Mig15 bis in 1/48 by Tamiya.

[Geek44]

This is my Mig15 bis built for a groupbuild elsewhere. It's a North Korean aircraft but flown by a Soviet pilot. American pilots encountered marked differences in the training and skill displayed by these opponents and dubbed them 'Honchos.' This particular aircraft shows three kills in the usual Soviet manner of red stars behind the cockpit. The Mig15 can be arguably considered to be the last of the WW2 era jet aircraft. The engine was a reverse-engineered Rolls Royce Nene affording excellent climbing ability. What the Mig15 lacked, but the Sabre pioneered was the so called 'All Flying Tail' which was a configuration whereby the entire horizontal tail surface acted as the control surface...the Mig still retained hinged control surfaces.
This is the Tamiya 'clear' kit. It comes with a pretty basic interior including a fair representation of the engine. The tail section is designed with two 'clasps' so that it can be removed to display this engine but I chose to fill the holes and glue the tail in position. The rest of the fuselage is moulded in transparent plastic to enable the innards to be seen. Tamiya have been trying to gimmick up this kit for a while now. The last offering was exactly the same kit but the sprues were all plated with a mirror-like silver. These two ideas aren't bad but one wonders how to eliminate those pesky seams which only serve to make a model look more like a model.
I love this kit and I've built it twice now. As I typed the above...I had an idea to superdetail the engine and build a maintenance themed dio with one of these. Hmmmm.......









Peace.

[Whiterook]

Great write up, sir....good job! I've heard the term "Honchos" but didn't connect it to this!!! This is a beautiful bird, brother! One of my favorites of your collection mate!

[MAGNA]

Nice work Geek. That shape always says Korea to me. All the movies and pictures I see have these or a Sabre in them somewhere. Interesting about the wing on the Sabre too.
Having read your post the Mig does resemble the ME 262 when you look at the top view picture.

[Geek44]

I was wrong about the '15' being the last with the older tail design. The '17' was last. The Mig19 was the first Soviet with the 'all-flying-tail' and remains in front-line service in many airforces today. I have read that the Mig19 remains a threat to even fourth-gen Western aircraft despite its inability to carry substantial ordnance. In many ways, it's still a 'gunfighter' which is why I love it.

[Whiterook]

I've always liked the Mig, but you've peaked my interest up several notches, my friend!

[Geek44]

Yeah...I'm a Mig man too. Anything from '1' to '21'...then they all start looking a bit 'generic' to me. I actually have a loose plan for a good Mig 21 kit if I can find one in 1/48. The India/Pakistan are a bit of a side interest for me aviation wise. The Pakistani airforce of the early seventies is a place where one can find Mig 19s and Sabres on the same airfield. Fascinating stuff. The Indians had a kind of 'elite' group of pilots who performed 'secret' missions in specially painted Mig 21 aircraft...pink camouflage and similar 'odd' things. Third World airforces yield great modelling subjects for a modeller like myself who only builds for the weathering...they aren't great with maintenance and being less able to afford spares and replacements, some weird and interesting looking aircraft are the result.


Pakistani Mig 19


Indian Mig 21 'Rattlers' Squadron


Indian Mig 19 from the aforementioned 'secret' squadron


Indian Sukhoi 7...this kinda thing makes my mouth water.

Peace.

[Whiterook]

Sweet pics! I LOVE that Indian Mig 19! I'd love to build that one in particular!!!

[Geek44]

You mean the Paki 19? The Indians are 21s.

[Whiterook]

Ooooops, I was looking at the capion under the picture above, that read, "Indian Mig 19 from the aforementioned 'secret' squadron"

[Roddoss72]

Salutations All

Well this has given me an idea a hypothetical Su-27 in Royal Australian Air Force Markings.

Regards

Roddoss72