will there ever be new versions or corrected KH MiG 25

[Petarvu]

Aftermarket stuff? There are a few items coming from a known aftermarket manufacturer. There have been a number of delays, with more pressing projects and a lack of specific references, but they *are* progressing. You probably won't see a release until the new year at this point - maybe February, maybe March.

On the plus side, it's not the only Russian jet being tackled.

If MiG-23 is other one I might get the idea...

Edited November 14, 2014 by Petarvu

[ReccePhreak]

Oh drat... no more popcorn in the bowl... g'bye then :)/>

Here you go:

[MoFo]

Edited December 5, 2014 by MoFo

[B.Sin]

Mr. MoFo, is that a computer generated image, or the finished product?

It does look beautiful!

Brad

[mingwin]

MoFo, those looks really great! when they'll be cast in resin... i'll be, 1 aftermarket closer to buy the plastic kit!

it's a big improvement over the kit's one! ...IIRC you'd also design wheels? ...now, to me, the biggest buggers that aren't addressed yet are the intakes (with compressor faces) and maybe tails...

[parche]

That kinda puts my scratch built ones to shame...

[Petarvu]

Here you go: :popcorn:/> :popcorn:/> :popcorn:/> :popcorn:/> :popcorn:/> :popcorn:/>

who,where,when?

[MoFo]

now, to me, the biggest buggers that aren't addressed yet are the intakes (with compressor faces)

[ReccePhreak]

now, to me, the biggest buggers that aren't addressed yet are the intakes (with compressor faces) and maybe tails...

No, what we REALLY need is a recce nose, since the kit exhausts are supposed to be the correct length for a recce bird, or that's what I read on the internet. <_<

Larry

[Petarvu]

:whistle:/>

Speak!

[pjh]

I very rarely post on any model forums, as folks who are A) more knowledgable about the subject and B)/> much better modelers will usually cover the topic much more thoroughly than I could ever hope to.

However, I seem to be one of the very few who have actually finished the Kittyhawk MiG 25.

Here is my two cents worth.

The kit is not well engineered. The CAD did not allow for the behaviour of thin plastic castings when they cool. The upper and lower fuselage halves are therefore warped very badly. The upper fuselage has an almost comically curved cross section on its short axis, and a less severe curve along the long axis.The lower fuselage warps unevenly, much worse around the burner cans than the intakes.

To correct the warp, and to give some desperately needed structural stability to the fuselage, I put in some intake trunking and a fuselage brace, onto which I glued a crude representation of the jet faces made from some surplus 1/35 Panzer IV engine bits

The flame holders in the burner cans are the wrong way round. They need to be cut out and reversed on an "umbrella" of plastic rod.

Cutting down the afterburner petals to represent a PD or PDS is well beyond my limited modelling skills. Much easier to modify the nose and wings to an RBS/BM

The FRUFRU models resin 25 BM nose will fit the kittyhawk front fuselage with only a tiny bit of shimming. Identify the attachment point of the nose, just ahead of the cockpit, and saw off the excess plastic. A tiny dorsal shim ~2 mm will spread the sliver of plastic ahead of the cockpit coaming. A "v" shaped shim on the ventral fuselage with the apex at the front of the nosewheel bay will then ensure an almost perfect fit. I put two brass rods in the resin nose, and threaded them back to lock the resin nose to the cockpit for stability, as it is a heavy nose and a very small gluing surface.

The wings: probably the most stupid bit of engineering that I have ever seen. There is a horrible join between the outer wing segment and the inner wing with a bizarre half hexagonal join. No matter which version you build this will require putty, sanding and re scribing, probably several times. The good news is that both the BM/RBS and PD/PDS outer wings are included. The difference in wing sweep between the different versions is not accounted for. I did not have a good plan for the recce wing, so I contented myself with some sanding, so my wing has much too narrow a chord.

Kitty hawk include a full allotment of Kh 58 "kilter" missiles in the box for the Mig 25 BM.

The launch rails are hilariously wrong, being a scale metre too long; However, they are very easy to correct. The pylons they attach to also need correction. I sanded mine down. Alternatively FRUFRU offer a set of KH58 pylons for the revell kit.

The rudders are too small, and kittyhawk do not seem to understand how they pivot in the real thing.

The cockpit is OK, however, the eduard PE would be very nice to give some definition to the canopy seal.

The undercarriage is well engineered, but the sit looks wrong, as if the plane was not fueled or armed.

The wheels are wrong, but it's easy to fill in the furrows and then use paint to suggest a raised sidewall pattern

My finished model looks drunk, as the warp in the fuselage threw off the anhedral on one wing. Appropriate for the "alcohol wagon" I suppose.

The nice thing about modelling an RBS or BM is that you get to cover up the acres of putty with a very nifty tactical paint scheme.

I apologize for not including any photos, as I do not have a photobucket account.

Real masochists can see the full horror on the Southern Maryland scale modelers webpage, where, month after month, I brought in my work in progress and ranted about poor engineering to my long suffering colleagues

Overall I would rate this kit at a difficulty rating of 0.7, where an Accurate miniatures Dauntless is a 0.1, and a Fonderie Miniatures Hampden is a 0.9 on the "Challenging injection moulded plastc airplane" model scale.

Patrick Haugh

[MarcDuhon]

It was a very poorly executed release.... I comment Kittyhawk for releasing interesting subjects... however I think they need to slow things down.... and spend more time refining their releases .... Innacuracy is one thing.... but a poorly engineered kit that is unbuildable without modification is non forgivable... just plain bad engineering... and those wingtips... what was that all about LOL

[Neeko]

This is Mr. Haugh's build- or at least two photos of it. Still beautiful in the end I think, and a testament to the skills of the builder despite the nightmarish experience.

[scvrobeson]

.... in your opinion. It's still a piece of crap kit. Sorry, but that's just a fact. It's very poorly researched and very poorly executed.

But of course, if you like it, by all means buy it, fondle it, build it, and have fun.

I'm not a linguist, but I believe that's just an opinion, not a fact. If they actually presented you with pieces of fecal matter in the kit, or you could build pieces of fecal matter out of the parts, then you could say it's a piece of crap kit factually. But right now you're just started another opinion and trying to pass it off as fact.

Now we'll return to your regularly scheduled programming. It's not a great kit. It has a lot of problems, but it looks good if you're willing to put the necessary work into it. Yes, the work shouldn't be necessary, but it is. So your choice is either the ancient Lindberg kit, or this one. Guess you take your choice, or wait for someone else to release one

[MoFo]

Apropos of nothing...

Any thoughts on the accuracy of the various drawings on Airwar.ru? Specifically around the vertical tails?

[DarkKnight]

so, is this kit salvageable with upcoming aftermarket bits (where are they???) or should I just ebay it and hope the upcoming Mig 31 will be more buildable?

[Nightfighter]

KH should go back and make it salvageable. The front fuselage doesn't even line up very well with the mid fuselage (mine's fallen off even though I glued it very well) so they should tool a new more accurate piece for that maybe plus the nose pitot tube isn't accurate for that type and of course the engines aren't right.

KH doesn't even remind you to put the bloody nose weight in the front before you glue it up.

[Jeffbmac1]

KH should go back and make it salvageable. The front fuselage doesn't even line up very well with the mid fuselage (mine's fallen off even though I glued it very well) so they should tool a new more accurate piece for that maybe plus the nose pitot tube isn't accurate for that type and of course the engines aren't right.

KH doesn't even remind you to put the bloody nose weight in the front before you glue it up.

[/quote

I sold my KH Mig-25 kit and all the extras I had with it because of these comments by many builders. Shame.

[Jennings]

so, is this kit salvageable with upcoming aftermarket bits (where are they???) or should I just ebay it and hope the upcoming Mig 31 will be more buildable?

Everything I've seen and heard says no. I bought the kit then sold it almost immediately. Even if it were buildable with anything like a modicum of ease, the fact remains that it's a hopeless mish-mash of features of different MiG-25 variants, not adequately or accurately portraying any of them.

[foxmulder_ms]

so, is this kit salvageable with upcoming aftermarket bits (where are they???) or should I just ebay it and hope the upcoming Mig 31 will be more buildable?

Absolutely yes. Look at the pictures of finished ones around. It is no worse than.., let's say Academy Flankers.

[Nightfighter]

Absolutely yes. Look at the pictures of finished ones around. It is no worse than.., let's say Academy Flankers.

Some might say they're not hard to beat and it's not good enough that a newly tooled kit has such inaccuracies. It's also bad news getting a new inaccurate kit as this could stop other manufacturers doing the same subject.

[Jennings]

Absolutely yes. Look at the pictures of finished ones around. It is no worse than.., let's say Academy Flankers.

That's very much a matter of opinion. I'd say it's ***way*** worse than the Academy Flanker. While it has some substantial problems, at least the Academy Flanker has the features of the type of a/c it's designed to portray. The KH Foxbat is a complete mashup of pieces and parts from various Foxbat variants, and doesn't portray any variant even remotely accurately.

True, nobody is going to mistake the KH Foxbat for a 737, but it's a *****very***** long way from being anything remotely resembling an accurate replica of a MiG-25.

[dehowie]

Well considering the Academy Flanker is over 4 feet short i would say it easily has bigger issues than anything remotely close with the KH Mig.

The KH Mig-25 has incorrect burner cans..no intake plumbing (fixed with plugs) and the rest is minor stuff no body would know and the majority wouldn't care about.

And it takes some thought to build as well.

Academy and the Flanker sure it looks like one but it has far bigger dimensional issues than the big Mig.

Its so very typical that a 1 meter discrepancy in length gets dismissed yet a series a minor issues gets a mole hill turned into Mt Everest.

Our Russian experts who had their egos bruised have made certain at every turn to elevate every problem and perceived problem into a world ending event with the Mig.

I mean "OH MY GOD THE PANEL LINES ON THE TAIL ARE WRONG"!

Not all of them mind you just a few yet two pages later it continued.

To tell you the truth after there childish tantrum throwing and beating of the drums I would be glad to see KH ignore Russian stuff and leave our Russian accuracy mafia left wallowing with there beloved Revell Mig-25 forever.

I would as a manufacturer not touch anything Russian as these ego driven self appointed accuracy KGB deserve zero for the attitude displayed during the entire KH discussion.

The new AH-1 and Panther is lovely so bring on the early Sabres.

I very much doubt we will see the cool Recon Migs with those awesome cranked noses.

You can thank the Russian model mafia for that.

Just compare these images for the huge issues pointed out..lol.

If your not happy with that I would recommend giving up on modeling as you would never be satisfied with any kit..ever. It is just typical of the criticism levelled at the kit.

Stuff that doesnt exist and stuff so minor as to be worthless in any debate on accuracy.

Especially considering the Academy SU-27 is only a mere 4' to short.

Edited February 10, 2015 by dehowie

[foxmulder_ms]

That's very much a matter of opinion. I'd say it's ***way*** worse than the Academy Flanker. While it has some substantial problems, at least the Academy Flanker has the features of the type of a/c it's designed to portray. The KH Foxbat is a complete mashup of pieces and parts from various Foxbat variants, and doesn't portray any variant even remotely accurately.

True, nobody is going to mistake the KH Foxbat for a 737, but it's a *****very***** long way from being anything remotely resembling an accurate replica of a MiG-25.

And yours is not an opinion..? Geez!

For this Mig, you basically only need exhausts and it will turn into a very lovely bird. You need much more aftermarket stuff for a Flanker: Nose, exhaust, pylons, missiles, cockpit, pitot tube, wheels... and after all these you still have a "short" (some say a 1:50) flanker. I still buy and build them though :) Next to this, Mig-25 is a great model.

[foxmulder_ms]

Well considering the Academy Flanker is over 4 feet short i would say it easily has bigger issues than anything remotely close with the KH Mig.

The KH Mig-25 has incorrect burner cans..no intake plumbing (fixed with plugs) and the rest is minor stuff no body would know and the majority wouldn't care about.

And it takes some thought to build as well.

Academy and the Flanker sure it looks like one but it has far bigger dimensional issues than the big Mig.

Its so very typical that a 1 meter discrepancy in length gets dismissed yet a series a minor issues gets a mole hill turned into Mt Everest.

Our Russian experts who had their egos bruised have made certain at every turn to elevate every problem and perceived problem into a world ending event with the Mig.

I mean "OH MY GOD THE PANEL LINES ON THE TAIL ARE WRONG"!

Not all of them mind you just a few yet two pages later it continued.

To tell you the truth after there childish tantrum throwing and beating of the drums I would be glad to see KH ignore Russian stuff and leave our Russian accuracy mafia left wallowing with there beloved Revell Mig-25 forever.

I would as a manufacturer not touch anything Russian as these ego driven self appointed accuracy KGB deserve zero for the attitude displayed during the entire KH discussion.

The new AH-1 and Panther is lovely so bring on the early Sabres.

I very much doubt we will see the cool Recon Migs with those awesome cranked noses.

You can thank the Russian model mafia for that.

Just compare these images for the huge issues pointed out..lol.

If your not happy with that I would recommend giving up on modeling as you would never be satisfied with any kit..ever. It is just typical of the criticism levelled at the kit.

Stuff that doesnt exist and stuff so minor as to be worthless in any debate on accuracy.

Especially considering the Academy SU-27 is only a mere 4' to short.

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