Is it just me of is there a lack of interest in ww2 USSR airplanes? Its not like the russinas dint produce enough #:-)

Sean

Hi Sean,
it does seem WW2 Soviet aircraft take a back seat in the popularity stakes, right next to Mr Luft 46..

However, might this subject be a good idea for a future Group build?..."Red Sky" or something.

Any views?

Cheers
Peter
:-)

I'm in the middle of building a Yak-1b from Accurate Miniatures. I keep meaning to pick up the Gavia/Eduard La-7. Just got some good research material books on both. The choice of kits in 1/48 is pretty limited, but there seems to be at least one kit of most of the major types (excluding the horrid LaGG-3). I'd be happy to participate in a group build; you could name it "Red Phoenix," which is the name of an excellent book about the red air force in WWII (its defeats and subsequence ascendancy).

Hmm... this should be a good future group build/campaign. This may allow many modelers to go pick up that Russian kit.

Here is the straw that broke the camel's back for me--

I have an old Testors kit that features 4 1/72 aircraft, one German, one American, one British, one Japanese. As one would expect each was a famous model, Zero, Spitfire, Mess., etc...But no aircraft from the USSR. I'm sure that there was space and money constraints but still...even at shows...I haven't seen Russian WW2 fighters in a long time.

The group build/campaign sounds like a great idea. I have to admit that my interesting in Russian aircraft is increasing as a result.

Sean

P.S. Even Armorama lacks a WWII-USSR group for airplanes

I think there is a good selection of Russian WW2 aircraft, just not made by the big East Asian companies. Yot have to look to Eastern Europe for the most part. I have a large selection of Russian aircraft form the 1920's & 30's (I know not WW2, but some were used in invasion of Poland, German invasion of Russia, Spanish Civil War and by the Chinese against the Japanese.

oh yes oh yes oh yes...
There are kits out there !
A great polikarpov I-15 has recently been released, I think ! A not so great I-16 exists (academy and hobbycraft)...
You can now build the whole yakovlev family thanks to ICM mainly, but also Eduard (a great great yak 3) and accurate.
GAVIA does a La-7 in 1/48th and eduard one in 1/72nd !
There's also the Mig 3 available in 1/48th and 1/32nd !

SO there's a lot to do out here !
And many kits are GOOD ! check the ICM stuff ! A bit of work is needed here and there... but the kits are good ones, with good detail ! And you can find online the corrections to do !

I just love the planes of the VVS and they sported so many different camo and decorations !
If you want to build VVS planes for a group build, I'll be with you !
The same applies for later jets, I also love them !

what about the new trumpeter ww2 one not sure of the plance or scale but is a good one?

The new one by Trumpeter is the Mig-3 in 1/32 scale. Too big for my tastes, but that's a personal thing.

I guess I don't agree with the sentiment that there is no Russian material out there, but as has already been pointed out, you just need to be willing to go outside of the Tamijigawa set. Sure, it requires some trimming to remove flash, but that's what the hobby is about.

Take a look at VVS Models to get an idea of what is available out there.

Mika

Here's a link to a Brett Green review of a 1/48 Pe-2. http://www.kitreview.com/reviews/hipmpe2reviewbg_1.htm They only made, what, 11,000 of the real thing? Tamiyagawa can't be bothered to do one, but at least a couple of companies have come through on this one.

I think for the Tu-2, another heavily produced and important twin-engined bomber, you're stuck with 1/72, at least for injection-molded kits. Or you can shell out approx. $100 for the Pend-Oreille resin thing.

For anyone who is interested in Soviet WWII planes, Armorama's new sponsor/advertiser, VLS, is having a sale that includes 3 variants of the Yak-7, as replicated by ICM in 1/48. The best part? They're less than $6.00 a pop!!! (I bought two, but clearly should have bought more.)

Here's the link: http://www.modelmecca.com/sales-aircraft.shtml. Just scroll down to the ICM section.

Thanks for the heads up Part-Timer!

Sean