Hasegawa

1/72 MiG-29 Fulcrum Limited Edition Series

Kit Number: 00965

Reviewed by  Perry Downen, IPMS# 44000

MSRP: $41.65 Distributed by Dragon Models USA www.dragonmodelsusa.com Hasegawa Website: www.hasegawa-model.co.jp I'd like to express my sincere thanks to DragonUSA for providing this kit to IPMS/USA and to them for allowing me to review it. The Mikoyan MiG-29 was developed in the 1970s by the Mikoyan design bureau. In 1983 it entered service with the Soviet Air Force and remains in use by the Russian Air Force. The fighter is also in wide spread service with many of the air forces of the old Soviet Union, several Middle East countries as well as Cuba, North Korea, Germany, India, Peru, and others. It was specifically developed to counter the F-15 Eagle and the F-16 Fighting Falcon. It is reported to equal or surpasses the F-15C in several areas. The model in this review is in the markings of the Flight Research Institute Display team "RUSSIAN MIGS". OPEN THE BOX The base kit for this model is Hasegawa's kit HAS00541, "Farnborough w/weapons". Our review kit comes in a cellophane wrapped box, 15.75"X7.5"X2". Inside the box are three cellophane bags containing two light gray sprues and one clear sprue. There are approximately 49 parts in all. The moldings have good detail with finely recessed panel lines and very little flashing. However, during the build I discovered several parts with mold marks that had to be cleaned up. The decal sheet contains markings for only one aircraft - the "Russian MIGS". There are no photo-etch parts or masks in the kit.

The building instructions are on a single sheet of multi-folded paper and consist of eight (8) steps. There is no narrative, but the exploded view drawings are clear and easy to follow. Painting and marking instructions on the back of the instruction sheet are for an aircraft of the line, probably for the Farnborough kit. The painting and marking instructions for the "Russian MIGS" are on a separate sheet, thus, the sub-heading Limited Edition Series. THE BUILD The build is rather simple and straightforward. It begins with the cockpit where the seat and control column are added to the tub and the pilot is placed in the seat. There is not much detail to speak of here. Decals are provided for the instrument panel and side consoles. Two of the cockpit decal callouts are incorrectly marked. Decal callouts #9 and #10 in the instructions are actually decals #39 and #40 respectively on the decal sheet. Cockpit construction is followed by joining the fuselage halves, top and bottom rather than left and right. (Don't forget to add the 5g of weight in the nose as I did.) The intakes and exhaust are added next. The flaps in the intakes can be posed in the open or closed position. The solid piece left and right wings as well as the solid vertical and horizontal stabilizers are added to the fuselage. Everything fit tightly and very little filler was used. Steps 6 and 7 provide instructions for the landing gear assembly and installation. I found the instructions for placing the LG doors to be somewhat unclear and the attach points to be ill defined. There is do definitive location for the landing lights on the main gear doors, just an approximation. Placing the two-piece cockpit canopy and small parts on the exterior are the final steps in construction. With the two-piece canopy, the model can be posed with an open or closed cockpit. One small part was omitted that should have been included and no mention was made of it in the instructions. This part is the drag chute container cover between the engine exhausts. The kit just leaves a hole whereas the actual aircraft has a black domed cover. I fashioned one from a piece of sprue and moved on. FINISHING This is where the fun begins for this kit. The painting instructions are clear and easily followed. Paint callouts refer to Gunze Sangyro Aqueoue Hobby Color, Mr Color and the colors' generic name. The lower surface of the aircraft is sky blue for the fuselage and flat black with sky blue trim for the wings and horizontal stabilizers. The upper surface is insignia yellow with black trim. Decals are provided for all the trim work. However, matching the blue of the wing trim decals to the blue paint of the fuselage is an "iffy" proposition. Therefore, I decided to paint the entire lower surface Tamiya sky blue. Then I masked off the trim areas and painted the wings and stabilizers flat black. I used the decals provided for the black trim on the upper surfaces. The decals are of excellent quality and released from the backing very quickly. They settled down nicely with a little Solvaset. There are no national insignia markings and no stencil markings on the decal sheet. However, there is an aircraft number and a white, blue, and red flash for the outside of each vertical stabilizer. ASSESSMENT This was a very easy kit to build, but presented a more interesting challenge to paint. Keep in mind that in 1/72 scale there are several small delicate parts. Trying to mount the landing lights with a pair of tweezers resulted in both parts flying off to parts unknown. Regardless, I recommend this kit to modelers of any skill level. For the novice it presents no problem and for the more experienced modeler, the paint scheme presents a different and interesting variation of a very popular model. Thanks again to DragonUSA for making this kit available for review.