MiG-15bis Dual Combo &
MiG-15 Czechoslovak AF

Eduard, 1/144 scale

Reviewed by Alan Sannazzaro

Eduard's 1/72 MiG-15bis Dual Combo is available online from Squadron.com

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 ( NATO reporting name: "Fagot") is a jet fighter aircraft developed by Mikoyan-Gurevich OKB for the Soviet Union. The MiG-15 was one of the first successful swept-wing, jet fighters, and achieved fame in the skies over Korea, where, early in the war, it outclassed all straight-winged enemy fighters in most applications.

Later, the MiG-15 would also serve as a starting point for the development of the more advanced MiG-17. The MiG-15 is believed to have been one of the most widely produced aircraft ever made, in excess of 12,000 were manufactured. Licensed foreign production may have raised the production total to over 18,000. The MiG-15 is often mentioned, along with the North American F-86 Sabre, as the best fighter aircraft of the Korean War and among the best fighter aircraft of all time. The MiG-15 remains in service with the North Korean Air Force as an advanced trainer.

Source: Wikipedia

The kits come in an end opening boxes, with four dark grey styrene plastic sprues, two individually packaged clear parts and paint masks, to complete two models. The Czech AF boxing includes sprues for one MiG-15, and one MiG-15bis. The MiG-15bis boxing includes the sprues to complete two MiG-15bis.

 
The mouldings are superb with very fine recessed panel detail, especially given the scale, I know of 1/48 subjects where the mouldings aren’t as refined! The models include a cockpit tub, which is a single part mould with seat already in place. There is a separate decal for the instrument panel. The clear canopy is injected, it’s well moulded, but given the scale it will be difficult to see the interior detail. The canopy is a single part, so cannot be positioned open unless modified.

I notice the instructions don’t mention anything about adding weight to the nose, perhaps in this scale the weight of the tail isn’t a factor? However there is a small space available to add weight inside the fairings, which is located inside the intake duct forward to the cockpit tub.

The trailing edges on all flying surfaces are very nicely thinned, and I feel these are the best I’ve seen in this scale. The wing is attached to the upper part of the fuselage, with the fuselage join being along the side of the model rather than on top, minimising the chance of an obvious seam line.

There is a lot of detail for this small scale model including the turbine exhaust fan inside a single piece jet exhaust pipe. The tyres are single piece mouldings with sidewall detail. The inside of the gear doors also have framing detail on them, along with good detail on the landing gear legs.

The Czech boxing (#4441) comes with pylons and several stores loading options. These include 3 different styles of auxiliary tanks, and four bombs. The MiG-15bis boxing (#4442) doesn’t call out the bombs in its instructions; however they are present on the sprues.

Markings

The decal choices give a good range of colouring options.
 
Czech boxing (kit #4441):

• MiG-15bis, Capt. Oldrich Paldus, 15th fighter regiment, Cottbus AB, GDR, 30th August – 1st Sept 1957.

• MiG-15, 1st fighter division, Ruzyne airport, September 1955

• MiG-15, Lt Jaroslav Sramek, 2nd squadron, 5th fighter regiment, Plzen-line AB, late March 1953.

• MiG-15bis, 9th fighter regiment, Bechyne AB, 1958-1959

• Mig-15bis. Capt Frantisek Garaja, 6th fighter bomber regiment, Siliac AB, August 29 1964.

• MiG-15bisSB, 30th fighter bomber regiment, Hradec Kralove/Ceske Budejovice Airbases, 1970’s.

• MiG-16bis, 11th fighter regiment, 1957-1958.

MiG-15bis boxing (kit #4442)

• MiG-15bis, c/n 123025, Col. Yevgenij G Pepelyayev, CO 196th IAP, Antung AB, Korea, October 1951.

• MiG-15bis c/n 1315376, ex 64th IAK, Soviet Union, mid 1950’s

• MiG-15bis, Henry Perez, Cuba, 1960’s.

• MiG-15bis, Egyptian AF, October 1956.

• MiG-15bis, JAG 11, Bautzen AB, East Germany, ca 1956.

The decals are all in register and seem to be the correct colours, with good colour saturation. There are enough decals to complete at least two models per box.

I feel Eduard have raised the bar for detail and fineness in this scale. There doesn’t appear to be any shortcuts taken with the production of this model, and if the crispness of the moulds is anything to go by, the kit looks like it will go together well. The markings options are varied, and I’m sure the modeller will have an interesting colour scheme at the end of the build.

Whilst there are quite small parts, I feel both new and experienced modellers alike will find this a satisfying build.

Thanks to Eduard for the sample

Review Text Copyright © 2015 by Alan Sannazzaro
Page Created 19 May, 2015
Last updated 19 May, 2015

Back to HyperScale Main Page

Back to Reviews Page