Kitty Hawk MiG-25PU Foxbat 1:48 Review

The MiG-25 has long been popular among modelers, but the two-person trainer with its gradual second cockpit has been largely ignored. Kitty Hawk MiG-25PU Foxbat 1:48 is stepping into this gap with the latest version.

I haven’t built Kitty Hawk MiG-25 Foxbat before, but I was impressed that this kit contains full resin cockpits. Resin upgrades look great compared to plastic kit parts, but plastic parts aren’t bad either. One of the cockpit tubs was crooked and cracked when trying to turn it into perfect shape. Also, the resin tubs did not fit the body very well and left large gaps behind the seat. A resin control bar was under-molded, so I used the plastic option.

The decals provided for the instrument panels and side consoles are well printed, but they are very thick and do not fit the elegantly detailed resin. Resin seats have very good details, but there are some flashes to clean; Photo-etched metal (PE) harnesses finish the seats.

The color callout line is not provided, so research is essential.

The one-piece resin landing gear saves time against creating the plastic legs of the kit. But there was some spring in each of the three legs and I was worried that it would be insufficient to support the big, heavy model; The original patterns of the resin gear appear to be 3D printed, so there are lines on the parts that are almost impossible.

The gear should be installed in the housings after painting, leaving it vulnerable to breakage during painting. The nose gear was broken on the mine, so I repaired the holes open to his leg with a ⅓2-inch carbon fiber rod.

It is a three-part event, including separate parts for the body, the rear part, and the cockpits. The surface detail throughout the kit is excellent and offers plenty of things to look at. Be careful to remove the pieces from the trees as the attachment points are large and some small pieces are broken.

Separate entrances are connected to both sides of the rear cockpit. No entry body is provided, and the only option is to expose the ramp doors incorrectly closed, such as the FOD cover. A PE piece covers the plastic and the instructions tell you to bend it over the plastic pieces. Do not do this or the doors will not fit properly.

Inserting the inlets on the rear body created a problem; entrances are narrower ⅓2 inches. I split the inside – which created a gap in them – and filled the outer gaps with smooth sanded styrene strips.

There is also a step in the upper suction halves, but I have left the risk of destroying the detail surrounding them.

The upper and lower halves of the stern body do not fit, and I was hoping that the upper half would have the distortion that required extra pressure to fix.

Good news: The nose section, including the front cockpit, fits well.

Kitty Hawk MiG-25PU Foxbat 1:48

When the trunk was together, the rest of the frame proceeded quickly. Wings and horizontal and vertical stabilizers sit well and have separate control surfaces.

The exhaust is detailed with beautifully copied built-in details. The only problem was the gaps between the upper and lower halves of the jet pipes, which are difficult to remove without damaging the details.

Glossy transparent plastic provided a multi-piece canopy. Other details include fast brakes, detailed shift gates, and antennas; they are all easily attached.

The kit offers four marking options: two Russians, one Indian, and one Ukrainian. Unfortunately, the decals for the colorful Ukrainian option are orange instead of yellow – the wrong shade. The decals looked a bit thick but settled on the details.

Six weapon trees fill the box and the instructions show adding them, but none of my references wore them to the instructor.

The kit includes a weight to keep the nose down.

Kitty Hawk MiG-25PU Foxbat 1:48 is a beautiful model of the fast Foxbat, but you will need patience and super glue to get the most out of it.

– Hulk