Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3 Comparison Build in 1/72 Scale Part II

The Armory MiG-3 features detailed sidewalls. The cockpit builds up into a tub with the frame around it which is then fitted into the fuselage, fortunately everything fits. I did not add the majority of the minute PE parts, preferring to work with Evergreen stock as it adheres better. All told, the Armory kit calls for a total of 38 parts in the cockpit alone, more than the total parts counts of the other kits in totality.

Due to the way the Hobby Boss kits are molded there is no sidewall detail in the cockpit, nor anything where the instrument panel would be either for that matter. Here I have made some interior components from Evergreen to dress up the blank walls, this will hopefully enhance things enough for a closed-canopy build.

The RPM cockpit was dressed up with resin from the Goffy Models set. These are really nice components and feature fantastic detail. Fit of the resin parts to the RPM kit was good, I was a little concerned as the RPM fuselage is slightly wider in the center than the others.

I ground out the shallow wheel wells of the RPM kit with a Dremel so they could be deepened. The plastic card “roof” was inserted to hide the seams at the wing joint, you can see from the tracings where the gaps up into the fuselage would be visible. By contrast, the Hobby Boss wheel wells were good as molded, the Armory wells are built up using seven pieces per side.

The painted Armory cockpit before the fuselage is closed up. Strangely for a kit like this, the instrument panel is a single piece, no PE and nothing on the decal sheet. What you see here is drybrushing and a black wash.

A look into the Hobby Boss cockpit. I had extra PE instrument panels in the spares box from an earlier La-7 build, and the belts are from Metallic Details.

This is the Goffy resin cockpit in the RPM kit minus the seat.

Fit of the Armory kit is good but fiddly. The wing fillet is molded separately and is further divided into two sections, breaking components up into multiple pieces is a hallmark of this kit’s engineering.

The RPM kit is designed with the center of the cowling between the gun fairings molded as a separate piece. This was likely done to allow clearances to remove the plastic from the mold but the resulting seam would be extremely difficult to clean up. I removed the top section of the cowling and replaced it with the spare from the Armory kit, this fit well and was better detailed to boot!

Flipping the RPM kit over reveals the Evergreen wheel wells, as well as the gap at the boattail where the back of the wing piece meets the fuselage. I reinforced this butt joint with plastic tabs on the inside and filled the gap with superglue.

The Armory kit ready for primer to check the seams. I have drilled out the gun ports and the holes for the gear down indicators on the wings. The canopy is masked with Tamiya Tape, I discarded the vinyl masks provided in the kit due to the curved surfaces of the clear parts.

Here is the Hobby Boss MiG, this will be a closed canopy build due to the basic cockpit detail. The landing light in the leading edge of the port wing was cut out and filled with a section of clear sprue, this was filed into shape and masked. I also added a small bit of stock to represent the first exhaust stub on each side which was missing.

The RPM kit was the oldest and received the most work, you can also see the fit left a little to be desired. This one needed some additional shrouds and scoops on the cowling as well as the other enhancements mentioned previously.

Part III here: https://inchhighguy.wordpress.com/2026/02/06/mikoyan-gurevich-mig-3-comparison-build-in-1-72-scale-part-iii/