The MiG-25 has long been popular with modelers, but the two-seat trainer with its stepped-down second cockpit has been largely overlooked. Kitty Hawk steps into that void with the latest version of its 1/48 scale Foxbat, the MiG-25PU.
I haven’t built previous Kitty Hawk MiG-25s, but I was impressed that this kit included full resin cockpits. The resin upgrades look fantastic compared to the plastic kit parts, but the plastic parts aren’t bad either. The resin detail is superb, but one of the cockpit tubs was warped and cracked as I was trying to return it to the correct shape. Also, the resin tubs didn’t fit very well into the fuselage and left sizable gaps behind the seat. One resin control stick was incompletely molded, so I used the plastic option.
Decals provided for the instrument panels and side consoles are well printed, but too thick and don’t conform well to the exquisitely detailed resin. The resin seats have very good detail, but there is some flash to clean up; photo-etched-metal (PE) harnesses finish the seats.
No color callouts are given so research is a must.
A one-piece resin landing gear saves time versus building the kit’s plastic legs. But the three legs each had quite a bit of spring in them and I was worried they would be inadequate to support the large, heavy model; they seem strong enough once installed. It appears the original molds for the resin gear were 3D printed, so there are lines on the parts that were nearly impossible to eliminate.
The gear must be installed in the bays during assembly rather than after painting leaving them vulnerable to breakage during handling. The nose gear broke on mine, so I repaired it with a 1/32-inch carbon-fiber rod inserted into holes drilled into the leg.
The fuselage is a three-part affair, including the rear section and separate sections for each of the cockpits. Surface detail throughout the kit is superb and offers plenty of stuff to look at. Be careful removing parts from the trees as the attachment points are large and some small parts broke.
The separate intakes attach to either side of the rear cockpit. No intake trunks are provided and the only option is to pose the ramp doors incorrectly closed like an FOD cover. A PE piece covers the plastic and the instructions tell you to bend them to fit over the plastic parts. Do not do this or the doors won’t fit properly.
Attaching the intakes to the rear fuselage revealed a problem; the fronts are 1/32-inch narrower. I split the intakes — which in turn created a gap inside — and filled the outer gaps with styrene strips sanded smooth.
There is also a step in the upper intake halves, but I left them as is rather than risk destroying the surrounding detail.
The upper and lower halves of the aft fuselage didn’t fit as well as I hoped with warpage in the upper half requiring extra pressure to correct.
Good news: The nose section, including the front cockpit, fit well.
With the fuselage together, the rest of the airframe progressed quickly. The wings and horizontal and vertical stabilizers fit nicely and feature separate control surfaces.
The exhaust is detailed with beautifully replicated recessed details. The only problem was gaps between the upper and lower halves of the jet pipes that are difficult to remove without destroying detail.
Bright clear plastic supplied the multipart canopy. Other details include posable speed brakes, detailed gear doors, and antennas; all attached easily.
The kit offers four marking options: two Russian, one Indian, and one Ukrainian. Unfortunately, the decals for the colorful Ukrainian option are the wrong shade — orange rather than yellow. The decals seemed a little thick but settled over details.
Six trees of weapons fill out the box and the instruction indicate adding them, but none of my references showed them fitted to the trainer. I left them off.
The kit includes a weight to keep the nose down.
Kitty Hawk’s MiG-25 builds into a nice model of the fast Foxbat, but you’ll need patience and superglue to make the most out of it.
Note: A version of this review appeared in the April 2020 issue.