ICM 1/72 MiG-25PD
By Matt Bittner
The Kit
I'm going to delve right into the kit since there is a lot of information elsewhere on the MiG-25.
The ICM kit consists of 99 injected pieces in gray, and four clear pieces for the canopy, windscreen and two landing lights. The kit is molded extremely well and everything looks awesome. There are five sets of markings on the decal sheet, one VVS, one Ukraine, one Iraqi and one Libyan.
The first construction steps consists of putting the spartan cockpit together followed by inserting it and the nose wheel well into the fuselage nose. While ICM doesn't show adding weight into the nose, I would so the model doesn't end up being a tail-sitter.
Construction continues with adding pieces to the fuselage halves (split top and bottom) such as the wheel wells and blanking plates (so you can't see through the intakes out the exhaust). The next phaze has you add the wings, nose and rudder "pieces" (they actually consist of the rudder and part of the rear fuselage) to the main fuselage part. After those are on then add the horizontal tail pieces and parts for chute deployment. While the instructions have you add the exhausts now, I would wait until the end so these can be painted separate from the model. I don't expect gaps in this area but you won't know for sure until you start building it.
Now you add the intake pieces to the fuselage, and it would be here that I would stop, only adding the rest after the model is painted. Those pieces being landing gear and doors, missiles and launching rails, and the -PD specific central fuel tank.
Conclusion
There are numerous articles on-line that state the ICM kit is better than the Condor MiG-25PD, and I would whole heartedly agree. While the Condor kit is very nice, the ICM kit takes it to the next level. You'll still want a Condor MiG-25P, as the nose was a little longer on the -PD (which ICM captures correctly) but for the later versions the ICM kit is "where it's at". It's an awesome kit and will no doubt benefit from the NeOmega resin cockpit. While the NeOmega cockpit is meant for the Condor kit, there's no doubt in my mind it will fit well in the ICM kit. I for one can't wait to start building MiG-25s, especially this ICM kit!