Airfix 1/72 MiG-15 Fagot

AIRFIX 1:72 MIG-15 FAGOT
'INBOX Review'

Reviewer: Myself (smakr@bigpond.com)

Kit: Airfix "Series 0" 1/72 MIG 15 - Kit #: 00017

Old Boxart for this kit

Aircraft: Is there any aircraft modeler who doesn’t know about the Mig-15? Basing their design on captured German material, the Russian MiG Bureau’s famous Mig-15 first flew on the power of a British Neme jet engine, a number of which were exported to the USSR in 1947. Production aircraft first met USAF F-86 Sabres in the skies over Korea as the first true jet fighter combatants. Enormous numbers of Mig-15s (and the improved Mig-15bis) were built, the type serving in dozens of different airforces.

Parts: There are 30 light grey injection molded parts inside a large plastic bag, which when folded out is twice the size of the tiny box! Fuselage halves and wings are floating loosely while all the other smaller parts are attached to two small sprues. There is one injection molded canopy as the only clear part in the kit. Panel lines are raised and thankfully no rivet detail. There are small instances of flash on some of the parts that will just need a runover with a sharp blade to remove. One gets the feeling that the wings and fuselage were originally attached to sprues and were detached prior to putting into the small box to save space, because there are some pretty crude lug leftovers on them. Ejector pin holes/marks are noticeable on some of the parts, particularly the inside of the gear doors and airbrakes. Detail is basic and consistent with these basic series of Airfix kits.

Instructions: There are two sheets of A4 sized pages in the kit, one is the instructions and the other is the several languages infosheet on assembly etc. The single sheet instructions has assembly info/warning one side and the six assembly exploded views on the other. Very easy to follow. That's all the instructions cater for - there is no painting info for individual components nor the external scheme (see box info below) nor any historical info on the aircraft.

Box info: As is now the general policy of Airfix kits, the boxes themselves contain much info for the modeller to read. The box provides info on the Humbrol paints required in the kit - #11 (Silver) and #33 (Matt Black) but of course without the actual colour names; Versions (see below); part numbers (31) and dimensions of the finished kit. Most boxes now come with a bit of history on the bottom of the box - this one doesn't it simply provides an Italeri-style three-view colour diagram for painting and decal placement for the soviet version and small inset drawings for the Polish version and reference numbers for the Humbrol paint used.

Versions: The kit provides for two basic Mig-15 type aircraft in overall natural metal (Silver) finish. A MiG-15 of the Soviet Air Force and a LIM-2 of the Polish Air Force.

Decals: The small decal sheet is protected by some wax paper. It is split into two and provides just basic serial numbers, fuselage/nose code numbers and insignia for the two versions catered for. I assume there is a bit of white surrounding the polish squares and Soviet stars - it's very difficult to see this on the decal sheet even though it is a slightly greenish colour. Since only red and black are featured the register is as you would expect very good.

Accuracy: Going from other modellers experiences it seems this kit is reasonably good as far as the basic profile and outlined is concerned. It does not have much in the way of details, but the basic model is all one needs to be concerned about. If there are two points in the kit to have a real go at are the depiction of the drop tanks on the undersides of the wings (the kit effectively has them almost 'built-into' the wing underside) and the shape of the canopy which is incorrect.

Detail: Very basic, just the "essential" raised panel lines provided. Don't even think about any cockpit detail, a three-fold seat and pilot figure is all you get. The only rivet detail provided is around the tailplane locating holes on the tail-fin. There are two antennae masts provided for upper fuselage attachment.

Options: Open or closed air brakes - although a test fit reveals that a little bit of filler is needed in the closed position; Pilot figure - see detail above; wheels up/down - although wheels up modellers will need to remove the locating hole on the cusp of the bay in order to fit in the closed door; and drop tanks - although the kit really only caters for them being affixed to the wing because small locating pegs are molded onto the wing undersides to place the tanks onto! The real problem here of course is that by depicting them this way means an inaccurate representation of the drop tanks!

Impressions: A pretty basic but reasonably accurate kit is essentially what you will be looking at once this kit is built up. It will certainly be a weekend project! The fuselage halves incorporate the whole airframe of the MiG-15 including the tail fin. The wings are broken into upper and lower halves for each side. The wheel wells are simply cut outs in the underwing piece with no detail other than an ejector pin mark on the interior of the upper wing part. The nose ring is attached to the front of the fuselage and as you can probably guess there is no blockout in the fuselage interior - you can see right through! So some plasticard, putty or whatever your choice is will be needed to stop one from seeing right through the aircraft. This is one of my real annoyances with these Airfix type of kits. I suspect this aircraft will probably be a tail-sitter which will be another reason to block out the interior. As far as fit is concerned, for the basic fuselage, wings, tailplane etc I can't envisage there will be any problems - there might need to be a bit of filler and work around the airbrake section (if closed) and wheel well bays (if wheels up).

Conclusion: Very basic but okay for the average and beginner modeller who just wants a MiG-15 without too much detail or fuss in their collection.

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