The Little World

Boy, you have to hand it to the Soviets – they kept their squadron codes close to their chests.

Unlike the other air forces that might display this information plus the individual position in a formation, airframe number, and unit number on their fuselages – or the training squadrons that had buzz numbers under the wings – the Soviets put the bare minimum of ID on their aircraft.

One tail number or a Guards banner was about all they got until the propaganda commissar ordered a paeon to Stalin to be stencilled on the side of the fuselage. Presumably the pilots knew who they were and whoever sent them up into battle held their family dossiers in case they did not fly back. IFF in the Winter War was probably unnecessary as the Finns would attack anything with a star on it anyway.

This old Frog kit on skis is surprisingly precise in a very crude manner. The undercart does fit and both skis and the tail can be shoved onto the snow at the same time. The suspension bungees are lamentably ambitious, but can be substituted with brass wire.

As far as the guns and canopies go, you are expecting them to shatter under your hand at any given time and it is a delight and surprise when they don’t.

As the third SB2 in the collection, this one may well be the last. I have a corrugated Tupolev TB3 to build one day but that day will probably stretch into a month.