I like doing comparisons of different kits not only to determine the pros and cons but to see the differing engineering decisions. It is also a great way to see how the hobby has progressed over the years. The MiG-3 is a popular subject with Eastern manufactures, but less so in Japan and the West. Several kits and many re-boxings have hit the market over the years, here I will take a look at four of these.
The oldest of these turned out to be the old 1978 Cap Croix du Sud kit hiding in a Zvezda box. This kit has also been released by Italeri, Encore, and Revell over the years with all the same plastic inside. Similarly, the RPM box contains sprues tooled by Alfa in 1992, these have also been boxed by Abrico and Marquette. Hobby Boss issued their easy assembly kit around 2006 or so. Armory from Ukraine released a brand-new tool in 2024, the most recent of the bunch.
These are the Zvezda (Cap Croix du Sud) sprues from 1978. The tool appears to be holding up pretty well considering its age, but this kit suffers from several inaccuracies and simplifications. Despite this you will find this kit in several boxes with well-known brands on the fronts. Not the best place to start when building a MiG-3 but easy to find.The RPM (Alfa) sprues come in two colors for some reason, the molding is clunky but the accuracy is an improvement over the Cap Croix du Sud offering. The kit provides six Ro-82 unguided rockets and their rails, but these will require considerable clean-up.The Hobby Boss kit is a generation more recent then the other two and comes packed in a vacuformed tray to prevent breakage. Despite the toolmakers leaning heavily into the “easy assembly” paradigm, this kit was praised by many modelers for being the most accurate MiG-3 available when released. This kit also includes Ro-82 rockets as well as open or closed canopy options, but the simplified interior will favor the closed canopy option. Thirty-eight parts in total.The newer Armory offering is a state-of-the-art kit with fine recessed panel lines where appropriate and rivet detail. This main sprue with the major components along with the separate wing fillets.Two additional sprues contain the parts required to build up all the sub-assemblies and detail the model. The parts count totals 116 in plastic with another 25 photo etch, along with a vinyl canopy mask set. This is an unusually high parts count for a single-engined fighter in 1/72 scale, there are more parts in this kit than the other three combined.Here is a comparison of the fuselage halves, Armory, Hobby Boss, RPM, and Zvezda top to bottom. With the newer kits on top you can see the progression in level of detail as well as sharpness on the molding. Note the narrowness of the Zvezda fuselage at the front of the cowling.Wing panels similarly compared. The MiG-3 utilized wooden sub-assemblies, so there should be no panel lines on the outer wings. I was pleasantly surprised to see the depth of the Hobby Boss wheel wells, second from left. The outline of the Zvezda wheel wells on the right bear no resemblance to the real thing and are very shallow.Armory gives the modeler the choice of two different spinners but you will need your references here as there is no explanation of which was used when. The props get a little more sketchy the further back you go. The most striking part is how undersized the Zvezda propeller hub is on the lower right. If you look back at the fuselage sides you will see the forward fuselage is too small as well.Landing gear and covers compared, the resin components at the top are from Goffey Model. The Hobby Boss and Zvezda wheels lack detail and are best replaced. The shape of the Zvezda covers are completely inaccurate but reflect the inaccuracies of the wells molded into the wings. At this point I decided that even with replacing or correcting all the other problems with the Zvezda kit, the undersized forward fuselage could not be addressed properly. I saw no realistic way to get a proper looking MiG-3 from the Zvezda kit so it went into the “sale” pile.
WHENEVER ANY FORM OF GOVERNMENT BECOMES DESTRUCTIVE OF THESE ENDS (LIFE,LIBERTY,AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS) IT IS THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO ALTER OR ABOLISH IT, AND TO INSTITUTE A NEW GOVERNMENT― Thomas Jefferson
Inch High Guy 