High Flyer

Historical Background

In January 1939 the Soviet VVS issued a specification for a high-altitude fighter with inline engine. The aircraft, initially designated I-200 was designed by the Polikarpov Design Bureau. When Nikolay Polikarpov fell out of favour with Stalin, the Soviet authorities created a new Experimental Construction Section headed by Artem Mikoyan and Mikhail Gurevich. Further work on the I-200 was assigned to the two and were later recognised as its designers. Now known as the MiG-1, the aircraft was designed using wood and steel tubings to minimise the usage of light alloys. It had some serious defects however, including inadequate visibility while taxiing, heavy controls, poor longitudinal stability and easily entering into an unrecoverable spin. Continual improvements were done throughout the production run but were not immediately implemented on the production line. Instead, they were incorporated into the fourth prototype. After testing and passing State acceptance trials, they were incorporated in the 101st I-200/MiG-1 built and the aircraft was now renamed MiG-3. The first MiG-3 was completed on 20 December 1940.

The changes however resulted in an aircraft over 250 kg heavier than the MiG-1, which reduced maneuverability and field performance. Despite that, the MiG-3 can fly at 640 km/h at 7,200 meters - faster than the Bf 109F-2. However speed decayed to 505 km/h at sea level while the 'Friedrich' could do 515 km/h. Unfortunately the low and medium levels were where most aerial combat took place on the Eastern Front where the MiG lost its speed advantage. The loaded weight of the MiG was also higher than the Bf 109 and it was less maneuverable due to its higher wing loading. Despite being designed as a high-altitude fighter, it has poor climb rate. Aerial gunnery was also difficult because of instability at high speeds. Standard armament consists of a single UBS 12.7 mm machine gun and two 7.62 mm ShKAS machine guns. Considered underpowered, 821 aircraft were then fitted with a 12.7 mm UBK machibe gun pod under each wing - this further lowered the speed by 20 km/h at all altitudes. Some pilots decided to remove the extra weapons. Other aircraft were armed with just the ShKAS machine guns but were fitted to carry RS-82 rockets.

On 22 June 1941, most of the MiG-3s delivered to the V-VS were placed within the Leningrad, Baltic, Western, Kiev and Odessa Military Districts. These aircraft fought at a disadvantage as combat took place at medium and low altitudes. Plus, shortage of ground attack aircraft forced it into that role, for which it was totally unsuited. By the time of the commencement of Operation Taifun, most V-VS MiGs were transferred to the PVO where their lack of performance at low altitude was not so serious. Even so, none of the MiGs remain with the PVO by January 1945. 3,400 units of the aircraft were built. Production was terminated in 1942 following Stalin's telegram to the directors of Zavod N.1 demanding increased production of Il-2 Shturmoviks. Despite its bad reputation aces such as Aleksandr Pokryshkin scored their early victories while flying the MiG-3. 

The Kit

Trumpeter was (and still is) a very profilic producer of model kits especially in the period between the mid-noughties until mid-2010s. They first came up with a model of the MiG-3 in 1/48 scale, an 'Early Version' of the MiG-3 in 2007. This was followed by the 'Late Version' in 2008. The 82 parts are spread among five sprues, one of them in clear plastic. Surface detail is generally nice and crisp although the fabric representation on the control surfaces look exaggerated. The infamous Trumpeter rivet is not as prominent in this (cf. their 1/72 Thud kit) - probably because of the larger scale. The interior is quite OK although the tubular frame is moulded-on with the side walls. Details on the instrument panel is somewhat ambiguous at the bottom of it. The front fuselage is made up of four parts and I suspect some struggle during assembly (more on that later). The decals provide markings for three aircraft:

- Winter-camouflaged 'Black 7' with 'For Stalin!' slogan. This aircraft was shown with additional guns in nacelles underneath the wings but the relevant parts are not included in the kit;

- 'White 12' in green with black nose; and

- 'White 95' in two-tone green.

Construction

As usual with aircraft kits, work started at the cockpit. And as per my usual style, the parts were painted while still on the tree. While Trumpeter has GSI H70 (RLM02) as the interior colour (and for the entirety of the cockpit), I chose to paint it blue-grey using a mix of Tamiya XF-22 RLM Grey and X-14 Sky Blue. The instrument panel is supposedly entirely in black but I chose to have just the instrument faces in that colour. The side boxes and some details were also painted Flat Black. The radio rack was also painted and assembled. The tail wheel was glued into place before closing the up the fuselage - otherwise it will be impossible to do so with the fuselage halves mated. Guess what? The lower half did not want to meet, leaving quite a sizeable gap which need to be addressed with putty. The placement of the radio deck in the instructions is very misleading and might confuse a modeller (it should be behind the pilot's seat, not inside the canopy fairing!).

The wing assembly is next. The upper and lower wing halves were cemented without fuss. The inserts for the wing root intakes fit OK with the rest of the wing although I suspect some fiddly handling during the mating of the wing assembly with the fuselage. The wing was then mated to the fuselage - it was a very tight fit but a bit of wedging here and there allowed the wings in place. As expected, some filling was needed between the intake insert and the wing root. The rear of the wing assembly also need to be in line with the corresponding surface on the rear fuselage as there were no hook or projection whatsoever to secure the two areas. Because of its position, the radiator faces and the intake and exhaust areas were painted first before assembly. The upper nose fairing did not fit exactly with the main assembly - but that's Okay as apparently many of the real aircraft have the same characteristics!

Painting and Decalling

After deciding to do 'Black 7', I proceeded to paint the lower fuselage first. Trumpeter suggested Gunze H20 Light Blue - a colour which I don't have in hand. To approximate AII Light Blue, I used Tamiya XF-23 Light Blue and gradually add XF-8 Flat Blue until looks about right. The upper fuselage need to be painted a base colour first, for the white camo to stick. I used XF-5 Flat Green. masking material was applied to the wing roots, weapon troughs and the leading edge of the wings before the upper fuselage was sprayed Tamiya TS-27 Flat White. The diagonal red patch at the wing tips were painted a mix of Vallejo Flat Red and Flat yellow to approximate the recommended Insignia Red. The decals were then applied. They are thin and lie nicely upon the surface. They are however translucent and this showed up like a sore thumb when the fuselage red stars were laid on the black arrow flash. To reduce the discrepancy, I trimmed numbers 9 and 5 from the red stars for option 3 of the markings and applied them over the original stars.

Finishing

The masking material was removed and the border between the white and the underlying green were cleaned / messed up further using dots of XF-2 Flat White and XF-5 Green. The model then received a neutral wash using Mr. Weathering Color Multi Grey. Pin wash was done using further application of the same some for the white areas and Ak Interactive paneliner for the lower fuselage. Exhaust marks were added using Tamiya Weathering Master Soot. The more fragile parts, such as the radio aerial, the rocket launchers, the main landing gear, tail wheel covers, propeller and the pitot tube were then cemented into place. Oh at this time, I realised that the main landing gear doors were scale-thick and the portion stuck with the gears were way simplified.. The model then was sprayed with Gunze Flat Top Coat. The masking for the clear pasrts were then removed, finishing the build.

Conclusion

While Trumpeter's MiG-3 kit is well moulded,and engineered, it was not a Tamiya, There wasn't really a problem with the build - you just need a bit of experience and this kit was not exactly suitable for entry-level modellers. The one particular unnecessary over-engineering is the radiator air intake - causing gaps if built according to instructions and fiddly to adjust if you add them after mating the wings to the fuselage. Fit was also slightly off with the kit, especially between the upper fuselage panel and the windscreen and the upper panel with the main fuselage. Nevertheless, overall, it is a good kit and should present no big challenge to seasoned modellers.