Exit hole only: Gary Reviews the EduardBrassin MiG-21PF/ PFM Exhaust Nozzle

After looking at most if not all of the extra sets for the MiG-21 series for us here at TMN. We look at this new set of MiG-21 PFM Exhaust nozzles under the Brassin banner for Eduard. Always a decent read, this is another good review from Gary.

Eduard Brassin MiG-21PF/ PFM Exhaust Nozzle 
Kit No: 648 117
1/48 scale
Resin parts: 6
Photo Etch parts: 1 fret
Available from: Eduard directly & most model shops

This review will examine the Brassin Exhaust Nozzle detail set designed for the Eduard MiG-21PFM kit. The set is a direct replacement for the kit parts and is made from resin with one small PE fret.

The MiG-21PFM, like most Generation Two variants of the MiG-21 was fitted with the Tumansky R-11F2S-300 engine. The R-11F2S-300 was an upgraded version of the Tumansky F-11 designed for the MiG-21PFM, PFS, S, U and UM.

The Tumansky R-11 was a twin-spool axial-flow high-altitude non-afterburning turbojet. This engine was the first Soviet twin-spool turbojet. It was first run in early 1956. The basic design was very successful and it evolved into the Tumansky R-13 and Tumansky R-25.  A total of 20,900 R-11 engines were built. (source: Wikipedia)

The Brassin set provides us with the parts needed to model the “outlet” section of the Tumansky R-11 engine. The motor output system of the R-11F-300 consists of a diffuser chamber afterburner, extension tube and an adjustable outlet nozzle.

The set consists of six resin parts, one PE fret and the printed instruction sheet, all packaged in the signature Brassin cardboard box.

As usual the Brassin resin is free of blemishes or imperfections. The casting blocks are designed to be easy for the modeler to remove with a razor saw without putting unnecessary stress on the resin part (something which many other resin makers could learn from)

Starting from the front and working back, the diffuser chamber afterburner there are two flame stabilizers, two fuel ramp fuel injectors and spark chamber.

The extension tube connects the diffuser afterburner chamber with the adjustable discharge nozzle at the very rear of the aircraft.

The adjustable output nozzle section of the R-11 provides critical diameter changes of the outlet nozzle of the engine in the range of 526mm to 680mm according to the engine power requirements.

Position changes of the nozzle segments are handled by the power ring, which is activated by three hydraulic cylinders, each fed by hydraulic fluid pressure from the hydraulic system of the aircraft.

Assembly of the Brassin resin is fairly straightforward. The most care will need to be taken cleaning up the resin parts after separating them from the casting blocks. I like the Eduard resin as it’s easy (and predictable) to work with.

Eduard provides color callouts in both Gunze Aqueous (Acrylic) paints and the harder to obtain (at least here in Australia) Gunze Mr Color (Laquer) paints. If you don’t use the Gunze paints, then substitute suitable colors from your preferred manufacturer.

As you can probably tell, I really like the Eduard Brassin sets, and this one is no exception. They are consistently excellent quality and I almost always use one or more on my models if they are available for the kit I am working on.

The only hesitation I would have around this particular set is that once you fit it to the interior of your MiG-21 you simply are not going to see that much of it. I suppose the same could be said for many things we do to our models.

Highly recommended.

Gary Wickham

Thanks to Eduard for sending this kit for us to review