Tamiya MIG

The Tamiya 1/48 Mig 15 is one of their older kits but still holds up very well. My only complaint was the front & rear fuselage are separate so that the internal engine can be displayed. I know many modelers like such features but I don't. If you build it closed, as I did, you end up with a step where the front & rear fuselage meet. Nothing a little filing, sanding & re-scribing can't correct, but a minor irritant for me. The majority of Korean Mig 15's were in NMF although some were painted in various disruptive camo schemes. There is a newer 1/48 kit of the Mig 15 from Trumpeter, but I haven't built one so can't comment.

One of their older kits... LMAO... yeah, it is one of the first in the 'resurgance line', as I like to call it, so I guess you could say it's 'old'...

Anyhoo, it's a dang nice kit. I haven't finished mine yet but so far no real problems. There are some outline and shape problems but that's for the rivet counters to debate. The one thing I don't like is the two-piece canopy, but that's just a personal preference.

Sounds like the kit you have is one of the plated editions. Tamiya released a few of their kits as plated editions, the P-51 and the F-84 coming to mind. But the majority of the kits were unplated.

As to the Trumpeter kit, I've only seen it; never owned, much less built, one. It's supposed to be more accurate in shape and outline, but I dunno about that fersher. As to fit, I saw a couple reviews on the kit and there were no real big complaints that I recall. One of those reviews was online but I can't find it at the moment; may be gone now. I grabbed some images from that review but didn't keep the url. Oh well...

If I had to choose between the two right now, I'd pick Tamiya. But I'd like to grab a Trumpeter kit to see how it compares. It do look nice built up...

Here's a couple scans of Aeromaster sheets with a few interesting schemes to get you thinking...


Direct Link


Direct Link


Fade to Black...

I found no real problems with the kit.I picked it up because I found it on the clearance rack at Hobby Lobby for 7 dollars. I did strip the chrome plating off with "simple green" and painted it NMF. I think the only problem I had was with the nose weight. It is just a hair heavier than the tail. It will hold the bird on her nose wheel but if you even breath on the tail she'll drop on her butt. lol

Well, the Trumpeter kit looks nice in the box, but it is a piece of crap to build. Use it to practice your airbrushing.

The Tamiya MiG 15 is not yet 10 years old. Getting there but not yet.

QUOTE: Originally posted by rjkplasticmod The Tamiya 1/48 Mig 15 is one of their older kits but still holds up very well. My only complaint was the front & rear fuselage are separate so that the internal engine can be displayed. I know many modelers like such features but I don't. If you build it closed, as I did, you end up with a step where the front & rear fuselage meet. Nothing a little filing, sanding & re-scribing can't correct, but a minor irritant for me.

What I do in the case of separate front/rear fuselage is to glue the front to back first then glue the sides together. It makes life a lot easier.