Reviews : Trumpeter MiG3 Early Version Soviet Fighter Aircraft

This is my first kit from Trumpeter and first Soviet plane. Comes very well packaged in a sturdy box with a full color guide of decal placement and body paint. The instructions are mainly a visual guide and not all part's color are indicated so one has to use their own guess. Some small body parts are difficult to put into place and the wing flaps are three separate pieces on each wing allowing one to build open or closed. Same with canopy, three separate pieces. Same with cockpit which is very detailed except for the instrument panel. The cockpit assembly fits into the fuselage better than any kit I have built. The instructions are vague giving one a pictorial about where to use glue or not and other indications but not including them later. If one wants the propeller to spin one will have to figure a way to install it with out gluing it in place. I used a rubber propeller hub from another kit with a very small dot of glue to hold it. The sprues are very clean of flash and not one piece had to be cleaned up. The instructions also indicate photo-etch parts and how to use them but there were no photo-etch parts included in this kit. The tail wheel part is somewhat weak and may be easily broken. The nose gun barrels are super tiny and installed separately. Finally, I modeled the white version which made it look more like a racer rather than a military fighter which I regretted.

I bought this kit for two reasons. First, I had never built anything from Trumpeter and I wanted to see how their quality was. Second, I wanted to try a set of 3D Decals and Quinta makes a set for this model. The kit itself is straightforward. It contains roughly 75 parts and all of them are used. The fit is good but not perfect. A little bit of putty is needed along the wing roots. But that's not unusual. I wouldn't call this a palette cleanser per se but it is simple enough in construction so as to be acceptable for a beginner. Having said that the interior lacks much detail. There is no decal for the instrument panel, nor seatbelts. If you glue the canopy closed I suppose you would not really notice that. But this canopy can be displayed open and the lack of detail would be apparent. Enter the Quinta 3D decals. While removing/sanding some of the interior reliefs can be tedious and/or scary, the added detail is well worth it. In sum the kit is worth both the time and the money. But if you want to show an open canopy then I would absolutely invest in an after-market detail set of some sort.

The earlier Soviet fighter were like 30's racers; the Il 6 like the bee gee racer, and the MIG 3 like the inline racers it flew against and didn't make for a very good fighter in either event. the kit is recommended for experienced by Trumpeter and I don't see why. There isn't a great deal of difficult detail and it fit together fairly well. and didn't taker long to assemble with a minimum of putty and sanding I went for the sky gray markings, making it a bit unusual. it didn't take much time at all to assemble, a mixed blessing really. but it makes a nice fit in my WWII collection.

I forgot to tell y'all that this kit does not include a pilot. WAH!