1/144 Ekranoplans

Gallery Article by Ken Duffey on June 7 2012

 

 

Some photos from my collection of 1/144 scale Russian Ekranoplans - Wing-In-Ground effect (WIG) vehicles. The first is the biggest of them all - at 540 tonnes - the Alekseyev KM - the real 'Caspian Sea Monster'.

At 400 tonnes, the slightly smaller Alekseyev 'Lun' (Hen Harrier) has three pairs of SS-N-22 Sunburn anti-ship missiles in launchers on top of the fuselage.

The third ekranoplan is Alekseyev's A-90 'Orlyonok' (Sea Eagle) - designed as an assault transport with a side-opening front fuselage.

Finally, we have the Bartini 14M1P. This was not really an ekranoplan at all - but a VTOL ASW platform called the VVA-14 that was supposed to have a bank of 12 lift engines and the ability to takeoff and land on any surface - sea, land, ice and snow. It was later converted into the 14M1P ekranoplan by lengthening the forward fuselage and fitting two more engines - but it failed to achieve 'takeoff'. 

 

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The KM and Lun are resin kits from Anigrand, the A-90 is an injection-moulded kit from Revell and the Bartini is Anigrand resin. All have been modified - the KM has the spray suppressors deleted from the front engines (it never flew with them in this configuration), The Lun has the missile boxes replaced with more accurate scratch-built items and the A-90 Orlyonok has the shape of the nose altered and the intakes reduced in size for a more accurate look. All are to the same 1/144 scale - as is the Tu-95 Bear for size comparison.

The KM, Lun and Orlyonok are mounted 'in flight' over a sea base made from MDF board. The 'sea' is simply made from scrunched up blue cellophane flattened out and glued over the blue-painted board. The 14M1P is on a ramp - about to take to the water.

Ken Duffey

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Photos and text © by Ken Duffey