be a novel idea to put the Eduard knight logo on
an actual airframe. The word went on down the
line, and long story short, one day I got a pac-
kage with a stencil and a bunch of spray paints.
The OK came down from the Oldrich Mla-
tecek, who used his position as CO to allow
the decorating of one of his airplanes.
This was around 1990-91, and at that time, this
was still an uncommon practice. In fact, this was
a pioneering initiative, and one that would likely
have a hard time being understood by superi-
ors in the PVO. ‘Olda’ and I began with a close
look at the inventory, and chose the winning bird
which we deemed to be the best machine in the
inventory. This turned out to be the grey MiG-
-21MF, numbered 4127. With that, this MiG had
embarked on the road to being uniquely signi-
cant for me.
Soon, I had my second encounter. It was during
a June weekend in 1991. At that time, ano-
ther mate of mine and myself stopped at the
apron, and collected the ladders and scaffol-
ding we deemed necessary, and began deco-
rating. It was an absolutely beautiful sunny day.
We placed template after template, painting
the relevant color prior to the subsequent mask,
and the Eduard knight began to take shape on
both sides of the n. We placed the logo low
in front of the national insignia, and the mar-
king began to look very striking over the light
grey background. After we were nished with
the knight logo, we turned our attention to za-
pping the area below the windscreen with
Eduard self adhesive stickers, symmetrically
on both sides. The small 8th slp badge, which
traced itself back to No.313 Sq. RAF, located
over the AOA vane (and by extension, only
on the left side of the nose), was left intact from
Above photos: MiG-21MF No. 4127 in 1990, before
application of the King Eda emblem on its tail (both
photos - Josef Stary archive)
99033 Railings 2 bar with mesh 1/350
99037 WWII Bofors AA guns 1/700
99039 IJN ladders 1/700
99055 German ship guns WWII 1/700
ZOOMS
33091 Spitre Mk.Vb interior S.A. 1/32 1/32 Hobby Boss
33103 P-51D Interior late ser.20-35 S.A. 1/32 1/32 Tamiya
FE568 Bf 110D Nachtjager 1/48 Dragon Cyber Hobby
SS391 Bf 110B interior S.A. 1/72 Airx
SS396 F-22 S.A. 1/72 Academy
SS402 Bell 212 UH-1N S.A. 1/72 Revell
SS412 F6F-3 interior S.A. Weekend 1/72 Eduard
MASKS
CX297 Mi-2 1/72 1/72 Hobby Boss
CX299 Valiant BK.Mk.I 1/72 1/72 Airx
CX300 Spitre PR.XIX 1/72 1/72 Airx
CX301 F6F-5 1/72 1/72 Cyber Hobby
EX342 Seare F.XVII 1/48 1/48 Airx
EX343 EA-18G 1/48 1/48 Hasegawa
JX132 EA-18G 1/32 1/32 Academy
XT177 ASU-85 SPG (1956) wheels 1/35 1/35 Trumpeter
XT179 Staghound wheels 1/35 1/35 Bronco
BIG-ED
BIG3305 Hawk T1 Mk.53 1/32 1/32 Revell
BIG4958 F-111A 1/48 1/48 Hobby Boss
BIG4959 Ta 152H 1/48 1/48 Hobby Boss
BIG7271 Ju 88G-6 1/72 1/72 Hasegawa
BRASSIN
648039 F-16 air brakes 1/48 Tamiya
648040 RS-2US / AA-1 Alkali 1/48
648041 Rocket launcher B-8M1 1/48