NV-1,
a sport plane developed by the Soviet designer V. Nikitin in 1933, was one of
the tiniest aircraft built in the USSR and also the fastest plane with Shvetsov
M-11 engine. Only one prototype was built. This nice, yet almost forgotten
aircraft became a subject of a wonderful resin kit in 1/72 scale released by
Russian company Prop&Jet. The model is beautifully done, with subtle,
realistic fabric representation, delicate panel lines and razor sharp trailing
edges. The fuselage is cast in one part, which spares the modeler some filling
and sanding, but also makes painting of an interior a little trickier. Engine
cylinders are molded separately, so are the wheels. The instruction suggests
making thin struts using stretched sprue, which probably is the only way these
tiny parts can be made.
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The
fit is quite good, making assembly simple and pleasant. I improved interior a
little with the scratchbuilt instrument panel, seatbelts made out of decal and
wire and the headrest, which is not included in the kit, but seems to be visible
on the drawings.
Engine
cylinders required some sanding to fit into the cowling, and the oversized
exhaust pipes, located under the cowling, were discarded. Wing struts were made
using a stretched sprue with an airfoil cross-section. The same material was
used for the tail skid. Prior to painting the model was airbrushed with Mr.
Surfacer 1200 and sanded with 3600 grit sandpaper.
The
model was painted using Alclad II aluminium, the red trim on the wings,
stabilizers and fuselage was applied using thin decal strips painted red. On the
trailing edges of the control surfaces I hand painted the red line with the
brush, which does not look like a very good idea in retrospect – a much
steadier hand than mine is required for this kind of technique.
Post
shading with a mix of Future, black Vallejo acrylic and water was applied to the
painted model, the same mix was used as a kind of wash. Finally the model was
airbrushed with a layer of Future with Tamiya Flat Base added for a semi-gloss
appearance.
A
polished metal finish with "fish scale" effect on the engine cowling
and wheel pants was created by first covering the parts with Alclad II chrome
finish, and then applying small dots of thinned aluminum paint with a toothpick.
The resulting finish looks OK from a distance, but is far from perfect on
close-up photos.
The
detailed article is located here (in Russian): http://scalemodels.ru/modules/myarticles/article_storyid_1002.html
Eugeny Knupfer
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