Airfix

kitbasher · December 15, 2009, 12:04:47 PM

Hanover CLIII, Mig-15 out (got one of the latter). Also the big beastie Mossie - hurrah! - impressive box but 'fraid I don't think I can justify £130 on one. Hope it is well received and sells well, though.

ysi_maniac · December 16, 2009, 10:28:31 AM

Can we propose 1/72 MiG-19, AMX, Centurion tank ... and some other goodies to the new managers of Airfix?

Thorvic · December 16, 2009, 11:39:18 AM

Quote from: ysi_maniac on December 16, 2009, 10:28:31 AM
Can we propose 1/72 MiG-19, AMX, Centurion tank ... and some other goodies to the new managers of Airfix?

They tend to focus on British subjects or replacing some of their worn out old but popular moulds.

However with the Centurion watch Trumpeter as there was a ready made family of Centurions that have appeared from China, so possible these will eventually be released as kits.

G

Mossie · December 16, 2009, 03:24:18 PM

Well, looking in some of my books & on the net I have come up with three different lengths (give or take a cm or two) from several sources all quoted for the MiG-15 Bis; 10.11m, 10.86m & 11.05.m, works out as 140mm, 150mm & 153mm respectively (all quote the same wing span interestingly, within 2cm). So that could well count for your 14mm discrepencey. But which is right?

Barry Krell · December 16, 2009, 03:29:21 PM

The one question that me and Bob asked was have Airfix done another 109G ie taken the old kit and based the new tooling around that? The old MiG 15 was well known as being overscale.

Mossie · December 16, 2009, 04:51:47 PM

If you measure the wingspan on each kit, it might give you an idea if one is over or under scale. If they are the same, then they've gone with different sources for the length.

The other possibility is that there was a natural variation in the MiG-15 of around a metre! I could imagine a few tens of centimetres since the MiG-15 was built in a time when if things didn't fit, you got a hammer & made it do so. A metre is a bit much though. The MiG-15 was produced all over the shop, were there variations at different factories?

Geoff · December 16, 2009, 06:21:59 PM

IIRC the old KP kit of the Mig-15 was quite accurate for size and angles etc. How does the new Airfix one compare with it?

kitbasher · December 17, 2009, 12:01:21 AM

Quote from: Mossie on December 16, 2009, 04:51:47 PM
The other possibility is that there was a natural variation in the MiG-15 of around a metre! I could imagine a few tens of centimetres since the MiG-15 was built in a time when if things didn't fit, you got a hammer & made it do so. A metre is a bit much though. The MiG-15 was produced all over the shop, were there variations at different factories?

Or maybe it expanded and contracted with the heat?

Geoff · December 17, 2009, 03:31:51 AM

Quote from: kitbasher on December 17, 2009, 12:01:21 AM
Quote from: Mossie on December 16, 2009, 04:51:47 PM
The other possibility is that there was a natural variation in the MiG-15 of around a metre! I could imagine a few tens of centimetres since the MiG-15 was built in a time when if things didn't fit, you got a hammer & made it do so. A metre is a bit much though. The MiG-15 was produced all over the shop, were there variations at different factories?
Or maybe it expanded and contracted with the heat?

That would be a millisecond before it vaporised! "Instant Sunshine"

Quote from: Geoff on December 16, 2009, 06:21:59 PM
IIRC the old KP kit of the Mig-15 was quite accurate for size and angles etc. How does the new Airfix one compare with it?

Sorry to answer my own question -
The new Airfix models has a fuselage that is longer than the KP kit and a much taller fin.
Modelmania recon the KP kit's fin is 2mm too high, and the Airfix one is about 2-3mm higher again.
The KP kit seems a reasonable fit over the plans in Modelmania (a Polish "walkaround"), and the 4+ plans.
I tried putting the leading edge of the wingroot as a fixed point and laid the KP kit over the Airfix one. The Airfix kit is longer than the KP kit fore and aft of the wing.
The various refs disagree about the length but only by a few inches. It seems to be around 10.1m
But the length of the Lim-5/Mig-17F is given as 11.36m/37' 3". I havn't measured it, but that would be about 1/2 inch longer in 1/72nd and thats what the differance looks like to the mark one eyeball, I wonder if they got confused?

Green Dragon · December 17, 2009, 06:55:09 AM

Anyone own a tape measure and live near a museum with a MiG15 and understanding staff!!

Paul Harrison

Geoff · December 17, 2009, 07:15:26 AM

It's a damm good excuse to get back to Prauge! lol

Thorvic · December 17, 2009, 10:46:51 AM

Quote from: Geoff on December 17, 2009, 07:15:26 AM
It's a damm good excuse to get back to Prauge! lol

Theres one in Cosford Geoff, or Yeovilton for that matter.

Anybody the Aerofax on the Mig-15 ?

G

McGreig · December 17, 2009, 03:26:33 PM

Quote from: Thorvic on December 17, 2009, 10:46:51 AM
Anybody the Aerofax on the Mig-15 ?

Well, I have the Aerofax book, among others, and a quick session with the more reliable references suggests that the Airfix kit is fairly inaccurate - the span seems OK but the length is way off.

I think that a length of 10.10 metres and a span of 10.08 metres are most likely correct. The dimensions of the MiG-15bis (all in metres) from three of the most reliable sources are given as:

Length:
Four Plus - 10.10
Bill Gunston (Encyclopedia of Russian Aircraft) - 10.10
Yefim Gordon (Aerofax) - 10.11

Span:
Four Plus - 10.08
Bill Gunston - 10.08
Yefim Gordon - 10.08

The Four Plus and Modelmania 1/72 plans scale out correctly to these dimensions (the length of 10.10 runs from the nose to the tips of the tailplanes).

There are always going to be small deviations, but the Hobby Boss and KP kits are very good matches for the Four Plus and Modelmania plans. The Airfix kit, unfortunately, is not - as others have pointed out, it is much too long, the fin is too tall and the wing fences are too far outboard.

Interestingly, what it does match very well is the old Airfix kit. While in no sense a modification of the old tool, the new kit is very close dimensionally to the old - the misplaced wing fences are in the same place on both kits and the height/shape of the fin/rudder is virtually identical.

It's just a pity that I didn't discover this before I'd bought three of the new Airfix versions

ysi_maniac · December 17, 2009, 03:31:06 PM

What? Have they repeated the same errors?

Thorvic · December 17, 2009, 03:43:19 PM

Actually like the Me-109 they have basically re-engineered the original kit as a basis. Lovely details and alot better build but maybe not accurate.

However as the old one was such a popular seller even being inaccurate i suppose we can see why the the bean counters would waste money on starting from scrtach when they already had a sample to work off. Not really good for modellers, but will still sell well and after all we can always whif it

G