Micro-Mir

[Madoc]

I just picked up this kit through eBay and it's pretty good.

The instructions are but a single sheet printed on both sides.

Front Side

Back Side

The parts count is low with but five small sprues - one clear and four gray styrene for the kit itself.  Two of the sprue are duplicates comprising the floats.

Front side of the sprues

Back side of the sprues

There's also a small fret of photo-etched brass for the detail bits.

No decals were included as there we no markings depicted.  The quality of the mouldings is good with recessed panel lines and acceptably narrow sprue gates.  Interior detailing of the control cabin is a tad sparse but at this scale and with the relatively small window openings, not much will be seen inside.  This should build up nicely and is esoteric choice for an injected plastic kit.

On eBay I got this for GBP 12.50 ($20.12 USD) and for such an odd little subject done so nicely in plastic I think it a pretty good value.

[comrade harps]

WTF? A pulse-jet powered boat?

[Weaver]

More oddballs from Micro-Mir:

1/144th Valiant:


http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/MM144-03


1/72nd NIAI-1 Fanera 2 Russian passenger aircraft. Never even heard of this one!


http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/MM72-004


There's also and La-9 and an La-11 in 1/48th, and two subs in 1/350th: a Whiskey III and the USS Mendel Rivers, which was a Sturgeon class SSN fitted with a dry deck shelter for spec-ops:

MM48-005 1:48 Lavochkin La-9 Soviet fighter  £22.99  £19.16
http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/MM48-005

MM48-006 1:48 Lavochkin La-11 Soviet fighter  £22.99  £19.16
http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/MM48-006

Ship kits, full hull (injection)
MM350-14 1:350 Submarine Project 613 Whiskey-III class  £16.70  £13.92
http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/MM350-14

MM350-15 1:350 U.S. nuclear-powered submarine SSN-686 "Mendel Rivers"  £13.30  £11.08
http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/MM350-15

[NARSES2]

1/72nd NIAI-1 Fanera 2 Russian passenger aircraft. Never even heard of this one!


http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/MM72-004

Well that's two of us - looks as though the picture is skewed, it isn't I know, but does look a tad odd

[Weaver]

Looks like it was a Burnelli-style lifting-fuselage type affair. Apparently a couple of dozen of them were built and used by Aeroflot in the 1930s.

Be interesting to build it straight out of the box, put it on the SIG stand, and wait for some JMN to go "now that's just bloody ridiculous!".....

[JayBee]

Be interesting to build it straight out of the box, put it on the SIG stand, and wait for some JMN to go "now that's just bloody ridiculous!".....

Yes indeed. 

[Martin H]

Be interesting to build it straight out of the box, put it on the SIG stand, and wait for some JMN to go "now that's just bloody ridiculous!".....

Yes indeed. 

not a problem.......I have one. acquired via ebay from a Ukrainian trader.

[ericr]

I just picked up this kit through eBay and it's pretty good.

there exists at least one another kit for the Tornado, and it actually looks a bit different : maybe the documentation on the real thing was not sufficient?




and actually another one :

[jcf]

Looks like it was a Burnelli-style lifting-fuselage type affair. Apparently a couple of dozen of them were built and used by Aeroflot in the 1930s.

Be interesting to build it straight out of the box, put it on the SIG stand, and wait for some JMN to go "now that's just bloody ridiculous!".....

Similar in concept to the Westland Dreadnought which was designed by Robert Bruce
to WWI period blended wing-fuselage concepts of a Russian emigre named Voevodskii
(spelt Woyevodsky in some references) who had sent Airco info on his concept prior to his
1917 arrival in the UK.
Dreadnought crashed on its first flight.

So one wonders if the designers of the LK-1/NIAI-1, Lisischkin and Rentel, were familiar with
Voevodskii's pre-Revolution work.

Interesting link to WIGs according to a 1965 article in Flight: http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1965/1965%20-%203168.html

[luft46models]

I've built the Mando Models kit, damned thing fought me all the way. Looked ok in the end but not great. I used a electric drill to open up the pulsejet exhausts - that's serious work!
Didn't help that I tried to paint it using Lifecolor paints through an airbrush - never again.

William in Oz

[kitbasher]

"now that's just bloody ridiculous!".....

Well to be fair it is!

[philp]

What a cool looking beast ! Nice to see the kit, but it looks like it would be easy enough to scratch....

I have seen several of these at shows in the past.  The one I remember used floats from the Airfix Ju-52 and a V-1 engine.  This one was at our local show in 2010.

[Captain Canada]

That's a beauty ! Neat idea and a very interesting subject.

I'd love to get my hands on a few wee Valiants as well. Seem to be reasonably priced !

[Weaver]

More pleasing strangeness from Micro-Mir: the Hunley man-powered submarine used in the American Civil War:


http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/MM35-013

More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._L._Hunley_(submarine) (If you're remotely claustrophobic, this is a horror story up there with the best of them...)

[PR19_Kit]

Didn't they find the Hunley not so long ago?