The Little World

But I’ll follow the instruction sheet.

I have never heard of the aircraft, nor of the maker. I barely recognise the firm who moulded the kit, though I see they are registered in Liberia. It says so on their stern.

I will google up the thing when I get it home but I hope I don’t find it. It would be restricting to be locked into some dodgy paint scheme. I have no confidence in the decals anyway, so we will see when the time comes. There is enough paint in the shed to cover a full-size B-52 anyway.

The business of kitting out obscure ex-Soviet thingies from the designer’s wastepaper basket is really a business now. We in the West are always last to know when it comes to eastern European designs, so we tend to accept whatever they throw into a box. Not that we necessarily buy them at shop prices – waiting for a stash sale is kinder to the pocket.

The most disturbing thing about these Red Pills is that someone, somewhere, is probably building them avidly. A collection of the most ungainly birds ever to ( almost ) fly will give an entirely distorted impression to the casual viewer. The builder will not let on that only two of the wonderful design were ever made and one of them fell apart in the hangar. Soviet prestige is as much now as it ever was…and that says a lot.