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Jumped straight into the kit on Thursday evening after getting it.

Like the kit! At a glance there are some very fine details in it, like cockpit side walls, instrument panel, nice panel lines . . .

 

 

I was not sure about the engine exhaust when the first photos of the sprues came out but when you start to assemble the plastic parts. It is complex, but also very simple and straight forward! Excellent design with some unconventional ideas fitted into it. Perfect location and positioning of parts but what is far more important they all fall in place and there are virtually no seams anywhere!!!!! If only they would have added a bit more fine detail to the exhaust petals on the outside like on the instrument panel. Still it is great, resulting in a very complex exhaust!!!

 

 

To go with the kit the fantastic Master pitots have also arrived. Brass and 3D printed antennas make a perfect combination for a superb and what is far more important an authentic pitot! More on this later.

 

 

Without going so far ahead, let’s see what we get from the Ukrainian ICM company.

 

ICM%2025RBT%201_zpslqd0a9ey.jpg

 

 

Instead of a fancy soft box we receive something else. OK, there is a fancy and very attractive box art showing one of the last operational Foxbats in Russia. It was the well documented MiG-25RBT  red 46 with lots of colourful markings on its nose. It will be difficult to say No to this marking. So there is a perfectly printed box art but in reality it is only a cover with an open bottom. It goes over the very sturdy cardboard box which contains the kit part. I like this far more than the overall very soft colour boxes of other manufacturers. The cardboard box is a welcome response to todays changing times when postal delivery from different internet shops takes over the over the counter buying of kits in dedicated model shops. Times have changed and now a good protection is required from the possible hazards of postal delivery. My example has arrived to me doing a round trip around Europe with lots of stop on the way and still there was no visible damage to any of the parts. So it seems that the hard cardboard box is working as well as the tight packing of the sprues!

 

 

ICM%2025RBT%202_zpszypluuez.jpg

 

 

Inside the sturdy box is a one single plastic bag jammed full with sprues. OK it would have been better if the individual sprues were in separate bags but then a far bigger box would have been required. But here all the sprues are together and the fact is that the bag is so full that there is not a chance for the plastic parts to move around and cause damage to other parts. Of course the transparent parts are in a separate plastic bag and so a perfect protection is provide to canopy parts.    

 

ICM%2025RBT%203_zps7o6vmhlj.jpg

 

 

First look at the instruction sheet gives a good impression with clear guidance for the assembly. There are two decal sheets. One for the in-hand RBT examples with the other providing some stencilling which I would imagine will be a common decal for future releases.

 

 

More soon,

just as weather improves and I have a chance to take some photos of the kit parts. For the moment it is all grey and there is some form of snow coming down from above so after some 15 or so years it will be a whitish X Mas here (not real deep snow but at least the countryside is a sort of white).

 

 

It is a good opportunity on this day to wish everyone a Merry X Mas no matter where in the world you are and what you believe in!

(I most certainly envy those who are somewhere down under are at this moment and have an excess of sunshine and pleasant warm weather!!! )

 

 

Best regards

Gabor

Edited by ya-gabor
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Going back to my library took out few books and publications on the MiG-25. The Ukrainian Aviatcia I Vremja magazine (2004/5) had scale drawings of the Foxbat family. Still believe it is the best around, not perfect but very good. These drawings by Oleg Putjmakov was first published back in very early 1990’s and has been used in many publications since then. The AiV is scaled up to 72nd and gives an idea of different versions but mainly concentrates on the MiG-25P (the first version) and the MiG-25RBV for which four view drawings are given. The first publication of this drawing I have from the Polish book MiG-25 Stalowa Blyskawica published by Agencja Lotnicza ALTAIR in 1994. The book was by Jefim Gordon and Oleg Putmakow, it is over 20 years old but still has some excellent colour photos and lots of detail. Definitely worth finding!  There are many others including a 1995 publication by the Kiev based Arxiv-Press which explains well the differences and was published when the aircraft were still available for study. I only hope that one day the publisher will redo the book on quality paper and in full colour.

 

The Polish book

 

25book1_zps71a6af25.jpg

 

Sample of the drawings

 

25book2_zpse7cdfc7b.jpg

 

 

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Apart from these “hard copies”, real books about the Foxbat there are of course dozens of good walk arounds on the electronic net.

 

Best regards

Gabor

 

 

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Here is one very recent book. The No. 172 of the Famous Aircraft of the World. It is a reissue of the original book No.83 which was released 2000. Actually the new book is a complete rethink of the original one and little of the original photos remain in the new issue. If I had to choose between the two books I would prefer the first version which had better photos and some interesting drawings of details.

 

ICM%2025RBT%204_zpsrqwpa4fl.jpg

 

Here are the two decal sheets. Nicely printed with excellent register. One for the RBT with all the individual markings while the other one is for the stencils. Now here is something that I am not sure of. In the past decades I had the chance to have a closer look at about a dozen Foxbat. Most of them were in the original paint scheme where all the original markings were visible. What I have seen was all black and not blue stencils as on the decal. Well I was told by some friends that there were blue versions of the stencils too but I am yet to see any proof of that. Apart from my own experience all the reference photos I have show black stencils. So  . . .

But to help us the Begemote decal sheet gives black ones too.

 

ICM%2025RBT%206_zpsidims3b9.jpg

 

ICM%2025RBT%207_zpsm166sign.jpg

 

 

With X Mas over and the good weather back had the chance to make some photos. Since last time I had a closer look at the parts cutting many of them so here you will not get any nice overall sprue photos (one can find them in different reviews on the net) but rather some details, parts fits, things I like or don’t like. As stated previously the box is full of sprues and parts.

 

ICM%2025RBT%205_zpsgqlda3yf.jpg

 

Here are some of the main parts cut and tested.

 

ICM%2025RBT%208_zpsi1prdbve.jpg

 

 

One interesting design idea is that three structural frames are provided in the kit which ensure that we get the outlines right. I like the way it works!

 

 

ICM%2025RBT%209_zpsy4ikarbe.jpg

 

 

Well here are some of the fine details which look fantastic. Few of the cockpit main parts. The details are as good as many aftermarkets. The only drawback here are the actual instrument faces on the instrument panel. None are provided and you only get a transparent part which has “towers” of clear plastic going into all the instrument holes. I have seen the same solution from ICM on the I-16 WW2 fighter so it must be a thing for them!

 

 

ICM%2025RBT%2011_zpsmb5byrb4.jpg

 

     

Some instrument faces will have to be found in the spares box.  So will have to do some modeling . . .   This is what is this hobby about.

 

Best regards

Gabor

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Following with great interest. I am going to start mine soon as well. Might do it as something other than an RBT though. Are you going to do RED 46? 

 

Cheers, 

 

Dave

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Hi Andrey,

WOW, this is excellent!!!  :woot.gif:  Thank you Kotey for the information and the superb photo. :worship:  I was hooping that You or Nazar will respond and show a different version for the stencils.

This is why I wrote that it could be only me who seen only black versions. The kit is good and so the decals are also good! :thumbsup:

 

Was this airframe on your photo an early RB? or something else??? 

 

Best regards

Gabor

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Gabor, thank you very much for your nice review and reference reommendations. I am glad, that ICM started to do 1:48 jets and hopefully, the MIG-25 is the begin of a series and they will continue with post WW2 aircraft. I don´t giving up my dream of an accurate MIG-23BN in 1:48.

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To quote Will Smith from ID4 "I HAVE GOT TO GET ME ONE OF THESE!"

 

Thanks for the look. I'm hopeful they do the two seater trainer, but even the recon bird looks like a nice choice for a build, especially with either the Libyan or Iraqi markings for a splash of color.

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14 hours ago, parche said:

Are you going to do RED 46? 

 

 

Hi Dave,

No way red 46! And this is not because of the nose difference. There is a plan but I am still not sure what will come out of it. We will see. :coolio:

 

Best regards

Gabor

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Here is one thing in the box that I forgot about. The transparent sprue. It has the windshield, the canopy, four camera ports, the back of the instrument panel  and the two landing lights. Have to say that the canopy looks fantastic, but please judge for yourself.

 

 

ICM%2025RBT%2012_zpsgw5pcfwr.jpg

 

 

To see how good it is, I did the “print test” to see the amount of distortion on the transparent parts. Once again everyone can judge for themselves if it is good or not.

 

ICM%2025RBT%2013_zpsxakxzspp.jpg

 

 

 

One puzzling thing is the instrument panel and its back. It is made from transparent plastic and you insert it into the back of the solid panel straight into the holes of the instruments. The fit is perfect and the ends of the rods on the transparent part come up all the way to the front of the instruments giving a nice, near perfect representation of the real instruments. The only question is where are the dials of the instruments. OK, how much will be visible of them? It is possible that little if anything and you only get the nice glazed instrument faces with the ICM solution. Virtually days ago I have seen the sprues of the latest ICM World War 2 kit, the I-16 and it has exactly the same solution for the instruments. It seems that someone in the ICM design department loves this solution.

 

 

ICM%2025RBT%2014_zpsfqaluelq.jpg

 

 

The transparent back is inserted into the instrument panel

 

ICM%2025RBT%2015_zpsgz864np4.jpg

 

Here is something else of the microscopic  details given in the kit. The control column with the grip and the brake leaver on its front. Looks good to me.

 

 

ICM%2025RBT%2016_zpsahg5hhgo.jpg

 

 

Best regards

Gabor

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There is still a lot to see on the kit here is something else that I will need for the kit. The Polish Master Co. has produced a perfect pitot tube for the Foxbat family. There are two sets available. One of them is for any other MiG-25 interceptor kits, of the later version, that is for the PD and the PDS interceptors. This set is AM-48-130 and it has the base for the pitot and the pitot itself as a separate part. The advantage of this two part set is that you need to glue in place during construction only the base to the radome. The fragile pitot itself can be left to the very last moment of building. This is excellent.

 

ICM%2025RBT%2017_zpszsspcefw.jpg

 

For the kit in question we have another set, it is AM-48-129 and intended for all other versions of the MiG-25 which had those very distinct antennas on it. Building on the success of the previous “new generation” pitots this set also incorporate 3D printed original parts for the antennas. Here we have three parts, once again the base, the 3D printed central part with antennas and the pitot itself.

 

 

ICM%2025RBT%2018_zpsvyeuypad.jpg

 

As you can except the brass parts are perfect but what about the antennas. They are 3D printed and made from a soft resin so when installed they will not brake off that easily. The antennas are of course beautifully at right angle, you don’t have to play around and trying to get it right by gluing individual etched antennas. With this set just slide the three parts together and you have a prefect pitot, just add paint.

 

 

ICM%2025RBT%2019_zps4psvfsuv.jpg

 

 

The 3D parts are as good as you can get them and have some incredible fine detail on them.

 

 

ICM%2025RBT%2020_zpsk9lfoa16.jpg

 

There is not much more that can be said about this, have a look at the photos and judge for your self.

 

ICM%2025RBT%2021_zpsbks6iax9.jpg

 

Best regards

Gabor

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  • 2 weeks later...
6 hours ago, dylan said:

any progress on this one?

Sorry!!!  Two words: laziness and Photobucket.

X Mas and New Year, lot of food, a bit of drink and some other family priorities but the Foxbat kit is in the works. (Of course had to play U2’s “New Years Day” on 1st of January and watch the new years concert with Blue Danube from Vienna) :worship:   Had a lot of things to do on the kit already and it was all photo documented on the way.

But

laziness: have to write it all up and post it.

Photobucket: it is a real pain in the axx!!!! I have real problems with it! It is so slow, if working at all! By the time it allows you to upload photos it has downloaded/opened a hell of a lot of completely useless/annoying crap!!! This is so frustrating!!!!  :bandhead2: :bandhead2: :bandhead2: :bandhead2:

 

Plan was for the weekend to add few posts but we had our first 2017 Modelling Club meeting on Saturday with some good discussions and in the end most of Saturday was gone. Some more research in the archive, doing some plastic work and also some resin casting for the Foxbat on Sunday left no time for up-dates.

 

I try hard to do something very soon. Sorry again. The biggest obstacle (mental obstacle) is the Photobucket!!! At least on ARC there is a possibility to add a photo (just one photo) with a post, even if it has to be smaller than 100 kb. I want to add more photos so this is not a real solution but at least something that I sometimes use. Unfortunately there is no such possibility on other forums.

 

 

Best regards

Gabor

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no need to apologize Gabor. you dont owe us anything. Im  just a fan of your work and am really looking forward to see what a master can do with this kit.   I posted some opinions on the construction sequence that you might want to read before the major construction starts. 

 

I dumped photobucket for smugmug a few years ago. its about $30 usd a year but worth it.

 

cheers

Dylan

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1 hour ago, dylan said:

no need to apologize Gabor. you dont owe us anything. Im  just a fan of your work and am really looking forward to see what a master can do with this kit.   I posted some opinions on the construction sequence that you might want to read before the major construction starts. 

 

I dumped photobucket for smugmug a few years ago. its about $30 usd a year but worth it.

 

cheers

Dylan

Hi Dylan,

 

I do owe to myself, as I have made a promise to myself to do a detailed look at the kit just as I did few year ago of that other Foxbat. And I owe to those readers who were looking at this site for a closer look at a new kit, the good point, the bad points, things to look out for and what to do when building the kit.

 

Yes I have seen your build and the frustration with the assembly. For the moment I did only sub-assemblies of other parts, some detailing but also a dry run with the major parts. I know it was only a dry run so it is not a final verdict but from what I have seen the fit was good. One area of problem was with the nose section, where a bigger gap was encountered and the photo pallet.

 

Unfortunately I have experienced in the past with other kits a tendency where sub-assemblies are built and if even a very minor misplacement of parts is made it can build up later on into a very big gap on joining major parts. While on pre trial everything was fitting well. This is a problem where the kit is broken down by the designer into major sub-assemblies which are intended for independent construction. In comparison to this a kit where parts are added one by one to build up the whole fuselage could avoid this problem. The sub-assembly kind of kit has its advantages and faster build rate can be achieved.

 

Thanks for the warning and I try to avoid the problem with my build. Has to be said that the intake inner side panels are a very tight fit and do not allow for any mistakes! So I will try to make this joint first and build around it the rest of the intake. We will see how it goes. :coolio:

 

Best regards

Gabor

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Now where was I? It would be important to make a note of the surface details. The MiG-25 Foxbat was a welded aircraft with only few of the service panels secured to the surface with the traditional fast locks or screws. There are virtually no rivets of any sort on the airframe. The main parts are built from big panels of steel which have on the inner surface reinforcement ribs which were spot welded to the surface and the bigger panels welded to each other. So what you should have on the surface are mainly weld lines with only some panels with traditional “rivet line” around them. Many of the panels on one of the edges had hinges, some bigger some smaller. The top of the airframe was virtually clean, sides with a bit more panels and on the bottom many service panels. Here correctly with engraved panel lines and fasteners or screw heads.

 

ICM%2025RBT%2022_zpsfzgzi6s4.jpg

 

The designers of the kit tried to follow this faithfully, giving the best possible representation of the real aircraft on the kit. We all know that there is no such thing as a 100% perfect kit. The ICM MiG-25 is no exception. One will find panel lines going nowhere, stopping in the middle of nowhere, some panel lines are automatically repeated on the reverse side of the kit, which in many cases was not true. A bit of filling of the wrong lines and 15 minutes of sanding will make the corrections without problem.  

 

ICM%2025RBT%2023_zpsys4zy0mm.jpg

 

Has to be said that the ICM kit represents the MiG-25 RBT version with some details which are not applicable to all version. Also has to be said that during the long years the type was under manufacture (and service) there were an incredible number of changes made to it. It would not be possible to cater for all the fine detail differences of all version (I mean not only within the reconnaissance family but also within the aircrafts under designation MiG-25 RBT ), although some alternatives are provided in the kit. A detailed study of the particular aircraft that one is planning to build is essential!!!  I already started to make all the small conversions to the kit for it to correspond with the particular version I am building.

 

ICM%2025RBT%2024_zps6lvp6cs1.jpg

 

Some new panel lines were added, few hinges and some fine surface details. Also had to make correction to the fuel system and added filler caps (something that was completely missing from a recent MiG-31 kit and the manufacturer did not think it would be important even when it was pointed out). Well here the solution was easy, simply mark out the area required, click on it, drag it to the new position and paste it there. :coolio:

 

 

ICM%2025RBT%2025_zpsa2usfjj9.jpg

 

 

Have to mention the wheels also. The main wheels are made of two sides, the fit is fairly good. Tried a dry fit of them and they basically snap together with virtually no visible joint line. It was not easy to get them separated later.

 

ICM%2025RBT%2026_zpszujpvbki.jpg

 

The nose wheels are one part units with good details on the outer faces. Speaking of details, just on the airframe here two we will find both raised and engraved details. The raised lines represent the rubber mould lines on the side walls and they are just right, some will say even to fine. The running surface of the tyres have the engraved lines. Other manufacturers either over exaggerate these details or don’t provide it at all, relying on aftermarkets or themselves producing resin replacement tyres.

One could criticise that the tyres are not weighed. Well, as far as could see on real aircraft they had a minimal depression at the bottom, so I will just sand it down a bit.   

 

More soon

 

Best regards

Gabor  

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Hey Gabor this is great. Thanks for the update. I am interested in this kit even though it is not really the regular MiG 25. I think there are a few schemes I can find that would make it an interesting model. Those wheels look amazing and I don't think we will need any resin replacements. I have not ordered the kit as yet but will look at doing so soon.

 

As for your Photbucket woes, I used to use that but now I use Flickr. Seems much more user friendly. You can have a look at

 

www.flickr.com

 

I think you have to have a Yahoo account but that should be easy to set up.

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The question of fuselage roundness in front of the windshield has been raised in many forums as a unsolvable problem. It is interesting that no one has taken the time to have a closer look at this problem (if there is a real problem at all) and compare the photo to the real kit. It is fairly simple to compare the kit with the real airframe.

The main bulkhead separating the cockpit and the photo pallet compartment has numerous vertical sub frames. The photo compartment has ten such and the cut of the airframe in the MAI class room is at the forth such frame.  

 

 

ICM%2025RBT%2027_zpsglyhpddq.jpg

 

 

Based on scale drawings the forth frame was marked on the ICM kit nose. I added a bit of thin masking tape to it to make its location perfectly identifiable.

 

 

ICM%2025RBT%2028_zps2kjchh78.jpg

 

 

From an old business card a cross section was cut, first just rough then it was adjusted to perfectly fit around the given cross section of the nose. Of course a cross section gauge could have been used but it was easier, faster and more visual to make it this way. The result is the same.

 

ICM%2025RBT%2029_zpskwfuce9u.jpg

 

 

Here is the cross section of the kit at that particular frame which is the same as the frame visible on the MAI aircraft.

 

 

ICM%2025RBT%2030_zps2topey5p.jpg

 

And here is the photo taken by Ken “Flankerman” and which was used for illustration few years ago in another kits review.

 

 

ICM%2025RBT%2031_zpswbj4sanz.jpg

 

 

No one is forced in any way, just have a look at them and make your own decision.

 

 

Best regards

Gabor

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One serious problem was shown by Dylan here:

 

 

 

Houston we have a problem!

 

The problem is simple! There is no problem! The actual aircraft is built this way. There are several strakes on the side of the intake inner side. They channel boundary air in different directions, both up, down and inside. The one at the bottom is to guide air downward and it (the strake) ends at the bottom channelling air in between the engine bays and the fuel tank (if fitted). If you stand under the aircraft you can look forward and see through it in direction of flight! The area you are trying to fill in should be there!  Unfortunately this problem was not clear from the photos by Dylan at the time it was posted but exactly the same problem came to light on Britmodeller.  This is why I said that I don’t understand what the problem is and could not imagine such a big misalignment of parts!  There are some mistakes on the kit but nothing this big!!

 

 

Please look at the photos and it will be clear.

 

 

ICM%2025RBT%2032_zpsj4y5no3s.jpg

 

 

Here is the same area on the real aircraft, lookiing forward.

 

ICM%2025RBT%2033_zpsfvurrtns.jpg

 

Sorry but the MiG-25 is built this way!  Please dont try to correct this in your builds!

 

 

Best regards

Gabor

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