Linden Hill Decals 1/72 “Millennium MiGs”, Upgraded and Late Service MiG-21s

By Edward Matthews

This is the first Linden Hill Imports (LHI) decal sheet I have come in contact with.  There are 12 aircraft represented on the sheet: three Soviet VVS; three Bulgarian; one Georgian; one Chinese J-7III; and four Romanian.

While the decal sheet contains all the separate markings and such for each specific aircraft, they include only one set of national markings for each nation.  That means if you want to model more than one from a specific air force, you’ll have to track down separate national insignia.  Not a large problem.

The schemes offer alternatives to the natural metal finishes (NMF) of “typical” VVS aircraft.  In fact, there is only one NMF scheme, that being the MiG-21bis in service with the VVS.  The rest are mainly multi-color camouflaged jobs with two of the Romanian machines finished in grays.

“Millennium MiGs” are defined as the last of the MiG-21 series – the MiG-21MF and beyond, until the end of the production run.  MiG-21MFs, MiG-21bis’, etc. are what one finds on this decal sheet.  In addition, there are also markings for four two-seaters, now being catered for by the super MiG-21 kits Bilek puts out.

Unfortunately there exists no accurate late model MiG-21s in 1/72^nd.  Fujimi does put out the MiG-21bis and MiG-21MF (sic), but those are inaccurate.  We can hope that Bilek continues their MiG-21 line with the release of the later MiGs.

Instructions are extremely well done.  Not only do you get a color profile of the aircraft in question – as well as some top views if there are special markings and/or different ways to apply the decals – but you also get text explaining each aircraft in detail.  It is this detail text that really sets the instruction sheet apart from other decals.

Note that these decals are also available in 1/48^th, and two separate sheets cover 1/32^nd.

Overall these are extremely well done, in register, and the colors appear to be spot on.  The instructions are also earn a high mark.  Highly recommended.

Thanks to Linden Hill Imports for the review sample.