Category: Soviet aircraft
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The Humble Modeller

How to beat ’em to the bottom. A reader of one of my other blogs writes that she is a humble person, but content. I believe she is telling the truth, and I salute her for the honesty. Many people could never bring themselves to this idea and would react badly if you mentioned the…
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Petlyakov Pe-8 – Part Seven – One Of A Hundred

No, I’m wrong. One of 93. The Soviets only made 93 of this bomber. They made them with three different engines, and experimented with the rest of the structure as well. One was used as a trans-oceanic transport to deliver Molotov to the UK and the USA…but the rest were used in penny packets for…
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Petlyakov Pe-8 – Part Six – Squeeze Me, Baby!

I feel like I’m going to split. The central bomb bay section of the Pe-8 dictates the spread of the fuselage. Had I not included the interior, and just decided to join the fuselage halves without cutting the bomb bay, all this post would not have happened. As it is, it did. as much as…
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Petlyakov Pe-8 – Part Five – A Wing And Several Prayers

I am never so nervous as when I see a plastic model aircraft with a multiple-part wing. I don’t mean a top and bottom – that’s normal. I mean a top and bottom outer, top and bottom inner, internal brace, wheel well, separate nacelles, and no cementing tabs. Add two gun positions and it starts…
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Petlyakov Pe-8 – Part Three – Stein’s Bomb Dump

And if that title doesn’t get me on an FBI list, nothing will. The explosives you see in the heading page are Soviet 250kg types – roughly equivalent to a British or American 500 pounder…though I don’t know if the fillings had equal explosive power. They will be attached to the bomb bay former and…
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Petlyakov Pe-8 – Part Two – Well, No Escaping It…

Sooner or later I was going to have to start the kit. The box had to be opened and the sprue trees taken out. All 870 of them…The AS truck had already been built as part of a Soviet airfield but the main monster remained. Amodels are flashy mouldings., and slightly friable plastic. Many of…
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Petlyakov Pe-8 – Part One – Metro’s Bargains

Metro Models In Melbourne have a sale every now and again – chiefly the models that have sat in dusty neglect on their shelves. I take advantage, as I am also dusty and sit on a shelf much of the time… In this case the original price was some $ 60 and they applied a…
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MiG 15 Bis – Part Five – Between The Wars

Actually you have to be a lot more specific with the Middle East – which two?. Their wars arrive in succession like buses at Bull Creek railway station – one after another. This colour scheme is said to be late 60’s – somewhere in between the Sinai War and the 6-Day War. I have googled…
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MiG 15 Bis – Part Four – Short John Silver

Been waiting for years to use that line… The choice of the United Arab Republic’s Air Force as the scheme for this MiG 15 Bis was driven by the need to have some counterbalance to my Israeli Air Force collection. The time selected by Eduard for their decals is the early 1960’s – after the…
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MiG 15 Bis – Part One – Czeching Out The Next Stage

A few months ago I purchased an Eduard kit from Hobbytech Toys in Myaree – a Weekend Edition of a Czech crop duster. It was delightful. Encouraged, I returned to HobbyTech one Sunday and picked up a Profi-Pack Edition of this classic Soviet fighter. I wanted to see what differences Eduard would provide. I noted…
