COBI MiG-28 Set 5859

COBI's MiG-28 is a 1:48 model built from 332 blocks, 29 cm long, produced under the Top Gun licence in the film's all-black scheme with red stars. The ailerons and armament move, the landing gear detaches for the included brick stand, and the cockpit opens for a simplified figure whose helmet carries the red star in a yellow circle. A nameplate with the Top Gun logo is included. All markings are printed; no stickers.

There has never been a MiG-28

The aircraft does not exist, and the name gives it away twice over.

Mikoyan numbered its fighters in odd numbers — MiG-15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, 29, 31 — for decades. An even number would not have been a fighter. The film's writers picked one that sounded plausible to an American audience and wrong to anyone who knew the convention, which was almost certainly deliberate: inventing an aircraft avoids naming a real country's air force as the enemy.

What flew in front of the cameras was a Northrop F-5E, painted black. The US Navy operated F-5s as aggressor aircraft precisely because their size and handling resembled a MiG-21, so the Navy already had a fleet of them at Miramar and lent them to the production.

If the shape looks familiar, it should: COBI's sets 5857 and 5858 are the same aeroplane in Swiss and Norwegian service.

In the COBI range

Part of the Top Gun series with the F-14A Tomcat (5811A).

Specifications

Pieces: 332 · Figures: 1 · Scale: 1:48 · Official Top Gun licence · No stickers
Model dimensions: 29 × 19 × 9 cm (11.4 × 7.5 × 3.5 in)