Revell #4393 1:72 MiG-29 Fulcrum "Reunion" - what kit is this?

[Wm Blecky]

Does anyone have or know what kit Revell boxed in their 1:72 MiG-29 Fulcrum Reunion offering, kit #04393?

 

I've tried Googling for an answer and have come up empty handed.  I thought it might have been the Hasegawa or Italeri offerings, but in the pictures I could find, the sprues do not match up.  The Revell offering appears to be scribed, but that is pretty much all I can make out.

 

If anyone can tell me, I sure would appreciate it.

 

Wm.

[chris57]

Looking at Scalemates it would appear to be Revells own offering

[Wm Blecky]

Thanks Chris.  I don't suppose you have any idea as to how good the kit is?

[PhantomBigStu]

1 hour ago, chris57 said:

Looking at Scalemates it would appear to be Revells own offering

Actually is Tsukuda Hobby tooling from 1988, now as to its merits I have zero idea 

Edited August 29, 2019 by PhantomBigStu

[Giorgio N]

I never owned the kit but I remember that reviews in magazines of the era rated this a very inaccurate kit, likely based on the little information and few pictures available when designed

Edited August 29, 2019 by Giorgio N

[chris57]

Hi Wm The Revell offering seems to be the only one I don't  have. In the cave at the moment with Airfix. Trumpeter, ICM & Hasegawa(reunion boxing) variants in the to do pile none of which look like your example. Haven't seen any reports on this one  but perhaps a request to the IPMS( Mig Sig) might provide information. Sorry I can't be more help.

[Jure Miljevic]

Hello

There was a short review of Tsukuda MiG-29 kit in now long defunct YU-VAM Aeroplan magazine in 1989. According to M. Micevski wingspan of this kit is too large, fuselage is too wide, LEX starts far too close to the nose tip, horizontal stabilizer's span is too large as well and vertical stabilizers are not tall enough. Missiles added, two Amos and two Aphid AAA missiles, are incorrect altogether and of incorrect version respectively. Air brake between exhaust pipes is poorly defined and too small. Back then, this kit was available under Revell and ACE label. Cheers

Jure

 

Edited August 29, 2019 by Jure Miljevic
spelling errors corrected (hopefully all of them)

[stevehnz]

Back to @Wm Blecky's query, the decals at least are probably quite good being Revell, applied to the appropriate modern & accurate kit would make a stunning model in that scheme.

Steve.

[Wm Blecky]

Thanks everyone!  As Steve pointed out, the scheme is quite appealing and that was what interested me in the kit.  If the plastic was at least decent (say like the Italeri kit), I would have jumped at it.  Now, after reading all the great replies, I will pass on it.  Hasegawa offered their MiG-29 with the same scheme, maybe I can find one of those and then use the decals on one of the Italeri MiGs I have sitting here.

[Giorgio N]

2 hours ago, Jordi said:

I believe Zvezda makes the best Fulcrum in 1/72.  Hasegawa’s is of almost the same vintage as Tsukuda’s, and is not much better in terms of accuracy.

They do but Zvezda only released the later 9-13 variant til now.

[Apex]

The colorful GDR red 604 Last Flight scheme, and united Germany 29+14 can be found on Hi-Decal sheet 72005. Revell decals are pretty good, but I think Hi-Decal are superior. IMO Trumpeter makes the best 9-12 variant in 1/72 scale.

 

However... I have to add that the 604 bort number looks strangely distorted to me:

Edited August 30, 2019 by Apex

[AaCee26]

On 8/30/2019 at 2:01 AM, Jordi said:

The Tsukuda kit was the (as you Brits would say) “dog’s danglies” when it came out.  Little did we know then that very shortly afterward the USSR would come crashing down and we would have the MiG-29 in the flesh, along with all the manuals and special tools!  But today the kit is best left to nostalgia collectors.  It’s a horribly inaccurate replica.

Sounds quite similar as the Fujimi "Foolcrum"... There was also in early 1990's a kit available from an East European company (Nakotne?) which look-like with MiG-29 were purely co-incidental.

 

Maybe the best early 1/72 kit _at the moment_ is the  Trumpeteer one?

 

Cheers,

 

AaCee

[Silverkite]

Here you go, hoping Imgur link works, from top to bottom Fujimi, Esci and Revell kits

 

https://imgur.com/a/H3XFnDy

 

plus some extra pictures from an auction

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-Model-Kit-REVELL-1-72-AIRCRAFT-MIG-29-UB-FULCRUM-NOS-MIB-1990/362537237421?hash=item5468e73bad:g:sKMAAOSwckZcQzS7

 

Luigi

[CT7567]

On 8/31/2019 at 10:53 AM, AaCee26 said:

Sounds quite similar as the Fujimi "Foolcrum"... There was also in early 1990's a kit available from an East European company (Nakotne?) which look-like with MiG-29 were purely co-incidental.

 

Maybe the best early 1/72 kit _at the moment_ is the  Trumpeteer one?

 

Cheers,

 

AaCee

There was an array of "not quite right" kits of the Fulcrum A released after photos were published from the MiG-29's first semi-public display in Finland in 1986. Unfortunately while the available pictures were good enough to show general shapes and layout, they lacked any definite scale reference and weren't sufficient to show details clearly. Still, because of the high level of interest in this new Soviet "superfighter" the kit manufacturers went forward with their "best guesses" - not knowing there would be a chance just two years later to examine the MiG in great detail at Farnborough.

 

Unfortunately the legacy of that rush to market has lingered ever since, as manufacturers have continued to re-release and re-box most of those inaccurate kits. In fact I don't know of *any* companies that had their own "first generation" tooling that have issued a corrected kit (a few that reboxed inaccurate kits have since issued accurate toolings of their own).

 

The '1st Generation' kits, generally to be avoided include:

- Hasegawa

- Fujimi (also reboxed by Testors)

- Hobbycraft

- ESCI (also issued by AMT)

- Nakotne (reboxed by Mastercraft and Zvezda - note Zvezda's later 9.13/Fulcrum C and SMT are all-new and excellent, but as of 2019 they haven't done a Fulcrum A of their own

- Tsukuda (reboxed by Revell and ACE) There was also a MiG-29UB two-seater of the Tsukuda/Revell/ACE lineage. Of all the above kits, this version is by far the "least worst" with respect to shapes and proportions.

 

The best "post Farnborough" 9.12 Fulcrum A kits are:

- Trumpeter (most recent tooling, consider current best kit)

- Italeri (also boxed by Testors)

- Airfix

[Silverkite]

2 hours ago, CT7567 said:

There was an array of "not quite right" kits of the Fulcrum A released after photos were published from the MiG-29's first semi-public display in Finland in 1986. Unfortunately while the available pictures were good enough to show general shapes and layout, they lacked any definite scale reference and weren't sufficient to show details clearly. Still, because of the high level of interest in this new Soviet "superfighter" the kit manufacturers went forward with their "best guesses" - not knowing there would be a chance just two years later to examine the MiG in great detail at Farnborough.

 

Unfortunately the legacy of that rush to market has lingered ever since, as manufacturers have continued to re-release and re-box most of those inaccurate kits. In fact I don't know of *any* companies that had their own "first generation" tooling that have issued a corrected kit (a few that reboxed inaccurate kits have since issued accurate toolings of their own).

 

The '1st Generation' kits, generally to be avoided include:

- Hasegawa

- Fujimi (also reboxed by Testors)

- Hobbycraft

- ESCI (also issued by AMT)

- Nakotne (reboxed by Mastercraft and Zvezda - note Zvezda's later 9.13/Fulcrum C and SMT are all-new and excellent, but as of 2019 they haven't done a Fulcrum A of their own

- Tsukuda (reboxed by Revell and ACE) There was also a MiG-29UB two-seater of the Tsukuda/Revell/ACE lineage. Of all the above kits, this version is by far the "least worst" with respect to shapes and proportions.

 

The best "post Farnborough" 9.12 Fulcrum A kits are:

- Trumpeter (most recent tooling, consider current best kit)

- Italeri (also boxed by Testors)

- Airfix

 

Revell/Tsukuda Mig-29UB still comes with wider fuselage, they have indeed fixed the auxiliary intake errors and partially lerx width but everything else sucks (check the ebay link on my previous post)

Zvezda I think it was the only one company together with Berkut to rebox Nakotne disgrace, as later 90's up to 2010 year any Mastercraft Kopro boxing was a repop of Aero Team Mig-29 which was also very similar to Italeri offering as you could mate both fuselage and wings on either kit, but since I'm now curious about Nakotne reboxes I will scrape the web as Scale Mates is once more confusing

 

Also Airfix had some shape problems around spine, fuselage and wings, so for me the only good Mig-29 kits during the 90s were Italeri and Aero Team kits

 

EDIT Research it's done

 

What you want to avoid

 

Nakotne kit reboxed by:

AGA #7001 & #7202

Berkut #72001 & #72014

Zvezda #7208 & #7234 decals of #7208 were Matchbox tier if not worse, not sure what is inside #7209... probably Italeri or something else

MisterCraft D-20; D-22; D-23 don't even go after its decals as their are Eastern Express tier and they will probably fade to yellow, become sticky and glue themselves into the instruction sheet

 

Idea reboxed by:

Hobbycraft, really stay away from them, there is only one big if and it's a possible box done when their released the upgraded CF-105 Arrow which could possibly come with decals printed by Cartograf, box number is unknown

 

Tsukuda Hobby reboxed by:

Matchbox/Revell & Kangnam, I suggest going after Matchbox and Revell kits only for their decals as sometimes they were printed here in Italy, to tell them apart check their paper cause if it is blue with gloss reflections fetch them, if white and pale avoid it!

 

Esci reboxed by:

Esci/ERTL and AMT, whelp AMT decals were not that bad, a little glossy, a little iffy but passable(?)

 

Fujimi reboxed by:

Testors, on late repacks Fujimi changed their decal film and ink, also some were printed by Cartograf, if anything you should go after the West German AF and Double Eagle boxes even though Begemot option exists

 

Hasegawa reboxed by:

Hasegawa, if you really want to, just go after anything special color with Cartograf decals, tailplane it's also good to convert Hasegawa F-15C into an F-15S from Ace Combat 2

 

BIG IF

 

Airfix, Heller and Gunze Sangyo... just go after Airfix #04037 for its decals and forget the contents

 

Aga reboxed by many going to avoid TL;DR :

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/condor-mig-29a--155795

 

Placing a note anyway Aero Team, MasterCraft/Kopro and SMER boxes contained decals printed by the same company whom worked or still works for Hi-Decal, pretty sure all the MasterCraft/Kopro from earlier 2000's had them as every Hip, Fishbed, Fulcrum and whatever I bought did come with two set of decals, the original easy to yellow and become sticky sheet and the better one who didn't make me sad

 

 

 

Luigi

Edited September 1, 2019 by Silverkite

[chris57]

Those re-union decals also crop up on Super/Microscale 72-621.

[CT7567]

1 hour ago, Silverkite said:

 

Revell/Tsukuda Mig-29UB still comes with wider fuselage, they have indeed fixed the auxiliary intake errors and partially lerx width but everything else sucks (check the ebay link on my previous post)

Zvezda I think it was the only one company together with Berkut to rebox Nakotne disgrace, as later 90's up to 2010 year any Mastercraft Kopro boxing was a repop of Aero Team Mig-29 which was also very similar to Italeri offering as you could mate both fuselage and wings on either kit, but since I'm now curious about Nakotne reboxes I will scrape the web as Scale Mates is once more confusing

 

Also Airfix had some shape problems around spine, fuselage and wings, so for me the only good Mig-29 kits during the 90s were Italeri and Aero Team kits

 

EDIT Research it's done

 

What you want to avoid

 

Nakotne kit reboxed by:

AGA #7001 & #7202

Berkut #72001 & #72014

Zvezda #7208 & #7234 decals of #7208 were Matchbox tier if not worse, not sure what is inside #7209... probably Italeri or something else

MisterCraft D-20; D-22; D-23 don't even go after its decals as their are Eastern Express tier and they will probably fade to yellow, become sticky and glue themselves into the instruction sheet

 

Idea reboxed by:

Hobbycraft, really stay away from them, there is only one big if and it's a possible box done when their released the upgraded CF-105 Arrow which could possibly come with decals printed by Cartograf, box number is unknown

 

Tsukuda Hobby reboxed by:

Matchbox/Revell & Kangnam, I suggest going after Matchbox and Revell kits only for their decals as sometimes they were printed here in Italy, to tell them apart check their paper cause if it is blue with gloss reflections fetch them, if white and pale avoid it!

 

Esci reboxed by:

Esci/ERTL and AMT, whelp AMT decals were not that bad, a little glossy, a little iffy but passable(?)

 

Fujimi reboxed by:

Testors, on late repacks Fujimi changed their decal film and ink, also some were printed by Cartograf, if anything you should go after the West German AF and Double Eagle boxes even though Begemot option exists

 

Hasegawa reboxed by:

Hasegawa, if you really want to, just go after anything special color with Cartograf decals, tailplane it's also good to convert Hasegawa F-15C into an F-15S from Ace Combat 2

 

BIG IF

 

Airfix, Heller and Gunze Sangyo... just go after Airfix #04037 for its decals and forget the contents

 

Aga reboxed by many going to avoid TL;DR :

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/condor-mig-29a--155795

 

Placing a note anyway Aero Team, MasterCraft/Kopro and SMER boxes contained decals printed by the same company whom worked or still works for Hi-Decal, pretty sure all the MasterCraft/Kopro from earlier 2000's had them as every Hip, Fishbed, Fulcrum and whatever I bought did come with two set of decals, the original easy to yellow and become sticky sheet and the better one who didn't make me sad

 

 

 

Luigi

Luigi -

 

Given the wide range of readily available and high quality aftermarket decal sets, I would question the wisdom of buying any of the pre-Farnborough kits even at a bargain price just for their decals. Many of the "special" schemes are dependent on the shape and proportions of the airframe so would not be usable on a more accurate kit anyway.

 

Although the Airfix MiG-29 kit is certainly not perfect, it is **tremendously** more accurate than any of the pre-Farnborough toolings. Italeri and Trumpeter are both unquestionably better in terms of accuracy as well as detail and fit, but the Airfix kit is far from "unbuildable."

 

My list of "best" (post-Farnborough) kits wasn't meant to be exhaustive, just the "top three."  I believe there are multiple reboxes of the Italeri (e.g  Bilek) as well as other "derivative" toolings (e.g ICM) of varying quality.

 

 

[Silverkite]

23 minutes ago, CT7567 said:

Luigi -

 

Given the wide range of readily available and high quality aftermarket decal sets, I would question the wisdom of buying any of the pre-Farnborough kits even at a bargain price just for their decals. Many of the "special" schemes are dependent on the shape and proportions of the airframe so would not be usable on a more accurate kit anyway.

 

Although the Airfix MiG-29 kit is certainly not perfect, it is **tremendously** more accurate than any of the pre-Farnborough toolings. Italeri and Trumpeter are both unquestionably better in terms of accuracy as well as detail and fit, but the Airfix kit is far from "unbuildable."

 

My list of "best" (post-Farnborough) kits wasn't meant to be exhaustive, just the "top three."  I believe there are multiple reboxes of the Italeri (e.g  Bilek) as well as other "derivative" toolings (e.g ICM) of varying quality.

 

 

 

Sorry, I have a tendency to twist things in real life too and it wasn't my intention to defile your comment, sometimes I do like to hunt down some kits just for a couple of things from their decal sheets because there is a lack of numbering, letters and most of the times specific stencils or the entire stencil set.

For example I need 6 numbers 430 for a Huckebein's Mig-21bis from Ace Combat Infinity and I decided to use a font which is more soviet block inspired than the one used in the game, but for it I either need RV Aircraft Mig-21MFN or the MF special box with the huge decal sheet as I cannot find anything similar on the aftermarket

 

Regarding Airfix Mig-29 my problem was that when you place it next to Italeri kit you will notice some differences, my gripe were wings shape and how tall they sat, spine was okey-ish and its fuselage was not a disaster like Hasegawa offering but it was off for me

 

Luigi

[AaCee26]

On 9/1/2019 at 7:36 PM, CT7567 said:

There was an array of "not quite right" kits of the Fulcrum A released after photos were published from the MiG-29's first semi-public display in Finland in 1986. Unfortunately while the available pictures were good enough to show general shapes and layout, they lacked any definite scale reference and weren't sufficient to show details clearly. Still, because of the high level of interest in this new Soviet "superfighter" the kit manufacturers went forward with their "best guesses" - not knowing there would be a chance just two years later to examine the MiG in great detail at Farnborough.

Hi CT,

 

Rissala air show on 2nd of July 1986 was a public one. I know as I was there If you mean "semi-public" that the aircraft was not in ground display then it was the case.

 

I remember guys trying to calculate the lenght of the Fulcrum based on photos taken from Hawks, Drakens and MiG-21BISses in the same runway and trying to eliminate the differences on the  location they were taxying.... Right, mid or left edge...

 

What surprices me is that least bad of the models done after that squadron visit, Hasegawa, looked like lenght/height-wise misproportioned.. Other with the ultra-ide canopies were even much worser than it...

 

Maybe I should pick up the Trumpeteer kit and finally built one of the aircraft visiting here.

 

Cheers,

 

AaCee

[Hook]

On 9/1/2019 at 6:36 PM, CT7567 said:

In fact I don't know of *any* companies that had their own "first generation" tooling that have issued a corrected kit

Not with the MiG-29, but Hasegawa did released the best 1/72nd F-117A after first releasing the worst.

 

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/hasegawa-51516-us-air-force-stealth-fighter--183856

 

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/hasegawa-00531-f-117a-nighthawk--122036

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

[CT7567]

20 hours ago, AaCee26 said:

Hi CT,

 

Rissala air show on 2nd of July 1986 was a public one. I know as I was there If you mean "semi-public" that the aircraft was not in ground display then it was the case.

 

I remember guys trying to calculate the lenght of the Fulcrum based on photos taken from Hawks, Drakens and MiG-21BISses in the same runway and trying to eliminate the differences on the  location they were taxying.... Right, mid or left edge...

 

What surprices me is that least bad of the models done after that squadron visit, Hasegawa, looked like lenght/height-wise misproportioned.. Other with the ultra-ide canopies were even much worser than it...

 

Maybe I should pick up the Trumpeteer kit and finally built one of the aircraft visiting here.

 

Cheers,

 

AaCee

I was indeed using the term "semi-public" in comparison to Farnborough, not referencing the attendance in Finland.  That's awesome that you got to be there for such a historic display - the late 80s/early 90s were a relative golden age for the variety of types that might be displayed in one place before the post-Cold War drawdowns and return of more adversarial relations.

 

Speaking of the Finland display, I recently read an interesting story that at least one of the Moldovan MiG-29s famously purchased by the U.S. to keep them out of potential enemy hands turned out to have been one of the same aircraft that had been part of the Rissala airshow in 1986!

https://www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/truth-about-mig-29-180952403/

 

I've always thought Fujimi was the best *kit* of the pre-Farnborough Fulcrums - the optional open and closed auxiliary intakes are a feature I wish the later kits would copy!  As for accuracy, Hasegawa is not as noticeably "off kilter" as some, but IMHO is very clearly wrong. It's simply inexcusably they've continued to repackage the same plastic for 30 years, especially considering they've invested in multiple separate and increasingly accurate toolings of the Flanker in that time (Su-27, Su-33, Su-35).

[AaCee26]

Hi CT,

 

Ok, I got your point. It was a nice show and formation loop from the take off was really something!

 

Second time Kubinka Fulcrums visited Rissala interest of the plane had already devaluated after their Farnborough visit. This time one of them was in the static display too with US Embassy personal burning hunreds of frames of the Kodachrome to various details of the plane  Another interesting thing with the visitng aircraft was that part of them were even earlier aircraft than the 1986 visited group. The older ones 1989 had short fin leading edge extension and vertical fins below the fins.

 

Thank you for the interesting information that one of the 1986 visitors and aircraft that flew in the display formation "08" is now in the USAF museum: https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/197174/mikoyan-gurevich-mig-29a/ When it visited at Rissala it doesn't have a Guard's marking on the fuselage. Maybe it later had or it is museum's addition?

 

Cheers,

 

AaCee