Introduction

There are large numbers of aircraft models being released which have either never been available previously or that better those offerings that have come before them. One area where injection moulded plastic struggles to provide detail and scale thicknesses are the pitots found on most jets, in particular those pitots that have unusual elements present. Step forward Master, who have made it one of their tasks to provide these items in resin and metal.

Contents

Here I am looking at products from Master for the Mig 25 Foxbat in 1/48th and 1/72nd scale. The products for the Mig 25 Foxbat E consists of two brass parts and the products for the Mig 25 PD/PDS sets consists of two turned brass elements and (what I believe is) a resin part. The products are packed inside Ziploc plastic bags and then mounted on a card hanger.

Review

Taking a look over these four products from Master leaves me with the impression that they are of the usual high standard offered by this company that I have seen in other offerings. As I have seen in other offerings from Master I am a little concerned that the turned brass elements could be damaged by becoming bent due to poor handling or packed with other items when being posted. The antenna element of the two pitots for versions other than the PD/PDS are well protected by a foam square and attachment to a piece of tap to hold them in place. All four of the offerings looked at here are packed inside sealed plastic bags inside the Ziploc bags.

Starting with the pitots for the Mig 25 PD and PDS versions. The two parts provided for both scales are in turned brass, one part replaces the nose of the aircraft and the pitot tube then fits into a preformed hole in the brass nose portion. I like that Master has provided the drill size required for attaching the nose portion onto the model. There are currently six 1/72nd scale offerings of the Mig 25 PD/PDS and only one 1/48th scale offering currently.

Moving onto the two pitot offerings covering the other versions of the Mig 25 in 1/72nd and 1/48th scale. These two offerings also have the turned brass nose cone tip into to which the pitot inserts. The pitot itself is also turned brass and so has great finesse to it, in particular the 1/72nd scale offering is a beautiful piece of work. The pitot goes through a pre-formed hole in the plastic/resin antenna array and so securing it in place once inserted into the cone. The antenna array is a very well detailed piece of work as the vanes are in more than one angle, and there are eight of them present. I have not seen what the quality of 1/72nd scale models are like in relation to this part, but if the 1/48th scale offering is anything to go by these are the way to go for modellers who like to get their models detail spot on. I again approve of Master providing details of the drill size required for use of the parts and also providing information on the correct orientation of the antennas on the model. If my maths is correct there are currently nineteen models in 1/72nd scale and seven in 1/48th scale that would benefit from these products.

The products viewed here are:
AM-72-114 Mig 25 PD/PDS
AM-48-130 Mig 25 PD/PDS
AM-72-113 all Mig 25’s except PD/PDS
AM-48-129 all Mig 25’s except PD/PDS

Conclusion

I know that many of you will feel that these items do not warrant their cost in terms of what they replace and I would agree that these are luxury items rather than needed parts, but what they replace is like comparing chalk and cheese. The finesse of these parts and detail present can only be dreamt of as regards injection moulded plastic offerings. The fact that there is no clean up required with the offerings seen here means that the modeller does not risk damage to the finish of the parts. One of the aspects I like in addition to the much improved detail offering is that they are less likely to be broken, this is a particular plus for those modellers who take their builds around the country to shows.