Flankerman

It's actually quite small.... It was the last production fighter from Lavochkin - before the OKB was switched to building missiles. There's an interresting parallel between Lavochkin and Supermarine - both had very successful wartime fighters (La-5FN and Spitfire) - after which they produced a series of mediocre jets (La-74, La-200 etc and Attacker, Swift and Scimitar). Great model Hubert - really captures the look of the La-15... Ken

Not necessarily . there are quite a few instances of Russian aircraft receiving AF designations that never enter service - (and some also received NATO/ASCC names) From the top of my head (a barren place these days).... Tu-98 Backfin. Beriev A-40/Be-42 Mermaid Tu-91 Boot, Su-47 Firkin etc etc. That doesn't comply with the NATO/ASCC/ASIG rule of two syllables for jet-powered aircraft..... Nitpick mode off..... Ken

As an aside.... check out photos of Spitfires in level flight...... The elevator is always a few degrees down ...... This pic shows it well https://cdn.airplane-pictures.net/images/uploaded-images/2017/8/28/954733.jpg A simple Google of 'Spitfire' will turn up more showing the slight down elevator. Ken

Just a nitpick for clarity... it's actually Ministry of Emergency Situations - in Russian MChS :- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministry_of_Emergency_Situations_(Russia) They operate most versions of Russian aircraft (but sadly, no longer the Il-62) - some of my pics... Yak-42D IL-76TD Be-299ChS Fantastic model of the Il-62 BTW ...... Ken

IIRC it was called the HOW Project - Hercules On Water. There were a couple of B&W photos in an old copy of Profile Pubs on the C-130 - which showed that it also had a retractable hydroski. Ken

Yes - all in 1/144 scale......KM, Lun and 14M1P are Anigrand resin kits, A-90 'Orylonok' is the Revell kit corrected. More photos here :- http://www.flankers-site.co.uk/model_ekranoplans.html Modifying the Revell kit is here :- http://www.flankers-site.co.uk/modl_a-90.html If you are interested, I scratch-built the A-90 in 1/72 scale many years ago - (including my photos of the real thing) :- http://www.flankers-site.co.uk/model_a-90 scratchbuild.html Regards Ken

As in..... (all 1/144 scale) A 1/72 scale Lun would be nice.... Ken

Amodel do the bomb.... https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/AMU72265 All you need to add is the correct version of the Tu-95.... Ken

The Il-38 is based on the Il-18 airliner - with the wings moved forward 3m (9ft) for CG reasons - because of all the mission equipment fitted. I built mine 17 (!) years ago..... :- http://www.flankers-site.co.uk/modl_il-38.html I fitted a lot of weight into the forward fuselage (a spark plug and a heavy bolt)..... ....but I still had to fit a tail prop support (as on the real thing).... One major problem I found is that the canopy sill on the fuselage moulding is not parallel to the ground.... (either that or the wings aren't fitted correctly?) ... I had to add plastic card to the lower (stbd) side and sand down the highr (port) side to make the canopy fit correctly... Check yours out before proceeding much further. Great progress so far BTW - yours is looking great. Ken PS _ I have just realised looking at your pics - mine didn't come with weapons bay interiors - just the doors - the interiors must have been add in later kits (?)

Some images on the BAS website ;- https://www.bas.ac.uk/data/our-data/publication/british-antarctic-survey-aircraft-2/ and...... https://www.bas.ac.uk/polar-operations/sites-and-facilities/aircraft/ Ken

You also might want to check the doors..... Most 'Salons' had the ports side sliding door replaced with a fold-down 'airstairs' door.... .... and a rear airstairs incorporated into the rear (fixed) clamshell..... Note :- the above is a 'stretched' variant for the Afghan President - but the entrance doors are the same as a 'standard' Salon Stay Safe Ken

I did a 'Salon' in 1/72 scale - I used masking tape to get the approximate dimension and just cut away at the round windows until they were rectangular (longer than the width)... I just did it by 'eye' - I don't know the actual dimensions. I can't remember how I glazed them - I think I fitted a strip of clear plastic inside before joining the two fuselage halves - then filled with Airfix Clear. Here's a pic of the real thing to work out the window size.... Don't forget the curtains!!!!!! Happy Hipping Ken

A little progress...... Taping the lower pannier to the hull........ ...reveals a large mis-fit at the front and rear...... I sanded the mating surfaces to a bevelled-edge - which made the fit better... and finished off with filler. The Conning Tower/Bridge/Sail is made up from two sides and a top section... Guess what? - the cutout in the top decking doesn't match the contours of the sail - so more fettling and filler... Finally - all the major parts are fitted and she's ready for a coat of primer.... I'm hoping that the overall black finish will hide a lot of my botching...... More later... Ken

It's a great kit - easy to build with plenty of detail.... http://www.flankers-site.co.uk/model_submarines_other.html#Japanese_I-400_Class I put one of the Seirans on the catapult - with one just inside the hangar...... Can you spot the obvious mistake....??? Ken

You neeed to look at the history.... In the beginning there was the Sukhoi Design Bureau (OKB) in Moscow - that designed and built a few protoypes of the T-10/T-10S (Su-27). Production of the Su-27 single-seater was then assigned to a 'factory' who produced it in quantity - in this case the Komsomolsk-na-Amur Aviation Production Association (KnAAPO) Sukhoi OKB then designed the tandem two seater (Su-27UB) - and this was assigned to a new factory for production - Irkutsk Aviation Production Association (IAPO) based in Irkutsk. Are you still with me...??? With the breakup of the Soviet Union, the two factories started to design their own rival variants - Irkutsk - because they already had the tandem two-seater - developed for India the Su-30MKI (M for Modified[meaning Upgraded], K for Komerciial [meaning Export] and I for Indiski [India]} - with canards and thust vectoring (TVC) - on the back of which were developed the Su-30MKM (Malaysia) and Su-30MKA (Algeria) In the meantime, China was looking for a combat two-seater - but there was no way the Indians would let Chinese technicians into their 'factory' to spy on the Su-30MKI - so up stepped KnAAPO with the Su-30MKK (K for Kitei [China] proposal. KnAAPO had the T-10M (Su-35) and sea-going Su-33 in production - plus the sole Su-35UB two-seater (as a potential lead-in trainer for the Su-35/37). The Su-30MKK was a completely separate design - without canards or TVC - but with tallet flat-topped fins (taken from the Su-35 (T-10M)) Variants of the Su-30MKK have beeb sold to Indonesia, Vietnam, Venezuela etc etc I hope this potted history help explain the bewildering spaghetti of numbers and letters used by the two factories Feel free to any more to the explanation... Ken