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Soviet/Russian Aircraft


Coutinho

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Hello everyone, I am just starting modelling now and I want to focus my modelling and collection solely on classic Soviet aircraft in 1/72. (This would obviously include civil/commercial aircraft as well as military).

 

Which modelling companies offer the most in this category? I have seen AModel from Russia who offer quite a lot and many unique planes, but from browsing the forums, their kits appear to be notoriously difficult to build. 

 

Thank you!

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I don't do 1/72 myself, so I can't offer help with particular model companies, but I don't know if this will help you. The first link is all the Russian 1/72 kits shown on Scalemates:

https://www.scalemates.com/search.php?q=*&fkSECTION[]=Kits&fkSCALE[]="1%3A72"&fkGROUPS[]="Aircraft"&fkCOUNTRY[]="RU"&fkTYPENAME[]="Full kits"

 

and the second is the soviet aircraft:

https://www.scalemates.com/search.php?q=*&fkSECTION[]=Kits&fkSCALE[]="1%3A72"&fkORGANISATION[]="Voyenno-Vozdushnye Sily (Soviet Air Force 1918-1991)"&fkTYPENAME[]="Full kits"

 

Some of them will have reviews attached. 

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For general information, I recommend http://massimotessitori.altervista.org/sovietwarplanes/board/index.php  This is a vast site which benefits from thorough exploration.

 

Other than AModel (from the Ukraine, I believe) there are a number of companies that do Russian types now and again, but perhaps only Zvezda that do so consistently.  There have been a number of Russian companies that did good kits, and a number that did poor kits, but few were well distributed or readily available now.   Many of these have ended up under the umbrella of the Eastern Express company, but you will need to tread carefully there.  Not only was there no discrimination in the choice of kits to re-market, but I understand that at times different original subjects could be available in EE boxings, with no external discrimination.  Any recommendation is likely to depend upon the subject you want to do.  For example the Yak 3 is the commonest of the Yak fighters, but the new Brengun Yak 1/1b kits are likely to be the best.  Tamiya does an excellent Il 2, but SMER do the best single seater Il 2.  I'm afraid I can't comment on the larger civil types, other than that the old VEB Plastikart series were basic.  Generally speaking, if you are interested in a kit check how old the tooling is, and anything more than (say) fifteen years old is likely to be best avoided.  I think that a beginner is best concentrating on new releases, and check the reviews of those.  Bear in mind that few of the reviewers that appear in the commercial sources have any great knowledge of the subject: you will soon learn to pick out those who do and cherish them!

 

Amodel certainly combine a variety of types with reasonable availability.  Their earlier releases (look for the kit number) did tend to be difficult, but the recent ones just take a bit of care, as with any kit lacking locating pins.

 

One major problem with modelling Soviet types is that most kits in recent years have come from countries that were within the Warsaw Pact, and so have been very unwilling to release Soviet subjects.

Edited by Graham Boak
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Thank you so much for the links and advice!!!! I couldn't have asked for more! 

 

The links have been very helpful so far and have actually provided some good news. 

 

A lot of the Amodel kits that I am interested in are from 2008 onwards! I guess it means they should be good to attempt when my skills allow it!

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For the better known military types (WW2 and more modern) several model companies offer kits in 1/72, be it KP, Eduard, Hasegawa, Revell or Italeri. For the more obscure and civil/commercial types Amodel is the brand to go for, but also Modelsvit or Valom. I agree with Graham that, with some care, most of Amodel's recent kits can be build into a decent model.

 

Peter

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There’s Modelsvit as well - closely related to Amodel but I think of them as being like the more recent Amodel kits. I’ve built their Be-12 and have the Tu-22 in the stash, and have seen some great builds of the Tu-22 and other Modelsvit kits.

 

Trumpeter/Hobby Boss do a few Russian/Soviet military subjects in 1/72 as well.

 

Amodel kits are definitely worth trying if you have some modelling experience. They’re short run, have no locating pins, and with the larger injection moulded kits you have to deal with fuselages that come in multiple sections. In my view they got their bad reputation from some of the earlier kits like the Tu-128 and the Yak-28s which aren’t unbuildable (there are some good builds on BM) and the newer kits don’t deserve that reputation. They’re not straightforward, you have to think through how you’re going to build them and shouldn’t always follow the build sequence in the instructions, you’ll do plenty of sanding and some filling, but you’ll end up with a good model of a distinctive subject. I’ve built the Tu-134, An-24T and An-30, currently building the Mi-10. I have WIP threads for all four on Britmodeller - would post links but I’m writing this on my phone and don’t know how - also have the Il-14M in the stash and it looks nice.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Whatever else you do, try to get the following two 1/72 kits; there are probably others I could recommend, but these are the ones that come to mind most easily as being good kits that are accurate and easy to assemble:

  • Yak-3 - Zvezda "Snap Fit". Accurate and looks good when finished. Only caveat regards some sink marks on the undersides of the wings. Avoid the Hobby Boss Yak-3; I know the HB MiG-3 is a good one, but the HB Yak-3 has some inaccuracies which, although not hard to correct, make it less desirable than the Zvezda kit. Zvezda also have a 1/48 Yak-3, so don't be confused by that.
  • La-7 - Eduard. What could go wrong? It's by Eduard, for Pete's sake. Avoid at all cost the Hobby Boss La-7 - while the MiG-3 is good and the Yak-3 is kind of okay, the HB La-7 is hideous.

John

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