MiG-3
This recently completed 1/48 MiG is my first & only Trumpeter kit. I was impressed with how well the parts fit, it was an extremely easy model to build, almost like it wanted to be built.
The decals were also very nice. David Mills @davem has a photo posted of a similar MiG -3 ,in his tribute to his friend Alan Bottoms , which inspired me to complete mine with the same paint scheme and markings . It’s a beautiful airplane, looks like it might have made a good racer at the Reno Air Races.
4 additional images. Click to enlarge.
Jordyn Collier said on February 13, 2021
Knocked it OUT of the park, Jay! It's just awesome.
"Liked"!
Jay Mitchell said on February 13, 2021
Thanks Jordyn (@1corsair64).
It’s amazing how much having a nice kit can increase the enjoyment of the hobby. I need to move away from the jurassic models I usually try to build and join the 21st century modelers.
Robert Royes said on February 13, 2021
Nicely done!
Jay Mitchell said on February 13, 2021
Thanks Robert! It’s a great kit .
Tom Cleaver said on February 13, 2021
You make me strongly consider pulling mine out of the to-do pile. Very nice result.
Jay Mitchell said on February 13, 2021
Thank you Tom !
It’s a really nice kit, I was impressed with how well it went together. It makes me want to try another Trumpeter kit.
Louis Gardner said on February 13, 2021
Hello Jay, @ssgt
You definitely hit a home run here with this MiG. I have this exact same kit in the stash, and wanted to build it as part of our recent MiG group build. The usual enemy kept me from doing it... (time, basically I ran out of it). Now I am going to go back and take another look at the kit. I wanted to build one up exactly as you have done here. Thanks for posting this up for us all to enjoy. It's also great to hear the kit is a good one for building. I also have a few of the old ICM kits. Who knows ? Maybe someday.
I definitely pressed the "liked" button ...
Jay Mitchell said on February 13, 2021
Hi Louis @lgardner, thank you for the compliment . This kit is quite possibly the best I’ve encountered as far as being engineered for ease of construction. The parts fit is great, and the decals were very nice.
Eric Berg said on February 13, 2021
Jay - Yes. You did indeed knock it out of the park!
Jay Mitchell said on February 13, 2021
Thank you Eric @eb801, I appreciate your kind words.
With a superb kit like this one, it’s easy to get great results.
Another great kit I built not too long ago was Zvezda’s 1/48 PE-2. I think they both are at least equal in quality to most of Tamiya’s kits, or anyone else’s .
George Williams said on February 13, 2021
You've definitely hit a six with this one, Jay, great result, and thanks for the information about the kit, I pressed the "like" button as well.
Jay Mitchell said on February 13, 2021
George @chinesegeorge,
Thank you I appreciate your comment ! Ding Hao!
Spiros Pendedekas said on February 13, 2021
This is a great Mig-3, Jay @ssgt!
It indeed looks like a racer!
Good to hear that the Trumpeter kit was good.
Jay Mitchell said on February 13, 2021
Spiros @fiveten,
Thank you, Colonel, it was a joy to build. Perhaps there is another in my future in a summer camouflage scheme.
John vd Biggelaar said on February 13, 2021
Very nice build, Jay.
Never did a Trumpeter kit, but your comments and beautfiful MiG makes me feel to try one as well.
Jay Mitchell said on February 13, 2021
Thank you, John @johnb.
It was fun to build a kit that actual seemed to want to be built. At the risk of sounding like a Trumpeter employee, this is a nice kit and you wouldn’t be disappointed in this one.
Bob Bailey said on February 13, 2021
Really, REALLY well-done model of a very cool-looking a/c.
In the 1x1 photo...wonder what all those folks were doing standing around in the cold.
Jay Mitchell said on February 13, 2021
Thank you, Bob @bails !
I imagined they were get a lecture on the virtues of communism or perhaps a patriotic talk by some commissar. Could be an award ceremony ?
Its a nice photograph though.
Bob Bailey said on February 14, 2021
Yes, and they appear very closely huddled together, probably to keep a bit warmer in the bitter cold of Russia.
Stephen W Towle said on February 13, 2021
I gotta feeling that the photo has had a little help in the color dept. One thing about Trumpeter kits in general when using a broad brush . . . they are engineered to be assembled. Which is of great help to those of us with sausage sized fingers.
Jay, I like what you've done with the kit it echo's the photo . I was looking at your photo or emoji and briefly thought you where wearing a mask. Wouldn't that be great idea for modelers?
Two thumbs ups. Looking forward to your next article and build.
Jay Mitchell said on February 13, 2021
@stephen-w-towle,
That would be a good mask idea, like the intake covers used on jets. Maybe “ Remove before Flight” put on it.
I need to get online and see what other kits Trumpeter produces that I might be interested in. I’ve run out of enthusiasm for the older kits I seem have unconsciously gravitated to in the past, in my hands they often turn in to a styrene nightmares.
John Krukowski said on February 13, 2021
Going through these comments you had me at Jurassic, so I clicked your name and checked out some more of your work, nice stuff! Maybe we need old kits to fully appreciate the new ones. Nice work on this MiG-3 too. Back when, the only way to get one of these in 1/48 was a vac kit, that I know of.
Jay Mitchell said on February 13, 2021
Hi John... @krukowskijohn
thanks for the compliments, I appreciate you taking to look at some of my past builds. Those old kits from the 60s and 70s sometimes require ingenuity and patience . Maybe that’s why I was so impressed with the Trumpeter MiG-3 kit, it fits together with no drama or trauma .
I hope to see your first build posted on here soon , John. Maybe a Trumpeter Mig-3 😉 ?
John Krukowski said on February 13, 2021
Or a vac one! I really would like to try that someday.
Jay Mitchell said on February 14, 2021
@krukowskijohn : That’s old school modeling. I knew someone that would carve parts out of wood and then use them to vacuum form his own kits. I haven’t seen much on imodeler about that technique, you could start a group built of vacuform models.
John Krukowski said on February 14, 2021
Ha! I'd be happy to get the two I have in the stash built, a 1/48 '109E-4 and an I-16. That alone should tell ya how old they are.
Colin Gomez said on February 14, 2021
Really sharp looking MiG-3, Jay. It is indeed a fast and fearsome looking airplane. You have done a flawless job on this one. One detail I like is in the fourth pic. The way you have done the feathered demarcation between the white camo and blue undersides really simulates well how the whitewash was applied over factory paint. Actually, your model is probably more accurate in this than the sharp demarcation lines in the colorized photo. Great job on the decals, canopy masking too. I have the 1/32nd scale Trumpeter version in my stash. I may be inspired to start work on it soon.
Jay Mitchell said on February 14, 2021
Thank you Colin @coling !You have a keen eye to notice such a small detail as the paint demarcation line That photograph being hand colored probably can be misleading. I hesitated painting the propeller blades white, but on my internet search I found others had painted them white on their builds, so I went ahead , it’s unique.
I’d like to build the 1/32 version of this aircraft too.
DE4EVER said on February 14, 2021
🙂 ... Greetings ... 🙂 :
Very nice model Jay.
The Mig 3 is not seen much, yet in these pictures, one can see
the lines and curves of this aircraft.
Sharp and clean build, thank you for sharing these images.
Jay Mitchell said on February 14, 2021
Thanks DE4EVER @de4ever...,
It is a thing of beauty. I would like to one day build the 1/32 MiG-3 kit.
Greg Kittinger said on February 15, 2021
That winter scheme really sets off the lines of the -3. Nicely done.
Jay Mitchell said on February 15, 2021
Thanks Greg @gkittinger !
David Mills said on February 16, 2021
Super work Jay!
Jay Mitchell said on February 16, 2021
Hello David @davem, thank you !
I’m looking forward to seeing your MiG posted on here. It looked great in the photos you showed me .
Bob Torres said on April 21, 2021
Great looking build. The winter scheme and markings really gives this a super nice look, great job.
Jay Mitchell said on April 21, 2021
Thank you, Bob @V1pro !
I really enjoyed building it, it’s a well engineered kit. I’m considering getting the 1/32 version of it.