Reviewed by Les Venus
(May 2010)
Model Dimensions: 548mm long x 435mm width
Price: £99.99
Kit Parts: 565
Sprues: 23 X light grey plastic, 4 X clear sprue, 4 rubber tyres
1 X small etch for seat belts airbrakes and other vents, metal undercarriage.
Decals: 3 x decal sheets 2 colour options both camouflaged – DDR and Czech
Our thanks to Hannants for supplying the review sample. Get this kit at www.hannants.co.uk
Background:
Now Geoff calls me and says I’ve got a project for you, so given my current penchant for all things water-borne I am thinking Udaloy Class Cruiser or another submarine but no! He gives me this huge box…..opened and says its back to jets for you!!! So here I am with the new Trumpeter MiG 23. Now you’ll know that my last foray into 1:32nd scale Trumpeter kit ended in tears………..The AV 8B Harrier II! Now my view of that kit differs from many, but I still insist that it was a poorly engineered and conceived kit, but admittedly not as bad as my construction of it. So it’s with some trepidation that I gingerly accepted the challenge and here I am in my den writing up this ‘Build Now’ review on the eve of the first day of the build.
Inspiration:
My RAF Career was spent during the Cold War when this aircraft was the other side of the IGB and was the ‘bad guy’. My job required me to know all about the aircraft and their bases so this kit brought back some sharp memories. Just take a look at this video and tell me that you too are not inspired to build this tough Russian Strike Fighter.
References:
I will use two references for this build. First, the simply gorgeous little Kagero Publication that shows in detail a Polish MiG 23-MF. It even comes with a set of nicely printed decals in 1:72nd 1:48th and 1:32nd scale for the Flogger shown on the back Cover # 149. The booklet has just 44 pages but 127 high quality photos of all the things that will help any builder of a Flogger create that little bit extra. And all of this for just £5.99 which is staggering value for money.
My second source of Reference is the excellent photo library in SMN which has some excellent close up shots of the Newark Air Museums beautifully restored MiG 23 MF.
So no excuses – I have to give this build the works…..but with only what’s in the box.
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First Impression:
As I said the box is huge, as was the Trumpeter Lightning; it’s about the same size. This time though it’s packed to the brim and I do mean to the brim. So first impression is wow for sheer pound for plastic ratio it’s excellent at about 18p per piece. All the parts are bagged and some components like part of the fuselage, jet nozzle, metal etch and clear parts come in their own box. So all in all my first impression is very positive.
Accuracy:
The first thing I did was grab the front fuselage halves which, like the Harrier, ends just before the main intakes. It was this that has raised an eyebrow because to the eye it doesn’t look quite right. I can’t place it and will pop to Newark Air Museum tomorrow with my yard stick to check a few things, but the nose cone contours don’t seem to reflect the original… moreover, the canopy looks too shallow, but as I have found before it’s not until the kit is truly underway that its accuracy becomes properly apparent. So for now I give the kit the benefit of the doubt but will return to this when I am building it.
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Panel lines are finely engraved and the rivets whilst prolific really do represent the real thing beautifully. And will I am sure respond to an oil wash after it has been painted.
The canopy is crystal clear and has the frame moulded in an opaque plastic that will aid masking and painting. There are no seams on the canopy and it will look great in the raised position or closed as its clarity will enable the cockpit to be seen in both modes.
The cockpit is nicely detailed and comes with some reasonably moulded parts; a clear instrument face and a decal for the reverse to show through the plastic. I used this on my Trumpeter Thunderbolt and it works really well. Decals are also included for the side consoles if needed but in this scale I am not convinced. We shall see. The seat is fabulous and represents the real thing very well and even includes decals for some of the placards. Seat belts are in the etched set and look like they will do the job nicely. Once the build starts I’ll dig out some references that will help you as well as those already in the SMN Photo Library. I guess that Aires and Eduard are already tooling up as we speak and I suggest that the first place to start will be the jet pipe which lacks the rugged finesse (there’s an oxymoron for you) of the real thing.
As usual from Trumpeter there’s an incredibly impressive array of weapons in the box included, which covers every conceivable weapon load, even some I don’t recognise! Again I need to dig around a bit for this. Excellent decals are supplied for all of the weapons and racks and will take a lot of careful painting to capture them properly……this could be a long one!
The unique but quite Jaguar like undercarriage is robust and is supplied in plastic and white metal which is incredibly impressive and will take care in assembling. Unfortunately it comes with those revolting rubber tyres! When will they learn? So again Aires, get the resin fired up!!!
Finally kit comes with a nice representation of a Tumansky Turbo Jet engine which can only be, by the looks of things, placed on a fabulous engine trolley….again I’ll look at this too in the build and see what can be done with it……I do love building engines that can be seen.
Fit:
A dry fit of the key components shows that there should be no need for filler and that this is a kit that will be suitable for all types of modeller. This said I said this about that Harrier and I still wake at night in a cold sweat over that! So let’s wait and see with all fingers and toes crossed.
Quality:
This is a good high quality kit the plastic is excellent crisp largely flash free and I could see no obvious ejector pin marks. Some of the detail is sublime. The intakes are notable as are the airbrakes and the wings can be displayed with flaps, slats and spoilers deployed, as mine will be. I think the plastic will respond well to Halfords best and careful use of thinned paint will leave all the lovely detail visible and up for weathering, which on this aircraft is extensive.
Decals:
The kit decal sheets are extensive for two schemes, each in three time camouflage. Some can be read and are in Cyrillic but on close inspection these are no Cartograph sheets and are largely representative shapes. I will probably make the Czech version but the colours on the roundels and the main markings on the DDR version seem to bright for me so if used will need weathering back not to look garish. Interestingly, the decals also include the cockpit placards as well as the brown sealant around the canopy.
Conclusion:
This is a nice looking kit. It’s large and it’s impressive and will, I hope, look good made up. It’s an unusual subject for the scale but I for one am delighted to see it and will start the build in about 6 hours….it’s just turned midnight as I write. Before construction I say it’s an excellent value for money product and at this stage is
recommended..…………….let’s hope it’s upgraded after the build.