ya-gabor Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 ICM has released the down scale of its 48th MiG-25RBT kit. The kit is here. Received it at the weekend. I am both happy and sad . Will explain soon why. Best regards Gabor Quote Link to post Share on other sites
janman Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 Finally someone has it! Tried to buy one a couple of weeks ago when my LHS said they have it in store. They were all gone by the time I got there... Anyway, I've been reading about it on some Russian forums and it seems it has some (smaller) issues but nothing dramatic. I would be eager to see what's in the box! 😯 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ya-gabor Posted November 12, 2018 Author Share Posted November 12, 2018 Hi Janman, The kit has been out for more than a month now and I have seen many photos of it all around. Not only on Russian forums. There were some excellent sprue photos on modelforum dot cz. At first glance I did not understand what they are doing. This is the 48th scale which has been out for what, years now. Then I seen that it is 72nd. :)) A local kit shop had it for some time and noone was interested in it. A friend ordered it and gave it to me at the weekend model show near me. As far as I can see it is from a German wholesale company. Yes, it has some minor issues (which kit is perfect????) it is possible to correct them (most). My point is that it is basically a scale down of the 48th scale kit and when it was released years ago a lot was analized about it, problems shown. Still the manufacturer missed an opportunity to make the correction and by doing so have a near perfect kit! When I mention problems some people miss the point: It is an excellent kit and will have few more of them in stash in the future. Best regards Gabor Quote Link to post Share on other sites
janman Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 2 minutes ago, ya-gabor said: When I mention problems some people miss the point: Oh, they certainly do. 🙂 I do understand your reasoning through. A good kit is released, people give suggestions on making it even better. Later the same type is released in another scale, nothing happened and old mistakes remain. Frustration. Better check those Czech photos. I hadn't noticed them before. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ya-gabor Posted November 12, 2018 Author Share Posted November 12, 2018 Sorry I did not make any sprue photos. Only some details which interested me. Will show what I have. The fact is that I cut most of the parts to get into this as fast as possible. The Czech photos are somewhere here: https://www.modelforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=95825&start=5595 Best regards Gabor Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ya-gabor Posted November 12, 2018 Author Share Posted November 12, 2018 At the weekend we had near me a small local model show and I did get this new ICM MiG-25 RBT kit (kit № 72 172). It is all in 72nd scale and the kits basically represents a down scale of the ICM MiG-25RB RBT kit in 48th. Some things were simplified of course due to the scale, break down was changed and parts number is smaller. Based on criticism of the 48th kit the company made some changes and in the next release already had a modified nose section and the intake top lip was also changed. A new decal was made. The same corrected sprues were issued under Revell label for a better reach of the Western markets. In the meantime the CAD plans were down scaled and a most welcome kit was released about a month ago. The bomber / recon version of the Foxbat has not been kitted, never ever before so it was about time to have it. It is a true down-scale kit and it follows the years (ages) ago released ICM MiG-25PD kit (kit № 72 171) in its line of products. In comparison to a true down scale several new frames were added to the 72nd version to reflect the changes. This includes Frame F which has the intake top lip parts, two versions, the brake parachute housing in both early and late version and the engine exhausts for the “long” version of the R/RB versions. Sprue G has the RBT nose section separately. It is evident that we will have more Foxbats with time from ICM and there are several common sprues. The kit box has a nice glossy outer cover. It is just basically a soft top under which a hardboard box hides with all the kit parts. Good protection is given to the sprues which are packed in plastic bag with clear parts separately in a small bag. I like the decals. They did change the stencils to black versions from the blue on the 48th scale kit. Only the very few first production airframes had the traditional blue stencils of the Gorkiy aircraft factory. All production fighters and recon-bomber versions had black and red stencils. Nicely printed, with some very fine details included on the two small decal sheets. A perfectly printed 24 page instruction booklet is included. Clear parts are perfectly clean and beautiful. Had a close look at the nose section with a quick dry run. It fits perfectly and the recon bay panel is nice too. The camera windows are given as a kind of lens from the transparent sprue. Don’t really like it but it would be no problem to change it. The engine exhaust is nice too. Had a dry run here too. The fit is good and it looks detailed enough. Sure we will have some extras coming from aftermarkets. Now to some problems that I talked about in the original post. One issue of the original kit was the cross section of the long cover on top. On the original aircraft it has a perfect semi-circular cross section all the way back to the parachute housing. What we get in the new kit is a squashed top surface. This was a problem on the 48th kit and it is sad that the opportunity was missed to correct this. Why is this interesting??? ICM many years ago did the MiG-21PD kit (Kit № 72 171) and it had a perfect top with a very nice round section. I understand that for both the 48th and 72nd kit ICM wanted to start from scratch but there are details which were designed correctly so many years ago. Why not look at it and use it on the new kit. . . . Here is the old kit: And here is the new kit Don’t get me wrong I don’t want to bring back the old kit (still have it and will keep it) but lessons from it should have been used on the new kit in design phase. Yes, it is possible to sand it down to the correct cross section. I did it on the 48th kit but be careful as the inside wall is also square (and not round) shaped and you will get a very thin edge which could result in warping of the top surface or even braking if the sanding is overdone. Best regards Gabor Quote Link to post Share on other sites
janman Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 Okay, the spine is a letdown, albeit a small one. The rivet/fastener details on the ventral side and tail look a bit Trumpeterish (too big, only one pattern). Does it look better live? I also remember reading (from Russian guys) about the lack of raised weld lines on certain parts of the fuselage. All in all I think I like it and want one. 🙂 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ya-gabor Posted November 12, 2018 Author Share Posted November 12, 2018 13 minutes ago, janman said: All in all I think I like it and want one. 🙂 I think I will have to change the title to “ Excellent kit” . . . Yes, I also think it is a good kit and I want few more. The point of this forum was to show the kit in the first place and to draw attention to some problems and possible solutions. There are several other points that I want to show, both good and bad but it takes time to write it all up and take the photos. I do it as I can and show the kit to those who want to see a little under its skin. Best regards Gabor Quote Link to post Share on other sites
janman Posted November 12, 2018 Share Posted November 12, 2018 4 minutes ago, ya-gabor said: There are several other points that I want to show, both good and bad but it takes time to write it all up and take the photos. I do it as I can and show the kit to those who want to see a little under its skin. I'm looking forward to seeing further insights! I know what you mean, Gabor. These kind of posts are the essence of this forum. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RCarlson Posted November 13, 2018 Share Posted November 13, 2018 Thanks for the information Gabor. I look forward to your build and info. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Don Posted November 13, 2018 Share Posted November 13, 2018 Whoa...I want!! Thank you for posting those pictures and sharing your thoughts and knowledge with us. Now I need to find one... Regards, Don Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ya-gabor Posted November 14, 2018 Author Share Posted November 14, 2018 14 hours ago, RCarlson said: Thanks for the information Gabor. I look forward to your build and info. Thanks for the comment. But sorry I have at the moment no plan what so ever to build the kit. This is just a look inside the box and some tips for those who are building it. I was surprised that till now there was little news about this kit. I quess a lot of people missed the point that this is 72nd scale and confussed it with the earlier 48th kit. Certainly they look very similar! :) Best regards Gabor Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RCarlson Posted November 14, 2018 Share Posted November 14, 2018 10 hours ago, ya-gabor said: Thanks for the comment. But sorry I have at the moment no plan what so ever to build the kit. This is just a look inside the box and some tips for those who are building it. I was surprised that till now there was little news about this kit. I quess a lot of people missed the point that this is 72nd scale and confussed it with the earlier 48th kit. Certainly they look very similar! :) Best regards Gabor Thanks for the pictures and the tips though. I agree that there wasn't much discussion about the kits and seeing the info you provided above made me order one. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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