May 2020 – Page 2 – Mike's Models

Soviet U-2/PO-2 Biplane

ICM 1 48 scale kit of Po-2 with officers and ground crew

U-2 from the Russian uchebnyy (‘training’). This particular aircraft was one I have wanted to build for many years not least because my Father mentions seeing, or rather hearing, them fly over his native village in Ukraine during the Second World War.

I was drawn to this particular kit as it’s relatively cheap and comes with lovely box art as you can see! They say that building a model is 90% inspiration and the allure of the box art is very often the deciding factor. It is also by ICM a Ukrainian manufacturer in Kiev so rather appropriate.

I am not a great fan of building bi-planes generally as the rigging is such a pain to attach but by now I thought had sufficient skills and confidence to attempt it!

The rigging is mostly nylon thread and stretched sprue (i.e. made by stretching a part of plastic sprue or frame of the model parts over a lighted candle).

From the instruction sheet. Soviet light night bomber U-2/Po-2. One of the most famous and massed produced aircraft in aviation history. It was developed primarily as a training aircraft and its first flight took place in 1927. At the beginning of the 1930s, it was the actual ‘flying desk’ for thousands of Soviet pilots. During the Second World War, the U-2 was armed and received the name U-2VS and were used with great success in the role of night bombers, often with female crews. After the death of N.N. Polikarpov (Soviet designer) in 1944, the aircraft was renamed the PO-2.

The writing on the fuselage side says in Russian, ‘We shall avenge’ and ‘for the fighting (female) friends’ and also the names of two of the Soviet female pilots ( Tanya Makarova and Vera Belik) who flew in the aircraft at the end of the war (both killed). I managed to mess up one of the decals which were incredibly thin and so had to rewrite them myself with a white marker pen!

Here is what my Father said about the aircraft in the book ‘God Save Me From My Friends’ (3rd edition Vanguard press page 121:

‘From time to time, the Russians bombed our village. The aircraft came over only at night and we dubbed them ‘derkarchi’ due to the unique ‘drr’ sound of their engines, which the pilots would sometimes cut in order to glide and avoid being caught in the beams of the German searchlights. The ‘derkarchi’ were primitive wood and canvas bi-planes and they were little more than nuisances to the Germans‘. The footnote says: ‘Derkarchi‘. Probably the famous U-2/Po-2 bi-plane. Nicknamed by the Germans the ‘coffee grinder’ and the ‘sewing machine’, it often flew by night (painted all black) to drop mines or bombs. On page 120, it is mentioned that two divisions of U-2s were used by the Soviets to bomb the German held Ukrainian fortress town of Ternopil in western Ukraine into submission.

Father’s Biography
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Friends-Enemies-Myself-Alone-Vanguard/dp/184386892X/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=god+save+me+from+my+friends+hrycyszyn&qid=1591092670&sr=8-2

The PO-2 was the aircraft used by the 588th Night Bomber Regiment composed of an all-woman pilot and ground crew staff and as such they earned the nickname ‘Night Witches’.

All in all, a very pleasing and interesting project!

Messerschmitt Bf 109G-4 by Eduard 1/48 scale.

This kit is by Czech manufacturer Eduard, the first I have made by this particular manufacturer. It’s a very high quality kit and not too expensive. It is called a Weekend edition as it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of some of their more advanced kits which have lots of photo-etch parts. I am not a great fan of photo-etch, its very fiddly and a lot of the time you can hardly see the extra detail anyway as it’s usually hidden away in the cockpit or fuselage.

The Me109, as I am sure you are all aware, was the German workhorse fighter which bore the brunt of Luftwaffe front line duties in the Second World War. It was designed by Willy Messerschmitt and conceived as an aircraft with the best possible performance for the specified weight, size and aeordynamic qualities. It was a relatively small aircraft and incorporated some revolutionary features for the times such as low wing design, retractable landing gear, wing slats, landing flaps, weapons firing through the propeller hub, etc

The first combat use of the Bf109s was in the Spanish Civil War (December 1936). By the invasion of Poland in 1939, it was probably the best fighter in continental Europe. However, during the Battle of Britain it’s first weakness was revealed: the inability to carry drop tanks which severely restricted its range. However, its Daimler engine did have fuel injection unlike the Spitfire which only had a carburettor and so the engine didn’t cut out like the Spitfire’s Merlin during a dive.

The ‘F’ or ‘Friedrich’ variant took on an offensive role in North Africa and in operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the USSR. It was followed by the ‘G’ version and then the ‘K’. By the end of the war, the development of the Me109 was exhausted even though it had largely kept up with the foes it encountered.

After the war, some Me109s saw service with the Swiss air force until 1949, and many flew in the Czechoslovak air force though with a different power plant in some cases. They also served in the fight for the independence of the newly formed state of Israel and Finland only retired theirs in 1954. Spain didn’t retire its re-engined Bf109s until 1967. Many of these were used in the film ‘Battle of Britain’ (1969), starring Laurence Olivier, Robert Shaw and Michael Caine.

This model depictsBf 109G-4/R6/trop flown by Lt. Franz Schiehs, CO of 8/JG 53, Tindja Tunisia, April 1943. Oberleutnant Schiehs shot down 55 enemy aircraft and was awarded the Knight’s Cross on June 21st 1943. On September 2nd, 1943, he led an attack of American bombers over Mount Vesuvius, an event from which he did not return. It is assumed he was shot down by an escorting American P-38. The camouflage scheme is the standard RLM 78 and RLM 79 with RLM 04 yellow. It carries the white theatre band around the fuselage towards the rear for the Mediterranean theatre of operations. Yellow was used on the Eastern Front.

Diorama German airfield in Russia Spring 1942

The aircraft is a Messerschmitt 109f of Oberleutnant Max-Hellmuth Ostermann of the 8/JG54 Grunherz (Green heart). The motorbike is a Kettenkraftrad and the Luftwaffe crew are in winter uniforms.

This is an Me109f version in 1 48 scale made by Russian manufacturer Zvezda. The figures and accessories are from a Tamiya kit, though the figures are actually made by Ukrainian manufacturer ICM.

Tamiya 1 35 Soviet Su-76M self-propelled gun.

Initially, I was going to do this model in winter camouflage but decided to leave it in the standard Russian green-at least for now! It was based on the T-70 chassis and had a 76mm gun, hence the name. The fighting compartment was not very roomy and left the crew exposed to enemy fire and the elements. However, due to its light weight it was good in terrain impassable to armour such as during Operation Bagration in 1944 in the marshy areas of western Russia. It saw action on all major fronts, including Berlin and Hungary at the end of the war. About half of Soviet self-propelled guns were Su-76s at the end of the war. It also saw service in the Korean war on the side of the North.