1:144 IL-86

The Soviet wide-body Il-86

The Ilyushin Il-86 was the first wide-body transport aircraft to come about in the Soviet Union. It first flew in December 1976, entered service with Aeroflot in 1980 and around three hundred and fifty passengers fitted into the cabin. The power came from four NK-86 turbofan engines slung under the wing. Boarding was unusual: people went up built-in steps into the lower deck, left their luggage there and only then climbed up among the seats. Something over a hundred examples were built in production form and the type stayed almost exclusively in the colors of carriers of the former eastern bloc. Insufficient range and noisy engines soon pushed it onto shorter routes, while the derived Il-96 took over the long-haul lines.

The scope of the set

The package consists of a thin self-adhesive film with pre-cut shapes that follow the framing of the cockpit glazing. The pieces are stuck onto the clear part, which is then sprayed together with the fuselage, and once dry the mask is lifted off. The manufacturer's description gives covering from the outside, that is only from the outer side of the glazing.

The demands of a small scale

In 1:144 of the real size the cockpit is barely a few millimeters and cutting strips from adhesive tape for it takes more time than the spraying of the paint itself. It is precisely here that a pre-cut shape pays off most. National insignia and carrier lettering are not in the set; those stay on the decals enclosed with the kit. It is advisable to degrease the clear part before sticking the masks on and to handle it through a glove, because a fingerprint baked under a layer of varnish can no longer be removed.