1/72 Smer Amiot

Gallery Article by Dave Ramshaw on Aug 29 2003

 

This kit was brought back as a joke gift from Prague  (it was the ugliest most ungainly aircraft kit there was!).

There is a certain appeal to any aircraft which is a real "donkey" so I was quite enthusiastic to build it.

I particularly like the chord of the wings on this plane - which was apparently so great a member of the crew could crawl through it to carry out engine repairs during flight (This probably involved hitting the engine with a big hammer until it started up again!)

Click on images below to see larger images

The actual contents of the kit looked so old I had to wonder whether they had invented plastic when it was first tooled! There was no interior whatsoever in the kit - I considered scratchbuilding one but didn't really want to spend too long on this model and so decided to ignore it!.

The model featured raised panel lines and 1:1 scale rivets so I sanded and rescribed it.

There is some satisfaction in turning out a half decent model from an awful kit -  It certainly made an interesting change to my diet of Tamiya and Hasegawa!

Dave Ramshaw

      

Photos and text © by Dave Ramshaw