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Chuck A. Villanueva
122 articles

Tamiya 1/48th MiG-15 N. Korean Air Force, Korean War 1952

December 1, 2017 · in Aviation · · 16 · 2.3K

To say the nifty was a joy to build would not say enough how fun it was to build. Though reading that the tail is more MiG-17 than how the -15 should be is the only negative point of the kit that has been brought up on some reviews. Though I do have a MiG-17 in the stash, I haven't compared it to see as I really don't know how to tell anyway. Such details don't bother me. Now it would be if the tail is more like an F-104 than we can say, geez that is not even correct. Otherwise it is a model to build and enjoy have fun and relax. What is nice that Tamiya provided a weight for the nose to keep it down, nice touch. I used the Eduards zoom set for the cockpit. Aeromaster Korean War MiG aces Pt II 48-230. Using the first scheme of an aircraft flown by Russian Commander IP Galyshevsky and yes Russian pilots did fly combat missions for the N. Koreans in the Korean War. Using Polly Scale Dark Earth, Tamiya Dk Green over Tamiya Flat Black. Aeromaster Russian Hub Green for the wheels. The rear fuselage section is separate to reveal a nicely detailed Nene Turbojet engine. I have a shot with the old Monogram MiG-15 built a few years ago. The Mono 15 is a little larger compared to the Tam 15. All in all a fun build. Thanks for viewing.

Chuck
Fly Navy

Reader reactions:
8  Awesome

23 additional images. Click to enlarge.


16 responses

  1. Looks good, Chuck.

  2. Neat camoflage job, Chuck, makes a change to see a MiG-15 in a non-metallic finish, and more importantly, you had fun building it.

  3. Looks good Chuck, really like the cockpit as well as the camo paint job. Thought I read somewhere Monogram used the Mig-15 that's in the USAF Museum for measurements. Who knows for sure, both look like Mig-15's to me.

    • Thanks Tom and that is true Monogram did use the MiG 15 at USAF museum as their basis for their kit. And true they do look like MiG-15's. Despite the differences and yet Tam got the tail wrong but I can't tell.

  4. Nice little build, Chuck...I like that one.

  5. Very nice! That's a great-looking scheme for the -15.

  6. Great looking Mig Chuck ! I like it...a lot...

    I remember my Dad (who was a Korean War combat veteran), telling me a few years before he died that the Russians were flying Mig's over Korea. At first I didn't believe him... so I asked him how did he know for sure. His answer was pretty much blunt and to the point... He said you didn't see too many Chinese or North Koreans with blonde hair and blue eyes ! He then told me that he had actually seen the pilot, but didn't mention if he was alive or dead... My money is on the second option after I saw a documentary a few months after our conversation on PBS about the same subject.

    The Russians were not allowed to be captured alive if they were shot down for obvious reasons.

    Your plane looks really good my friend. You just caused me to pull mine out from the stash pile ... Just saying... 🙂 I've been thinking about building this one for a long while now.

    Thanks for sharing it with us !

    • Thanks Louis, my dad was in the Army during the Korean war, but his unit never deployed so no such intriguing stories from dear old dad. It was fact and noted by many pilots that when approaching aircraft damaged and pilots about to bail that they wear not Asian in appearance. A secret kept well after the war. But not so secret as too many recalled the incidents after the war that Russians were flying the MiGs.

  7. I suspect that there were "fraternal comrades" helping the NVA in Viet Nam. There were rumors about that,and the occasional sightings of caucasians during skirmishes in the field. Nothing concrete. As to the same thing during the Korean War, I'd heard nothing until the 90s, I seem to recall.

  8. It would be interesting to compare the Monogram, Tamiya, and Trumpeter MIG-15s to see how they look, side by side. Was the -bis model different externally?

  9. Nice looking Mig, Chuck! That is exactly the the color scheme i would like to do!

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