1:72 Aero L-39ZA/ZO/C pop-up footsteps for Eduard

The pop-up footsteps of the Albatros

The Aero L-39 became the most widely used jet trainer of its day, and crews in dozens of countries learned to fly on it. The ZO version was adapted for target towing, the ZA received a pod with a twin-barreled cannon under the fuselage, and the letter C marks the basic training form. Whichever of them it was, the crew reached the high-set cockpit by small footsteps folded out from the side of the fuselage, which retracted back into the contour in flight.

What the set solves

In a kit these places tend to be merely suggested, or blanked off with a flat surface. The replacement resin parts make it possible to show the footsteps extended, as they look when the crew boards on the ramp. For an airfield scene or a diorama that is an important difference.

Fitting

The openings in the side of the fuselage are carefully opened with a hand drill and refined with a needle file to match the enclosed parts. A dry fit is crucial here, because both footsteps have to sit at the same height and at the same angle – any asymmetry shows on a finished model immediately.

The last steps

They are painted in the shade of the surrounding fuselage, and the edges are then brought out by dry brushing with a metallic pigment, because that is exactly where the finish wears off boots the fastest. A small deposit of pigment around the openings completes the place where people climb into the machine every day.

When the conversion makes sense

On an aircraft captured in the air the footsteps stay retracted and the set adds nothing there. A model standing beside a mechanic or a pilot figure, on the other hand, looks unfinished without extended footsteps, because the obvious way into the cockpit is missing.