Moskalyov SAM-9 Strela, 1/72, Scratchbuild

First soviet plane with delta wing. Test flights – 1937 year. Model was build from scratch in 2006. Or, maybe, in 2005 – I don’t remember exactly. There are rumors that soon we will have resin kit of this plane from Prop&Jet.

U-997, 1/350, Flagman

One of my latest models. I build it from Flagman kit. They produce three versions of VII type submarines. In my opinion, they are the best in 1/350 scale. Main disadvantage is unifications of main parts. I had to re-shape nose and stern with Tamiya Epoxy Putty.

Artillery, antennas and railings were made from scratch.


I liked camouflage of U-997. After rather long research I have found a photo of her where camouflage is definitely visible. I painted the model by hand with airbrush and added some weathering.

Yak-9P 1/72 Amodel

Yak-9P was the last, all-metal version of well known soviet fighter. They served in VVS for several years, were exported to Eastern Europe countries and North Korea. I tried to build Yak-9P of Soviet Air Force. The model was build about two years ago.
Best kits of Yak-9’s in 1/72nd now produce Ukrainian company Amodel (Yak-9U and Yak-9P). The kit is typical short-run injection of rather good quality and very good detailing of the surfaces. It fits the drawings well, with only some minor flaws.

I had to make the edges sharper – well known minors of most short-run kits.


Making of the cockpit. Nothing especial, no aftermarket, only some necessary and well visible scratch add-ins.



New canopy was made from scratch. The kit’s canopy is good in shapes, but I needed something more thin and clear.

Assembling the fuselage. I made it almost without the use of putty. It was important because of nice riveting on details. I didn’t want to miss it.



Detailing air intakes


Making some scratch details

Time to some pre-shading and washing

Wheels are from Belarusian Elf company

Finished model

DB-LK 1/72 resin kit review (KAJUK/Air Kits)

This very unusual plane was built in Soviet Union in 1938. The model was made by KAJUK/Air Kits from Petersburg, Russia. This is very brief in-box photo review. Overall quality is quite good and main shapes are definitely correct. I will write more on this model later.

All kits from KAJUK come in boxes of same design.
 
Interesting fact – all minor casting flaws were filled with putty by manufacturer.

First look on shapes of DB-LK. Drawings are from “Aviation and Time” magazine.

“Guards on duty” 1/72 ICM, Scratchbuild

This little diorama was inspired by a documental photo of I-16s on duty. It was taken on February, 1942. This is “Red 21” of 4-th Guard Fighter Regiment (4 ГвИАП) of Baltic Fleet flown by Gennady Tsokolaev.

This Regiment fought in the sky of Baltic Sea and City of Leningrad. During the war Gennady Tsokolaev shouted down 26 enemy planes, most of them he scored flown I-16. He took part in sinking of 10 ships and attacks on nearly 100 ground targets. In July 1942 he received Gold Star of the Hero of Soviet Union.

The model was build from ICM kit. This is definitely the best I-16 kit in 1/72 nowadays. It is far better and accurate then, for example, Hasegawa. This kit has only very minor flaws in shape of wing, which can be easily corrected. It fits well without putty. Detailing is accurate and delicate.

Tsokolaev’s “Red 21” had unusual chassis, so I had to made it from scratch. Also, little round windows were made in cockpit, and launchers for RS-82 rockets were made under the wing.

The model was painted with Humbrol enamels.

The stand was made from plastic and acrylic putty for wood.

Figurines were self-sculptured.

“In waiting for a counter-attack” 1/72 UM, Scratchbuild

This was my first diorama so I was very pleased that this work won first place at “T-34: A Life-Long Way” contest at Rumodelism.com website.

The history of tank unit named after Dimitry Donskoi began in 1943, when Russian Orthodox Church gathered about 8 millions rubles which were spent on building 40 T-34 tanks in Chelyabinsk. Among them were 19 tanks of brand new modification armed with 85-mm D-5T gun. Those tanks were given to 38-th Separate Tank Regiment. In a few days Regiment received “Dimitry Donskoi” name and were put in battle for liberation of Ukraine (Umano-Botoshan Operation, winter-spring 1944) as one of the  units of 2-nd Ukrainian Front.

This was joined massive attack of 1-st, 2-nd and 3-rd Ukrainian Fronts headed by Zhukov, Konev and Malinovsky marshals. This was a kind of Blitzkrieg, but this time performed by Soviets. In a week armies of 2-nd Ukrainian Front  liberated Uman city and forced South Bug river on a 100-km shore. It is important to mention that the enemy was very strong. Among German units were elite SS divisions.

For the “Dimitry Donskoi” Regiment it was a hard month. It took part in liberation of cities Balta and Kotovsk, forced Dniester River and faced many fights. The Regiment destroyed 38 German tanks, 17 half-tracks, 40 guns and about 1400 enemy troops. But loses were heavy too. After a month of battles only four out of 40 tanks stayed in line. Regiment became Guard and received new name “Dniestrovsky”. Lately it was equipped with new heavy tanks.

The T-34-85 tank is made from UM kit with little modernization. It was painted with the use of documental photographs of “Dimitry Donskoi” tanks. Figurines were self-sculptured and building was made from scratch.