As a companion build to the F-86, I am just starting the Trumpeter MiG-15bis. I had thought this was a difficult build but looking it over, I think it will go together smoothly. It is really a very detailed little kit and much more accurate in shape than the Tamiya kit, I hear (regarding wing chord).

I have test fitted major fuselage components and cockpit assembly. Adding a small Eduard set for the cockpit looks straightforward. Fit is not so precise as with Hasegawa or Tamiya but should be easy to cope with.

This will be a camo bird. I hope these fairly crude pics of the Osprey profiles won't offend copyright. I like Mikhin's Red 1994 the best and Lepikov's much more challenging five color scheme in Red 2104, but I can source number decals on hand more easily for Red 546, 393, or 916. I think it is just a matter of digging through boxes for more numbers, though. I have a ton of these bort numbers from MiG-21 kits lying around.

That's a great entry Colin @coling!
Please sign me in!

Thanks, Pedro... glad you will be following.

Thanks, Spiros... hope you like how it turns out. I am happy to be getting a start on this kit now that we have the KFW forum to motivate the build.

Thanks, Louis. Those are great builds. they look especially interesting side by side. The PLAAF version was an earlier inspiration to me too. I didn't have any info on its origins, though, or an original photo, so I wasn't confident I could get the complex camo right. Yours is a work of art. It must have been difficult to get those 3D-looking stripes either by masks or freehand. Do you know the story behind the Shkodin MiG with Russian stars (it is also an option in the Trumpeter kit)? My understanding was that they didn't wear them in Korea in order to disguise their identity as Russians. Maybe by 1953 they had stopped bothering to hide the obvious. Anyway, great to see more of your work. Pleased to know you're fellow MiG fan.

Thanks for your comment, Jeremy. I hope you find this build interesting.

Here is a small update with WIP on the cockpit. I painted the cockpit in three stages to match the Eduard color photo-etch. Since this color was a difficult to match light grey with a bluish tinge in some light, I decided to do a layered color approach. First I did a pre-shade of Flat Black. Then, I sprayed a mixed bluish gray on top of that downward to create shadows. Finally, I applied a thin layer of Tamiya Sky Gray, again sprayed downward. This provided a good match even under different light conditions.
The photo-etch was next, including a really nice instrument panel.

I added extra wiring in the cockpit from stretch sprue, a central post and attached rudder pedals in styrene painted light blue and a hand grip for the throttle from styrene rod. I love the pre-painted etch, which looks especially good in close up photos - it shows authentic detail barely discernible to the naked eye.
I decided to replace Trumpeter's ejection seat with a modified seat from the Tamiya kit. It contains a better headrest for a KK-1 whereas the Trumpeter seat is more of a KK-2 from a MiG-17: I sanded off some chunky detail on the ejection mechanism frame and replaced it with cut strips of styrene. I will be adding the red firing handles after painting. Some pics show the seat placed inside the cockpit for a test fitting.
I need some advice on the seat detail. I include a cockpit shot showing a KK-1 with an interesting seat pad. I have partly sculpted a matching pad from styrene as shown. This may not be authentic for a Mig-15 in Korea but it would look nice. Does anyone know if I dare use it? I show it on the seat and also with the seat installed in the cockpit. It will have more straps that affix it to the seat and also strap in the pilot (I think)- see photo of the real thing. Most detail shots I have show it in the MiG-17 but some show it attached to the KK-1 used only in production MiG-15s.

Colin, @coling
This is some amazing work ! To answer your previous question about the Shkodin MiG with Russian stars, I didn't know anything about it at all. I knew the Soviets were trying to keep it quiet as they were using Korea as a training ground for their pilots. But as far as wearing a red star in place of the North Korean insignia was something I had my suspicions about. I placed trust in the people who made the decal sheets, and we all know how that can come back to haunt you later... In a worst case scenario, I could modify the Red Stars into a North Korean National insignia fairly easy. At least I won't have to worry about it on top of the wings... as my understanding is that they didn't use the insignia there during the Korean War.

I'm sure the Russians and Chinese didn't allow camera's to be used without "official permission", so this is the logical thought as to why finding pictures of these planes in service in North Korea and China are next to impossible. I used a lot of blue tack and made a bunch of little snakes when I was painting the PLAAF MiG-15. It was actually quite easy to do. Once the proper masking was done, the actual spraying only took a few minutes. I described how I did it in the build journal.

As far as the scratch built seat pad... It looks great. I believe you will be OK to use it in yours, as this is something that could be easily swapped out or added at a later time. Once these planes left the factory, anything could have happened. Plus you have a picture showing it in use, (even thought it's a MiG-17) so you should be good to go. My understanding is they used a lot of the same parts from the MiG-15 as they did on the 17.

This makes perfect sense, to keep things easy to produce, and it would also make it easier for parts supply...

Man that is one very impressive office ! The Trumpeter version looks to be more detailed than what comes in the Tamiya kit. The aftermarket IP is also a definite improvement.

Erik, @airbum
The thought of that being a slim fit parachute never entered my mind. This could be a possibility, but I'm not an expert on this by any means. What I would do is try to locate more information on how the seat looked and then make some comparisons.

Colin, @coling
Here is a link to a MiG-15 walk around that was posted here on Imodeler not too long ago by Tomáš Pelej. It also shows some very nice pictures of the cockpit. Hope this helps.

Walkaround – Mig-15 – Czechoslovak Air Force

That was a very nice link @lgardner. This also shows it as a parachute, and it is clearly one that belongs there! After a second look at Colins picture it is not a slimfit western type - I think you can see the "silkbag" under the cushion. I would say it is safe to include one in the build. Colin, for all intents and purposes I say that you are on safe ground. Sorry if I messed something up.

Colin, @coling
I am happy to hear the link I provided was useful for you. Perfect ! That's what I was hoping to hear, and it also pleases me to see that others have benefited from this as well, such as our good friend Erik. @airbum

I am very impressed with how you are digging into the equipment history for your MiG-15 build.  This part is just as much fun for me as the actual building part is.  

It always amazes me how much one can learn by simply doing this... (Just as I have learned from reading your build journal.) That's a magnificent photo of the F-86 by the way.

Thanks for taking the time to incorporate the extra little information bits like this. These little nuggets of information are like icing on the cake.