As in the United States and other Western nations, there was a real need in the Soviet Union for a night fighter. This is an aircraft type that the Soviets had rarely used and with the jet age now in full force, the need was upon them. Rather than go through the expense of building an all new type, it was decided to take a current production aircraft and equip it with a viable radar set that could be operated by one person. Making little changes in the airframe aside from the nose and the windscreen, a rudimentary, but relatively easy to work radar set was added to the MiG-17F. The upper 'lip' of the intake was enlarged for the radar transmitter while a 'bullet' was added to the intake for the receiver dish behind a small dielectric dome (or was it the other way around?). Anyway the result was an aircraft that the Soviet Air Force felt was good enough to intercept the attacking hordes of Western bombers. Similar set-ups using the same radar equipment were installed on MiG-19s as well.

In line with other similar kits from Attack, this one has the majority of sprues from the MiG-17 F kit previewed recently. It differs by having two different noses for the various radar equipped planes and it actually seems to have the correct canopy. This kit has no cockpit section, that area to be painted black or the canopy to be painted a solid color prior to installation. Under wing stores are limited to two drop tanks. I have discovered while building the MiG-17F kit that the cannon are oversize (in my opinion), being closer to what you'd use on a 1/72 aircraft, but the overall effect still looks OK. You can build the kit wheels up if you wish, but you'll have to design your own stand. The exhaust piece will have to be trimmed down in circumference if you want it to fit in the fuselage. A small amount of nose weight is also required to prevent tail sitting.

Instructions are more than adequate for a kit of this scale. Markings are provided for five aircraft. Four of them; for Russia, East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Poland are in unpainted aluminum. The fifth, which is either Syrian or Egyptian is in an upper surface disruptive pattern of Dark Brown and Sand over Azure Blue. The small decal sheet is superbly printed and the decals look to be very thin.