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New 1/72 MiG-3 from Trumpeter
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Author Topic: New 1/72 MiG-3 from Trumpeter  (Read 49342 times)
John Thompson
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« on: January 09, 2006, 12:31:17 AM »

The rumoured 1/72 MiG-3 from Trumpeter is now available in North America, although it is not a kit, it?s a pre-assembled, pre-painted and marked display model. Imported by MRC, the brand name is "Easy Model". The small print on the box says, ?Manufactured by Wasan Mould and Plastic Manufactory?, in Guangdong, China, and gives the Trumpeter web site and e-mail addresses. The version represented is a late MiG-3, marked ?White 5?? (Pokryshkin?s aircraft).

The quality is amazing - much better than the RPM kit. Very fine recessed panel lines, beautiful control surface detail, very delicate radio mast and pitot tube, petite exhaust stacks, underwing racks with 4 tiny (and exquisitely molded) RS-82 rockets, a perfect canopy - I could never build anything close to this with the RPM kit in a million years! The paint job is flawless, and even includes very subtle exhaust stains! The overall length is just about exactly correct to the scale dimension of 4.5 inches, as close as I can measure it.

Make no mistake, this is a beautiful model, but an AMS-type like me can always find something to pick on:
- the canopy doesn't fit exactly right (there's a noticeable gap on one side of the one I bought, and this fit problem was visible on all of the eight or so examples I looked at, although some were centred better than others), but it appears that prying it off and correcting the fit might be possible, with some care (I did manage to get the canopy off without damaging it, but broke the radio mast in the process!)
- the odd panel line was missed; in particular, the separation between the two protective panels immediately behind the exhaust stacks
- gun trough detail on the upper cowling is rather shallow
- the oil cooler housings/scoops are slightly undersized - see the walkaround of the Rusavia MiG-3 elsewhere on this site, or other photographic references
- the cowling cross-section should be slightly concave in the general area of the exhaust stacks ?? again, see the walkaround
- the tips of the prop blades are painted yellow (not a standard VVS practice)
- undercarriage legs finished in silver, not grey
- wheel wells and inner face of u/c doors painted underside blue, not grey; no wheel well detail, although some ?weathering? has been included
- cockpit (not badly detailed for what?s visible through the canopy ? includes seat, joystick, radio gear, but no seatbelts, instrument panel, or sidewall detail) painted a pale grey colour
- wheels lack detail; wheels themselves are silver, not medium green as on all MiG-3?s
Note that these are obviously very minor (and mostly easily correctable) complaints, and I think overall the model is stunning! This would have been a prize-winner at most hobby shows, in the not-so-distant past! (Hmmm ? maybe I could? Naaah!) ;-)

What makes it even more amazing is the price ? only $14 Canadian, at Toronto?s Aviation World! Perhaps Trumpeter hopes to spark interest in young future modelbuilders with these models, and then ?graduate? them into their bigger-scale, more expensive full kits ? not a bad strategy, if true.

Also included with the model is a display stand and a mini-catalogue of current and future releases in the series, including a Yak-3!

John Thompson
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Massimo Tessitori
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« Reply #1 on: January 10, 2006, 10:25:15 AM »

H iJohn, Smiley
thank you for posting.

The first MiG-3 of Easymodel was red 1, distributed in Italy in November or December.
In general, I agree with John about the good general quality of the model, that is very cheap (I payed it 10 Euro).

I would add some small complains to yours:
-the oil cooler intakes should be asymmetrical, but the model represents them as symmetrical;
-the wentral hole for the display stand should be filled;
- it lacks of the position light on the rudder;
- the sliding hood  has its rear structure fully painted green, while there should be a trasparent nail on its back side;
-the model has 4 rockets, while, when installed, they should be 6;
- in some models, there are traces of gluing visible through the canopy;
-looking at their catalogue, the most of the painting schemes are for early version without rockets, while the model represents the late version with rockets;
- the most of the painting schemes proposed show some not fully convincing interpretation, that looks based on the instruction of an old decals sheet.

If left as they are, these models are fair placeholders in a collection; if used as a base for elaborations, one has to consider that fillings and other modifies will require the repainting of the model.
When compared to the RPM kit, this is less accurate, but avoids the bad difficulties with the too wide canopy that doesn't fit at all, and has better exhaust stacks and rockets.
So, it could be taken in consideration as an alternative to RPM, particularly for a thematic collection.

However, I heard a lot about the reduction to 1/72 of Trumpeter's wide 1/32 kit, but there is not trace of this in catalogues. What a pity! Cry

Massimo

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John Thompson
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« Reply #2 on: January 10, 2006, 06:09:00 PM »

Hi Massimo! Between your list and mine, it looks like this could turn into a real modelbuilding project after all. I'm embarrassed that I didn't notice the symmetry error on the oil cooler intakes. Before I found the Easy Model MiG-3 and saw what it looked like, I was hoping only to be able to rob parts from it for the RPM kit, but maybe it will be the other way around. Now I think perhaps I could remove the Easy Model landing gear, correct some of the details on the model itself, repaint it in one of the many optional schemes from the RPM decal sheet, and then replace the landing gear with the RPM parts. Or...? ;-)

It's also interesting to see how the model is assembled from component parts. I wonder if these might someday appear as a kit, but I don't think this is likely, considering how the wings are molded as one solid piece (or so it appears), and likewise the main part of the fuselage looks like a solid molding.

Regards;

John
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Massimo Tessitori
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« Reply #3 on: January 11, 2006, 10:01:44 PM »

Hi John, Smiley

should I do a kitbashing, I would consider to use the canopy, exhausts  and the rockets of this model on the RPM kit, that is more accurate as a base. But I don't like kitbashing, it's expensive, and it could emerge that the pieces are in some way of difficult adaptation.
I think that the Easy Kit model could turn into a decent replica even without kitbashing, only it ends to be "Easy". The works on oil coolers and guns recesses look to be the less pleasant ones, and I hope that the canopy will be removable to clean it from inside. However I am strongly suspecting that I'll let it as it is, maybe with minor works.

Your observation about its scomposition is interesting. I wonder how they could build an empty fuselage. And note that the supercharger intakes on wings are recessed.

Massimo
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Massimo Tessitori
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« Reply #4 on: April 23, 2006, 11:25:22 PM »

Hi, Smiley
I've received an interesting email from Ilya Grinberg about the elaboration of the Easy Models kit. Here it is, with his permission:

Quote
>I disagree with your assesment on this Easy Models MiG. You wrote that one can use parts from it to supplement Alpha/RPM/Maket. I think on the contrary: use RPM parts to supplement EM kit. Here is why. Look at Yuri photos very attentively and compare them with the EM model, especially in the nose cowling part. You will see that the "brows" above exhausts stacks are very well pronounced, which is not so in RPM kit. RPM kit has this area rather round that does not look right! The length of the EM kit is 1.5mm less than RPM, which is also a good thing. Obviously, the shape of the front part of the fuselage is the most important improvement here!
>The EM model could be easily disasembled with the help of a hobby knife used as a lever - the parts are not glued, they are just on pins. It takes about 5 minutes to take it apart. Dremel should be used to take all the plastic from the cockpit area. Be sure to leave radio shelve behind the seat, it would be more trouble scratchbuilding one later than leaving existing one. Than I removed more plastic from the walls of the fuselage to thin them as much as possible. Tubular construction of side walls from RPM kit could be used than as well as the floor and the seat. I also have PART PE set which I will use as much as I can (especially in the cockpit. The flaps are missing and the imitation of steel band is going across the whole bottom of the wing. This is easy to correct. Oil cooler intakes are also easy to correct. The best and very efficient way is to use aluminum foil. You should use thick foil though. I just cut appropriate shape and bent it right on the existing intakes. Make sure that the front (angled) edges are a bit longer than plastic ones. Than glue this structure over plastic intakes and you will be very impressed by the results. Of course, all the numerous small intakes and MG ports should be drilled. I also drilled holes in the first exhaust stck covers and will use pieces from Moskit pipes from I-153 (they are very petit) to stick them out of these covers. Very shallow plastic in front of MG ports is easily corrected with thin file. Well, this is routine detailing. Generally speaking, overall shape of EM kit is superior to RPM, I urge you again to compare it with photographs of the real things. After examining the photos I am not so sure that Voronin's drawings are good enough:).
>BTW, how do you usually make transparent cover for landing lights? I read that some people use clear scotch tape. But how to mask it during painting?
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John Thompson
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« Reply #5 on: April 24, 2006, 06:15:45 PM »

Lots of good ideas from Ilya - thank you! I tore the EM MiG-3 completely apart right after I got it (not only prying parts off, but also sawing and scribing through with a P-Cutter), looking for ways to combine it with the RPM kit, but I did not come up with any easy answers. Yes, the point about the "eyebrows" over the exhaust area is right, and this is one of the annoyances about the RPM kit. Yuri's walkaround photos are a very valuable resource! Also, the nose of the RPM kit needs to be shortened by at least the 1.5 mm that Ilya mentions. This is somewhat difficult, but it can be done by choosing the cut location carefully, and then doing some blending of the reassembled fuselage.

Another possibility for the cockpit if you go ahead with modifications to the EM is obviously the new Goffy MiG-3 resin set. This set also includes landing gear legs, doors, and wheels. The legs are extremely thin (scale thickness) - one of mine was actually broken before I got it.

Totally off topic - I love these great VVS GPW kit subjects - rarely (if ever) do I buy anything else. I wish the rest of the modelbuilding world would wake up to this!!!? Maybe then we would have good, accurate new kits in 1/72 scale of such types as the I-153, Yak-1b, and the La-5 series! Wink

John Thompson
« Last Edit: June 20, 2007, 02:34:48 AM by John Thompson » Logged
Massimo Tessitori
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« Reply #6 on: April 24, 2006, 11:00:04 PM »

Hi, Smiley
the price of Goffy resin set could be much better justified for elaborating this kit that is very poor of cockpit details.
To tell the truth, some space should remain between the tubes structure and the fuselage skinning, and Goffy set can't reproduce this. However it would be a great improvement all the same.
Only, I saw in photos of Goffy kit that the spaces behind radio boxes are full of resin, probably due to ruptures of the silicon mould.
Besides, the full radio equipment looks rare on MiG-3, probably the most of them had only the cylindrical dynamotor on the right side, at least to see the photos from outside.
At the end: perhaps it's better to leave the original radio deck or scratchbuild it.
Massimo
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Massimo Tessitori
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« Reply #7 on: May 10, 2006, 06:45:53 PM »

Hi, Smiley
Some notes from Ilya that is elaborating the model:

Quote
MiG is slowly moving forward. I put it together and it looks great!
I compared it with ICM 1/48 scale kit and it looks much better!
Water cooler was taken from Alpha/RPM kit. I cut an opening for radiator door
and used one from PART PE set as wel as radiator matrix. All the sims are fileld
now. I need to make few twicks and get to painting.
Forum should be repaired soon, I don't know a lot about it but I know it will be
changed a bit.

Massimo
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TISO
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« Reply #8 on: September 06, 2006, 06:44:12 PM »

It seems that HobbyBoss is marketing the same kits in disassembled condition.
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Disciple of Error
Honza Jezl
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« Reply #9 on: September 10, 2006, 02:37:16 PM »

I just purchased above mentioned kit (Hobby Boss) and as Hobby Boss is a kind of a branch of Trupmeter, it is really disassembled "source" of those painted Trumpeter kits. But it seems the kit was improved a bit. Now it has six rockets and I believe it has correct asymmetrical oil coolers as well. Still missing are landing flaps and that line on the panel behind exhausts. There are more smaller mistakes (missing rear opening of the cooler under fuselage, missing navigation light at the rudder) but this can be repaired easily. Comparing to the RPM kit I consider the Hobby Boss better in shapes (shorter fuselage, correct canopy) and especially in quality of the kit itself. Huge drawback is almost none detail in the cockpit as the fuselage is molded in one piece. But with Goffy resin set or Part photoetch it should be no problem for skilled modeler to correct this as well.
I will submit pictures of the kit in the moment it will be finished, I estimate 2-3 weeks (but this can change, of course :-)
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Massimo Tessitori
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« Reply #10 on: September 10, 2006, 10:12:09 PM »

Hi, Smiley
this is very interesting. Thank you for information.
I suppose that they had 6 rockets in the mould since the building of the mold, but it's too difficult to assemble quickly the central one for quick-built EasyModel planes.
I hope to see  your work soon.
By the way, are there decals included? What is the price of the model kit?

Massimo
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Honza Jezl
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« Reply #11 on: September 23, 2006, 04:46:42 PM »

Sorry for not responding sooner. I already started he kit, but now I have not so much time for the hobby. I finished riveting, added something to the cockpit, opened all intakes, rescribed the surface here and there, added clear landing light and so on.
Concerning your questions - yes, there are decals for two machines. White 5 in (green upper surfaces) and that famous white mig with red arrow and writings "za partiu bolsevikov" in front of fuselage stars. On the sheet the decals look fantastic, but I afraid, that the red arrow will be too narrow to be placed around exhausts. We will see.
And the price - can it be called "price"? I bought the kit for less than 5 Euro. I will probably buy one more (if I succeed to buy it, as those migs dissappeared from shops very quickly) and try a little bit more detailing using Part PE and some parts (heh, perhaps seat and control stick Grin ) from RPM kit.
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Massimo Tessitori
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« Reply #12 on: September 23, 2006, 10:43:50 PM »

Hi, Smiley
I hope to see the kit here too.
I wonder if the owners of shops are happy to sell so cheap kits. Probably no.
I hope to see photos of your work, maybe while building.
Massimo
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Honza Jezl
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« Reply #13 on: October 02, 2006, 11:37:26 PM »

I wonder if the owners of shops are happy to sell so cheap kits. Probably no.

It's better to sell 10 cheap kits than one or none expensive kits :-) And I think, that it works exactly this way, as also real "masters" modelers in our country bought and already finished couple of these kits :-)
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Honza Jezl
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« Reply #14 on: October 02, 2006, 11:45:59 PM »

Now let's have a look at the model itself.

parts layout and boxing:


Instructions:


Camouflage schemes:


Decals:
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