Is this the worst model ever?

[The Rat]

I once read a review about one of the worst movies ever made, Plan 9 From Outer Space, and the writer used a phrase that has stuck with me; "It has to be seen not to be believed!" This example of the mold-maker's art(?) is definitely in that category. I found it in a local shop, Northstar Hobbies, and it may have been the result of somebody dumping an old collection as there were a few other unusual and rare items as well (anyone looking for a Frog Short Sealand?). The box art is obviously the first thing that assaults one's eyes:



It's identified as a Mig-19 on the side, but that misnomer is as far as anything involved in this venture gets to that aircraft, in fact this is decidedly less accurate than even the old Aurora attempt from the fifties. Not only does the artwork not look like one, but it gets even worse on the instructions:




Here's a scan of the two fuselage pieces, but unfortunately it doesn't do (in)justice to the pathetic pilot figure. He starts off with a slightly squashed head, develops scrunched shoulders, and ends up with one leg descending from the centre of his torso. Perhaps a victim of some dreadful Stalin-era eugenics program?



So of course I absolutely had to buy it before anyone else discovered this gem, $3.50 plus tax later and it was mine!  This is already a whiff in the sense that there has never been anything remotely like it outside of a drug-addled brain, so the obvious thing to do with it is to build it without any major modifications to it at all and let it be whatever it is. The wheel wells might be opened up to accept the crappy landing gear, the cockpit should be scratched together, and the intakes and exhaust should be given some semblance of an interior structure. The canopy is tinted a dark blue, but I'll pass that off as a factory accident or something. It will be a while before I get to it as there are others that are long overdue, but this one will be crying out from the stash. Stay tuned!

[John Howling Mouse]

It's a cruciform tail, which is the nearest thing to God's own "T-Tail" so it will be a beauty no matter what.
One of the last lines in Cyrillic does read "You bought it, suckah!" so I think the mfg themselves knew it was no
Tamigawa!!!   

[Jeffry Fontaine]

That is quite an impressive looking model.  I hope someone here can read the Cyrillic writing and decypher what it actually says in Russian.  Perhaps it is not a MiG but a MiL design for the same requirements?

[McGreig]

What a wonderful find!  I hope that it's not going to be too long before you build it.

This is already a whiff in the sense that there has never been anything remotely like it outside of a drug-addled brain

Except that the engines were arranged in tandem, so that only one exhausted under the fuselage, the other being in the tail, it looks a bit like the MiG I-320 or the La-200-02

[gooberliberation]

That actually looks like it'd be a cool and plausable looking model when built up. MiG-19 it'd never be, though.

[Mossie]

What a wonderful find!  I hope that it's not going to be too long before you build it.

This is already a whiff in the sense that there has never been anything remotely like it outside of a drug-addled brain

Except that the engines were arranged in tandem, so that only one exhausted under the fuselage, the other being in the tail, it looks a bit like the MiG I-320 or the La-200-02

Doesn't look too far off the original Su-15 either:



I disagree Rat, this is the best model ever!    Talking about Su-15, I got hold of a kit of the later Su-15 when I was a kid when a kit of any Soviet aircraft was hard to come buy & probably a best guess.  Going on memory (had a beer since then!), it had similar instructions to your kit.  As far as I remember, the Su-15 looked roughly like one (although it was good five or ten years before any decent photos where available) but I never did manage to put it together, the old 'fits where it touches' kind of kit.

[Weaver]

Well doh - it's obviously a McDonnell MiG Article-XF88 from their brief period of collaboration in the 1950s. Pity they left the supersonic propellor off the nose though.........

[puddingwrestler]

You're not thinking of the Aurora 'lets make something up and claim it's a soviet secret fighter' MiG 19 are you? (Originally released as a YAK-25 in 1953, re-released as the MiG with some updates a while later) It looks very cool, but also like nothing the soviets ever flew... which is a pity, cause it looks awesome!

[The Rat]

You're not thinking of the Aurora 'lets make something up and claim it's a soviet secret fighter' MiG 19 are you? (Originally released as a YAK-25 in 1953, re-released as the MiG with some updates a while later) It looks very cool, but also like nothing the soviets ever flew... which is a pity, cause it looks awesome!

It sure does!



They are commanding high prices today, oldmodelkits.com has that one listed at $200! But I'm certain that one day I'll find one gathering dust in a small town store for a few bucks, or maybe there will be another 'stash dump' at the LHS. It will then be snapped up at lightning speed.    Who knows, maybe it will even be re-released some day.

[B777LR]

If anybody feels they want to challenge me with something i cannot build, im always ready to try! Already did the Scarabei Mig-9 UTI, a dreadful kit!

[kitnut617]

It has the style of a Lavochkin, I'm sure I've seen something like this in The Complete Book of Figthers (Green/Swansborough)

[Supertom]

I dunno about you, but I wanna build this one: 



Say, is there another one available?  I'd like one too

[GTX]

Almost calls for a GB doesn't it?  "Worst model ever GB" or "Ugly Duckling to Swan GB"?

Regards,

Greg

[lancer]

This looks like a Soviet era kit, so there is it possible it was made that was as a disinfirmation/propaganda exercise??  Hmmm. Ideas for a GB there me thinks.

[Weaver]

"Red Star Dreaming" GB - the aeroplanes the Soviets would have liked us to think they had.....