Clear Prop 1/72 MiG-19P
By Chris Banyai-Riepl
Overview
The Mikoyan Gurevich MiG-19 was the first Soviet aircraft capable of supersonic speeds in level flight. Developed from the successful MiG-17, the MiG-19 got its improved performance from adding a second engine and a thinner, more sharply swept wing. The initial major production variant, the MiG-19S, entered production in 1956 as a day fighter, but it did not take long before the Soviets added a radar to the aircraft and turned it into an all-weather interceptor as the MiG-19P, still armed with cannons. The later MiG-19PM removed the cannon armament and added the first Soviet guided missile, the K-5M (NATO designation AA-1) beam-riding missile. Operationally, the MiG-19 (and later Chinese license-built J-6) saw extensive service, including combat operations in Asia and the Middle East. The MiG-19 was replaced with the higher performing MiG-21, but it still remained in service for decades with over a dozen nations.
The Kit
The MiG-19 hasn’t been as popular a subject as the MiG-15 or MiG-21, but there have been a few short-run kits in recent years that build into decent examples of the subject, albeit with a fair amount of work. So when Clear Prop announced a new tool MiG-19 family, it was good news given how good their kits have been lately. Once in my hands I can confirm that this is the best MiG-19 kit out there in this scale. Molded in gray and clear plastic, the kit comes with a small photoetch fret and some 3D printed details, along with a pair of decal sheets, one with stenciling and one with the markings for the five options included. The detailing throughout is excellent, typical of Clear Prop kits, and while there are a lot of parts, the assembly should be fairly straightforward.
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As expected, the construction of this kit starts with the interior, and this is one that will make detail freaks happy. The ejection seat is built up from eight pieces and has five photoetch seatbelt pieces. The cockpit sidewalls and instrument panel add another six plastic and four photoetch pieces, with separate rudder pedals, control column, cockpit floor, and rear bulkhead finishing the assembly. Lots of raised detail throughout plus the decal instrument faces make this cockpit assembly an excellent out-of-the-box build that can rival some aftermarket sets.
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With the cockpit assembly done, the next steps are probably the most complex. The fuselage having a front intake and two exhausts makes for a fuselage with lots of interesting shapes to it, both inside and out. Clear Prop has tackled this in an interesting manner, with over 25 parts going inside the fuselage halves. This includes a four-piece nose wheel well that, along with the cockpit assembly, gets sandwiched between two pieces that make up the inside portion of the intake ducting. On the back end, the exhausts are made up from two-piece pipes, a separate exhaust end, and a three-piece rear engine face & bulkhead.
For the fuselage halves themselves, these have additional inserts to complete the outer walls of the intakes, with separate pieces for the engine faces. Additional inserts form the side air brake wells finish the fuselage halves, with the next step being the fuselage assembly. The cockpit/intake assembly fits in place with four horizontal vanes keeping it aligned. The exhausts fit in their spot towards the rear fuselage, then the halves can be glued together. Once the halves are together, the long lower fuselage piece can be added, along with the upper rear fuselage piece. Two more exhaust pieces that form that unique double stinger on the tail end complete the fuselage assembly.
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After that complicated assembly, the wings are much easier. The main wheel wells are built up from sidewall pieces with a handful of photoetch details, and the large wing fence is separate as well. The ailerons are also separate, completing the wing assemblies. The vertical fin is separated into a main part and a leading edge part, with a separate rudder, done for other variants. There is also a separate fin cap piece, while the stabilizers are solid single pieces right and left. The instructions provide detailed angles for the wings and stabilizers so you can make sure these are at the right position.
At this point, one would think that this is mostly done, but the MiG-19 has a lot of extra bits and bobs on the outside, and most of these are separate parts in this kit. There’s the separate ventral fin and a couple of scoops on the bottom, plus the three air brakes. On the top, there are nine separate small scoops for the rear fuselage.
The rest of the details include the landing gear, underwing stores, and canopy. The landing gear is sturdy and well detailed, with the main wheels made from four pieces, matching up with the hefty main strut. There is a separate actuator arm and three separate main wheel doors. The nose gear has the nose wheel sandwiched between a two-piece strut, with some photoetch detailing, a separate retraction strut, and a clear landing light piece. For the bits under the wing, this kit comes with two drop tanks and two rocket pods. The rocket pods come with 3D printed front pieces, enhancing their detail. The canopy includes two styles of main hood, a separate gunsight glass, and windscreen.
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For painting, all of the schemes in the box have the same basics, being unpainted natural metal. The Czech option has an interesting blue color for the nose radome, while the other four options have that in green. The rest of the differences is just in the national markings and numbers. The Czech option is Black 0744 from late 1960, with red trim on the vertical fin and stabilizers. The Soviet option is Blue 66 from the 1960s. The Polish option from 28PLM is Red 723 from 1964, the Bulgarian option Red 21 from 1st Squadron, 18th FAR from 1960, and the Cuban option is Red 82 from 1 Esquadron de Caza from 1962. All of these options are interesting in their own way, so it will be a tough call to pick just one. The decals are nicely printed and the stenciling just adds to the detail of the finished model.
Conclusion
Clear Prop has done another great release with this kit, and the wide usage of the MiG-19P and Chinese-built J-6 equivalent means there is plenty of interesting marking choices out there. My thanks to Clear Prop for the review sample.