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1/48 - MiG-25PD/PDS "Foxbat-E" by Kitty Hawk - released - Master pitot tube


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Nice but now there is another old kit in my stash that I'll find it hard to bother building now. A Mig-31 would have been better seeing as there isn't a 1/48 kit at present. But all the same, I expect it will be a big improvement over the Revell effort.

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Nice but now there is another old kit in my stash that I'll find it hard to bother building now. A Mig-31 would have been better seeing as there isn't a 1/48 kit at present. But all the same, I expect it will be a big improvement over the Revell effort.

To be totally honest, there isn't a kit of the MiG-25 either. There is only a kit of what somebody in the 70's thought a MiG-25 should have looked like from a distance...

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YUMM!!

My Revell one will now get chopped into something akin to Dassault's mach 3 MD750.

Think there was a 1/48th MiG31 by Lindberg?

Paul Harrison

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YUMM!!

My Revell one will now get chopped into something akin to Dassault's mach 3 MD750.

Think there was a 1/48th MiG31 by Lindberg?

Paul Harrison

MiG drew up a design proposal for a supersonic passenger aircraft based on the MiG-25. You could always convert it into one of those :wicked:

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Think that's too much work for my liking Paul!

Paul Harrison

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YUMM!!

My Revell one will now get chopped into something akin to Dassault's mach 3 MD750.

Think there was a 1/48th MiG31 by Lindberg?

Paul Harrison

There was one indeed.. although again I could say that really there was a basic lindberg kit of what they thought a MiG-31 could have looked like from a distance...

Collectaire also did a very expensive resin kit of the MiG-31 of which I've heard contrasting opinions

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Now that's more like it !!, be nice to finally have a decent 48th version.....especially if they also manage to do the recon versions at some point,

Think there was a 1/48th MiG31 by Lindberg?

There was, but it was even more of a parody than Revells effort !

Agreed, a MiG 31 would be nice too.......who knows ?

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To be totally honest, there isn't a kit of the MiG-25 either. There is only a kit of what somebody in the 70's thought a MiG-25 should have looked like from a distance...

I've never looked deeply into the Revell Foxbat. I've got one in the stash and I knew it wasn't great but is it really as bad as you say? I guess ironically that it may have just shot up my build list as I am still learning the trade and maybe it now qualifies as a good kit for practising on without fear.

I've never seen either of the Foxhound kits that you guys mentioned. It sounds like they are rare, expensive and probably also pretty inaccurate then.

I'll add this to the list of kits I'm especially looking forward to adding to the stash throughout this year. It's getting absolutely crazy at the moment; Foxbat, Viggen, Alpha Jet, Mirage F1, Jaguar (KH and/or Italeri), Tornado (new Revell tool), YF-23 from HobbyBoss.

Could this be the greatest period ever for the 1/48 cold war era aircraft modeller? It seems that the last few years has seen new kits coming thick and fast and the pace seems to be picking up!!

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I've never looked deeply into the Revell Foxbat. I've got one in the stash and I knew it wasn't great but is it really as bad as you say? I guess ironically that it may have just shot up my build list as I am still learning the trade and maybe it now qualifies as a good kit for practising on without fear.

I think that's a fair comment. The REVELL kit is pretty old & as far as I know was produced long before the end of the Cold War & fall of the Iron Curtain. That being the case then I suggest Revell did the best they could using what was probably very limited information. I consider that making disparaging remarks on the kit under these circumstances is a bit unfair - especially as, they are made with the benefit of hindsight AND a wealth of detailed information that was previously unavailable.

Of course any deficiencies are now going to be apparent to those who get all hot & bothered over "accuracy" or lack thereof. Now, I aso freely admit to knowing little of the Revell kit's gestation but I think it would be much fairer to describe it as "good effort based on what we knew at the time "?

I've built a couple over the years ( one each of the interceptor & recce versions). Despite what people may think I believe it certainly captures the rather menacing appearance of the original and, I do wonder if, when built, any "inaccuracies" are actually obvious to the naked eye just by looking at it?

I would personally be happy to build the Revell kit ( if I could find another one!!) but, that's just me. Of course I look forward to the new one. The Revell kit is probably best now given an honourable retirement but, like Filler says, it is a good basis on which to hone one's kit bashing skills!

Allan

ps - as for the Lindberg MiG 31, well - even with my addled brain & admittedly failing eyesight I would definitely describe that as a very BAD effort based on the information available at the time! :lol: . I don't think it even resembled such photos as were available. Certaily, compared to that, I'd say Revel made an exemplary job!! :lol:

Edited by Albeback52
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I've never looked deeply into the Revell Foxbat. I've got one in the stash and I knew it wasn't great but is it really as bad as you say? I guess ironically that it may have just shot up my build list as I am still learning the trade and maybe it now qualifies as a good kit for practising on without fear.

The Revell kit first appeared in the late '70s and was based on pictures only. For this reason, the dimensions are all wrong and by a lot. I have one that I wanted to correct and the list of corrections include narrowing the wing chord by 5 mm or more, moving the position of the wing, shortening the fuselage by 20 mm, replacing the tailplanes... I could go on, but you get the idea !

As not all modellers are interested in accuracy (it does look like a MiG-25 from a distance...), the above points might not be of much interest, but the fact remains that this kit looks like a scaled up 1/72 kit, very simplified and with a small number of parts for its size. Detail is almost non existing: the wheel wells are terrible, the main ones especially as they are just a flat plat with some ribbing located too far up in the fuselage (look at the wheel size and then try to understand how such a large wheel can fit in such a shallow wheel well), the landing gear legs are very clunky, the cockpit has decals for instruments (but the seat looked good even if not accurate... and little can be seen of the cockpit anyway), there's no presence of the many antennas of the real aircraft.. Surface detail is made of grossly raised panel lines. While the accuracy issues can be excused on the basis of the rarity of information on the subject at the time, the toylike appearence is another matter: other 1/48 kits from the same era were much more realistic in terms of details and had better quality, just think of monogram kits of the same vintage

Among the good points, fit was not bad for a kit of its era, although the main landing gear benefited from the addition of a metal pin to avoid it detaching after some time (guess how I know....)

Another good point of the latest Revell Germany boxing is that the decals were very good. As my box was an original Revell one from the early '80s, this unfortunately did not apply: all that was included were 6 red stars and 2 individual numbers....

If you have one, my suggestion is to build it anyway, it can be useful to make practice and will still look impressive when finished (it is a very large model !). If put beside the new HK kit it will also provide an interesting example of how much plastic kits have improved over the last 35 years.

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I got hold of the Lindberg Foxbat once... unpacked it...looked...packed it and sold it as quickly as possible :-) It is so bad you will realize at once that it is off in every aspect. But I like the idea of useing it (instead of the Revell version maybe) for some what-if project like the Mach3 Mirage - not only because nobody will notice that this mirage kit was based on a Foxbat :winkgrin:

So once more (told so in in the other "source"): Great announcement Kitty Hawk!

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I agree with Allan and Giorgio's comments on the Revell kit. When Giorgio says it's about 20mm too long that probably makes it Foxhound length. But I'm going to build it anyway. I'll do it OOB and just make the best of it. I did see one on a table at the Huddersfield show recently and without picking it up to inspect it and without any reference photos to hand it certainly impressed me!

I'll definitely pick up one of these Kitty Hawk kits and a big thank you to KH for this wave of exciting new kits!!

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The Revell kit first appeared in the late '70s and was based on pictures only. For this reason, the dimensions are all wrong and by a lot. I have one that I wanted to correct and the list of corrections include narrowing the wing chord by 5 mm or more, moving the position of the wing, shortening the fuselage by 20 mm, replacing the tailplanes... I could go on, but you get the idea !

As not all modellers are interested in accuracy (it does look like a MiG-25 from a distance...), the above points might not be of much interest, but the fact remains that this kit looks like a scaled up 1/72 kit, very simplified and with a small number of parts for its size. Detail is almost non existing: the wheel wells are terrible, the main ones especially as they are just a flat plat with some ribbing located too far up in the fuselage (look at the wheel size and then try to understand how such a large wheel can fit in such a shallow wheel well), the landing gear legs are very clunky, the cockpit has decals for instruments (but the seat looked good even if not accurate... and little can be seen of the cockpit anyway), there's no presence of the many antennas of the real aircraft.. Surface detail is made of grossly raised panel lines. While the accuracy issues can be excused on the basis of the rarity of information on the subject at the time, the toylike appearence is another matter: other 1/48 kits from the same era were much more realistic in terms of details and had better quality, just think of monogram kits of the same vintage

Among the good points, fit was not bad for a kit of its era, although the main landing gear benefited from the addition of a metal pin to avoid it detaching after some time (guess how I know....)

Another good point of the latest Revell Germany boxing is that the decals were very good. As my box was an original Revell one from the early '80s, this unfortunately did not apply: all that was included were 6 red stars and 2 individual numbers....

If you have one, my suggestion is to build it anyway, it can be useful to make practice and will still look impressive when finished (it is a very large model !). If put beside the new HK kit it will also provide an interesting example of how much plastic kits have improved over the last 35 years.

A very fair appraisal Giorgio. Given that it was based on photos only I think Revell did quite a respectable job. I do not think it would have possible to determine the dimensional discrepancies with any degree of accuracy from photos. I agree also with regard to the rather basic detailing but, having built the kit myself and seen some excellent examples built by other modellers I still think it's a good (if basic) starting point from which a good replica can be built with a modicum of skill and effort - especially if (like me) you don't bother about accuracy.!

While I do not, as a rule expend large sums of money on after market accessories I do still the have the Eduard "Big Ed" MiG 25 set. By enhancing separate areas on individual models I reckoned I could spread the set over 3 MiG 25s! I was going to use it on the Revell kits ( they still turn up on fleabay occasionally) but,I wonder if it now may be put to other use........................................!!!!! :D . I'd certainly like to do a comparison test like you suggest.

On a slightly different note, I hope we are now going to see a constant supply of (thus far) neglected Cold War Soviet subjects. Anyone for a Sukhoi Su 9/ Su 11? How about a Yak 25/Yak 28 series? Sukhoi Su -7/17/22? Yes, even a Mig 31 would be lovely!!

Allan

Edited by Albeback52
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Allan, not sure what the exact status of this kit is but I saw a couple of these on the shelves of Modelzone in Manchester around Christmas. Their website shows them as discontinued now though. They were originally £20 but down to £13 on the site. This was the box of the type in store

Mig-25_zps4b0c593d.jpg

My boxing is this one which I figure is an older boxing.

RevMig25_zpsf1c6dd7e.jpg

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I believe the box above is a Revell US issue, coming with markings for two recce aicrafts (India and Soviet). Problem is that the plastic is not for this version...

The box below with the sharkmouth is the Revell Germany issue of a few years ago.

Personally between the two I prefer the Revell Germany issue because their decal sheet is very good and includes a very good number of stencils. The other box only has the basic markings for 2 aircrafts of a version that can't be really built from the box.

Begemoth anyway has 2 decal sheets for the 25; one with stencils only (and plenty of them), the other with markings for a number of aircrafts of different versions

Edited by Giorgio N
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