1/48th scale Trumpeter Mig-3

[krofire]

Last night I saw a Trumpeter 1/48th scale MiG-3 for sale on EBay (.co.uk). I thought it was a rumour! Probably scaled down from their 1/32nd scale one? Thoughts?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=320155774426&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=011


Worth buying?

[Massimo Tessitori]

Hi,
this kit is an "early version" MiG-3, while their wider kit is the later type. I think that it will resemble to its eldest brother in some way, but not at 100%.
Massimo

[krofire]

Well, here it is:









































General Comments: sadly my old ICM kit and Mig-3 references are in storage due to impending house move so I can't write too much of a review right now. I will let the photo's speak for themselves. The kit is crisply moulded in typical Trumpeter fashion. There is nothing here than would shame Hasegawa or Tamiya. What is more questionable is the style of the tooling. It is much as the Trumpeter Wellington's depiction of the Geodetic structure showing through the fabric on wings and fuselage. Look at the photo's of the control surfaces. Areas of metal structure have panel lines and rivet detail seemingly way too deep. However, there is nothing here that cannot be rectified with some rubbing down and some paint.

The Decals depict three aircraft but the instructions tells you nothing about them. Can anyone tell us what they are? The kit features no photoetch, metal or rubber items. There is a brief potted history of the marque on the side of the box that mentions engines and armament but nothing else.

I don't have the 1/32nd scale sibling from Trumpeter. Anyone out there care to do a comparison here?

Trumpeter include four underwing rockets amongst the 26 parts. Layout of the sprues suggest that they will follow up with later marques as well. There is reasonable sidewall cockpit detail but the instrument panel is a joke. The seat is reasonable. You could probably shoe-horn in the cockpit from the Cutting Edge Superdetail? set (for the ICM kit) ahead of any custom resin coming out. On the positive side the flaps are moulded separately and the internal detail there is suitabley restrained.

Without fitting it together I couldn't tell you much about how it goes together. I look forward to the first build review and a comparison to scale plans.

[Marcin Widomski]

In  my opinion the choice of camouflage versions is not very wise. The second scheme was in reality on different type of MiG-3 (photo is preserved). The third one is speculative.

[Massimo Tessitori]

Hi Krofire,
thank you for the images. I've to say that the plane shows a fairing on the exhaust pipes that is typical lof later type. It shouldn't be too difficult to cut it away and to make the early configuration.
The internal details look fairly good, but not perfect. In particular, there should be a wide space between the tubes structure and the internal surface of the cockpit. The ICM is much better on this.
The external detais look excellent, apart, perhaps, for the spinner, that has the usual ogival shape of the 1/32 model.
The movable surfaces look good as a choice (flaps, elevators) while the "windows" between the struts of fabric cobered surfaces should be filled.

Hi Marcin,
I agree that the choice of profiles is not wise. Only the 17 is usable, and is partially hypothetical. But, they are kind! They have chosen it from my profiles!

Massimo

[Renato71]

Krofire, thanks for pics!
Until you find time & space to take some pics of ICM's kit and compare them, here are some pics of mine. Sorry for quality, camera is not with me so I had to use old scanner. Not all pics are to same scale, just tryed to capture same details as you. I'll remove this once you make better ones

Cockpit interios looks better in parts for sidewals, but instrument panel is horrible. Engine intakes are better on Trumpeter, because on ICM there is no inner wal of intakes, as you can see on pic 4 (pic of centerplane underside, below it is iside of fuselage. Also, ribs on elevators, rudder and ailerons are quite huge.

I leave other comments to the experts.
Cheers!

[krofire]

Interesting! Thanks for the ICM Photo. The ICM kit shows its age and is mostly more crude than the more refined Trumpeter effort. However the Seat and Cockpit sidewalls remain a credit to the ICM kit. It is in interesting to see how different companies 'interpret' the same subject...

Now we need a comparison to scale plans and someone to hack parts of sprue for a test fit.

[jkiker]

Krofire and Massimo,

I have begun work on the new kit and overall I like it.  I am new to the board and I am not an expert on Mig-3's.  I have one of the old Classic Airframes kits and an ICM as well as this new Trumpeter kit.  There are areas on this new kit that will take some work; as has been mentioned, I found today that the fairings at the front of the exhausts are half-way in between the early and late style.

I have added some strip to the kit floor and the inside of the fuselage in order to fit the ICM tubular pieces.  Once I add the bits and pieces it will be a big improvement.  I also thinned down the cockpit sills and I will add some thin strip on top to replicate the rails for the canopy.  The upper decking/engine cowling has a set of interlocking tabs to fit onto the fuselage sides; on mine some adjustment was needed to make the fit along the upper sides of the fusealge better.  I have also found that I needed to trim back the tabs on the rear of the cockpit floor so that the rear fuselage halves will meet; I started with about a 1/32" gap.  I am hopeful that this will help, not hurt, the fit of the wings to the fuselage as well.

For Massimo- I have been reading the material on this site, especially the MiGs, for a while, and I want to thank you for all the hard work that has gone into it.  Well done!

I want to finish this kit as Yellow (blue) 9.  I was in the recconaissnce business myself, so I have some modern background to bring to this model.  I build a lot of recconnaissance aircraft, and the scheme is unusual which I also like.  I read that you have thought that this aircraft should have the lighter areas in gray and the number and forward spinner in blue, following the practices of other air forces for recce aircraft.  Again I am not an expert in Russian aircraft, but if I understand correctly, this plane is thought to have been flown without the sliding portion of the canopy.  Further, it was used for visual recconaissance, correct?  If so, the aircraft would have been flown at lower altitudes, to allow the pilot to see what is going on on the ground.  I know the plane was built as a high altitude craft, but visual recconaissance must be done from lower altitudes, say up to several thousand feet.  Given that, I think your original profile may be the more correct of the two.  Grays and blues are great at high altitude, but low flying aircraft will blend in better from above in disruptive greens and browns (or other colors that blend with the terrain), not the blues and grays.  Just my two cents' worth, and my way of saying that I will be doing the light brown variation with yellow numbers.

Sorry to have rambled on!  Thanks in advance for any additional light to be shed on these MiGs.  Which reminds me- do I understand correctly that there are no painted frames on the windscreen?  Just joints where the three pieces were joined?

Thanks and cheers, Jim

[Massimo Tessitori]

Hi Jim,
your interpretation of n.9 is fully possible. All the data we have are contained in the photos that you've already seen.
I'm happy that my page was useful for you.
you're right, the "frames" of the windshield are only junctions of clear panels.
Please, keep us informed on your work.
Massimo

[TISO]

Yesterday got my example of this kit. Much better than ICM but OH MY the pit is so BRRRRRRRR. I've seen new Eduard set that contains tubular framing, Fuselage sides construction, floor and a lot of other stuff. In instructions it looks like they carefully read Peter Vill's workbench article of 1/32 kit

Instructions of Eduard set 48322:
http://www.eduard.cz/products/pdf/n49/49388.pdf

[marluc]

Hello everybody:

A Mig-3 (late version) is announced in Trumpeter?s 2008 catalogue.Greetings.

Martin