Eduard 1/48 MiG-29UB Limited Edition
By Chris Banyai-Riepl
Overview
As the United States was developing their lightweight fighter that would complement a larger interceptor fighter, the Soviet Union was following similar thinking for their MiG-21/23 replacement. With Sukhoi building the larger fighter (the Su-27), Mikoyan Gurevich tackled the lightweight fighter, resulting in the MiG-29. Although the development process ran into difficulties with the loss of two prototype aircraft, production examples entered service in 1984. Since then, the MiG-29 has been a popular aircraft both in Russia and abroad.
The Kit
Eduard has released another impressive limited edition kit that pairs plastic from another manufacturer with Eduard's high quality photoetch and resin. This time, the subject is the MiG-29UB trainer, with the parent kit being the Academy release. Molded in a light gray plastic, the kit features recessed panel lines and good overall detailing. The Eduard pre-painted photoetch and Brassin detail parts, though, significantly improve the detailing. A comprehensive decal sheet provides markings for five aircraft from five different nations.
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Much of the added detail in this kit involves the cockpit, so we'll start there. The plastic tubs are completely replaced by resin pieces, with separate front and rear cockpit tubs. These get various photoetch details for the sidewalls and photoetch instrument panels. The finished tubs fit up into the upper front fuselage piece (the Academy kit is engineered to build both the single-seater and two-seater, so the fuselage comes in lots of pieces). There is a photoetch canopy sill and new HUD brackets provided. The inside of the canopy gets photoetch framing, and the periscope gets a rather complex photoetch treatment that will look quite good. The seats are also done in resin, with each seat made up from seven resin pieces and nearly two dozen photoetch details. Toss in the resin helmets, complete with helmet-mounted sight, and all the interior bits will really be quite impressive.
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The construction of the airframe is fairly straightforward, but I would highly recommend doing a lot of test fitting before gluing to ensure minimal filler work. The fuselage is split into upper and lower pieces, and is also split into front and rear sections for a total of four main fuselage pieces. The nose is further divided up into a two-piece radome and two halves for the forward lower section. All told, you'll be putting together eight separate pieces to build up this fuselage. The air intakes are also separate and are split into right and left halves. Each intake also has a photoetch insert for the intake ramp. On the exhaust end, these are mostly kit parts, with photoetch rings deep inside. While on the subject of photoetch, there are quite a few fuselage details provided in that medium. These include the nose aerials, vents and grates.
The remaining assembly is very straightforward, with the wings, tailplanes, and vertical fins added. The landing gear gets some extra photoetch treatment in the form of the nose wheel gravel guard. Oddly, the included missiles don't get photoetch details, but as I have read that they are not all that accurate, perhaps that is why. Also, weaponry on the MiG-29UB is somewhat rare, and the two-seater is more likely to be seen with just the drop tank.
For the markings, the decal sheet provides options for Polish, Russian, Czech, Slovak, and Azerbaijani MiG-29UB Fulcrums. The Polish one is the boxtop scheme, which features a very large Kosciuszko squadron emblem on the upper fuselage. It's camouflaged in dark gray and medium gray. The Russian example has a sharkmouth and a white/blue/red rudder. It's camouflaged in dark gray and medium gray over light gray. If grays aren't your thing, the Czech option is finished in two shades of green and two shades of brown over light gray, and features a small band of tiger stripes on the tail. The Fulcrum from Slovakia is finished in a simpler camouflage, consisting of dark gray and light gray, with the national insignia in six positions. Finally, for the obscure air force option, the Azerbaijani example is finished in blue, intermediate blue, and light gray, with national insignia in six positions and a number on the intake.
The decals are very nicely reproduced, and given the number of options provided, the decal sheet is good sized. In addition to all the individual aircraft markings, the decals provide a comprehensive set of stenciling, including that for the weaponry. These small details will go a great way to enhancing the realism of the finished model.
Conclusion
While the Academy kit is decent and can be built up into a good replica of the MiG-29UB, the added details provided in this kit will turn it into a real show stopper. The cockpit detailing alone is a kit in and of itself, and put all together, one will not be lacking anything in their pursuit of a detailed Fulcrum two-seater. My thanks to Eduard for the review copy.