1:72 Aero L-39 Albatros (wet decals)

The Czechoslovak trainer that flew around the world

The Aero L-39 Albatros first flew on November 4, 1968 and became one of the most widespread jet trainers of all. A two-seat cockpit with a stepped rear seat, a turbofan engine and simple maintenance made it a machine on which whole generations of pilots learned to fly, from Central Europe through Africa to the Caribbean. Over two and a half thousand examples were built, in versions for pure training and for weapons training alike.

Sixteen machines from all over the world

Most of the list consists of aircraft of training regiments and flying schools from the area of the former Soviet Union, among them machines of the Tambov school from Michurinsk airfield in the 1990s, an example of the 704th Regiment from 2003 and an aircraft of the Krasnodar higher military school from around 2006. Then follow two Lithuanian machines of the First Air Base at Siauliai from 2010, a Cuban aircraft from the flying school named after Che Guevara, a Vietnamese example from the academy at Nha Trang, a Cambodian machine from Pochentong, a Ghanaian aircraft and two East German examples, one of which stands in a museum in Berlin today.

Painting and application

Most of the finishes rest on prominent numbers on the nose and on the fuselage, which have to be placed symmetrically in relation to the cockpit. Work one motif at a time and let the base dry between steps. The package is a printed sheet; the airplane itself is sold separately. Anyone building a machine of the later years should expect that the paint on the real aircraft faded, and the saturation of the shades is best adjusted accordingly.