The Little World

Pardon me if I start to sound a little cynical – I’ve been reading Soviet accounts of their air force in the Great Patriotic War. In various articles I’ve been told that three separate Soviet aircraft were the most produced planes of all time and won the war.

The articles originate from within what was the Iron Curtain bloc and must therefore be taken with a grain of Siberian salt. I have also read many reports of the Soviet methods of falsifying their own internal figures for various purposes. I’m not in possession of accurate records of their aircraft production and I doubt anyone ever will be.

Nevertheless some of their aircraft were made in sufficient quantities to battle the Chinese, Japanese, Finns, and Germans at various times and quite a few of the later products were sent off to Warsaw Pact countries to form a protective cordon around the Motherland. Not the first-raters, you understand. These were reserved to protect the Motherland from the satellite countries as well as from the capitalist west. The Motherland seems to need a good deal of protection from everyone…

The Pe-2 is sleek – you cannot deny that. If it were any sleeker there would not be any room inside for the crew. As it is they have to hang the ordnance out in the breeze on A-frames. At least that saves having to have bomb bay doors that open reliably. But that calls into question its design as compared to, say, a De Havilland Mosquito. Two engines there, as well, and they managed to pack bombs and depth charges into them as well as a fearsome cannon armament.

Do not judge Mister Craft/Zvezda too harshly for the fit of the canopy. If I were the sort who masked canopies I could have cemented it in and faired it to the fuselage with thin putty. I may come to this eventually, but for now I content myself with hand-painted canopies stuck on later.

Note that the fears expressed over the way the Mr Craft decals would perform were baseless – they floated on easily and bedded well. The new regime of patience, Mr. Mark Setter, and warm water seems to be paying dividends.