1/48 MiG-23M Flogger B - The Jet Age.

[JKim]

Username: JKim
First name: John
Category: Advanced
Scale: 1/48
Manufacturer: Trumpeter
Model Type: MiG-23M Flogger B
Aftermarket addons: Aires resin exhaust nozzle (closed), Eduard Brassin resin wheels, Aires resin cockpit, Eduard Brassin resin wheel wells, Dream Model pitot tube, Model Maker decals

 

[JKim]

I'm adding the kit sprue shots here. The Trumpeter box is nice, sturdy and opens like a proper model should... from the top! Packaging is very good and secure with each tree (for the most part) getting its own plastic bag.

The fuselage is somewhat modular with the big tail and the swing wing area housed in different assemblies.

Surface detail is impressively fine! And what is a Trumpeter kit without RIVETS! They look to be pretty subtle though... I like it!

The huge vertical tail gets its own sprue. There some foam protecting some delicate piece... maybe landing gear? Trumpeter is very good at providing foam protection on certain parts including the clear sprues.

Again, the surface detail is very good... finely recessed panel lines, subtle rivets and other details of which I cannot vouch for, accuracy-wise. It LOOKS good though.

The instrument panel is on tail sprue and it looks decent. I've yet to decide whether or not I will be investing in more resin.

The upper mid fuselage is split top/bottom like a clamshell to accommodate the swinging wings. This seems to be the logical way to do it from an engineering perspective.

More fine detailing.

The intake splitters are a bit devoid of detail but there are some photo-etch parts included to add texture here.

Here is the port wing tree. The swing wings are connected via interlocking teeth so that they move in unison.

You can see the slightly pebbly texture that's characteristic of China-manufactured kits from Trumpeter/Hobby Boss. You can also see a smudge of some sort. The plastic here has a light film of greasy material. I will give all of the parts a soapy bath prior to starting work... probably a wise thing to do with all injection molded kits.

The landing gear doors are respectably thin and have some detail molded into the inner faces.

Is this a gun I see? I think the Flogger has a ventral gun pod housing some sort of cannon. I'll have to do a little research to see if this resembles the real thing and if any detail can be added besides drilling out the barrels.

The starboard wing tree with the wheels.

The wheels look decent to me but I will be replacing these with resin wheels from Eduard. I'll do a comparison when I receive the AM wheels.

Here's a tree that has some of the engine exhaust parts as well as the landing gear wells.

The landing gear wells have some decent detail. I've been looking at both the Aires and Eduard resin replacements but I may decide to just dress up the kit parts with wiring.

The ejection seat is a multi-part deal. I'm really leaning towards picking up a resin cockpit or at least a resin KM-1 ejection seat to spiffy up the cockpit.

I'm guessing this to be the ventral gun pod body.

The upper half of the mid-section. The airbrakes can be portrayed open or closed.

Trumpeter has packed ALOT of ordinance with this kit. Six sprues worth! Each of the pictured weapons sprues comes in pairs.

A few smaller sprues are packed separately including the nose cone, exhaust nozzles (open and closed) and intake housings.

I've read that the intakes are inaccurate but I'm not sure its something that bothers me. I may attempt a minor fix but I don't think I'll do any major surgery here.

Superb clear parts by Trumpeter again.

The kit comes with a fret of photo-etched details including harnesses for the ejection seat.

Loads of stenciling decals including a standalone sheet of weapons stenciling.

Finally... the cockpit decals. Not sure if I'm liking these... this seems to be a weakness of the Trumpeter/Hobby Boss kits I've worked on.

 

[Crimea_River]

Good one John!

 

[rochie]

Nice one

 

[Wurger]

 

[Wayne Little]

This should be good!

 

[Lucky13]

Cool! 8)

 

[Catch22]

Cool pick John.

 

[JKim]

This will be a departure for me... my first jet! And to make things even more exciting... a wing-swinger to boot! I was able to find this one at a reasonable price at my LHS but ya know what? I'm having second thoughts! Desiring to build a non-Soviet Flogger, I found some cool decals for some camo'd Polish MiG-23 but these are the older Mig-23MF (Flogger B's). My LHS has that kit too and since I didn't open the Flogger G, I may exchange it and go for a Polish Flogger. Plus I've always liked that characteristic "kink" in the huge tailfin which is not present on the newer Flogger G's.

Wojtek... if I DO switch from a Flogger G to a Flogger B, will you be able to edit my post title? Or would I have to create a new post?

 

[Donivanp]

I have the M version of this I'll have to pay attention here.

 

[Airframes]

Good one! Got a few detail shots of the Newark Air Museum example if you need them.

 

[Crimea_River]

I'm sure Wojtek will fix your header and will give you lots of reference pics to boot. Love those schemes.

 

[Wayne Little]

Then you will have plenty to choose from...

 

[Wurger]

Wojtek... if I DO switch from a Flogger G to a Flogger B, will you be able to edit my post title? Or would I have to create a new post?

No, You don't need to do that. I can edit the title with no problem. Just let me know...

 

[JKim]

I have the M version of this I'll have to pay attention here.

I think I'm going to revert to the M version as well assuming that I'll be able to exchange this kit at my LHS. Same price so I don't think it will be a problem.

Good one! Got a few detail shots of the Newark Air Museum example if you need them.

Any references would be helpful... I'm going in kinda blind on this one.

No, You don't need to do that. I can edit the title with no problem. Just let me know...

Thanks Wojtek! I probably won't be able to get out to do the exchange until this weekend. But I've already sniped up some goodies via Ebay for this build so it won't be OOB... couldn't resist $25 for all three sets!

G-Factor Brass Landing Gear

Eduard Brassin Wheels

Aires Resin Exhaust Nozzle (Closed)

 

[Wurger]

 

[JKim]

Ok! I've made the switch at my LHS. I will now be doing a MiG-23M "Flogger B" so if Wojtek could please modify the title of the post to reflect this change, it would be great!

I'm now contemplating other AM upgrades... the look of those hyper-details resin ejection seats, cockpits and landing gear wells intrigue me... I hope I am not biting off more than I can chew here!

 

[Wurger]

Done.

 

[Airframes]

Soon as I'm feeling more human (shut it, Jan !), I'll post what pics I have of the two 'Flogger' types at Newark - nothing special, but some wheel bay, landing gear, air brake and jet exhaust details stuff, as well as general shots.

 

[JKim]

Soon as I'm feeling more human (shut it, Jan !), I'll post what pics I have of the two 'Flogger' types at Newark - nothing special, but some wheel bay, landing gear, air brake and jet exhaust details stuff, as well as general shots.

That'd be great! I've just started looking at the kit parts and trying to decide if I want to upgrade to AM in certain areas. One question I do have concerns the cockpit color. Does anyone know if the Polish MiG-23's feature that characteristic bright blue/green interior color found on Russian Floggers?