1/48 Trumpeter MiG-3 (early production)

Gallery Article by Scotty Diamond on Oct 21 2011

 

This is the second build of this kit that I have done and it really is a lot of fun to put together.  I added Eduard's Zoom set for the MiG-3 to detail the cockpit, but other than that small addition the detail provided is very complete - in fact, just some seat belts might have been all I needed, but the Zoom set has a lot of little things that do dress up and make the cockpit more busy. 

And busy the MiG front office was - looking at historical photos makes one wonder if the pilot was just an afterthought.  It makes an I-16 look roomy.  The plane was designed for high-altitude combat and excelled in that arena, but the Germans flew lower than the MiG's design called for and as a result the plane wasn't a match for the Bf-109's it came up against.  Many of them were destroyed while still on the ground.  It was also fitted with rocket rails for ground attack - a role it was not suited for at all.  Some exterior changes were made in the later production models to accommodate a more powerful engine but since by late '42 the designs of the new IL2 Sturmoviks were calling for the same engine the MiG-3 was shelved.  Other, more promising "one-offs" were made by the design team but Stalin decreed that the IL2 was "as important to the Red Army as bread and air" these designs were never implemented.

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I added some brass wire cables to the trim wheel on the starboard sidewall, and another to the oxygen bottle on the port side - these fade back behind the seat back when that is in place.  The interior was painted with a mix of Model Master Fulcrum Gray-Green and Fulcrum Light Blue, the tubular framing was painted Polly S Russian Topside Dark Gray.  Unfortunately, the gun charging handles, details added to the gunsight and instrument panel, and rudder pedals all pretty much vanish unless you use a bright light and dental mirror after the windscreen is in place.  The windscreen is molded as part of a panel so it has a clever seamless fit, but all the fine detail under it is hidden.  All of the canopy parts fit flawlessly and after gluing the windscreen and rear canopy in place with thinned white glue I fitted the hood with Uhu Tack putty using thin rolls of it between the canopy parts.

The cowling panels on the side and top of the engine compartment and propeller were primed with Tamiya Gloss Black out of a spray can and then painted with Alclad II White Aluminum for the engine panels and Aluminum for the propeller.  The back of the prop was then sprayed flat black as was the practice in real life to reduce glare.  The Alclad went on beautifully and was lightly buffed on the high points with Q-tips.

The underside of the plane was painted with my trusty Badger 360 using Tamiya Light Blue XF-23, and the topside sprayed with spray can Tamiya Pure White after masking the blue painted areas with Tamiya tape.  The metal cowl panels were first masked along the edge where they met the painted panels with Bare-Metal Foil strips so I could get it to conform to the contours and pressed down into the panel lines.  Then Tamiya tape covered the rest.  This way, when the masking was removed the bare metal areas looked just like individual panels after the wash since there was no overspray even inside the panel lines.  The Trumpeter star decals went down over a coat of Alclad Clear Gloss - the numbers came from an Eduard I-16 kit.  Then a second coat of clear gloss and the wash was applied.

Because it was a winter plane it was going to be dirty.  The interior was washed with a combination of oils and ProModeller Wash (Dark Dirt) and then dry-brushed with the original colors to pop out the highlights.  I grind pastel chalk sticks for the pigments I use on my models and here I slopped around various red-browns and gray-browns then blew the excess off to simulate the dirt and mud from the pilot and crew's boots.  It also dulled the semi-matte finish of the cockpit paints and oils.  Lastly, a silver pencil was used to "chip" the paint in some places and highlight panels and boxes.

The exterior got some heavy treatment of the same washes - especially around the parts of the plane that were metal, and the tail where a lot of dirt, snow, and mud would have been thrown around on landings and take-offs. After the washes were finished they were sealed in with Alclad Flat Coat which provided a dead flat finish. 

"Chipped" areas on the metal wing roots were made with some neutral gray paint and silver pencil.  Then the pastel chalks came out and simulated the exhaust trails, gun smoke, and plenty of dirt where appropriate.  Drops of the ProModeller Wash were wiped across the wings, front to back, to add a little dirt streaking here and there.  This, plus some of the same on the smooth wooden rear fuselage section broke up the stark white in those places.  Under the plane extra wear and weathering was applied around the wheel wells, struts, and blackened streaks from the rockets were swiped using pastel chalk.   After touching up the canopy and adding the EZ-Line antenna the kit was done and ready for the show.  In fact it still had the "new-model smell" since I finished it approx. 8 hours before the show started.

I took it to the 2011 Oregon Historical Modelers Society IPMS show at the Evergreen Air and Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon in September where the model won the Best WW2 Soviet Aircraft Subject award. 

Scotty Diamond

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Photos and text © by Scotty Diamond