Yaks Cold War build -Condor MiG 25P Foxbat in 1/72

[yak face]

Heres my entry for this GB , the Condor 1/72 MiG 25P Foxbat. This beast of an aircraft was originally designed to combat the threat of the North American XB 70 Valkyrie . A very fast interceptor was needed by the soviets when they got wind that the americans were developing a Mach 3 bomber (which in the end only resulted in 2 prototypes before missile technology made them too vulnerable ) Made mainly out of stainless steel (to combat heat stress) the Foxbat was a very large , heavy point defence interceptor armed with heat seeking and radar guided missiles,and had a top speed of about mach 2.8 (although one was clocked at about Mach 3.2 , but it probably ruined the engines )
The kit is very nice looking in the box with very fine recessed panel lines and nicely detailed undercarriage. The cockpit isnt up to much but the canopy is very small so a bit of careful painting and some tape belts should be fine.heres the sprue shots and box[ATTACH]283833[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]283834[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]283835[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]283836[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]283837[/ATTACH]

[Guest]

I'm sure you will build an excellent model Tony.

Thanks for join in

[Guest]

Very nice Tony! The Foxbat was always a favourite of mine as a kid - just an airframe built around 2 massive engines!

An interesting point about it was after the US scientists examined the defected MiG 25, they found much more 1950s valve technology instead of more modern solid-state electronics. This insight gave rise to protection against EMP, something the Soviets were way ahead of the West & could have caused us to have lost our C&C in the event of a third world war.

[yak face]

Cockpit is just about done , I didnt go to town with it as very little can be seen with the canopy closed. I added some belts from tamiya tape to the seat and a bit of artistic license to the side consoles and this should be fine. The nose section is split vertically , while the fuselage is split horizontally and the method of construction is very strange with lots of separate parts going together to make the fuselage. This modular construction is going to be very tricky but im looking forward to the challenge![ATTACH]283968[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]283969[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]283970[/ATTACH]

[tr1ckey66]

You don't see a Foxbat in ages and then...!
I have to admit I've never heard of Condor models but to be fair surface detail looks good - quite restrained.
I'm sure you'll make a stunner out of this regardless of build sequence/modular construction.

Looking forward to the progress
Paul

[Guest]

You're going fast with this one Tony! Looking good so far.

[colin m]

Made mainly out of stainless steel (to combat heat stress)

That seems strange. Anyone who has welded stainless steel will know, how much the stuff expands with heat. I wonder how it ever stayed together.

[yak face]

[ATTACH]284460[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]284460[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]284461[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]284462[/ATTACH] Bit more done on the foxbat .the strange breakdown of the parts is making progress slow. The fins are both on now and the nose section has been fitted also . Ive had to fill various sink marks and seams and the kit itself reminds me of an Amodel kit , in that every part needs cleaning up and test fitting / altering several times to achieve a decent fit. Next up is the intakes , i sense more drama coming! Cheers tony

[papa 695]

I've only just seen this one Tony, great work so far

[yak face]

Well I took a deep breath and tackled the intakes today . They are made up from three different parts which then have to fit round the two protruding parts on the body . I decided to glue the two intake assemblies together then just tape them into position until the glue dried so they would set in the right position. Then I removed them so I could paint the inside of the intakes before more dry fitting and fettling prior to gluing into place. Ive only done the one side so far but it seems to have worked , with the fit looking ok.[ATTACH]284495[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]284496[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]284497[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]284498[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]284499[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]284500[/ATTACH]

[papa 695]

Nice work Tony

[Guest]

Looking good Tony.

Have fun, John

[tr1ckey66]

Hey Tony
The intake sequence sounds like a good plan.

it's beginning to take shape now looking forward to seeing the scheme applied.

Cheers
P

[flyjoe180]

Nice work so far Tony. That intake assembly looks a little more complex than was probably necessary though!

[yak face]

That intake assembly looks a little more complex than was probably necessary though!

My thoughts exactly Joe , the whole breakdown is reminiscent of kits where different versions of the basic aircraft are to be modelled except that the only thing that changed on any of the marks of Foxbat was the nose or exhaust cans ,so the breakdown of the weird rear fin and intake assemblies seems a bit unnecessary , well at least its keeping me on my toes !cheers tony