The Little World

On a wing and a half.

This model of the Tupolev ANT-5…or 4 – it’s hard to make head or tail of the Soviet numbering system – is a curate’s egg in many respects. The basic kit is buildable, but there are breakable parts that do so and then need to be joined with cement before they are tacked onto the structure. The end result is semi-fine, but there were moments.

The wing structure – as on the real thing – depends largely upon the cabanes for orientation to the fuselage. The main struts do connect, but they cannot do so until the triangle of the cabanes is settled. Likewise the landing gear legs are not adequately anchored for real reassurance – only the front struts have a hole in the side of the fuselage.

The geometry is slightly off, but only slightly. I am grateful that it has gone together anyway and will not be pedantic about it.

The armament is fierce – two machine guns, four bombs, and six rockets. The last-named seem to have been a flavour of the month for the VVS but quickly fell out of favour when it was discovered how unlikely hey were to hit anything. Stalin said “No ” and that was that.

The real high point of the kit turned out to be the Zvezda decals. I had anticipated fractures and folds, but they slid off the backing paper like champions and bedded straight away. The corrugated surfaces they were asked to decorate are notoriously hard to cover, but these went on fine. A little Mr Mark Softer did just what the tin said and wrinkled the decals in a couple of minutes. Then they were pressed carefully into the corrugations with a damp brush and left to harden. All surfaces came out well.