Trumpeter

1/32 Mig-23MF Flogger-B

Kit Number: 03209

Reviewed by  Fred Amos, IPMS# 6672

MSRP: $170.00 Kit supplied by Stevens International: www.stevenshobby.com History The Mig-23 is a swing-wing fighter and belongs to the Soviet "Third Generation" aircraft category. It was the first Soviet fighter with a look-down/shoot-down radar and beyond visual range missiles, and the first MiG production fighter plane to have intakes at the sides of the fuselage. The MF variant was an export derivative of the Mig-23M, originally intended to be exported to Warsaw Pact countries, but it was also sold to many other Russian allies and clients. Contents The kit consists of 565 parts on 24 sprues, plus an upper and lower fuselage, rubber tires, repositionable wings, and what looks to me like every conceivable external load. Also included are a highly detailed engine and metal landing gear struts. The decal sheet has markings for Czech AF and East German AF and appears to have all of the necessary stencils and markings for the aircraft as well as for all of the weapons loads. The kit is packed in a large, sturdy box, with each sprue in a plastic bag and all of the small parts such as the PE fret, the clear parts, the metal parts and the big fuselage bottom piece are packed in a separate sub-container. There is also a cart which would be used to support the rear of the fuselage when it is removed for engine access. The kit will measure over 21" long and have a wingspan of over 17". I certainly hope I can do this kit justice. The instruction book is 34 pages long and the kit builds up as several separate components so I plan to build them as such. Cockpit and Forward Fuselage Assembly The cockpit builds up very nicely, but be careful with the back wall. The ejection seat rests on it and I didn't get it back at the correct angle and had to sand the bottom of the seat to be able to close the canopy. My fault. The instrument panel and consoles have the details molded in and decals are provided. The decals look alright from a distance but I feel I should have sanded the details down on the consoles. There are Photo Etch seat belts but the only ones called out in the instructions are for the pilots back cushion.

The cockpit assembly as well as the nose gear well was glued into place and the other fuselage half dry fitted. When I was sure everything fit well I placed four 5/8 ounce weights (a total of one and a quarter ounce) and dribbled some super glue over them and let it dry. Not knowing any better I painted the head rest red but found out later it was supposed to be the same gray as the rest of the cockpit.

Next is the air intake which consists of three parts for each side. Photo etch detail is provided for side of the splitter plate so I put it in place with super glue. Again, not knowing any better I painted the inside of the Intakes gloss white before the parts were assembled. After they were assembled the intakes were carefully glued in place. Photo etch is provided for the stiffener rods that are located between the side of the fuselage and the sides of the intakes. I chose to install them at a later time to avoid damage.

Engine Personally don't know anything about what a Russian jet engine should look like so I went along with the my own rules, i.e., by guess and by golly. The main body halves of the engine were glued together and set aside to dry. I use Ambroid Pro Weld so it doesn't take but fifteen or twenty minutes to dry enough to clean up the seams. While that was drying I gathered all of the engine accessories and painted them as well as the engine.

The completed engine was glued in place in the tail section along with the ventral fin and the halves glued together. Wings, Landing gear and lower fuselage assembly The left and right wings were assembled minus the upper wing spoilers and wing tip pieces I suspect are some kind of antenna system. The fit of the parts was very good but getting the leading and trailing edge flaps in place was touchy. Don't over look the PE piece near the wing tip. While that was drying I went ahead and assembled the landing gear and committed a blunder. The landing gear can be assembled with all plastic parts or with plastic and metal parts. I chose to use the metal where it was available. But the instructions don't mention that the landing gear can be built either in a compressed configuration as if it were setting on the ground, or extended as it would be while the gear was lowered prior to landing. Consequently I accidentally built one leg extended and the other compressed. Be careful. I couldn't take the pieces apart because I had used Super Glue at the metal to plastic joint. The landing gear was painted and set aside.

Back to the wings, I gathered the pieces for the folding mechanism. The two gear parts are set on a column shaft and the fit is tight. It is necessary to sand the inside of the holes in the gear until you get a smooth movement. Then the each wing has to be positioned so the wing tips meet the fuselage at the same time when they are swept to the rear. Then there is a plate put on the post to hold the wings and gears in position. Only then can you attach the top of the fuselage. I suggest tape be placed on the leading and trailing edges while glue is applied to the seams. This assembly is then set aside to dry. While that is drying the next assembly is the main landing gear wells. Here I would also suggest you not place the pipes in place until after the gear is actually glued into place. Otherwise it will only get in the way. The gear wells are then placed in the respective sides of the lower fuselage pan. Rear fuselage and engine The engine and landing gear is next but I already have them done and set aside. The engine was dry fit in the aft fuselage and only when it was assured a good fit and the lower fin was assembled and glued in place was the fuselage halves glued together.

After the edges of the wing assembly were sanded smooth the folding wing assembly is slid in to place at the rear of the nose and cockpit section. Don't glue yet. Then the lower section with the wheel wells is slid up to the bottom of the wing section. After you are sure everything fits smoothly, apply glue where it is needed adjusting as you go along. Joining the rear to forward fuselage In this step build two rings that are to be glued into the mid section behind the wings that will allow the rear section to be removed for inspection of the engine. These parts fit together well enough but the fit when they were set into the fuselage mid section is extremely tight. Then the fit when the rear of the fuselage is mated to the forward section it is very, very tight, requiring a great deal of pressure and finesse. So I chose not to fix it so they could not be separated. There is just too much risk of damaging the finished model. So I glued the two sections together permanently. Vertical stabilizer and seam filler The four main pieces of the stabilizer, minus the smaller parts, were assembled and after the seams were cleaned up the fin was to be glued to the upper fuselage. This revealed a couple of problems. The base of the fin has two protrusions that are supposed to fit into slots in the top of the tail section, but there was only one slot. Even the assembly instructions only show one slot. So rather than cut a new slot that may have been too big I cut the forward protrusion off and sanded the base smooth. After the stabilizer was glued into place there was a very large open seam between the stabilizer and fuselage top. I placed tape along side the open area and squirted some water based filler (Vallejo) on the seam and smoothed it down with the round edge of a spatula. I gave it an hour to dry and then soaked a rag with some denatured alcohol and wiped the excess putty away until everything was smooth. Wiping it down took all of five minutes and left no scratches on the plastic.

Painting and Decals The assembled pieces were now ready to paint. The model was given a washing with soap and water and then wiped with a tissue soaked with denatured alcohol to remove any soap residue and finger oils. I used some of my diminishing supply of Flo-Quil Military colors and then lay down some Testors Gloss Coat for the decals. I didn't attempt to place all of the decals on the model. There are just too many small ones. The decals are very fine, thin and in perfect registry and compatible to the Micro Scale decal system. The previously painted small and fragile pieces were located and put in place and the model was set aside for a while. Under wing stores The kit contains fourteen sprues of weapons and fuel tanks to choose from, and enough decals for every one of them. I couldn't see the need to assemble every bomb, missile and fuel tank so I settled for two guided air to air missiles and their pylons and the fuselage and wing mounted fuel tanks. However the holes for the wing tank pylons did not have a capability to pivot so the tanks would stay in line with the direction of flight. Maybe I should have just left them off, they look pretty silly. In summation I found this kit to be extremely detailed, inside and out. I can not account for the complete accuracy so I can be sure that I made several mistakes getting it together. About half way through building it I borrowed a Walk Around book from a fellow modeler and was shocked and dismayed that the cockpit was not the color the instructions called for and several other errors. But the idea of this build is to decide if the quality of the kit justifies the price, not to test my building skills. I believe an experienced model builder with the proper reference material will find it a very pleasant build. I did despite the blunders I committed. Thanks to Stevens International for providing the kit to the IPMS Reviewer Corps.