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'.
Click on
images below to see larger images
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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
Click on
images below to see larger images
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