Clearwater Models: MiG-3 МиГ-3 (Classic Airframes)

This is the Classic Airframes 1996 kit (96405) of the MiG-3 Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-3 in 1:48 scale, presented as flying with the 12 Guards IAP of the Moscow Air Defence (PVO) in March 1942, and bearing the title За Партию Большевиков "For the Party of the Bolsheviks".

Some 3400 were produced at Завод Нр 1, Factory #1, in 1940-1941, with a few extra produced in Kiev at Factory #43. With a top speed of 640 km/h at 7200 metres the MiG-3 was faster than the Messerschmitt Bf 109F-2 and the Spitfire V. However, at lower altitudes the MiG's speed advantage disappeared, and fighter combat during the Great Patriotic War generally took place at lower and low altitudes. Due to this serious problem the MiG-3 had a very short front-line service life and was quickly transferred to rear air defence with the PVO arm. Over the winter of 1941–42 all MiG-3s were given to the Navy (which did not keep them) and the PVO for strictly air defence purposes. Due to theri great speed, the MiG-3 was a good candidate for reconnaissance work. Wiki says: Even with the MiG-3's limitations, Aleksandr Pokryshkin, the third-leading Allied ace of the war, with 53 kills and 6 shared, recorded a number of those victories in a MiG-3.

The kit comes with resin cockpit and a small panel of PE parts, There are far too many PE parts, and all are small or tiny. The cockpit alone has some 13 PE parts. Each landing gear has four PE parts. The canopy is a single vacuform part which I cut in three so it could be left open to show off the disaster I created in the cockpit. I also added a screen grill in the underside air intake, and put in a metal pitot tube and strung stretched sprue as radio wire. Paint for the body is mosly Tamiya, while most other colours are Vallejo. I bought this as a used kit from Bill at Hobby Centre in Ottawa. It was a stalled Covid-19 project which all of a sudden looked attractive.