Trumpeter 1/72 Antonov An-2 Colt/Nanchang Y-5
The book "Aggressor aircraft" by Chuck Stewart has a chapter titled "The real thing". There's a picture with the caption: "In March 1988, the Defense Test and Support Evaluation Agency (DTESA), at the direction of the Pentagon's Operational Test and Evaluation (OT&E) office, began purchasing ex-Soviet aircraft from Combat Core Certificiation Professionals of Reno, Nevada. The aircraft, ex-Chinese and Polish MiG -15s, MiG-17s, MiG-19s, MiG-21s, Il-14s, An-2s and a Mil Mi-2 helicopter, as well as Soviet communications and air defence equipment, were aquired for threat simulation and evaluation as part of the Defense Department's Capability Improvement Program. After use in a three week mobile threat test at Kirkland AFB, New Mexico, in September 1988, most of the DTESA fleet is now in open storage there. (1990)
I've been staring at that photo for years, and finally dragged my Trumpeter An-2 kit down off the shelf. The reason it had been sitting so long, was because I'd heard nothing good about it from several friends who had given it a go. After starting it, I thought it was pretty straightforward, and not difficult at all. OK, the canopy was a bit tricky, and perhaps I could have done it better, but that's not the kit's fault. It did not have a lot of interior detail, but some one more ambitious could handle that (not that you could see much). There was plenty of reference available on line, including a lot of military and civilian paint schemes.
One could have a shelf full, with no duplicates.
The paint scheme I chose (out of the book) had no visible markings, nor does mine. I found another picture of this aircraft in a later scheme, and used the pattern for the opposite side, camoflage of mine. Even though it looks like it was in the photo, it's really drab when viewed live. Perhaps that was the idea in the first place.
A bit of rigging, and the job was done. Nothing exception, but one more addition to the shelf.
Definitely a different project Joe. Is it safe to assume the scheme was applied here after the purchase? Don't know about the blue prop.
Well done.
Al, I'm guessing the army applied it's own version of a Soviet scheme, for training purposes) There were quite a few civilian versions with a blue prop, so I took liberties. Afterall, how often do you get the opportunity?
You know how to choose and model the 'slightly different', Joe, and here's a good example, very well finished, as per usual.
Nice job on a rarely seen model combined with eye catching paint. It's a big ol flying barn of an airplane ain't it Joe.
You're right about that, Rick. It's probably the easiest aircraft to take in flight photos of, from the ground. You can keep clicking away, and it hardly moves. I wonder what holds it up in the air. A decent headwind, and it looks like it's hovering.
Joe,
This is one of those airplanes that is so ugly it is pretty. You brought out it's best side.