Category: Soviet aircraft
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Polikarpov I-3 – Part Four – Lightning
Like my luck, it never seems to strike twice in the same place… Fortunately, this AGA kit has proved to be good luck and has come out far better than might have been expected upon opening the sad old box. The assembly of the wings was easier than many biplanes have been – I made…
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Polikarpov I-3 – Part Three – The Ability To Judge A Clue
I think the most important thing in building a scale model is to learn how to judge between a good thing and a bad one. This might be the case in a lot of other aspects of life as well – but here we need to know what we are dealing with, what we can…
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Polikarpov I-3 – Part Two – Simple Pimple
In a flurry of experimentation i decide to take a compact camera to my hobby club to document the start of the Polikarpov project. It was largely successful, as I was able to take pictures of a lot of other member’s workplaces as well. These will be used to blackmail them in the future. As…
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Polikarpov I-3 – Part One – Fillin’ In The Numbers
I did not realise how many Polikarpov aircraft I have in the collection until I reviewed it to see if this was new. It is – This will slot between the monoplane I-1 and the biplane I-15. A totally new ( but probably defunct ) Polish model making firm, too. In any case this stash…
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Mig 23 Flogger – Part Two – Homeland Defender
I have gotten jaded in my old age – the effect of having internet images to turn to. I no longer follow the maker’s colour call out slavishly if there is another scheme that attracts the eye. The fact that the decals may not be exactly right is of little consequence. Don’t judge me. Thus…
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MiG 23 Flogger – Part One – Swinging Wing Again
From what I read, the MiG 23 was a bit of a Soviet bust…nowhere near as successful as the previous MiG 21 on the world market. Not my problem. This 1/144 model was kindly donated and looks like it will build up well. It has the swing-wing feature of the period, and in this case…
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Sukhoi Su-22 Fitter – Part Three – Up and Flying
The 1/144 scale model is a wonderful thing – but you have to remember that it is an abstract of a thumbnail sketch of a miniature painted on ivory. The average person will not be able to rig the hydraulic hoses in the wheel wells. The person who can do this is watched carefully by…
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Sukhoi Su-22 Fitter – Part Two – The Pied Piper Of Budapest
More than one premiere for this little kit. I was puzzled at the box art for this ground-attack aircraft – The markings seemed to show a bomb strike on a highway amongst green fields – yet the plane was possibly a Middle Eastern one. My silly – it turns out to be a Hungarian aircraft…
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Sukhoi Su-22 Fitter – Part One – First Of The Fifty Cent Series.
First cab off the rank is the Academy Sukhoi Su-22 Fitter. The tiny box contains three tiny sprue trees – two in hard grey plastic and one clear. There is no flash whatsoever and no sinkholes are evident. Surprisingly, there is room in the cockpit for a separate seat and instrument panel. The canopy is…
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The Fifty Cent Fighter Plane
Sixty years on. My allowance in the eighth grade was 50 Canadian cents per week. It was more than adequate for my needs as I was stuck in a construction camp in the Alberta bush with no place at which to spend it. Our one shopping trip a month went to Drayton Valley and by…
The Little World 