Eduard mig 15 weekend edition

chrisonord · March 16, 2026, 09:12:37 AM

After being told by Fred (zenrat) about the problems he had with his Eduard mig 15, I decided to have a go at building mine. This one is probably one of the worst kits I've ever worked on, fit wise. As with Fred 's, the splitter in the nose does not fit at all, and even with trimming plastic back it just won't fit and the fuselage halves will not stay level. I sat for nearly 15 minutes holding the fuselage together and it just kept moving. Now I know why I subconsciously steered away from anything Eduard as this thing is s#@&%e! I have literally chucked it in the bin.

zenrat · March 18, 2026, 04:34:15 AM

Shame. I hate to see anyone get beaten by a kit, but then sometimes...

I didn't mention the trouble I had getting enough lead into the nose to stop tail sitting. ISTR I filled the nosegear bay with it as well as every available skerrick of space.

I had a sense of achievement when I finished it. Once I had got the fuse halves together it did get easier.

chrisonord · March 18, 2026, 10:05:40 AM

Quote from: zenrat on March 18, 2026, 04:34:15 AMShame. I hate to see anyone get beaten by a kit, but then sometimes...

I didn't mention the trouble I had getting enough lead into the nose to stop tail sitting. ISTR I filled the nosegear bay with it as well as every available skerrick of space.

I had a sense of achievement when I finished it. Once I had got the fuse halves together it did get easier.

I have taken it out of the bin and attacked it severely with a sharp knife, and test fit again and again to get the fuselage halves to meet properly. Inside the nose is a mess, no other way for it, so I stuck a shock cone into it. I managed a bit of lead inside the top of the nose, going to try and shove some more in the bottom of the nose. There were big gaps all along the wing/fuselage join too, something else I wouldn't expect to see on such a "top of the line" kit. I have lost a lot of surface detail sanding it to shape and getting bad joints out of everything. I for sure will not be buying one of their other kits. My personal wellbeing hasn't helped, as the t***so next-door keep waking me up at 3.15 am with their alarm that wakes me up. I need hearing aids, as I am partially deaf, and I can still hear it loud and clear without them in.

Charlie_c67 · March 18, 2026, 02:43:28 PM

If it's that loud and at that time in the morning you should be able to get some sort of monitoring from the council to record it and take appropriate action.

chrisonord · March 18, 2026, 06:08:03 PM

Quote from: Charlie_c67 on March 18, 2026, 02:43:28 PMIf it's that loud and at that time in the morning you should be able to get some sort of monitoring from the council to record it and take appropriate action.

I have tried for it before as I had over 12 months of them waking me up at all hours, the council here are useless, and come out with the most pathetic excuses not to install it. I am going to see the local councillor, and see what she can do.

NARSES2 · March 19, 2026, 02:23:52 AM

From memory the Eduard Mig 15 is one of their earlier kits ? And a lot of their earlier kits were "difficult" builds. I've never tackled the Mig 15, but I know their Fw 190 had a very poor reputation. Their more recent kits are very good however.

One of the issues with their early kits was that they wern't in fact theirs. They simply re-boxed numerous other producers kits, as virtualy everybody does. I think when it came to the Fw 190 they listened to the critism and altered the moulds, but I wouldn't be sure of that.

chrisonord · March 19, 2026, 03:26:58 AM

Quote from: NARSES2 on March 19, 2026, 02:23:52 AMFrom memory the Eduard Mig 15 is one of their earlier kits ? And a lot of their earlier kits were "difficult" builds. I've never tackled the Mig 15, but I know their Fw 190 had a very poor reputation. Their more recent kits are very good however.

One of the issues with their early kits was that they wern't in fact theirs. They simply re-boxed numerous other producers kits, as virtualy everybody does. I think when it came to the Fw 190 they listened to the critism and altered the moulds, but I wouldn't be sure of that.

That makes sense, pity they picked the worst kit to rebox. It has or should I say had some nice detail on it, but due to the excessive fit problems, I have sanded a lot of it off.

Gondor · March 19, 2026, 03:38:30 AM

Looking at scale mates, eduard MiG 15's started back in 2013 as a new mold. I do remember that very early eduard kits were based on other companies molds, usually with a detail set of conversion parts added by eduard. I have their Spitfire 21 which uses the Airkit Spitfire kit with etch and resin parts by eduard.

chrisonord · March 19, 2026, 03:47:12 AM

Quote from: Gondor on March 19, 2026, 03:38:30 AMLooking at scale mates, eduard MiG 15's started back in 2013 as a new mold. I do remember that very early eduard kits were based on other companies molds, usually with a detail set of conversion parts added by eduard. I have their Spitfire 21 which uses the Airkit Spitfire kit with etch and resin parts by eduard.

They obviously didn't try building them before selling them did they.

Charlie_c67 · March 19, 2026, 04:35:51 AM

Quote from: chrisonord on March 19, 2026, 03:47:12 AM
Quote from: Gondor on March 19, 2026, 03:38:30 AMLooking at scale mates, eduard MiG 15's started back in 2013 as a new mold. I do remember that very early eduard kits were based on other companies molds, usually with a detail set of conversion parts added by eduard. I have their Spitfire 21 which uses the Airkit Spitfire kit with etch and resin parts by eduard.
They obviously didn't try building them before selling them did they.

To be fair, they're not the only company guilty of that...

NARSES2 · March 19, 2026, 06:10:05 AM

Quote from: Charlie_c67 on March 19, 2026, 04:35:51 AM
Quote from: chrisonord on March 19, 2026, 03:47:12 AM
Quote from: Gondor on March 19, 2026, 03:38:30 AMLooking at scale mates, eduard MiG 15's started back in 2013 as a new mold. I do remember that very early eduard kits were based on other companies molds, usually with a detail set of conversion parts added by eduard. I have their Spitfire 21 which uses the Airkit Spitfire kit with etch and resin parts by eduard.
They obviously didn't try building them before selling them did they.

To be fair, they're not the only company guilty of that...

That's very true and they've also, along with Special Hobby etc, listened to criticism and have improved the quality of their output over the years.

Old Wombat · March 19, 2026, 07:05:35 AM

Can't say I've had any issues with any of the Eduard kits I've built ... That weren't self-induced.

frank2056 · March 19, 2026, 10:10:19 AM

I have the same kit in my stash and bought it because my previous experience with Eduard had been good!

Captain Canada · March 19, 2026, 10:11:34 AM

It's crazy that we pay money for this lol

Charlie_c67 · March 19, 2026, 11:22:54 AM

Quote from: frank2056 on March 19, 2026, 10:10:19 AMI have the same kit in my stash and bought it because my previous experience with Eduard had been good!

Treat it as a short run kit, lots of fit checking and you should be ok