Reviewed by Geoff Coughlin

Our thanks to Airfix for supplying the review sample. Get this kit here now at www.airfix.com

This kit will be built in the not too distant future, so watch out for it in Build Now!

Reference material for your build… (from around 3 mins 30 secs into film)…

Some other references that you’ll find useful…

…the outstanding Aero Detail No.8 on the Supermarine Spitfire Mks I-V

… the useful Squadron Signal book – Spitfire in action No.39

The new-tool Airfix kit…

Well of course any new kit of the historic Spitfire is always going to be of interest, the fact that as I write we are commemorating the 70^th anniversary of the Battle of Britain and that this is another new Airfix kit makes it even more interesting.

The box…

Standard new box here – quite sturdy and very attractive. Illustrating Spits scrambled from Biggin Hill’s No. 610 Sqn RAF intercepting German intruders over Kent provokes a stirring response. The back of the box features the decal and painting guide. As is usual only Humbrol colour references are offered.

Read the full Here Now review

Thanks to James Vaitkevicius for use of these images
1:48th scale
Reviewed by Les Venus

Our thanks to Hannants for supplying the review sample. Get this kit now at www.hannants.co.uk

Background…

I was fortunate to be able to go to RIAT at Fairford this year and for me the star of the static display was a wonderfully worn Polish Air Force Sukhoi SU-22M Fitter (the one with the outboard variable geometry wings). With thoughts of this is mind I returned home determined to follow up my ‘Here Now’ on the Parent of the SU-22 the Eduard 1:48th scale SU-7 Fitter C. I won’t go into any more on the kit that I have already covered in this article but will focus entirely on the build. The only extras I used were Hi Decal (Hannants £6.99) sheet that contained among others a Polish variant in natural metal (yum yum) and the Quickboost resin intakes set (Hannants £4.99) I also had the Polish Wings Book on the SU-7 (www.mmpbooks.biz) and the front and back covers were my inspiration for this build. With all this in hand I approached this build with huge expectations as I could see the finished model in my head and was keen to get on with it.

Read the Build Now review here…

The kit now is finally finished and I have to say I really have enjoyed building this kit. The resin conversion set is crisp, clean and in my opinion one of the best resin kits I have worked with. The Vac formed canopy is also great quality. However, with the introduction of the Academy F-16I Sufa kit, It does make me think that the Isracast offering will become a victim here.

Plus Points…

• Crisp clean moulding of the resin parts
• Superb vac form canopy
• High quality cockpit
• Detailed Spine
• Excellent choice of decals and great quality

Negative Points…

• Cost
• Some parts are a little brittle
• Not a conversion to approach if you are uncomfortable working with resin

James V.

Gallery

Below are a series of images of the completed model. Click on a thumbnail to see the enlarged image.

You can download a pdf of the Full Article here.

(Download a free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader here)

Decals…

I mentioned at the beginning of this article that I was to finish the model in “The Scorpion” Squadron from 105 from the Hatzor Air Force base, Israel. The squadron aircraft are decorated with a massive Scorpion on the tail fin, which in my opinion looks very impressive indeed!

The decal sheet also includes decal schemes for “First Fighter” & “The Valley” Squadrons, including a decal sheet of numbers enabling you to finish your model in any of the IAF’s fleet. All decals and stencils are included within the conversion set; in fact the only decals you will require off the donor set are the missile and bomb stencils.

The decals themselves are superb quality. They are very thin but robust. Be careful with the stencils and I would advise you to slide them off the backing paper as near as you can to the final location and use Micro sol to help you achieve this. The decals once set looked great with no ‘silvering’ occurring. Top Marks again Isracast!

Final Weathering…

The model now is virtually completed; 2 coats of Xtracrylics Matt Varnish were applied to the kit all over as the Barak appears to have matt finish to the airframe. Following this, pastel chalk was applied to the panel lines, around the gun muzzle and on the wing leading edges to give the model a slightly worn look. Most IAF aircraft are kept in good condition so I thought it best not to go too hard on weathering. Finally, the HB pencil came out to finish off for chipping and application around the canopy sill to simulate slight weathering.

The principle of painting a three tone scheme as used by the IAF has been covered in the magazine under Geoff’s amazing 1:48th Scale Kinetic Sufa and the same principle of using rolled up Blue Tac to create a subtle demarcation was used on this build. For full details, please refer to Geoff’s article. The main principle behind the camouflage scheme to get organised and approach it in a methodical way. I started out by spraying light coats of Tamiya Buff (XF-57) as the base, followed by the Tamiya Sky (XF-21) and finally the Xtracrylics Vietnam Buff (XA1102). I found I got through a massive amount of Tamiya tape for this process but I consider the finished article to be well worth the effort and cost of materials! MDC sponges were also used to obtain a smooth finish to the paint scheme.

The various lumps and bumps and front radome were sprayed with Xtracrylics RAF Medium Grey (XA1103) including the LITENING pod. The rear brake parachute housing on the tail and the in flight refuelling IFR) hatch were both sprayed with Tamiya NATO Black (XF-69). Light Weathering was also applied to the hatch to simulate paint chippings from where the IFR probe would have hit during refuelling.

It is also worth mentioning that the rear burner can was sprayed with Alclad2 lacquer, Magnesium and Jet Exhaust colours were used to give an operational look. I really like using these lacquers as they give such a superb finish!

Three coats of Johnsons Klear is added to seal the paint and provide a gloss finish in preparation for the final stage – Decals!!!!

Read on…

Painting…

First job on the list is to get the undercoat on the main fuselage and wings of the aircraft. This was carried out with Halfords Grey Primer out of the rattle can. Applied in thin coats, this was cut back during applications with various grades of MDC sanding sponges to get a smooth finish.

Pre shading of all joins was carried out with Tamiya Light Grey (XF-66) to give a subtle pre shade under the finished scheme. I thought that a black pre shade would be too harsh and would show through too much especially when the finished colours are tan, sky and buff.

The following colours were used as the main 4 tone camouflage scheme:
Undersides: Tamiya XF-19 – Sky Grey
Upper Surfaces:

• Tamiya XF-21 – Sky
• Tamiya XF-57 – Buff
• Xtracrylics XA1102 – Vietnam Tan
• Radome – Xtracrylics XA1103 – RAF Medium Grey

Read on…

Up next was cutting the one piece clear canopy away from the mould. I think I got a little over excited as one of the first jobs I carried out when I got the kit was to cut the excess away. In hindsight, I wish I had painted the canopy as once the frame of the vac form is cut away, the rigidity goes, making it a little more difficult to paint. The photo etched parts were added; the base coat of Tamiya NATO Black (XF-69) was added and sprayed to represent the inner seal, followed by a coat of Xtracrylics Vietnam Tan XA1102 for the outer camouflage scheme. I must say I am impressed with the quality of the moulding, it certainly is crystal clear and also an excellent fit to the fuselage, top marks here Isracast!

The conversion kit also includes parts for 4 one piece resin missile launcher rails. These are thinner than the kit supplied missile rails, and very brittle! These were painted the same colour as per the underside of the kit, Tamiya Sky Grey (XF-19) and put away until later.

I included the Tamiya 370 gallon wing tanks, 300 gallon centre line tanks, GBU-31 JDAM and AIM-9M Sidewinder missiles; these were finished as per the original kit instructions

Also included in the conversion kit is a 3 piece cast resin LITENING pod which is replaces the conventional AN – 213 pod for the USAF CJ model which is used in conjunction with the HARM missiles. The casting for the LITENING pod is good and fits together with ease and was finished with Xtracrylics XA1103 – RAF Medium Sea Grey. My only gripe is the fact that Isracast do not supply you with any specific decals for the pod, which is poor considering the price of the kit.

The model now is ready for priming and for its first few coats of paint…

To sum up…

This 72nd scale MIG 15 was a very pleasant project to build and while not a state-of-the-art kit, it represents a superb balance of cost and quality by Airfix. The packaging is first class and very appealing, the colour camouflage guide is extremely welcome and the model is crisply moulded with enough detail to satisfy a novice or experience modeller. I thoroughly enjoyed building the kit and I would strongly recommend it as a satisfying, quick-build distraction from the more demanding projects that many of us tend all too often to get bogged-down with!

Andy Brown

You can download a pdf of the Full Article here.

(Download a free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader here)

A close-up view of the port side external undercarriage position indicator – the black and white feature in the middle of the wing upper surface; note the fuel spillage stains added around the drop tank filler caps

External undercarriage position indicators were made from short pieces of fuse wire and glued into pre-drilled holes in the upper surface of each wing. Once in position, the indicators were painted white, with Vallejo Model Colour 001 and the black tip added with No 169, Black from the same paint range. Fuel spillage stains were painted streaming from the drop tank filler caps and these were produced using the same raw umber oil solution that had been employed to wash the panel lines.

The detailing was now finished and the metallic parts were masked prior to the application of a matt coat to the upper and lower surfaces of the kit. When the matt coat has dried thoroughly, the canopy and metallic part masks were removed and the model finished.

Metallic parts, the upper surface receives the all important matt coat

The underside after matt coating

Over the years I have taken to mounting my finished models on covered bases. The rationale for doing so is that the models become decorative items that can be displayed in the home (wife/partner/girlfriend/boyfriend permitting) or office and can safely be transported to shows. The covers keep the dust off and prolong the life of these plastic creations that have consumed so much of our precious time and effort. For the MIG I purchased a Trumpeter small display case and set the base into a chrome picture frame produced by Airframes, a company based in Leasingham, Lincolnshire (http://www.businesspad.org/uk15_business44681_Airframes-15-St-Johns-Close-Leasingham-Sleaford-Lincolnshire-NG34-8LU/). The base artwork was created by me using CorelDraw and printed onto HP Premium Photo Paper using an old HP DeskJet 5150 printer. The artwork was stuck to the base using 3M Photo Mount and the finished model was fixed to the base with 3 tiny drops of superglue, one on the contact point of each tyre.

The finished pitot head fitted in place on the nose of the aircraft

The pitot head prior to being sanded into shape

One characteristic feature of the MIG 15 is the seemingly oversize pitot head on the starboard side of the nose, just ahead of the cockpit. The item is not included in the kit and I thought it critical to add this component as it is a significant airframe detail when you study photos of the real aircraft. I started by taking a fine syringe needle from a 0.5ml syringe, the kind used by diabetics to inject insulin; these items can easily be obtained from eBay by searching for ‘syringe needles’. The end of the needle was first ground to a bullet-shaped point using a mini grinding wheel and then gently bent to about 80 degrees, approx 5mm back from the tip. A piece of plastic strip (with an aerofoil cross-section) was super glued to the inside of the bend and reinforced with Micro Balloons. Once the superglue had dried the pitot head was carefully sanded to shape and primed with Halfords Grey Primer. Once buffed with SnJ polishing powder to produce the required ‘silver’ metallic finish, the pitot was cut away from the rest of the needle and fixed in place with superglue.

A neat finish obtained using the syringe sleeve

The VHF antennae cable was first glued at the tip of the tail fin

The VHF antenna cable was the next item of detail to be added using stretched sprue and to start with it was super glued at the tip of the tail fin. I then passed the sprue through a short length of 0.5mm syringe needle to form a sleeve at the other end, which was super glued in place inserted into a pre-drilled hole in the fuselage just to the starboard side of the canopy; the effect was very neat indeed.

A small blade antenna was made from aerofoil cross-section plastic strip and very carefully glued into the correct position on the spine of the aircraft

The blade antenna viewed from the starboard side

The blade antenna viewed from the port side

Read on…