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A build from 5 years ago: НИАИ-1 Фанера 2 (NIAI-1 Fanera 2 -plywood-) Another civil kit! Well done Mikro Mir* (Mikr Mir is roughly micro-world or microcosm? This plane was designed and engineered by the Lisichkin-Rentel team around a Shvetsov M-11 of 100hp capable of lifting 4 passengers in an aerodynamically-polished airframe that was a little bit like a motorglider or embryonic flying wing. The plane had very appealing lines and included very smart features to save weight and avoid drag. There was a prototype (Fanera-1) very similar to this later model, but the production model of which 20 were made (and that this kit represents) had many refinements. It operated in the state airline successfully, carrying in ideal conditions up to five people including the pilot. Here a YouTube clip showing the thing in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyhAAX3DjWE This plane is sometimes referred to as ЛК-1 Ленинградский комбинат (LK-1, Leningradskii Kombinat). There are some images of one of these planes on floats. The kit depicts the specific plane modeled as white, but if you are doing other airframe than that, beware that photos (and the movie clip) show in other planes paint that is anything like white, most likely aluminum. Photos also show the Townend ring removed, no spats, different props, and so forth. At least one photo shows a fin/rudder with a particular decoration. Once more: study your photos and references. I have wanted to build this one for many years. I thought nobody would ever release this design as a model kit, so of course as I usually do I decided to scratch-build it. I collected references and even printed out scaled plans but did not actually cut any building material. And I am so glad I didn't!, because now a relatively new company, Mikr Mir, made it available as a short-run injected kit. This little kit looks quite good, it includes masks for the extensive window areas, some photoetched parts, decals, and of course the injected sprues and instructions. The parts have good detail, and will need just a bit of cleaning-up, and enough of them are present to cover a reasonable level of detail. The instructions are not bad, but not the best I have seen at any rate. The surface detail is convincing and the assembly looks practical enough. Care should be taken in dealing with the extensive transparencies in order to keep them clean. Those parts in the kit are good but most likely will need bathing them on acrylic floor polish to improve their clarity. It is no doubt an attractive plane of unusual configuration. The kit is affordable and has some think-out-of-the-box engineering, but it is a mixed bag: The good: a) reasonable number of parts, good surface detail, well appointed for 1/72 (engine, interior) b) photoetched bits c) window masks! The bad: a) confusing instructions that lack clarity, have too small detail drawings and contain mistakes b) a few ill-designed parts (wheels bigger than pants' internal space) c) horrible, unusable, total failure decals (at least in my kit). Scan them in high-res and print your own. It is a drag, but better than deal with decal confetti. If you are interested in this plane, there is enough on the Net to satisfy your curiosity if you have a modicum of dexterity handling Net searches. The instruction sheet: the usual small, vague, fuzzy business. There is something awkward with part 7 (front/instrument console) there seem to be a mistake either on the part or the plan, we'll found out...or will be? (NOTE: I did found out, is completely in the wrong position, see further below): Part 7, the instruments console that has a particular shape had a very suspicious position indicated in the less than poor instructions, well, that is because part 7 goes in a very different place, as shown here in these photos, and NOT where is shown in the instructions. Now, when a manufacturer has no clue as to where the parts he made should go, you are in trouble. Other aspects of this kit are OK, though, more info as we go: A problem with the wheel pants: they are narrower than the wheel they are supposed to lodge. A few solutions (I have done this before with other models): glue one side to a piece of styrene sheet to add width, re-contour, glue the other half; or: sand the wheel flatter; or get a narrower wheel; or (as I will do here) sand a wheel, cut in half, partially insert the half wheels into the pants once all is painted separately. Use the axle as a stopper for how far inside the half-wheels will go. These pants, as some of the other parts, are wafer thin, so watch out: The peculiar shape of the plane calls for innovative break-down engineering. Thus the top-cum-sides of the fuselage is provided as two clear parts (since the windows are there) that must be joined, and then a stub tail added to it. Be sure to align the clear part properly as the glue sets, don't ruin the windows area with glue smudges or sanding scratches. I most likely will glue a thin styrene sheet as a reinforcement underneath the narrow middle, which is the cabin ceiling: The kit has very nice masks and photoetched parts, even a photo-film for the instrument panel to be combined with the metal part. The photoetched parts are covered with a protective film. All this and the decals come in a resealable plastic pouch. Well done, Mikr Mir! As you can see I painted the film white on its back for contrast: The interior is in place with the small addition of joystick and rudder pedals. Notice the pilot's seat has a small plinth molded in it which makes it slightly different than the others: Clear parts were masked and putty applied, and once dry it was sanded away to improve the surfaces, and then the temporary masks removed: There are a couple of things that the instructions ask you to do but I wasn't able to corroborate in photos: the kit has two anti-slid/walkway sections as PE parts that are supposed to be glued at the wing roots, but photos only show one, on the left-hand side, and not going all the way up to the front of the wing as the kit parts. The kit also has two Venturi probes, but all photos show only one. The origin of the mistake seems to be the plan on which the kit perhaps was based. Again, all photos show one entrance through a sliding window on the left, therefore one walkway and one handle on top of that sliding window. The photoetched parts for the aileron linkages are glued. The wingtip skids although provided as plastic parts, were discarded in favor of ones made with wire. Also added are the control horns for the rudder and their control cables exits on the fuselage side. Holes are drilled for the stab rigging. None of the latter are provided/described in the kit. As explained before only a partial walkway is glued as per photos (not kit instructions). The kit provides two and they are seemingly too long, reaching the leading edges: Proceeding to the decaling stage, I found out that the decal manufacturer has invented the un-decal. Let me explain: a decal that shatters in contact with water, and when for some miracle remains in one piece, will have almost no adhesion to the surface (will unstuck when dry), will not conform to curved surfaces, and will be mostly impervious to setting solutions: How a decal manufacturer can do such poor job is on itself a high achievement of failure. But, who knows, may be it was just my decal batch. My advise: scan the kit decal to a high resolution, print your own decals and rather deal with cutting out the very many individual subjects than scatter decal dust all over the model and the building board. A very POOR JOB, these decals: With some huffing and puffing the decals are now in place. Yet another mistake in the instructions: decal number 7 (as marked in the DECAL SHEET) should be the one going on the vertical stabilizer. The smaller one, number 8 as marked in the decal sheet should be on the wing. To make it clear: they are wrongly numbered in the instructions: decals on the wing should be # 5, 6 and 8, not 7 as indicated there. Sigh. As said, I had to print a set to replace some of the shattered decals: