Re: Hobby Master HA5601 MiG-25P Foxbat, Lt. V. Belenko, Japan 1976
Quote:
Originally Posted by AirCal
My exact thought.
Yep. You wait for years for a model of an aircraft that you've been interested in ever since 1967 Domodedovo air show - and you get a big and very noticeable seam down the side of the forward fuselage. Heckuva shame.
I've got one on order, but may have to build my own. (Hasegawa makes a pretty good 1/72 plastic kit.)
Last edited by OnlyWayToFly; 05-12-2017 at 10:03 AM.
Re: Hobby Master HA5601 MiG-25P Foxbat, Lt. V. Belenko, Japan 1976
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sildani
To my eye, this looks good, although the nose seam is pronounced.
Same for me, no improvement here unfortunately. It looks a bit better with stencils though, but missiles could be more detailed, and the "ring" next to exhaust nozzle should be bare metal, not grey. Job isn't done yet, HM.
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Re: Hobby Master HA5601 MiG-25P Foxbat, Lt. V. Belenko, Japan 1976
Just picked this up 2 days ago. Apologies for the poor pics, but my good camera needs some work, so these are phone pics. I'm sure our resident experts will post better pics in their review
I've been wanting a Foxbat since I started collecting. My brother made the Hasegawa kit as a kid and I remember it being big. In fact it's about the same size as HM's F111. Plenty of people have pointed out the seam (a pretty common feature on HM's models) and sure it's a bit ugly, but at least it means they can do a 2 seater. Intake interiors are also pretty basic as are the engines. The paint is decent, and is pretty much exactly the right colour, if a tiny bit too glossy. Also, there are some small areas where the coverage is a little too thin, but it's not too visible. For the pilot figure, they painted it so it looks like it has a large visor without oxygen mask, which is a nice bit of attention to detail. The cockpit interior is the right soviet blue-green, even though the canopy interior isn't painted. One thing I really like is that despite some minor QC issues lately (still less than most), HM has become really good at designing parts that fit well, stay in place and are easy to remove. Only the canopy was a bit fiddly, but it was miles ahead of what I experienced with CW recently.
Overall, I'm just really glad that a decent Mig 25 model exists now. Originally intended as a high-speed interceptor to counter the Mach 3 XB 70 Valkyrie bomber (which was cancelled), the engineering challenge of going from Mach 2 to Mach 3 was enormous. Where the Blackbird was a no-expense spared, completely revolutionary design using exotic materials and could cruise for long periods at Mach 3, the Mig 25 needed to be done with a lot less resources. Still, despite being made mostly out of heavy steel and nickel alloys, it could manage Mach 3...just. In fact they never solved the problem of slowing down the air going into the intakes enough to allow it to do Mach 3 without it literally sucking in its own engine parts, so it was practically limited to mach 2.8. And max g load was only around 4-5g, so it couldn't turn for ****. It had a powerful but antiquated radar and missiles were suitably huge, but somewhat unreliable against small targets.
All the same, it scared the life out of Western intelligence, who thought the big wings would make it highly manoeuvrable. Israeli F4E's tried to intercept one, but were stunned as it escaped at Mach 3.2 (little did they know the engines would now be wrecked) This little episode scared the Americans enough to stop sending the Blackbird over the Soviet Union.
A direct result of the this was the development of the "Foxbat killer", designed from the beginning as a high speed and highly manoeuvrable fighter, the plane we now know as the F15.
It wasn't until 1976, when Victor Belenko decided to defect and land his plane in Japan that Western observers got a good look at it and realized they had been had. It was basically a heavy hunk of metal with two enormous and fuel guzzling engines strapped to it. Technologically though, there was nothing to be learned from it.
Ironically though it was still probably the most successful Iraqi fighter the allies would face in the gulf war. The Mig 29 or basically the Russian attempt at matching allied fighters on their own turf failed pretty miserably, but the Foxbat could fire it's missiles and run. As a result they scored the only Iraqi victory of the Gulf war and downed an F/A 18, while quite a few Mig 25's survived heavy missile barrages by outrunning them.
If not exactly the most effective military aircraft out there, I still love it for its ability to fly very high and very fast, despite not being anywhere near as sophisticated as Western aircraft. It still holds some altitude and speed records to this day!
As for Belenko, discussions on whether he was a hero or traitor will probably go on forever.
Here it is with the Altaya Foxhound. Strangely they look about the same size, even though in reality the Mig 31 is a few meters longer.
Re: Hobby Master HA5601 MiG-25P Foxbat, Lt. V. Belenko, Japan 1976
Great review Esvees.
Have to say, I'm really impressed with the model based off your photos, looks like it turned out really nice, pity about the inside canopy not painted but I'd probably keep mine closed anyway. Maybe something for HM to improve on and make their Foxbat even better.
Re: Hobby Master HA5601 MiG-25P Foxbat, Lt. V. Belenko, Japan 1976
Thanks for the pics! Looks slightly better than i thought it might. No "model of the year" contender, but a worthy box tick.
an idea for another mig-25 is slightly ghoulish - how about the IQAF MiG-25 that shot down scott speicher? that is the only mig to shoot down an american aircraft since vietnam.
here's a more standard soviet or russian -25 done from the 1/72 kit by a plastic modeller.
as you can see, a bit of shading and weathering goes a long way to making the aircraft look more alive and real than it does OOB from HM.
Re: Hobby Master HA5601 MiG-25P Foxbat, Lt. V. Belenko, Japan 1976
Great pics Esvees, thanks for sharing!
I keep flip-flopping on this release, having pre-ordered, cancelled, pre-ordered again then cancelled again already - now I want to "flip" back to ordering it again..
It really does look much better than I had expected, and your pics are great "in the wild" pics one can actually trust.
Re: Hobby Master HA5601 MiG-25P Foxbat, Lt. V. Belenko, Japan 1976
Quote:
Originally Posted by Esvees
J
As for Belenko, discussions on whether he was a hero or traitor will probably go on forever.
Probably neither a hero or traitor, just a man who wanted to escape a suppressive regime. And as a soldier, since he didn't do it during wartime, he's forgiven in my book
Now, if there were any monetary motives behind it, that would slightly change my mind
Re: Hobby Master HA5601 MiG-25P Foxbat, Lt. V. Belenko, Japan 1976
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tajmashhad
Probably neither a hero or traitor, just a man who wanted to escape a suppressive regime. And as a soldier, since he didn't do it during wartime, he's forgiven in my book
Now, if there were any monetary motives behind it, that would slightly change my mind
There would have been a fair abit of CIA coercion and a reward for delivering the aircraft to the allies.
Abit like how Mossad were pressuring Iraqi pilots to defect with offers of gold or wife's (something along those lines) and if that didn't work, threats of a dirt nap.
Anyway great model regardless of its history, defo looking forward to what other schemes HM might make next.
Re: Hobby Master HA5601 MiG-25P Foxbat, Lt. V. Belenko, Japan 1976
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ukrainian_Falcons
There would have been a fair abit of CIA coercion and a reward for delivering the aircraft to the allies.
Abit like how Mossad were pressuring Iraqi pilots to defect with offers of gold or wife's (something along those lines) and if that didn't work, threats of a dirt nap.
Anyway great model regardless of its history, defo looking forward to what other schemes HM might make next.
Oh, for heaven's sake. Give it a rest.
How on earth did the CIA "coerce" Belenko? He was based in the Soviet Far East, in a closed military district that was thousands of miles from the nearest (and very closely-watched) CIA station in Moscow. How could a CIA agent have even made contact with Belenko under those conditions, let alone recruited him or coerced him into defecting?
Surely you don't believe that a CIA agent back then could simply buy a ticket on Aeroflot, fly across four time zones to Chuguyevka and spend all the time necessary to recruit/coerce Belenko? Without someone in a paranoid police state becoming suspicious of who he was, where he was going and what he was doing? (If you believe the CIA could have pulled off a feat like that in the USSR during the mid-1970s, you have a lot more confidence in the CIA than I have ever had.)
If Belenko was being coerced, why did he not simply report the matter to the omnipresent and ever-vigilant KGB? Belenko could then have enjoyed watching as his CIA tormentor(s) were hauled off to the Lubyanka. (And the Soviets probably would have made him a Hero of the Soviet Union for helping the KGB to protect the Motherland from the dark forces of Western imperialism.)
There was no prior contact between Belenko and Western intelligence agencies, there was no coercion and there was no bribe. Belenko defected because he was profoundly alienated by the Soviet government's lies, hypocrisy and tyranny. The fact that his wife had just demanded a divorce was also a factor. His defection was entirely self-motivated (as he said at the time and has said many times ever since).
Many CIA operations against the USSR (including a number that were far more sensitive than any attempt to induce the defection of a Soviet fighter pilot) have been declassified and revealed since the USSR collapsed in 1991. If the CIA had somehow managed to recruit Belenko, don't you think they would have announced that fact (and taken credit for it) by now, more than 40 years later (and almost 26 years after the collapse of the USSR)? What possible purpose is being served by keeping the truth under wraps at this point?
Seriously man, how many other East Bloc military pilots defected to the West during the Cold War? (Several, that I can think of off-hand.) And how many Western/NATO pilots went the other way? (Not one that I've ever heard of.)
Just look at the facts and then give your brain a chance...
Last edited by OnlyWayToFly; 05-26-2017 at 09:46 PM.
Re: Hobby Master HA5601 MiG-25P Foxbat, Lt. V. Belenko, Japan 1976
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sildani
To my eye, this looks good, although the nose seam is pronounced.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AirCal
My exact thought.
Quote:
Originally Posted by OnlyWayToFly
Yep. You wait for years for a model of an aircraft that you've been interested in ever since 1967 Domodedovo air show - and you get a big and very noticeable seam down the side of the forward fuselage. Heckuva shame.
Does anybody here know why is HobbyMaster over and over replicating the same unfortunate horizontally splitted construction resulting in more or less noticeable seam down the side of the forward fuselage, while competitors can / could use construction that completely avoids this seam? Why Witty could make nice smooth front area without upper and lower halves while HM can´t?
Mig-25
T-38
S-3B Viking
SU-35
RA-5C Vigilante
F/A-18F Super Hornet
MIG-23
- model by model, even the newest ones, all have the forward fuselage seam bringing possibly visible gaps and other types of problems...
F-14 was "spared", but even the newest HM molds use this type of construction bringing more or less visible seams, gaps, panel lines continuation problems etc. Why is HM using this type of construction? Does anybody know?
T-38 from HM - seam
T-38 from Falcon Models - no seam
SU-35 from HM - (whopefully small) gap but still upper/lower seam
SU-35 from Unknown Chinese manufacturer - no seam
SU-35 from AF1 - seam, but on very discreet place underneath
SU-27/30 from Witty - no seam
F/A-18 from HM - seam
F/A-18 from Witty - no seam
F/A-18 from Dragon - no seam
etc....
even Altaya had better placed forward fuselage seam on their Mig-31...
Re: Hobby Master HA5601 MiG-25P Foxbat, Lt. V. Belenko, Japan 1976
Ladia, this is a question I have always asked myself, why Witty could do almost solid 1 piece moulds and other manus it's all pieces with gaps. Could you imagine if HM produced a Viper using the Witty mould, I think that would be pretty epic.
Re: Hobby Master HA5601 MiG-25P Foxbat, Lt. V. Belenko, Japan 1976
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ukrainian_Falcons
Ladia, this is a question I have always asked myself, why Witty could do almost solid 1 piece moulds and other manus it's all pieces with gaps. Could you imagine if HM produced a Viper using the Witty mould, I think that would be pretty epic.
Agree. I´m not diecast engineer, but as a collector it seems to me that with those divided lower and upper fuselages HM permanently runs into problems.
Re: Hobby Master HA5601 MiG-25P Foxbat, Lt. V. Belenko, Japan 1976
I thought the seam served the purpose of easily allowing 2 seater versions to be produced, but in cases such as the the T38 or Viking it clearly isn't.
Also, I asked William recently if they would release a 2 seater Foxbat, but sadly they won't. So the seam is there for another reason it seems.
Re: Hobby Master HA5601 MiG-25P Foxbat, Lt. V. Belenko, Japan 1976
As I had said before, HM should not rush into announcing iterations of their next model. They should let the market settle down first.
I was dying to get this model. But before the models even arrive at our our shore, HM already announced doing an Iraqi MiG version. So I am now holding out for the Iraqi plane.
Likewise, I know of a Malaysian collector who is among the first to acquire this model. Upon learning of the Iraqi model, he quickly dispose of the Belenko plane.
Re: Hobby Master HA5601 MiG-25P Foxbat, Lt. V. Belenko, Japan 1976
Quote:
Originally Posted by tomcatter
what??? are my eyes deceiving me??? did monsieur uf just say hobbymaster did a good job with the foxbat???
Haha well it looked much nicer in the metal and compared to all the recent camo Floggers and Fishbeds which all have inaccurate colours which were lined up next to it.
Re: Hobby Master HA5601 MiG-25P Foxbat, Lt. V. Belenko, Japan 1976
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ukrainian_Falcons
Haha well it looked much nicer in the metal and compared to all the recent camo Floggers and Fishbeds which all have inaccurate colours which were lined up next to it.
Re: Hobby Master HA5601 MiG-25P Foxbat, Lt. V. Belenko, Japan 1976
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ukrainian_Falcons
Haha well it looked much nicer in the metal and compared to all the recent camo Floggers and Fishbeds which all have inaccurate colours which were lined up next to it.
no unsightly gaps? no mismatched grey tones? nothing???
Re: Hobby Master HA5601 MiG-25P Foxbat, Lt. V. Belenko, Japan 1976
Ladia, you've hit the nail on the head. The seams are the reason why i haven't bought any of the models you've listed among other gripes. But i'm not opposed to acquiring them at a later time when and if i find one at my price point (which is considerably lower than the RRP)