Hobby Boss 1/72 MiG-3 Built Out-Of-The-Box
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Overview
This
kit was reviewed in the box in the July
issue of this magazine.
As the kit is about half way between a snap-tight and a conventional
kit, I decided to build it in strict compliance with IPMS-USA Out-Of-The-Box
rules. The nature of the kit invites you to do it that way. For example,
see Norm
Filer’s build of their P- 47.
Fuselage
There’s
not much to do here; just a little cleaning up of the places where the
multi-part molds slid together. The separate upper nose fit perfectly
on my model.
Wing
A very little clean up was all that was required. Here, however, I
interpreted the OOB rules regarding thinning of surfaces rather liberally
in that I only thinned the wing trailing edge locally; where the wing
joint fairings were but shouldn’t have been to allow me to pencil
in the flaps after the model was painted. This is detailed in the in-box
review linked above.
Details
The separate detail parts required less than the amount of clean up
required by the average conventional kit and, as shown, possess a lot
more detail than you’d expect from such a simple and inexpensive
kit.
Cockpit
Before gluing the canopy in place with Elmer’s brand white glue,
I “detailed” the cockpit with the kit’s headrest cushion,
seat belts cut from an old decal sheet, printed paper sidewalls and an
instrument panel cut from the, now defunct, Modelaid magazine. The sidewalls
were for a P-51 and the instrument panel was cut-down from that intended
for a P-38. I’m sure the spirit of the OOB rules permits cutting
up printed decals. I could have copied the printed-paper, fold-up cockpits
and printed them on decal stock but what’s the point of that? Arris?
Clear
Parts
You have the option of using the one-piece closed hood canopy or the
three-piece open hood. I chose the closed hood for simplicity and to hide
the fact there isn’t much interior. The one-piece canopy fit poorly
in the area aft of the headrest. Some scraping away of the turtle deck
narrowed it down to match the rear, fixed part of the canopy. I dipped
the canopy in Future (Kleer) and painted the edges black to eliminate
edge lighting after it was installed.
Assembly
The
fit of the one-piece wing to the fuselage was quite good, requiring, as
you can see, a mere spot of filler at the rear on the belly.
The fit of the chin was a bit awkward but I managed to get in on pretty
cleanly. The radiator housing would, however, not snug down to the wing
leaving a small gap requiring another couple of dabs of filler. The same
was true of the cheek intakes.
The taillplanes and the detail parts all slotted snugly into their sockets,
which also provided good alignment of the parts. The only quibble I have
here is that the holes in the wheels are much larger than the axles on
the landing gear struts, making their installation the only fiddly bit
of the whole project.
Finish
The
color scheme I chose is for a plane number 11 of the 120th Fighter Regiment
assigned to the defense of Moscow in the winter of 1942. This choice was
inspired by a great build article on the ICM 1/48 MiG-3 kit in an issue
of REPLIC magazine, the date of which I did not record. Shame on me! I
did not use the radio antenna mast and filled its hole in the fuselage
to simplify the build. I noticed not all MiG-3s had them. OOB rules do
not require you to use all the parts in the box.
I
don’t understand the logic of painting an airplane white for on-the-ground
camouflage and then painting the wings red and a painting a black band
across the fuselage. Perhaps this was done because most aerial photo-recon
in the forties used black and white film and the red and black would both
show up black thus completely breaking up the outline of the airplane.
Can any reader enlighten me further on this kind of camouflage, which
seems to have been fairly common?
The primary paints used were flat white auto lacquer primer –
as both primer and final color, Floquil Signal Red, Floquil Weathered
Black and Aeromaster Light Blue.
The
flaps and the radiator outlet flap were drawn onto the blue belly with
a .3mm drafting pencil as scribing is prohibited by OOB rules.
After the model was completely painted and decaled it was given a light
spray of Testors Dullcoat to seal the decals and pencil lines
Decals
The black outlined stars on the fuselage and tail are from the kit
as are the victory stars. The underwing stars and the plane numbers are
from Micro-Scale and the patriotic slogan is from a very old ESCI sheet.
I had airbrushed two coats of Micro-Scale
Decal Film over the ESCI slogans but they still broke into several pieces
upon being wetted – just like our Publisher told me they would.
Next time, I’ll brush on a heavier coat, or two, to prevent the
decals breaking up
The cockpit framing is made from strips of pre-painted clear decal stock.
The first color applied to the decal stock was a neutral gray, for the
interior, followed by a flat white. The strips were cut to uniform width
by gluing two No. 11 scalpel blades together.
Conclusion
This
was a simple, quick build of an attractive little WWII fighter of not
much note. I’m notorious for being a slow builder. I started this
model on July 3, 2007 and finished it on August 21, 2007. That’s
a really fast build for me.
It was a satisfying project and I’m mostly pleased with the end
result.
References
I consulted nothing not listed in the in-box review. After I finished
the model I became aware there is a Squadron In-Action book on the early
MiGs but neither of my local connections had a copy in inventory. Maybe
that was a good thing, as too much information tends to slow down an AMSer,
even when he’s building OOB.
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