The Little World

The Sturmovik is cementing together nicely. You’ll see the gap patch in the front before trimming, but note the wing and tail seams. This is the sort of fit I wish ALL Czech and other eastern European makers could achieve.

There will be the tiniest slip of superglue on the port wing at the leading edge of the root and that’s it.

Even the landing gear struts look encouraging – the Soviet designers of the period knew these planes would be landing in paddocks and made the gear simple and sturdy. The Smêr moulders followed suit with simple attachment holes and gear struts that actually snap fit. Thank you, don’t mind if I do!

Whenever I look at this plane and what it could do in ground attack against heavy flak, I think what the Fairey Battle could have been if the British designers had taken the threat at all seriously. And iIwonder if we will ever see a 1:72 Battle on the shelves. Perhaps Airfix is too embarrassed by the history of the plane to consider another model of it.