1:72 Polikarpov R-5

A biplane of which there were thousands

This wooden two-seat machine of the end of the 1920s became a mainstay of Soviet aviation for many years. It managed reconnaissance, the correction of artillery fire, light bombing and the carriage of mail, and in its civil version it flew into remote parts that could not otherwise be reached. Several thousand examples were built and it lasted substantially longer in service than its designers reckoned.

The options on the sheet

The decals cover several different versions. Besides an ordinary reconnaissance machine there is a torpedo conversion from the spring of 1934, an attack version with additional armament and a faster modernized variant committed in the winter campaign of the turn of 1939 and 1940. The individual machines are given with their serial number on the fuselage, with their unit and with the place and year where they were recorded. With several items the name of the pilot or of the unit commander is attached as well.

Before you reach for the sheet

Machines of this category carried mostly simple finishes, so the final impression stands or falls by precisely settled numbers and stars. The fabric areas on the wings and fuselage are ribbed, and a decal there has to be softened so that it follows the base and does not stay bridging the hollows. The package is purely decals; neither a model nor paints are in it.

Look over the reference sheet enclosed with the decals before you start. On machines of this generation the serial numbers on the fuselages were repeated between units, and only the sheet will show which airplane a given set of markings belongs to. The layout of the stars also shifted during the 1930s, so it is advisable to keep to the illustration and not to place them from memory.