Airfix 1/72nd MiG-15
By Jacob Russell
The Plane
The pilots of Western jets had a rude awakening when the MiG-15 appeared over the skies of Korea during the Korean War. The MiG-15 with its 35 degree swept wings had a far better rate of climb and turning circle than any plane in the air forces of the Western forces. It was not until the arrival of the North American F-86 Sabre that the balance of air power shifted to the Allies. The MiG-15 was used by the Warsaw Pact Countries as well as North Korea and was produced under license in Poland, Czechoslovakia and China.
The Model
The MiG-15 comes in Airfix's new lidded cardboard box with computer-generated artwork. 53 bagged parts are attached to four sprues, one of which contains the single clear part, the canopy. My overall impression of this new kit is positive. There is some good raised rivet detail around the fuselage wing roots. The panel lines follow the current Airfix tradition: wide and of a consistent depth. The air brake doors are separate pieces, as are the 3 gun barrels which will benefit from either having their ends drilled out or replacement.
The wheel wells are shallow but have good detail and so do the landing gear. The characteristic wing fences are nicely done and of an appropriate width, albeit slightly over scale. Two different types of wing-mounted drop tanks are included and you get a pair of each-that's a nice touch. The jet exhaust nozzle is shallow and simplified. The latter comment also applies to the cockpit, wherein decals are supplied for the instrument panel and side consoles. But this is typical for 1/72nd scale and with a closed canopy you won't see much anyway so the level of detail is appropriate.
The ejection seat is overly simplified however and I recommend either an aftermarket seat from Pavla or the use of the supplied pilot figure as he is very good indeed. Make sure you pack in the recommended 3 grams of weight before closing up the fuselage to avoid a tail sitter, which is explained in the instructions. These are well illustrated with a logical 18 step build sequence. Color callouts are for Humbrol enamels. The kit includes decals for 3 different planes:
MiG-15 bis, Russian Air Force, 1950s. Overall natural metal with red lip to front intake and red fin flash.
MiG-15 bis, possibly flown by I.P. Galyshevsky, 351 IAP, Democratic People's Republic of Korea Air Force (DPRKAF), North Korea, 1952. Sand with Army Green stripes over black lower surfaces.
MiG-15 bis, 101 Reconnaissance Wing, Magyar Légier (Hungarian Air Force), Szolnok, Hungary, 1971. Sand, brown and Army Green over Aircraft Blue lower surfaces.
The decal sheet is comprehensive. The decals are in register and clearly printed. The sheet includes national markings for all 3 decal options, stencils and wing walk decals. The green centers for the Hungarian national markings are printed separately, so look in the mirror if these end up off center... One of the nicest things about this sheet is that there are 2 sets of stencils, a blue set for the natural metal Russian bird and a red set for the Korean or Hungarian MiGs.
Accuracy
There have been discussions on the Airfix Tribute Forum and other online forums about the kit's accuracy, concerning the fuselage length, cockpit location, fin/rudder height, etc. I checked 1/72nd scale plans from the 4+ Publications MiG-15 monograph and if the plans are accurate the Airfix fuselage is too long, the fin and rudder are too tall and the angle of the fin leading edge is too steep. The cockpit appears to be in the proper location. The wings are both narrow in width and shallow in chord, and the wing tip panel line is in the wrong location. The tail planes are also too narrow and their panel lines are inaccurate. Various doors and inspection ports on the fuselage halves are depicted as identical on both sides and they are not. The main wheels are also noticeably undersized. At this point one might ask if any of these discrepancies would be noticeable to the average modeler, and does the finished product look like a MiG-15? The answer to the former is probably not, and the answer to the latter is YES, absolutely.
Conclusions
I like this kit! It is cheap, reasonably accurate, nicely detailed, and it will be easy to build. It will look fine out of the box. Yes there are some questions about its accuracy but it looks like a MiG-15. The ambitious modeler can add useful detail with the new photo-etched set from Eduard and a resin ejection seat from Pavla. Aftermarket decals for the MiG-15 are plentiful although the 3 kit decal options are just fine with me. Airfix is on a roll with their new line of kits and I like what they are doing. I highly recommend this kit. I purchased the review sample at Skyway Model Shop.
References
MiG-15, all variants, by Jiří Bašný, Yefim Gordon, Michal Ovčáčík, Karel Susa and Stanislav Skala, 4+ Publications, 1997. (This book is highly recommended, and it contains both 1/72nd and 1/48th scale plans.)
