Trumpeter

1/32 MiG 3

Kit Number: 2230

Reviewed by  Rick Marshall, IPMS# 40362

MSRP: $54.95 Imported by Stevens International www.trumpeter-china.com www2.stevenshobby.com First Impressions: When I picked up the box I was surprised by how sturdy it was, this is one stout box. Due to the strength of the box, all parts and decals arrived in perfect shape. The clear parts were excellent, clear and distortion free. The parts themselves were cleanly molded as one would expect of a new and modern kit; there was no flash and the mold seams were minimal. There were two things that I was not so sure about: one was the way that the moveable control surfaces were to be attached; and the other was the depth of the recessed rivet detail. Looking at the ailerons, there were some slots in the bottom that would be visible when on the model. Before any part was removed from the trees I had decided that the slots would be filled and the control surfaces would be glued into position. Lastly, I looked for ejection pin marks. The only ones that looked like they would be visible were on the inside of the gear doors. There were some marks on the inside of the flaps but I was planning on closing them so I didn't worry about them. The instructions looked straightforward and well laid out and the decals looked good. Construction: As with most aircraft models, construction starts with the cockpit and this one is no different. The detail is not bad and would be excellent for 1/48th scale kit, but as a 1/32nd it looked a bit light and the parts did seem thick. This was easily seen with the seat pan - the way the seat was assembled it was not possible to thin it out, so I just lived with it. I was building this model for our local contest and in accordance with IPMS Out of Box (OOB) rules. So no modifications or detail was going to be added; consequently I focused on painting. The kits instructions called for the parts to be painted matt light grey. I used a custom mix of RLM02 and Russian Underside blue to paint the interior parts. I use 2/3 thirds RLM02 to 1/3 third blue. I am not sure if that is a perfect match for the paint used for the interior of Russian Aircraft but it looks good to me. Instrument detail is very sparse to non existent; this is OK. However, the instrument panel is pretty deep in the cockpit and quite hard to see in the completed model. The fit of all the parts was excellent and the assembly went with no problems at all. The one thing that did leave me puzzled was there was no seatbelts; the two-part seat back left no clues regarding the placement of any shoulder belts. As a result, I used some tape and created some lap belts. After completing the model I received a review copy of Mushroom Models Mig1/3 and all I will say at this point, is I wish I would have had this when building the kit! While I working on the cockpit I filled all the slots in the control surfaces and the flaps. I was careful to keep the filler off the fabric portions by covering them with tape; this was a relatively painless process and in total added about 2 hours to the build. After completion of the cockpit it was time to put the fuselage together. I have one word of caution: do not forget the tail wheel as it cannot be installed after the fuselage is together! As with the cockpit, everything went together well and only minor sanding was required to remove any remnants of the seams. This model is a bit different than most I have assembled, as the engine section of the fuselage is broken up. There is a piece for the upper cowling, one for the lower cowling and another for the front. I did not put in part A14 - the propeller back plate - at this point, as I wanted to see how the wings and the other parts would all come together. Dry fitting looked OK but we all know that things change when the glue comes out. The wings were next on the list. While I was working on this build I happened to stumble across DataDecals Mig 3 sheet 32001; this has all the markings required for Red 02 and several other Mig 3's. I wanted to build Red 02, unlike the Trumpeter kit this version had the earlier wings without slats. As a result I installed the slats in the closed position and then filled the seams around the slats. That was the only filler used on the model. The wings also have the supercharger intakes installed in them and Trumpeter has you installing these as separate parts on the leading edge of the wing where it meets the fuselage. This is the only part of the build that needed some extra work. If I installed the intakes so that they aligned with the wing, the upper portion of the fuselage joint stood proud. As a result I decided to thin the tops of parts A11 and A12 until they fit flush of the fuselage. This removed the rivet detail so I had to replace it with some drilling. All in all, not a big deal. After the wings were on, I put the upper and lower cowlings on and installed A14. It all went without major trauma and the fit was good. I was relieved as I was planning on painting the cowling natural metal. The rest of the building was easy as everything fit and the last part of the assembly before painting was installing the control surfaces and the canopy. The front portion of the canopy includes a portion of the fuselage. I really liked this, as there were no seams along the canopy fuselage joint and the lower sections fell onto panel lines - easy stuff! The rear canopy portion was also a good fit. All in all the build was pretty easy. Test fitting of the main gear made me smile; the fit was tight and both legs lined up perfectly, no gear misalignment for the judges! Painting: OK if you have looked at the pictures of the completed model you will see that the wings of my model are painted red and the front of the fuselage is natural metal. Those of you who are familiar with controversy around the paint scheme will most likely say I got it wrong, and you would be correct. I did this on purpose; I did mix up a grey for the cowling and had some green on the wings and all I can say was yuck! It was most likely accurate but the green with the white and the grey, looked awful to me. So I put some of the grey on the upper side of the horizontal stabilizers. It is possible that this was correct as I did run across a couple of references that suggested this. I masked off the inner portion of the wings and got out my red - it might not be right, but to me, it just looked better. Next was the Alclad; on the nose I used matt aluminum on the upper portion; the sides were aluminum and the bottom was dull aluminum. To do this I would paint a portion then mask it off with Tamiya Tape, paint the next section and so on. I really like the Alclad line of paints; they work wonderfully and the finish is hard, resistant to scratches and is easily masked. So when I was done, every corner of the model was most likely covered in a colour that was wrong, but I liked the look of the paint. I did get the blue on the bottom right :! Final Assembly: This was easy; the gear and landing gear doors were a snap to install and the same could be said for everything else. This was the easiest landing gear alignment job I have ever seen. I should also note that the exhaust stacks were hollowed out which was a nice touch. Decals: I used a mix of the DataDecals and the kit decals and they all went on very easily with no problems of any kind. Conclusion: Trumpeter has given us a well priced and relatively easy to assemble kit. I would have preferred if they had not bothered with the gimmicky moveable control surfaces and instead beefed up the cockpit detail and made some of the parts like the landing gear doors a bit thinner. This would have made for an even better end result. I am pleased with mine and so were the judges at our local contest. It took first in its class and also grabbed an OOB award. If you are at all interested in VVS subjects this model will be enjoyed by most who take it on. The subject of this review is courtesy of my wife who bought this one for me.

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