The 1/72 kits
Updated on January 22, 2007                                                file name: kits72.html
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Cap Croix du Sud
Italeri
Zvezda
Encore
Italeri Box art
All these kits are from the same moulding. 
This kit is pretty decent at first glance, with panel lines engraved, but a more in-depth inspection shows that it suffers from severe shape and contour problems, and hardly resembles a MiG-3. 
  • The wings are too thick at the root and too bended. 
  • The profile of the tail surfaces is unaccurate, and resembles vaguely as on I-230. 
  • The radiator is much too short, sharp and not faired into the undersurface properly, and the nose of the aircraft in much too slender. 
  • The intakes on the kit are incorrectly symmetrical, they should be asymmetrical.
  • The spinner is too small, and the propeller is horrible.
  • Inside the cockpit you get a basic seat, floor, instrument panel and control column.
  • The sliding part of the canopy is too narrow and low on its rear side, and not long enough; it is totally wrong, only the windshield is usable. 
  • The rear fuselage is by far too narrow.
  • The overall fuselage is a bit too long and narrow also. 
  • The guns are moved in a too lateral position. 
  • The undercarriage legs, doors and wheels are too small.


The Encore kits (3 variants differing for the decals sheet) include: 

  • apparently good decals (not too accurate, on closer examination; the wide arrows, the 02, the Za Rodinu slogan should be red, not black) alongside the old Cap Croix de Sud sheet;
  • resin pieces for cockpit interior, wheels, exhaust pipes, underwing guns and side intakes (photo below), but these pieces are not very faithful to the original, and can't transform these kits into accurate ones. 
Here is a small photo of the built model, from an unknown source. 
Despite the good building and painting, the model fails to resemble to a MiG-3.

 
Red Star
Emhar
Emhar Box art
This kit is an early Frog design never commercialized with this trademark. 
It is a simple kit; inside the cockpit you get a basic seat, stick, and floor. 
The shape of this kit is fairly good. The canopy is unaccurate, particularly the sliding part that is too short and with wrong rear shape, but can be improved modifying the frames; the wheels and main undercarriage legs are too thin, the tail wheel is fixed (it is acceptable for very late production aircrafts). 
The kit  represents a compromise between an early type and a late type, with long gun fairings but some other early characteristics, such as side slots; the exhaust pipes are moulded on the fuselage, and not realistic. 
Overall, this kit is obsolete, even if not completely negative; it is reasonably easy to build, and could be acceptable for a relaxing work. 
If one wants to see this kit turned into a good model, click here.

 
RPM
Maquette
The Polish firm RPM and the Russian firm Maquette commercialize kits from the same moulding. The kit represents correctly the late version of the aircraft. 
It is moulded in grey plastic, and gives contrasting impressions: if compared with the best drawings available, it is highly accurate and detailed, with engraved details, but it has an 'artisanal' look, with wide sprues, mold flash and some thick pieces, some with out-of-register moulding. 
The panels aren't sharp and they should be improved. The fit of pieces is poor, and requires work particularly on the fuselage behind the canopy, that is too wide. To correct this, one could use a surplus canopy from an Hobby Boss kit, that has both open and closed one.
The decals sheet of the Maquette kit includes generic stars and numbers, and is not referred to any particular example. 
Building the the Maquette/RPM kit



 
 
Click here to go to the Hobby Boss kit rewiew and building report

 
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