Ephemeral? Well look at the guns, antennae and landing gear of this Soviet design.
This model will be lucky to make it to my display shelf without these breaking off. The pictures you see in this post may be the last complete images of this ICM product ever shown.
I am not unhappy with the way it turned out – obvious flaws included. There is only so much that can be done by old eyes and old hands and I’m satisfied I gave it the best shot I could. I set down as oddities in design and in the fact that it ended up in the Chinese air force.
The bombing-up was straightforward, but I’ll bet dropping them would have been a revelation. Look at the position of the hangers in relation to the main wheels. In any case most of the records of this plane in Chinese hands relegated it to a transport or a crash.
Mind you, the Soviets used them in the Winter War and later in WW2 – but as carriers for parasite fighters. They did survive in enough numbers to fly in the victory air parade over Moscow.
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