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It looks like Zvazda swiped off the dust from the old moulds. https://www.scalemates.com/kits/zvezda-7225-mikoyan-gurevitch-mig-23mf-flogger-b--1496538

I've decided this is going to be the year I build a few helicopters. I find helicopters really interesting, I have several in the stash, but somehow I've only built one helo in the last 30 years. Time to fix that. First up, the Ka-32 Helix, using the Zvezda 1/72 Ka-27PS kit. This is going to be built as a helicopter used on the icebreaker Siberia on ice reconnaissance duties, using decals from Begemot. It's going to be a (hopefully) quick OOB build. Here's the kit. Not a lot of parts, not much of an interior, but the external details look quite nice. I bought this second hand, it was obviously sitting in someone's stash for quite a long time, the decals aren't so much yellowed as browned! Good thing I'm not going to be using them. more soon Julian

The short-barrel (28 calibres) 152mm howitzer was the most powerful gun used by the Soviet army during WW2. Due to the separate loading it’s only drawback was a low rate of fire, only in the case of an experienced and perfectly harmonized crew, reaching 3 rounds per minute. In 1942, its self-propelled version was created on the KV heavy tank chassis. 670 such SU-152 SPHs were built. Used both as self-propelled artillery, assault gun, and (sporadically but with excellent results) tank destroyer, they earned the nickname Zvyeroboi among their crews, which in Russian means both Deerslayer and Goatweed (poisonous for cattle, thus killing some animals). It is not known which of these meanings was behind the nickname, although modern Russian self-propelled howitzers bear the names of flowers (Carnation and Hyacinth) as their official designation. There is no doubt, however, as to the origin of the German nickname (Dosenoeffner = can opener). A direct hit from the SU-152 torn huge holes (usually one on each side) in every German tank. When the obsolete KV gave way to the newer IS heavy tank on the production line in the autumn of 1943, it was only a matter of weeks for the SU-152 to go similar way. The vehicle on the new chassis (and with a new casemate) was named ISU-152. In December 1943, the first ISUs entered the units, and by the end of 1945 over 2,820 (plus 1,740 almost identical ISU-122 assault guns with the 122mm gun, recognizable only by their longer barrel) were produced. In the Soviet, Polish and Czech units, these new Zvyerobois (nickname stuck) reached Berlin. Then the ISUs took part in the conquest of Manchuria, in the wars in Korea, the Middle East and the Persian Gulf. They are said to serve in the North Korean army to this day. Crewed by five and powered by the 520hp Kharkiv (nee Hispano Suiza) V12 diesel engine the vehicle weighed roughly 46 tons. Armament consisted of the 152mm howitzer mentioned above and a 12.7mm MG mounted externally. The 2013-tool Zvezda kit #5026 is probably the best Braille-scale ISU-152 on the market. There are 118 styrene parts (roughly half of them are common with the companion IS-2 kit #5011) on 2 sprues and two quasi-pliable (though not soft vinyl) tracks in the box. Great care must be taken when installing these tracks - Zvezda designed them in such a way that 3 of the guide horns have been significantly lengthened, and through the holes in them you should squeeze the axes of the return rollers. The hint is that these rollers are spaced ALMOST identically - the distance between the front and middle is 25mm, and between the middle and rear - 24mm. Attempting to install the tracks in the opposite direction may be successful, but the shape of the upper track section will be at least bizarre. As all the Soviet WW2 tanks in my collection are from the European battlefields , I decided to build the ISU as the conqueror of Manchuria. It is hard to find a reason why 200 ISU-152s (along with 1,200 smaller SU-100s) were delegated to the August Storm operation - against Japanese tanks and bunkers, even the tiny SU-76 would suffice. Nevertheless, their presence in Manchuria is documented by many photos, and 70 vehicles, which survived in the occupation forces until 1955, were handed over to the Chinese. It sports the standard camouflage of the 4BO Protective Green overall with 60cm wide white band along the casemate top. On the prototype it was applied in the field without any masking tape, thus I followed this way in 1/72 too. The paints are (as always) Humbrol enamels: 117 for the 1944-49 period 4BO and 130 for white - painted with Italeri brushes. The decals (each digit applied separately) are courtesy of my drawer - some 1/400 British submarine IIRC. Afterwards the Vallejo acrylic matt varnish was brush-applied overall too. The model was made OOB except for drilling the exhaust stubs and correcting the only obvious error - the bin on the casemate right wall was placed too high, so I moved it down according to the photos. The antenna made of 0.3 mm Aber steel wire appears thick in the photo, but be aware that the image on the 15” screen is about twice the size of an actual 1/72 model. The photos are taken with an LG smartphone. Comments are welcome. Cheers Michael

I'm going to build the mi-24 p /f hind in 72nd , it will be a soviet version from the afganistan conflict,and I'll be building it in tandem with my mi-17 in another thread in this gb, i have a choice of markings , but not from 1 decal sheet in particular ,a little research was needed because the kit markings didn't fit with the gb time frame ,and i had no luck searching for after market decals for a soviet 24p/f in Afghanistan, but @modelling minion, craig came to the rescue once again with some wonderfull reference pictures , from one of his books, I'll choose the markings later ,its the 1/72 zvezda mi- 24 p hind kit I'll be using, it's a well reviewd little kit and looks really nice on the sprues ,the box

Hi everyone, I'm not the first, and I'm sure I won't be the last, to turn-up with an '88' for this GB! It'll be the Zvezda G6, which will benefit immensely from some assistance by the Revell C6 lurking in the background!

this kit was built nicely, everything is out of the box, only sails are sewn at home. How do you like it ? PS: I now have a Golden Hind 1/72 and a diorama Morser Karl 1/72

Good afternoon I would like to take part in this Gb with the Zvezda Yak 3 Flown By Capt Marcel Albert with the Regiment Normandie Niemen in 1945 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Albert Box art The sprues Clear parts and decals sheet Patrice