When the Mig-15 burst on the scene above the skies of NorthKorea in 1950, it was an incredible shock to the UN forces fighting in the area.Here was a Russian aircraft that was in many way, superior to what the US andits allies were flying in the area. More heavily armed and able to climb fasterthan the F-86A Sabre that was at the time the 'king of the skies', the Mig-15forced a switch to night bombing as B-29 formations were being decimated by thisnew fighter.

Developed after the Great Patriotic War, the Mig-15 usedcaptured German technology and the stupidity of the British government, who gavethe Russians several state of the art turbojets, to produce a real world classfighter. Swiftly put into production and then sent to the Korean frontier, theseaircraft, though marked as Chinese, were really flown by quality Russian pilots.They not only wreaked havoc with the Superfortresses, but also got their fairshare of Sabre kills as well.

The success of the Mig-15 in Korea assured that this aircraftwould be exported to a number of sympathetic countries. In addition, it wasbuilt under license in Poland, Czechoslovakia and China. Though the Mig-15 isbasically gone from the air forces of the world, a number of them still fly aswarbirds here in the US and in other countries. It's basic construction makes ita simple aircraft to maintain and it's ruggedness means that it will be in theskies for a very long time. 

Dragon/DML was acompany that hit the mainstream about 10 years ago. Producing kits that werestate-of-the-art and looked absolutely gorgeous. Building them, however, hassometimes been a trial as parts don't fit as perfectly as one would hope. I havebuilt a number of Dragon kits and can attest that they are not shake and bakemodels. However, with careful building, they are amongst the best on the market.

TheJi-2 comes on three sprues. One large and one small one in medium grey plasticwith fine engraving, and a clear sprue holding the canopy and other clear bits.This kit is a big improvement over the other 1/72 Mig-15s, namely the horribleAIrfix kit and the much better KP kit. 

You get a welldetailed cockpit tub into which a seat, control stick and instrument panel areplaced. The seat looks rather weak and is best replaced by an Aeroclub or otheraftermarket one. There is no full intake on this kit, just a splitter in thenose through which you can see the interior bits, very similar to the Mig-17 kit that I built a number of years ago.The canopy can be positioned open or closed.

Wheel wells arecomplete and have some detailing in them. The kit can be built wheels up, butthere is no stand. The only underwing options are two fuel tanks. These are notthe semi-conformal type as is sometimes seen, but the same ones as offered onthe Mig-17 kit.

Whatis really nice about this kit are the number of decal options. There are six ofthem to choose from, three of them Korean war aircraft. All options are innatural metal except the Chinese version as shown on the box art. In addition tothe North Korean and Chinese versions, there is an Albanian aircraft and onefrom the Egyptian Air Force from the 1956 war.

Some folks havecomplained about inaccuracies with this kit and you can read one of thosereviews here. However, to me, itlooks like a Mig-15 when done and is still the nicest one in this scale.

Review kit courtesy of me and my wallet!

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