Category: Soviet aircraft
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Grigorovich IP-1 – Part Three – Close Enough For Jazzski
And there I was, getting along so very well…and then winter set in. I knew it was winter because the snow started drifting into the gaps between the wing roots and the fuselage on this Avis model. I was delighted, as it obscured the giant trenches that had appeared. But come spring, the ruse would…
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Grigorovich IP-1 – Part Two – The Soviet Engine
I might not have been paying attention in the past to the details of aero engineering…but I do now that the kit makers are making much more detailed efforts. For instance, I always built the Airfix and Monogram fighters with radial engines that fit inside cowlings. In many cases they were just engine fronts inside…
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Grigorovich IP-1 – Part One – Out Of Left Field
The rise of the eastern bloc modelling industry is a blessing and a curse – the former because it gives us good models to build and the latter because it chooses some of the most obscure prototypes. At least they are obscure to a modeller in Western Australia. They might be household names in Minsk.…
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How Accurate Were They Back In The Day?
Depends on who they were and when the day was… I well remember seeing an Aurora Famous Fighter kit sold in Canadian hobby shops that purported to be a Soviet plane – variously touted as a Yak 25 or a MiG 19, that was nothing like either aircraft. It may have been drawn up and…
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The Easternisation Of the Hobby
When I first started building plastic models in the 1950’s there were few Soviet-bloc models to be found. A few oddities, like the Aurora MiG 19 which proved to be totally imaginary…or the Airfix MiG 15 which was somewhat better. And a lone copy of the Bison bomber that Revell put out in the 60’s.…
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Polikarpov U-2 – Part Four – St. Ivan’s Ambulance Service
In the service of Soviet humanity… This is the second air ambulance I have constructed, and by far the most ambitious one. It was born of necessity and nurtured on the makeshift – just as well there was a solid foundation of simple airframe to support it. The use of air ambulance transport by definition…
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Polikarpov U-2 – Part Three – Time To Box Clever
When you are confronted with a complex model design – multiple wings or complex landing gear – it pays to stop and think. You need to get your sequence of painting and assembly right to avoid making hard work even harder. Or worse – to avoid the risk of spoiling vital parts. No-one likes to…
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Polikarpov U-2 – Part Two – Small Steppes
Well, they would be with a model from Ukraine, wouldn’t they… Boom Boom. The odd little slippers are not for feet – they are the over-wing gondolas that were apparently fitted to the Polikarpov U-2 to evacuate wounded Soviet soldiers. The instruction sheet shows a U-2 in winter camouflage with ski landing gear and these…
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Polikarpov U-2 – Part One – Washing Machine Charley
I’ll explain that later. In the meantime I need to start work on the ICM model of the Polikarpov U-2. This is not the U-2 that was shot down with Francis Gary Powers in it. Very similar but a different engine… In any case, the ICM kit was quite inexpensive in a hobby shop where…
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Sukhoi Su-2 – Part Four – The Green Meanie
I must record my admiration for the box art of this ICM product. I was never going to be able to do the weathering or modulating that is shown on the package, but the slightly yellow tinge to the Russian green was what made it really special. I was also grateful that the designers didn’t…
The Little World 