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Eduard Mig-15bis 1:144 - What are these parts


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Generally I consider it a good thing to get extra parts in a kit ... right up until you get no instruction on what they were for.  These are on the B sprue but there are no numbers and the directions do not reference them.  Its hard to tell from the photos but they are definitely not just straight "rods" of different length.  The thicker part stands proud by 1-2mm and they are of different lengths.  They might have been antennas, but that's a lot of plastic to cut away.  Any ideas?

IMG_1973[1].JPG

IMG_1974[1].JPG

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They are the Guns. Different versions had different gun attachments. What you see here is that one side of the mould was taken out and this resulted in the flat rectangular panels of the "other side". Obviously these parts are not for use! for the given version.

 

I have to look at my sprues if I have the same.

 

Best regards

Gabor

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I had a look at the 144 scale MiG-15 sprues I have.

Yes, those plastic rectangles were a way of blocking off parts no needed for a given version. Normally one would have a “lock” on the gate of the sprue to block it from plastic, but remember this is 144 scale with very small production tools. So I guess it was easier to take out other side of the tool and have a blank area to be filled later with plastic during production.

Here you can see the sprues from the early MiG-15 kit put on top of the later MiG-15 bis version.

 

XEmVrmq.jpg

 

Actually the MiG-15 kit is nice, I have built several versions of it and it has far superior detail to other 144 scale kits. But as always there is the down side of the story, these kits as well as the 72 nd versions have been long out of production at the company and they refuse to re-release them, rather use the few injection moulding machines they have to produce 48 th scale WW2 kits which make far more money for the Co. People are still forgetting that Eduard is still a small cottage company with very limited resources. Only a very limited number of kits can be designed, tooled and manufactured at a given time.  

 

Here are some photos of one of my builds. It was a special build for the Polish Master Co. so the aircraft was left in an overall base grey and only the turned brass parts showing some "colour".

 

EKsSMIK.jpg

 

 

hIS7J1B.jpg

 

 

p06KWah.jpg

 

 

EnGVRot.jpg

 

 

6miAtwk.jpg

 

dkaVCeJ.jpg

 

 

And here the "base" for the kit are cut gun barrels from the real MiG-15!     : )    : )     : )  Years ago I did buy a pair of real gun barrels,

well they were cut in half for "demilitarization" so from then on it was just scrap metal and not a real weapon. Nice rings were cut from 

them and polished. Look very nice and on my work bench serve as a base for bottles of paint or glues!  : )  : ) 

 

4EU3jnG.jpg

 

Best regards

Gabor

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If I can ask another question regarding the external fuel tank choices.  The kit offers three variations and recommends to check resources, but I've come up dry on my search for those used by the 518th IAP North Korea - my chosen version.  Any suggestion on which tank might have been used in '53 by the 518th IAP?  Or was it mission specific?

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Hi Cloud in the Wind

 

Have no idea about the particular squadron you are wanting to build. But . . .

Also don’t have on hand the 144 scale kit so could not identify the part numbers for you. Sorry. But here is a page from the very good 4+ book on MiG-15’s giving an excellent comparison between the different fuel tanks. I am sure from the drawings you will be able to identify plastic parts.

 

The external tanks were not mission specific but time frame specific for MiG-15 operations!

 

I dont have the book but I know that Russians produced an excellent book about the Korean war MiG-15's with lots of photos. I am sure it has some reference for the given unit. 

 

 

KtmJTAm.jpg

 

-  The original slipper fuel tank was the first to be used and supplied with aircraft and I would expect it to be in Korea.

 

Eduard made in 72nd scale a resin version of the slightly bigger 300 litre slipper tank, but it is a waste of money. The original tanks was smoth on the outside. It was made from aluminum but had a smoth surface. In comparison to this Eduard made it more "colourful" with rows of rivets. Well there is artistic license in work like this, but the resin tanks are supposed ot represent a scale copy of the real thing and not a fantasy of an Eduard designer. The other problem is that in Czech Republic in one museum there are still examples of this 300 Ptb tank. Eduard had a look at that particular example before making the resin set so it is not exactly clear why they did what they did. : (  : (  No real surprise there!

 

-  Later a bigger 400 litre external tank was made from several sections of welded aluminium and this was the most common version used on MiG-15’s. Also seen on MiG-17’s later. In operational service it was often seen with dents all over its surface due to it thin aluminium construction.

 

-  The two part late version external fuel tank is applicable only for later years of operations, like 1960’s 70’s mostly. To save on aluminium a simpler Bakelite tank was designed. It is easy to identify it from a simpler attachment pylon, smooth surface and also of the metal tape in the middle connecting/holding together the two parts. The fins were also different from the welded metal version.

 

Hope this will help.

 

Best regards

Gabor

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