Academy 1/72 MiG-23S Flogger-B

ACADEMY 1:72 MIKOYAN-GUREVICH MIG-23S FLOGGER B

Reviewer: Mark B (SMAKR Webmaster) (smakr1@optusnet.com.au)
Kit Built + Review Submitted: 10 October 2008

Kit Details:

Academy Mig-23S Flogger-B - Former Soviet Fighter - FA022-5000 1/72nd scale #1621

Aircraft History:

With the successful development of the USAF General Dynamics F-111 swing-wing fighter/bomber, Soviet designers utilised similar swing-wing technology to produce their first aircraft of this type. The MiG-23, although not a copy of the F-111 (it's widely acknowledged that the Su-24 Fencer is the Soviet F-111), the MiG-23 does bear superficial resemblance to the General Dynamics design, but is powered by a single jet engine, instead of two, and only carries one pilot. The Flogger first appeared in 1966 and soon after was delivered to Soviet air force squadrons and of Western aircraft probably closest resembles the F-4 Phantom in terms of performance and role.

The MiG-23 primarily replaced the interceptor version of the MiG-21 Fishbed. Over the years it has been proven as a well designed aircraft and easy to fly but it has a poor field of vision in the cockpit for the pilot. The variable sweep wings can move from 16 degrees for take-off and landing to a swept back 72 degrees for high-speed flight.

The MiG-23S Flogger B was essentially the first mass production version of the Flogger, S named because of the Sapir radar in the nose. It featured a larger rounded radome than other Flogger variants and a rear view mirror installed on the main canopy helped with some visibility. The MiG-23S served with the Soviet airforce, and heavily modified (basically stripped of avionics and other technological stuff) versions were handed out as export variants under the MiG-23MS designation to other countries.

The Kit:

Inside the sturdy top opening box is a plastic bag containing two sprues of approximately 50 very crisp medium grey injection molded parts. Also are separately bagged four clear parts including a two-piece canopy on a single sprue and a very small decal sheet. The surface detail is generally very good and typical of Academy early 1990's kits with engraved panel lines. I quite liked the inlet and vent detail around the nose and intakes.

Instructions:

Effectively these come in the form of a slightly undersized A3 sheet folded in half to form a booklet. The first page features English and Korean aircraft history as written above. Framed by some modelling information and symbol descriptions the second and third pages feature the five step assembly diagrams. Some painting information is provided by way of generic colour names and mainly for interior areas. The back page features four-view painting and decal diagrams of the two aircraft the kit produces, again providing only generic colour names for painting information.

Construction:

The spartan cockpit consists of a rudimentary floor with seat and a reasonable looking pilot figure. An instrument panel with decal is also provided. These are all installed into a small forward fuselage section and the fit is excellent. Most Soviet aircraft of this era have an interior Blueish Green colour but I went with slackness and chose a light ghost grey. The nose cone is then attached with locating pins ensuring it sets in the right position but it's good for a quick test fit first, as it does look different if affixed upside down.

The swing wing and main fuselage section is next and this is also pretty straightforward although first to remove are the small hardpoint lugs as directed by the instructions. It actually took me a while to work out the wings and how they are attached (it's been a while since I built a swing-wing plane!) as I almost put them on upside down! Basically the wings are single piece with a typical cog mechanism to enable them to be moveable. They are trapped (not cemented) on a locating lug within the horizontally split fuselage. The fuselage halves are then cemented along their mating lines being careful of course not to get glue on the wings (the applicator pin of Revell Contacta comes into its own here). Again the fit is pretty good, but pegs on the shoulders and masking tape around the back of the fuselage were needed to clamp it all together overnight and a clean up of the join lines the following day.

I left off the smaller parts and canopy at this stage, against what was in the instructions, and instead added the forward fuselage sub assembly to the main fuselage along with the tailplanes, tail fine and exhaust pipe. Everything was a nice fit. The intake splitter plates also fitted nicely, and have different sized locating pins to ensure you put them on the correct side. Clear parts, presumably landing assist lights on the underside of the intakes, were added and then the intakes were affixed to the fuselage. The intakes were not a great fit, but still better than you often find in other kits. A little bit of work and filler is needed at the joins.

Being a wheels up modeller all the doors were to be glued into place to cover the wheel bays which have very little detail in them anyway. The doors come in various shapes and sizes and needed plenty of work to fit over the cavities, several filling and sanding sessions resulted to get the doors to fit and blend into the fuselage. Of course if you are building wheels down you have to remember to affix the ventral strake in the folded position to the starboard side, and you can also have the canopy positioned open.

The thin injection molded two-piece canopy was a bit crusty around the edges so needed a clean up before a relatively problem-free installation, it can be displayed open or closed. Stores are provided by way of "armpit" mounted presumably large Acrid missiles and smaller Apex AAMs on under fuselage pylons. A third pylon is also provided for the central part of the fuselage but without any stores, and a gun pod is affixed underneath the fuselage also. All these parts fit well and all that was left to do was to add in the various pitot and other probes to finish off assembly.

Colour Schemes:

The instructions would have you believe there are two schemes which can be used in this kit, but unfortunately the decal sheet only allows for one! This is red-56 from an unknown regiment (as it is written in Korean) as featured on the boxart in natural metal finish. The side of the box has photos of the model finished in a greenish colour, so I guess you have the option of two colour choices.

I went against the grain here and decided to do up my own late 70's typical dark green, brown and sand colour scheme over light grey undersides. I also chose not to go nit picky on the exact FS shades and simply chose as close to good matches out of the Humbrol range as I could. This effectively meant painting the underside H166 - Satin Light Aircraft Grey and camouflage consisting of H121 - Pale Stone, H117 - US Light Green and H118 - US Tan. The end result looked pretty convincing!

For the record, the instructions say there are two versions the kit produces but unfortunately both are detailed in Korean with only the English information provided being generic colour names for painting. The first version is a natural metal aircraft with red 56 as described above, although with 61 and 62 as options and the second appears to be an Iraqi version in two tone brown and green over sky blue undersides.

Decals:

Very small decal sheet has cockpit dashboard, pair of red-56's, nose symbol badge and six soviet red stars, that's it. Register is okay, I've seen better and the stars have a bit of a white larger edging to one side, ie: fair way from being perfect. I ditched the stars and used spares but the other decals were okay to use. Bedded down pretty easily with Gunze Sangyo decal setting solution although a little prone to wanting to stay in the place they are first applied.

Accuracy:

Overall the dimensions stack up quite well and the overall look of the aircraft in model form is very convincing. The cockpit canopy looks just a touch too narrow and there is no rear view mirror on the canopy. Not convinced about the shape of the wings, but it is certainly a passable attempt at producing this aircraft.

Overall Recommendation:

I really enjoyed building this kit, it went together very well, had only a couple of very small vices and would heartily recommend to modellers of all skill levels. Probably a much better option than the Hasegawa and Airfix kits also, more detailed with engraved panel lines and much better value for money (I picked it up for $10 out of a hobby store and a second kit for the same off ebay still shrinkwrapped).

web hosting • domain names
web design • online games