Air Campaigns
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Stars of the VVS Official Thread
spongya
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MODELGEEK
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Budapest, Hungary
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Posted: Friday, September 21, 2007 - 10:01 AM UTC
I think it's real. The sky, the pilot, the antennae, everything points to a real plane.
In any case, nicely done
JackFlash
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Posted: Friday, September 21, 2007 - 04:00 PM UTC
Greetings all;
I'll start with a Roden 1/48 scale Fokker D.VII. The amount of photos available are minimal so I stick to the basis. Blue Rider did the decals. Serial no. unknown, 2nd Soviet Aviatryad, 1922. Aircraft is Dark Green on all upper surfaces and wheel covers, with Pale Blue lower surfaces. Forward fuselage and cowling is finished in a deeper shade of Dark Green than the rest of the aircraft. Rudder is Red. Egyptian style graphic on fuselage is shown here as black, white and pink.. Lower wing stars are Red.

It seems that the machine is purchased in 1922. Fokker sold 50 D.VII, C.I & C.III types to the Soviets. The shipment was sent by sea from Amsterdam arriving at Petrograd in May 1922. These were detailed to fighter units in Petrograd, Moscow and Kiev. The last components of this shipment were written off in 1930. Fokker was still using BMW and Mercedes motors in these airframes. Though I am of the opinion that the Mercedes may have been rebuilt versions rather than newer manufactured motors.


CMOT70
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Victoria, Australia
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Posted: Friday, September 21, 2007 - 09:24 PM UTC
I've decided to try for "Twice Hero of the Soviet Union"! I feel like a 1/72 scale fill in subject before my next bigger project. So it's ICM's little I-15bis. I'm worried about the decals for this one...they have got "silvering" written all over them. Provided i finish this one, it will be the 5th VVS subject i've built in the last 12 months.

JackFlash
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Posted: Saturday, September 22, 2007 - 03:05 PM UTC
[quote]
Quoted Text

". . .I like this one! Well actually i like all DVII's...my favourite aircraft of all time. The Russian machine you mention was recently part of a series of profile features in "Scale Aircraft Modelling" for the DVII. The one i plan to do (not for this campaign obviously) is an interesting Finnish aircraft -6693/18- with a 4 colour splinter camo scheme dated on the profile as 1920.

I assume most post war DVII's would have Benz engines if it's not mentioned otherwise? I mean the BMW engines were in short supply during the war and i doubt they were in much of a position to supply many afterwards. Andrew



Here is something curious;
Weyl, in "Fokker: The Creative Years" (page 280") states that the Benz IIIa "was never tried in the Fok. D.VII", but no explanation is offered as to why this was so. It maybe that the Benz contracts were aimed at other companies..
JackFlash
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Posted: Saturday, September 22, 2007 - 04:40 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Greetings all;
I'll start with a Roden 1/48 scale Fokker D.VII. The amount of photos available are minimal so I stick to the basis. Blue Rider did the decals. Serial no. unknown, 2nd Soviet Aviatryad, 1922. Aircraft is Dark Green on all upper surfaces and wheel covers, with Pale Blue lower surfaces. Forward fuselage and cowling is finished in a deeper shade of Dark Green than the rest of the aircraft. Rudder is Red. Egyptian style graphic on fuselage is shown here as black, white and pink.. Lower wing stars are Red.

It seems that the machine is purchased in 1922. Fokker sold 50 D.VII, C.I & C.III types to the Soviets. The shipment was sent by sea from Amsterdam arriving at Petrograd in May 1922. These were detailed to fighter units in Petrograd, Moscow and Kiev. The last components of this shipment were written off in 1930. Fokker was still using BMW and Mercedes motors in these airframes. Though I am of the opinion that the Mercedes may have been rebuilt versions rather than newer manufactured motors.





Here is a bit more on the subject;
This Fokker was part of No. 1 OIAE stationed at Petrograd (Leningrad) in 1923. Pilot was A. T. Kozhevnikov. The aircraft of the squadron appear to have been divided into three flights of five plus a leaders aircraft. Here we have the squadron leaders aircraft, the famous Pharaoh emblem was Kozhevnikov's personal badge.


From the artist;
"Profile Accuracy - This Profile is based on a single lineup photo of the 1'st OIAE. The Pharaoh badge was traced from a photograph of the same badge applied to a Fokker C.III trainer. The Profile is fairly accurate. Only the presence of the red stars is conjectural since no photo clearly shows either upper or lower wing stars. Judging from photos of other types of contemporary Soviet aircraft these would have been present. It is possible that the upper wing star was not applied. One final note concerning the Pharaoh badge. There has been some speculation that the areas I have interpreted as Lapiz Lazuli Blue were red on the original. I chose to stick with my blue since it is very common in ancient Egyptian art but in the interest of accuracy it should be noted that the matter has been debated. "

http://www.brushfirewars.org/
CMOT70
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Victoria, Australia
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Posted: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 - 12:18 AM UTC
Here's todays progress on ICM's 1/72 I-15bis. This kit has a lot of flash and is not as good as ICM's later kits like the He 51 series. But detail level for 1/72 is very good. Only problem is vague locating instructions for the cockpit parts.

Basically i've just played around with everything until it all fit inside the fuselage, which is now together. It's all a bit pointless anyway...the cockpit opening is so small that not much can be seen now anyway.

Andrew



AirLedge
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Cork, Ireland
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Posted: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 - 03:36 AM UTC
Hi everyone,

I've come across this excellent reference site on VVS aircraft. It has some really detailed illustrations and photos of most of the major Soviet aircraft of WW2 http://mig3.sovietwarplanes.com/
The MiG-3 section is incredibly detailed and insightful, so much so that I'm going to sign up to this campaign (if it's not too late?, please tell me it's not too late) and build one of those Migs!

Hope this helps,

Mike
CMOT70
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Posted: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 - 11:53 AM UTC
Hi Mike, which kit do you plan to use for the Mig 3? I guess it depends on the scale you prefer.

The new Trumpeter 1/48 version is due out right about now. I'm hoping that will trigger some aftermarket decals so i can use them on the ICM Mig 3 that i have (the decals don't look great in that one). But i'll be getting the Trumpeter kit as well.

Andrew

CMOT70
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Posted: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 - 10:56 PM UTC
Managed to get everything to the primer stage today. Pretty much every join on this one needed some filling, the wing to body being the worst.

But using superglue and accelerator is a quick way to fill gaps. Plus typing correction fluid for the fine gaps/scratches- it dries in seconds and sands smooth very easily- plus only costs 90cents for a bottle that lasts a long time! Just don't use the typing fluid for anything that needs high strength or large gap filling. It's great for shallow ejector pin marks especially...

Andrew


JackFlash
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Posted: Thursday, September 27, 2007 - 04:27 AM UTC
Greetings all;

I found an interesting forum on this subject.
http://vvs.hobbyvista.com/Forum//index.php
CMOT70
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Posted: Saturday, September 29, 2007 - 12:32 AM UTC
Well the I-15bis is finished, and i'm glad to see the end of it too!

Every join needed filler. And the decals took multiple attempts to solve their silvering problems. Floor polish didn't work. Setting solutions didn't work. In the end i hand brushed Tamiya X-22 clear, and the decals all wrinkled up badly...and then finally settled down without any silvering at all. So there's one to remember when using ICM's decals in the future.

I think i'll lay off the ICM kits for a bit

Andrew






SGTJKJ
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Posted: Sunday, September 30, 2007 - 04:53 PM UTC
Looks good, Andrew. Good tip on the ICM decals. That might come in handy at a later stage
TedMamere
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Moselle, France
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Posted: Monday, October 01, 2007 - 05:45 AM UTC
Hi Andrew!

This is a little gem of a model! Thanks a lot for your participation to this Campaign!

Jean-Luc
Merlin
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AEROSCALE
#017
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Posted: Monday, October 01, 2007 - 05:55 AM UTC
Hi Jean-Luc

I might be joining with a late entry after all... look what I found in the LHS today!



The first impressions are excellent - very crisply moulded, with subtle surface details and a decent cockpit. I'll get a First Look Review ready this week, but it looks like a straightforward build, so I might just dive in and join the Campaign!

All the best

Rowan
TedMamere
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Posted: Monday, October 01, 2007 - 05:12 PM UTC
Hi Rowan!

Guess what I've ordered together with the VVS ground crew!

I'm looking forward to see both our first look and full build reviews...

Jean-Luc

P.S. I hope you won't change your mind again. It's the third time I have to change the VVS table for you!
JackFlash
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Posted: Monday, October 01, 2007 - 09:17 PM UTC
Our story begins on the docks of Petrograd in the summer of 1922. 50 crates were shipped by horse drawn casson to the airfield of the the peoples air force and slowly assembled.
JackFlash
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Posted: Monday, October 01, 2007 - 09:38 PM UTC
When their assembly was completed, one of them with a BMW engine was destined to be gived to the new fighter squadron's leader. He marked his machine with same one he chose several years previous.

Merlin
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Posted: Monday, October 01, 2007 - 09:49 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Hi Rowan! ...I hope you won't change your mind again. It's the third time I have to change the VVS table for you!



Hi Jean-Luc

Ouch! Sorry! OK - you've shamed me into commiting to build this one! I'm officially in with the MiG-3! I'll have some pics for you maybe next weekend...

All the best

Rowan
JackFlash
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Posted: Monday, October 01, 2007 - 09:51 PM UTC
All indications say that these machines were armed with Russian license built Vickers machine guns.

Here we see the first Soviet all-girl ground crew striking the poses they were to use in their VVS enlistment posters.
JackFlash
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Posted: Monday, October 01, 2007 - 10:00 PM UTC


AirLedge
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Cork, Ireland
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Posted: Tuesday, October 02, 2007 - 11:11 PM UTC
Hi all,

Beautiful I-15 Andrew, well worth the effort.
I'm also joining in with a Zvezda 1/72 MiG-3!
First impressions are ok: engraved panel lines, decent enough moulding. The cockpit will need some dressing up and the decals look a bit on the thick side.
Not many pieces so it should be a quick build ...
Two colour scheme options, winter and summer, at this point I reckon I'll be going with a winter scheme, seeing as it's October and all.
I'm really looking forward to seeing that Trumpeter MiG take shape Rowan!
Here's a pic of the box and its contents.
Mike
CMOT70
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Victoria, Australia
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Posted: Wednesday, October 03, 2007 - 12:37 PM UTC
I like the Fokker display idea! I've decided to move the post war Finnish Fokker up the waiting list a bit. You can never build too many Fokker DVII's, that's my motto.

I'm looking forward to seeing how those MIG 3's look. The Trumpeter kit is definately on my shopping list at the moment.
JackFlash
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Posted: Wednesday, October 03, 2007 - 01:53 PM UTC

Quoted Text

" I like the Fokker display idea! I've decided to move the post war Finnish Fokker up the waiting list a bit. You can never build too many Fokker DVII's, that's my motto. . ."



Verily verily unh hunh!
atoplu
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Ontario, Canada
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Posted: Saturday, October 06, 2007 - 07:43 AM UTC
Camouflage almost done.

ThomasB
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Skåne, Sweden
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Posted: Sunday, October 07, 2007 - 03:24 AM UTC
One very late entry, but I have only my self to blame since I've been away from Armorama so long. Planing to do A.M's 1/48 Yak-1 and Yak-1B, flown by the same pilot, Lydia Litvyak. But it will be tight, since I will be of on vaccation for a month. But we'll see. will be signing up anyway.