MiG 15 bis Trumpeter 1:32 "desaster-kit"

[fam43]

Hi folks,
In the past I built several Sabres and always looked for a MiG in 1:32.
In 2007 I was on a modelfair in the "Luftwaffenmuseum" at Gatow Airport in Berlin. There I found this sadly rotting MiG. I decided to built one.

Last year I finally aquired Trumpeters MiG 15-bis. I was warned about that beast reading articles in LSP. Nevertheless I had to built it.
First thing I did, was reshaping the windscreen and adding some details to the ejectionseat.

 

[Lucky13]

Looks great Michael....looking forward to more pics mate!

 

[Wurger]

With Jan here....

 

[muller]

Same here

 

[Wayne Little]

Agreed!...more please.

 

[Airframes]

I'm with the guys. If it turns out anything like your Sabres, it should be good!

 

[Matt308]

Looking forward to this. More pics please.

 

[fam43]

Next came the cockpit-tube. I decided to paint it in a deep green. Don´t know the real paint of korean war time MiGs, but I liked this color. some bits and pieces mostly copperwire were added. The instrumentpanel does not fit well and I had to add some plasticshheet to correct as you will easely see in the pictures.

I designed the instrument gauges on th PC transferred them to clear decalfilm and put them on the white painted instrumentpanel.

 

[fam43]

I decided to built the nonexistent jetinlets integral with the Nosepiece and painted the interior of the frontfuselage black to camouflage any flaws of my construction. The fit of the fuselagehalfes and the cockpittube ist at best very demanding. Much putty has to be used to fill the joints. At this point I added some details to the parts aft of the ejectionseat.
I was posetively suprised by the excellent fit of the weaponsbay. The yellow arrows point to the 37mm and 23 mm cannons made out of an earcleaner and coppertube.

After sanding some more details were added to the cockpit area.

The next flaw was in the tail section. Far to shallow airbrakewells and counterweights of the rudders molded to the fixed part of the controls.

 

[Screaming Eagle]

Looking good Michael!

 

[Wayne Little]

Nice work so far....i'm sure Mig 15 cockpit colour is either light Blue or Light Grey...?

 

[Lucky13]

Looking great Michael!

 

[Maximowitz]

Excellent work.

 

[Lucke.stz]

So good ! I love this plane, I made my on 1/144, but I did the SbLim-2, the Polush version to UTI...

Are going to make it with camo painting or natural metal ?

Here some inspiration...

 

[fam43]

Hi Lucke.stz,
Your dwarf looks very good! 8)
I'll do it in natural metal using Revell water-colors.

 

[Airframes]

Great work Michael. I think Wayne's right about the blue for the cockpit, but it doesn't matter.
The more I see of Trumpeter kits, the more I'm put off, especially as they're not cheap. Might try their P51B though, anyway.

 

[fam43]

Next I (tried) joined the front and aftfuselage. Sadly the panellines didn`t fit well. No wonder the MiG was always a thorn in western flesh. The arrow points at the airchannels i built from householdtrash. Thanks to the black paint you will see nothing of it. This was my intention.

The amount of putty was awfull. All this nice engravings will disapeare after sanding. By the way I hate those rivetdetails on models smaller than 1:24. A very unrealistic affair when you look at pictures resized to aproxiametely 1:32.

The real challenge came with the wings. I seldom saw a bader fit. Well this was a job for 2K-putty. Some cables were added to the wheelwells.

 

[marek]

Great work Michael. More please!

 

[fam43]

after a lengthy wet and dry sandingsession The joints werde done as were the engravings.

I decided to use the slipper tanks. The wingfences are incorrect but I refused to change them because I started to deslike this model more and more.

The wheelwell is nonexisting. Again I decided to leave it unchanged. "An Indian chases the deer only as long as he beleives that he has run far enough".

The 37 mm was made from an earcleaner. The two 20 mm from coppertube (standard items from a DIY store).

 

[Airframes]

Now I know why you've called it a disaster kit! You're doing a fantastic job on what looks like a really terrible it!