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Mikoyan-Gurevich Mig-15 Warpaint No.120


Whofan

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This topic began in the thread on the latest book from Guideline Publications that you can see here, but drifted off topic, so has been stripped out to continue on its own merits :)

 

I bought this a couple of months ago, and if the plans in the book are accurate, then the new tool/boxing of the Airfix Mig 15 has a fuselage that is way too big and  the fairly old KP Mig 15 is about right.

 

The book itself is very good, an interesting read in its own right. 

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42 minutes ago, Whofan said:

I bought this a couple of months ago, and if the plans in the book are accurate, then the new tool/boxing of the Airfix Mig 15 has a fuselage that is way too big and  the fairly old KP Mig 15 is about right.

 

The book itself is very good, an interesting read in its own right. 

 

Dang! That's the only MiG-15 kit I have.

 

 

 

Chris

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Chris,

 

I should have pointed out I have the 1/72 scale kits.

 

I've taken a quick photo of each model I have against the plan drawing in the book;

 

the Airfix one (the bottom kit fuselage)  as you can just about tell is far too long, and the tail isn't the right shape;

 

SAM_8861

 

The KP tail shape seems more accurate but it's too long;

 

SAM_8863

;

And the Frog kit seems to have a more accurate shape and length.

 

SAM_8862

 

None of them however are particularly accurate, with other "issues" as well.
 

 

 

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I believe the best 72nd MiG-15 is the Eduard kit, but I have not researched this in detail.

The Airfix kit dates from 2009

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/airfixtributeforum/aircraft-military-t1675.html

 

same era as their 72nd Hurricane IIc....  and likely the same research team,  if so, they found some plans that seemed plausible and went from there....

(The Hurricane is based on plans from a plausible source that happen to be rubbish) 

 

 

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3 hours ago, Whofan said:

I bought this a couple of months ago, and if the plans in the book are accurate, then the new tool/boxing of the Airfix Mig 15 has a fuselage that is way too big and  the fairly old KP Mig 15 is about right.

 

The book itself is very good, an interesting read in its own right. 

 

2 hours ago, dogsbody said:

 

Dang! That's the only MiG-15 kit I have.

 

 

 

Chris

 

36 minutes ago, Troy Smith said:

I believe the best 72nd MiG-15 is the Eduard kit, but I have not researched this in detail.

The Airfix kit dates from 2009

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/airfixtributeforum/aircraft-military-t1675.html

 

same era as their 72nd Hurricane IIc....  and likely the same research team,  if so, they found some plans that seemed plausible and went from there....

(The Hurricane is based on plans from a plausible source that happen to be rubbish) 

 

 

I'm going to be unusually blunt about the 2009 Airfix MiG 15: If you care at all about accuracy, don't touch it. Believe it or not, the crude 1958 kit is more accurate in some key respects, relating to size and profile.

 

The wing sweep of the Dragon kit is much too severe, if I recall. That kit is also to be found in Italeri and Zvezda boxes. The countersunk riveting all over the surface may also put some people off.

 

The Eduard MiG 15 range is indeed the best. The HobbyBoss kits (both single- and two-seat) are very good "budget" alternatives. My 2c. YMMV.

Edited by klr
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32 minutes ago, bentwaters81tfw said:

It looks like they have moulded a MiG 17, which is longer than the 15, but otherwise very similar in fuselage profile.g

If only that were the case. It would at least be something. But the Airfix kit is neither one thing nor the other. For example, it completely misses the kink at the root of the wing trailing edge, that was a prominent feature of both the MiG 15 & 17 (but not the 19).

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Guys we've suffered from horrendous topic-creep here, so I'm going to strip these musings om MiG-15 models into a separate thread that references this one :)

 

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2 hours ago, Tony Oliver said:

 Excellent reference to check the accuracy of my latest purchase too...

 

 

 

 

Tony, judging buy the dimensions, that looks to be a North Korean airframe......it's just a tad portly!

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Here's the box;

 

SAM_8865

 

it is an Eastern European  "mistercraft" boxing now, but I assumed it was originally a Frog model that was sold to Novo, etc.

 

Scalemates shows it as originating from a Polish ( I think) kit by Ruch.

 

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/pzw-siedlce-mig-15--1115888

 

My box has the Frog logo printed on the box lid, it isn't a sticker or overprint.

 

Clearly, not a Frog kit, but mistercraft abusing the name Frog.

 

 

Edited by Whofan
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Your right,

 

Airfix MiG - 15 (from 1958) came out as a copy in 1964 in Poland.

These kit was copied in the USSR in 1970 from Vector in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg)

Later this kit was also sold by NOVOEXPORT to other communist countries. Perhaps they think it was from FROG because a lot of FROG kits came out under the NOVO Label.

 

Here is a KP kit:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/21603181@N08/15979849619/in/photolist-qm5UyB-tkHoji-rWDZnQ-iA8ct2-aFRuAK

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/21603181@N08/6358210951/in/photolist-qm5UyB-tkHoji-rWDZnQ-iA8ct2-aFRuAK

 

And this is the Airfix (with different markings):

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/21603181@N08/11544230275/in/photolist-qm5UyB-tkHoji-rWDZnQ-iA8ct2-aFRuAK

 

modelldoc

 

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1 hour ago, Graham Boak said:

Ruch produced a few Airfix kits, eg the SR53, so I suspect that this is ex_Airfix.

But this was illegal copy as I think.

Most interesting that on the side of the S.R.53 box were pictures of future releases, and there was a Su-9.

2 hours ago, Whofan said:

My box has the Frog logo printed on the box lid, it isn't a sticker or overprint.

 

Clearly, not a Frog kit, but mistercraft abusing the name Frog.

Here I am talking about! 😉

2 hours ago, Whofan said:

Scalemates, not always correct with regard to the models of the former East bloc, in particular Harrier from AERO is based on the old Lindbergh model and is not based on FROG/NOVO as written: 

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/aeroplast-00028-harrier-gr-mki--263258

Therefore information about this MiG-15 need in additional verification.

 

B.R.

Serge 

Edited by Aardvark
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2 hours ago, modelldoc said:

Intetesting.

 

Looking at that photo, the builder must have scratched the detail in the air brake bay, as the kit I have (assuming it is the Airfix Mig 15 copied) doesn't.

 

2 hours ago, 71chally said:

.so Airfix got it right in the late 1950s, and then balls it up in the 2000s?!

Sounds like it!

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On 1/31/2020 at 6:55 PM, Whofan said:

 and if the plans in the book are accurate, then the new tool/boxing of the Airfix Mig 15 has a fuselage that is way too big and  the fairly old KP Mig 15 is about right.

 

The drawings are wrong, although most 1/72 kits (old 1958 Airfix, KzP, Dragon/Italeri/Zvezda) do follow them closely (more or less). The main fault of these drawings (and kits forementioned) is the vertical fin leading edge angle - more akin the Ouragan/Mystere than MiG. 

The new (2009) Airfix is totally wrong - oversized and faulty in dozens of places. But the only feature captured correctly there is.. the fin shape. Since its first appearance 10 years ago it has been said several times in various places of this Forum. 

Happily the Eduard kit is absolutely decent while the much simplified HobbyBoss one is also free of shape- and dimensional errors.

The best MiG-15 drawings I know are those made 30 years ago by the Polish researcher and modeller Marian Gibas. Here they are:

 

49478328157_8f74d47e75_b.jpg

 

Cheers

Michael

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7 hours ago, Graham Boak said:

Ruch produced a few Airfix kits, eg the SR53, so I suspect that this is ex_Airfix.

IIRC the Airfix kits "reverse engineered" by RUCH included 1/76 Bristol Bloodhound, 1/600 Tribal-class destroyer, 1/144 SE.210 Caravelle, 1/72 MiG-15, 1/72 Rotodyne, 1/72 SR.53 and 1/72 S-55 helicopter. The 1/32 Hawk Lancia D-50 V8 racing car has been copied the same way. 50 years ago I had built all of them :)

Cheers

Michael

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