Reviewed by Cookie Sewell

Trumpeter's 1/48 scle MiG-15bis is available online from Squadron.com

I know, I know – "I do armor, not airplanes."

But over the last 12 years I have become personally fascinated with the Korean Air War and as such have gotten into picking up 1/48 scale models of the aircraft which fought in that conflict. I had picked up the Tamiya kit some time back but when I opened the box of this one today at Nostalgic Plastic it was a "must-have" situation.

Trumpter have been getting better and better at their aircraft, and I was curious since reviews of their 1/32 scale MiG-15 noted it was just a pantographed version of the Tamiya kit. This one appears to have some basis in the Tamiya kit, but also appears to be an "in your face" attempt to beat Tamiya in every area.

It is a state-of-the-art kit with recessed panel lines and separate control surfaces (albeit the rudder sections are connected by a rod about 0.025" in diameter via an old-fashioned "Lindbergesque" hinge, but it doesn't seem out of scale.) Two styles of wing fences are included (solid and "notched") and are separate parts. There are a few ejector pin marks inside the landing gear bay and gun bay hatch, but appear to be fixable.

The nose section consists of a cannon bay with three separate cannon with magazines, an avionics bay, and an 11-part cockpit assembly with a clear acetate instrument panel and three-piece ejector seat. The canopy includes the bullet-proof glass bulkhead behind the pilot as a separate part.

While the model separates in the same manner as the Tamiya one for the engine bay, the Trumpeter engine takes some 40 parts to assemble.

There is a separate speed brake bay at the rear of the fuselage and the brakes may be displayed open or closed.

Markings are included for two aircraft: a camouflaged Soviet one and PLAAF #2249, reportedly the aircraft used by Chinese ace Wang Hai during the Korean air war.

I translated the Armada book on the MiG-15 by Arsen'yev and Krylov (which Armada hasn't bothered to print in English – yet) and it does a very good job of representing a MiG-15bis with the 0.8 square meter "Korean" air brakes.

Gee, a few more kits like this could make me switch back to the loyal opposition...

Cookie Sewell
AMPS

Review Copyright © 2002 by Cookie Sewell
Page Created 25 August, 2002
Last updated 22 July, 2003

Back to HyperScale Main Page

Back to Reviews Page