Amodel 1/72 MiG-9L Fargo

AMODEL 1:72 MIKOYAN MIG-9L FARGO

Reviewer: Paul Wherran (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted: 10 December 2008

Kit Details:

Kit #7243 - Amodel 1/72 MiG-9L

Aircraft History:

Amodel’s MiG-9L represents a trials version of the standard MiG-9 ‘Fargo’ fighter with a second cockpit and a nose and fin top radome added. The aircraft was developed to test the KS-1 ‘Kennel’ air to surface missile then being developed by the Soviets.

The Kit:

The standard looking Amodel kit has nice artwork of the two-seat unique aircraft banking towards the “camera”. Inside a plastic bag are three sprues containing approximately 45 limited run injection molded parts in a light blueish grey colour. The surface detail is reasonable with engraved panel lines. The parts feel soft and have a few mold imperfection marks on them with the smaller parts a little crudely molded. The sprue lugs are thick and care is needed removing the parts from the sprue. There is a bit of flash on the parts, most notably on smaller parts along with ejector pin stubs and the like, in otherwords, standard fare for limited short run technology. Two thickish canopies are also provided.

Instructions:

A folded A4 photocopied sheet of paper provides the A5 sized four page booklet. Starting off with a brief history in Russian and English then symbol explanation, paint chart using Humbrol numbers, sprue map and a two page assembly guide ending with decal placement/colour guide.

Construction:

Normally you would start off with constructing a cockpit in a review, but I decided to open up by advising that everything you read ahead was done with a lot of dry fit runs, trimming and test fitting before carrying out. Careful, sometimes painfully so, removal from the sprue was also required in all instances. This kit was certainly one that needed work and patience even in this contemplation stage!

So then we started with the cockpit which is made up of seat, floor, instrument panel and control stick. This was painted in an almost aqua colour to replicate a Russian blue-green interior. I also applied this colour to the rear engineer’s cockpit which is supplied with just the basics: seat, floor and bulkhead. However you also need to cut out the opening for the rear engineer’s position which is discussed in the instructions. This was something I had not considered would be required when I bought this kit, thinking it would have been molded appropriately. It is not that difficult – providing you have a small saw - as you can open it up around the lines as marked. But given that the canopy is very small, it is actually a good idea to open up the rear cockpit smaller and test fit the canopy over it, enlarge it a bit more if needs be. Of course, the smaller opening means problems with seat fits, so it is a bit of a task to work through, to balance out a reasonably sized opening but not too big so the canopy won’t fit. If you open up as much as what the instructions and kit tell you, the canopy will be too small.

The challenges of course are only just beginning with this kit. The intake and exhaust tube are installed into the fuselage, and so are components of both the cockpits. The fit is relatively good until you attempt to close the fuselage halves when you realise that things are not that flush, so a bit of trimming of bulkheads etc here and there and eventually the fuselage halves will close. Don’t forget some noseweight. A large amount of clamping was needed to keep it from prizing apart while the airframe dried. A couple of gaps and seam lines needed attention afterward.

Then it was time to add the nose ring and radar fairing which resulted in a bit of a step to the fuselage, requiring filler and sanding to blend smooth.

The wings are made up of the usual upper and lower halves, but test fitting reveals a bit of trimming around the lower pieces to get a decent fit. These along with the one piece tailplanes affix to the fuselage rather well with only a minor amount of filler needed at the roots.

With the airframe mainly complete it was time now to spend on undercarriage, canopy and the smaller details like pitot tubes. The undercarriage is a little crudely molded and has some mold imperfections but once cleaned up looks the part. The gear doors need careful trimming and test fitting into place and installation of the undercarriage is relatively straight forward.

The canopies are not so straight forward. Already mentioned the smaller rear engineer’s canopy is too small for the opening unless you make that opening smaller than the instructions tell you. Then it fits okay but still needs a bit of work to fit flush on the fuselage. The pilot canopy is a terrible fit, and needs plenty of filler and sanding to blend into the fuselage. I’ve heard this is a problem of the MiG-9 kit, so clearly Amodel did no update of the tooling and simply added the engineer’s canopy to this MiG-9L kit – pity. After a lot of work, the canopy sits in place. Then the pitot tubes and smaller parts added to finish of the modelling.

Colour Schemes:

There’s only one option here to reproduce and it is a Soviet MiG-9L in the standard light grey scheme, which was painted in Humbrol 147 as instructed. This is of course the AS-1 Kennel cruise missile program chase plane.

Decals:

The decal sheet is small and contains only roundels and a small amount of stencils. Surprisingly it contains Chinese markings which don’t apply to this aircraft which I presume are from the MiG-9 kit. That had me wondering therefore whether the Soviet example on the decal sheet was a MiG-9 or MiG-9L? I toiled with the idea of a speculative Chinese example, even considering a camouflage type, like a MiG-17 (Fresco the name of the plane and the decal sheet manufacturer!) but decided on Soviet version. Printing of the decals is less than sharp, particularly on the smaller decals, but overall are still in good register. Although a bit of excess carrier film is there, they do conform with the model’s surface rather well and bedded down nicely with Micro sol/set.

Overall Recommendation:

The end result looks pretty good and convincing if a millimetre or two underscale, but proportionately on target. It’s a short run kit so you cannot expect a weekend project here nor a kit that isn’t going to provide you with a few challenges along the way. Best advice is to test fit and make adjustments before EVERY single assembly undertaken and this should prevent major issues with this kit from occurring. Take your time, plan and be patient and the end result is worth it. You are not going to find this kit in other manufacturer inventories so it is the only way you will get your hands on such a unique subject in this scale. Even so, I would still recommend this kit as a project for the modeller who is happy to tackle short run kits as it certainly gives you a rewarding and satisfying challenge at the end.

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