Completed Review – Tamiya MiG 19 (61609)

Scale: 1:72, RRP - £3.99

A quick review of a quick build, Tamiya's 1:100 scale MiG-19 Farmer.

The 1:100 scale was introduced many years ago as a competitor to the well established 1:72 scale. However it never really took off and remains largely forgotten. Outside of Tamiya's small range no other models really come to my mind.

I was only reminded of this scale when I typed an incorrect search into eBay and found this particular kit for sale at 99p. So a few 99p bids later and I had myself a MiG-19, a B.A.C Lightning and an A-7A Corsair II all in this scale. All of these kits date from about 10 years ago when Tamiya re-released the range. Some of the originals, I believe, date back to the 1970's.

I decided to start with the MiG-19, continuing from my previous build a MiG-15. As you'd expect, the kit is simple, there are only 3 steps in the instructions and this particular kit can be completed with only 3 colours. There are options for 3 aircraft, 1 Soviet, 1 East German, 1 Cuban however they're all the same bare metal silver finish with a different set of decals for each one.

Despite the small parts count what there is, is good, and provides a reasonable little model straight out of the box. My main criticism of this kit was the way the missiles are attached to the wing as they were extremely awkward to attach given their size.

I decided to do my MiG in Cuban colours, I've applied many red star decals in recent weeks so felt it was time for a change! Overall it was nice relaxed build (forgetting the missiles...) and I'm certainly going to do more 1:100 scale aircraft in the future.

Overall Build Score: 2 out of 5, a fun but awkward build. Slightly lacking in detail as to be expected given the scale and age of the kit.

Completed Review – Airfix MiG-15 (A02037) – Part 3

Scale: 1:72, RRP - £7.99

Following my last post I decided to make one last push at finishing this model and giving it the all important final score.

I'd decided that I wanted this aircraft to looked used, partly because I felt it would be good to try my hand at weathering. I shaded the panel lines with Citadel inks before spraying a Tamiya flat coat (TS-80 spray) to take the shine off as I wasn't looking for a factory finish. I'd found a particularly useful set of photos here which showed a couple of well weathered MiG-15s and these formed the basis for the finish I was hoping to achieve.

The next step was to add the decals and for this scheme there are a lot of them! I was a bit concerned at this scale the model would look too "busy" with all the warning signs etc. The other schemes had considerably less decals. However I think I was proved wrong, as the decals went on I started to feel like I had a good looking model.

In the past Airfix decals have had a bit of a bad reputation. I'm pleased to say those days seem to be behind them, these decals were excellent and went on easily. There was one slight hitch, one of the red stars curled and came apart when I tried to correct it. This was entirely due to an error on my part, I'd not taken enough care in fixing it.

I attempted to mask and repaint the star but this was more difficult than I first envisaged and so I reluctantly had to opt for a somewhat weathered star.

The final step was to add the canopy, before I did, I took one last look at the Eduard enhanced cockpit before it was almost hidden from view...

This was probably the most disappointing part of the kit, I already had an idea from dry fitting that it wasn't going to fit well and sadly that was the case. There were rather large gaps between the canopy and the fuselage that took some filling. I do have a Pavla vacform canopy stashed away somewhere and with hindsight I should have probably used it this time. I guess it can wait for my next MiG-15 build.

So my final conclusions: This is a surprisingly good kit and shows the steps that Airfix were making to improve their kits a few years ago. Granted their new kits are a further improvement but this one still holds up well. I think it's a good kit for beginners and experts alike, either as a straight from the box build or as the basis for a more advanced build The overall ease of the build is a plus as are the excellent decals, I just feel the fit issues of the two fuselage halves and the canopy let it down a bit.

In addition to this I should also add that the Eduard Zoom set, SS358, is highly recommended should you wish to enhance the cockpit.

And finally as this is the first completed model on this blog I decided that it deserved to be mounted in a display case. The case was one of Trumpeter's excellent cases, a 170 x 170 x 70mm size case (product code 09812) and the base was made from ICM's 1:72 scale PAG-14 Soviet Airfield Plates (72214).

Overall Build Score: 3 out of 5, a good simple build that looks like a MiG-15, slightly let down by fit issues.

The 15 Minute Goblin

Not long ago I had a friend visit from Russia who was a big fan of the Games Workshop range, primarily through the computer games that they've released. As he'd travelled such a long way I decided that with Games Workshop HQ only a short trip away that I had to take him there.

Now for me it's been I while since I was involved in the Games Workshop hobby, however he really enjoyed his trip and came away with a set of figures and some paints, keen to start painting them. So upon our return home I set about giving him a quick tutorial on painting and how to do simple highlights. The result, the 15 minute Goblin.

I've never painted a Goblin (or any other variant of Green-skins) before so it was something new for me too. With the addition of a brown rather than a Games Workshop standard black set of robes I felt it was a fun experiment.

The Sales Assistant in the HQ shop did manage to persuade me to purchase one of the newer plastic figures, promising me that they'd moved on a bit since I last painted their figures. I eventually left with a Chaos Nurgle Champion, something about pustulent skin and corroding armour obviously seemed appealing at the time.

He took me a bit longer than 15 minutes to paint...

Build Review – Airfix MiG-15 (A02037) – Part 2

It been a while since I last posted an update on my ongoing MiG-15 1:72 scale build. Free time has been at a premium during the last month, the modellers curse that effect us all at some time...

However the good news it what time I have spent on this build has been productive. After finishing the cockpit I assembled the fuselage. This went together fairly well, however there was a large join between the two halves which at the time I incorrectly assumed was meant to be a join between panels.

Next up were the wings, they fitted perfectly and in no time I had the bare metal coat silver coat of paint on the model, Tamiya AS-12 straight from the spray can. The nose was airbrushed red with Tamiya XF-7 and attached after I've finished spraying the silver.

The landing gear was assembled attached and then painted. The gear covers and under wing fuel tanks were painted separately while still on the sprues and then attached. Overall it was nothing too difficult, with a pair of tweezers and some careful glueing I had myself a MiG-15.


So far, so good, a fun build for novice and expert alike. My only complaint is the join between the two halves of the fuselage. It took a few tries of filling, sanding and repainting and I still could not  hide it to my satisfaction.

                                   

Despite this I feel I can already recommend this kit, baring any major issues with the decals which I will discuss in my next build post, along with my final score.