TAC Scale Dynamics | MiG-15bis

Reviewed by Michael Benolkin

Just when you thought it was safe to go outside with your hobby money, along comes TAC Scale Dynamics' first full kit - a 1/32 Mikoyan MiG-15bis. This kit was produced jointly by Replicast of Slovakia and TAC Scale Dynamics. If you read my recent review here of Replicast's 1/32 Aero L-39 Albatross, you knew that I was drooling when I opened that kit. I am almost mid-way though assembly and I will be posting a full build-up review soon. If I was impressed with the L-39, I am in awe of this kit!

Take a gook look at this first shot. Like the L-39, this MiG-15 kit's fuselage halves are quite hollow and almost the thickness of an injected plastic kit in this scale. The wings are solid with a nice, deep main gear well featured. That U-shaped piece on the left side of the photo above is the intake splitter. The inside of that splitter has beautiful detail molded in for the cockpit tub and nose gear well. The canopy is nicely vacuformed.

What sets this kit apart from the L-39 is the number of detail parts. You can see from the photo above that there are ample detail parts in the TAC MiG. The L-39 is very simplistic by comparison. The ejection seat is no less than eight pieces (two pieces for each seat in the L-39). The detail is also present in the landing gear bays and on the struts themselves (which are white metal). The gear doors all feature intricate hinge and actuator detail as well. The kit also features positionable speed brakes.

The instrument panel is four parts, two photo-etched parts laminated with two acetate instrument faces. Decals are provided for Soviet, North Korean, and Chinese MiG-15s. The Soviet and North Korean examples are bare metal, while the Chinese example is camouflaged. Loads of maintenance stencils are also provided.

This kit looks like it could be a National IPMS Contest Winner straight out of the box! At $179.99, this kit might intimidate some folks, but I can attest that this kit is worth every penny (and then some). I'll be featuring this kit in a build-up review once the L-39 is completed. My sincere thanks to Talal Chouman of TAC Scale Dynamics for this review example!

To get more information on the MiG-15bis kit, contact TAC Scale Dynamics at (508) 788-1960, or emailthem.

Note that this and the L-39 review was contributed by Michael Benkolin-the Webmaster, IPMS/Albuquerque Scale Modelers.

© Michael Benolkin

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This review was published on Saturday, July 02 2011; Last modified on Wednesday, May 18 2016