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Jay Mitchell
32 articles

MiG-3

February 13, 2021 · in Aviation · · 36 · 2.8K

This recently completed MiG is my first & only 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.

Reader reactions:
16  Awesome

4 additional images. Click to enlarge.


36 responses

  1. Knocked it OUT of the park, Jay! It's just awesome.

    "Liked"!

  2. You make me strongly consider pulling mine out of the to-do pile. Very nice result.

  3. 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 ...

  4. 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.

  5. Jay - Yes. You did indeed knock it out of the park!

    • 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 .

  6. 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.

  7. This is a great Mig-3, Jay @ssgt!
    It indeed looks like a racer!
    Good to hear that the Trumpeter kit was good.

  8. Very nice build, Jay.
    Never did a Trumpeter kit, but your comments and beautfiful MiG makes me feel to try one as well.

    • 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.

  9. 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.

  10. 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.

    • @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.

  11. 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.

    • 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 😉 ?

  12. 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.

  13. 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.

  14. 🙂 ... 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.

  15. Thanks DE4EVER @de4ever...,

    It is a thing of beauty. I would like to one day build the 1/32 MiG-3 kit.

  16. That winter scheme really sets off the lines of the -3. Nicely done.

  17. 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 .

  18. Great looking build. The winter scheme and markings really gives this a super nice look, great job.

  19. 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.

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