Category: Soviet aircraft
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The Next Big Thing
Is the next small thing. Right now people who went to the recent WASMEX show are planning their next build. The serious have already cut styrene off sprue trees. The real hard core are applying undercoat… Part of it will be inspiration – people have seen lovely models on display and want to emulate the…
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Polikarpov I-16 – Part Four – Stalin’s Falcons
Well, they had to be different from the Adlers of the Germans and the Bald Eagles of the Americans. And these fighters were tiny things – so it was either going to be Falcons or Tits. And you can play with tits as much as you wish… Actually, I think the Falcon name was attached…
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Polikarpov I-16 – Part Three – Sandwich Size
The primer stage emphasises just how small this fighter is. And how much effort was put into streamlining it in an art-deco fashion. The side panels fit very well, the horizontal tail plane locks the fuselage halves together, and the tailpiece smooths the rear. I’ve followed the practice of temporarily sealing the landing gear covers…
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Polikarpov I-16 – Part Two – The Donk
If someone is so kind as to prepare an entire aero engine for me, I should be very ungrateful not to take notice of their effort. This is the philosophy that compelled me to construct a tiny, hidden component for the I-16. It has worked out beautifully, and I am loathe to close it in…
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Polikarpov I-16 – Part One – What Animal Is That?
Is it a mule, a fly, or an ant? All three nicknames have been used for this small Soviet fighter plane from the 1930’s. It was a somewhat revolutionary craft at a turning point in aviation that went from biplanes to monoplanes. One might have expected the Soviets to follow their standard Russian pattern of…
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Ilyushin 4 – Part Four – Baltic Bomber
When I picked the Ilyushin off the Hobbytech shelf before Father’s Day I knew it would be somewhat of a gamble – Mister Craft kits are always that. They would be the sort of kit that Forrest Gump would buy. However, this is a Zvezda, not an old FROG, and the basic structure is perfectly…
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Ilyushin 4 – Part Three – I Give In To Zvezda
I have written before about my technique of painting the canopies of my aircraft – how I use a bow pen to add the framework at the end of the build. It is closer to my past experiences and very effective in most cases. But looking at the glass nose of the Ilyushin I knew…
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Ilyushin 4 – Part Two – Why You Do This Sergey?
Every model kit is an adventure in a cardboard box – some are the Walt Disney types and some are the Jumanji sort… In the case of the Ilyushin 4, I arrived at the wing stage and took some time out to be flabberghasted. The construction of the thing is a unique departure. The engine…
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Ilyushin 4 – Part One – Bob’s Your Uncle
My brother-in-law, actually. We have Christmas lunch at his house most years. Not a prolific model builder, but he has completed some from-the-plan models of ships and boats. He’s more of a full-size builder of houses and cars. But back to the Bob. This model of the Ilyushin 4 was part of the Father’s Day…
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Ryan Spirit Of St. Louis – Part One – Nyet, Tovarich…
Is not could be Spirit of Amerikan town. Is Spirit of Leningrad. First solos transatlantic airplane fly from Soviet home of revolutionary peoples but capitalistic newspapers disguise this. Soviet union always first in everything. Well, not quite first with this model. We get mould from FROG in decadent England and hero workers of Soviet Union…
The Little World 