I have to admit, that when I first saw this sheet of decals, I wasn’t too impressed. The six aircraft don’t have the “wow” factor that a lot of us are used to seeing on World War One aircraft. The reds, blues, yellows, and other bright and dazzling color schemes are not here. After looking through the four page booklet, however, I have decided that this is a good thing.

First, you will get six schemes to choose from. All the wings are in green and mauve or just green, so there aren’t any lozenge decals to worry about. Next, none of the fuselages have that dreaded wood grain one has to try to imitate. Instead, they are in grey, green, or silver-grey. This is where the easy part ends and the fun really begins.

As nice as the Tamiya 1/32 Spitfire Mk.IX kit is, Aires wants to make it better. They now offer a cockpit set that is intended to improve the detail in that portion of the kit. The detail is crisp, delicate and very well rendered. This set does not include a photo-etch fret. All parts are resin…typical Aires resin…gray and smooth. The parts come on either single or shared casting blocks and can be removed with a sharp #11 blade, sanding stick and/or razor saw blade. Although the resin has a degree of flexibility, care always should be exercised when removing the delicate small parts from the casting blocks as they are prone to break if handled with a heavy hand. There is a little thin flash on some parts (like the fuselage bulkheads and the oxygen hose) so a little clean up is required, but there are no discernable pinholes to worry about.

Bottom Line

A great MIG-21 build for any level modeler. Some challenges around the cockpit canopy fitting. Decals photo-etch, and resin add to the necessary level of modeling experience needed to complete the kit. If you add photo etch or resin, be prepared for a longer and more complicated build. This kit is highly recommended.