I recently bought Great Wall Hobby’s limited edition “Ghost of Kyiv” Fulcrum kit on a hunch. When I got the kit, I was so thrilled about the general shape of the plane I was seeing in the box that I decided to get started right away.

After the simple Spitfire summer project, I wanted to go a little further on this one. Still an OOB affair, I wanted to push finishing and experiment with Jarek Rydzy Rydzyski’s distressed pre-shading technique seen on the book he wrote with René Joyal, and that was the main purpose of this build.

The project went nicely. I would rate GWH’s kit as generally good. The base kit is from 2012, and while there were some surprising things, it went together well and any issues were dealt with relatively easily. I was surprised by the amount of mistakes in the instruction, though.

Honest Assessment

Things I’m happy with

• Painting. Lots of pretty interesting learnings regarding painting into this build:
  • Distressed pre-shading, or “pre-shading texture” as Rydzyski calls it, is a pretty simple, and pretty fun technique. It yields good results with relatively quick execution.
  • I used Ammo paint from their Flanker set (AMM7280) and I experimented a bit with mixing it up with varnish and retarder. The result was quite interesting in that I managed to get a very sturdy, satin finish that was super easy to work with.
  • Painting a sky-blue fighter plane is awesome.
  • The Mig-29 is an incredibly cool-looking aircraft. Will build one again.

Things I’m okay with

• Decaling went well. And it is much easier when said decals are of good quality. I’m starting to nail the technique not only to get good decal application but also in doing it at a good pace.
• Landing gear. Didn’t prove too much of a PITA, but still, it amazes me just how sub-optimal any landing gear struts are every time. What’s so hard in getting that to fit snuggly?
• Generally, weathering went well. But here again, I forgot one large segment (air intake left side)

Things I could do better

• Jets are fiddly in the end. The further you get into a build, the harder it gets to manipulate, and the jig I’m using is not optimal. I need to get a better way to hold the plane at any angle.
• Botched canopy. This is the single most important point I need to get better at. It’s not easy, but it’s pretty vital to get right, as it is one of the highlights of any plane, drawing your attention right away.

Project Specs

Great Wall Hobby Mig-29 Fulcrum-C “Ghost of Kyiv” Limited Edition #S4819
Foxbot Ukrainian Fulcrums markings #48076