Fantasy Finns

[ScranJ51]

With the economical troubles in several ex-Soviet States, the Finnish Air Force saw an opportunity to increase their inventory at bargain-basement prices, acquiring 20 MiG-29's to form an additional fighter squadron to supplement the F-18's.

Seen here, two of the aircraft prepare for a sortie, armed with Soviet Air-to-air missiles.

Finn 29 Pair-1 by David Freeman, on Flickr

Finn 29 Pair-2 by David Freeman, on Flickr

The aircraft bear little markings as to what unit this is, with just a stylised Eagle Head on the tail.  All aircraft bear a "type" number of 7, with four digit serials, with the last three numbers displayed forward.

7-8319
29-319-1 by David Freeman, on Flickr

29-319-2 by David Freeman, on Flickr

7-8351
29-351-1 by David Freeman, on Flickr

29-351-2 by David Freeman, on Flickr



Interestingly, there are a number of differences between the two kits.
319 is the ACE Kit, while 351 is from Hasegawa.

351 has slightly smaller tails, the tail leading edge fence is a little different.  The most noticeable differences is the size of the tailplanes, with the Hasegawa version being a little smaller but longer.  Also, the vents over the intakes are a different direction between the two models.

 

[perttime]

Interesting....
One thing that I notice is that the markings do not fit the pattern that the Finnish air force has been using for near 100 years: two letters to denote the type, followed by two or three numbers.

[ScranJ51]

Yup - that's why they are Fantasy............

[ChernayaAkula]

Neat!  Nice might-have-beens.

Taking your storyline a bit futher, maybe the Finns eventually wanted to update their Fulcrums, but the Russians wouldn't support any MiGs bought second-hand, leaving the Finns to adapt Western avionics and weapons on their Fulcrums.

[ScranJ51]

Yup, that would be a good storyline