Mikoyan-Gurevich Ye-37 Zvezda Vopit

[zenrat]

Mikoyan-Gurevich Ye-37 "Zvezda Vopit"
MiG Ye-37 Starscream 7 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
The Cold War saw the Soviet Union constantly working hard to maintain it's technical lead over the USA by pushing the frontiers of engineering.  This was reflected in the range and number of experimental and prototype aircraft designs that came out of the numerous OKBs (Opytnoye Konstruktorskoye Buro - Experimental Design Bureau).
MiG Ye-37 Starscream 12 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
Designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich OKB in the early 1950's the purpose of the Ye  37 (Ye = Yedinitsa – single unit or prototype) was to further the development of high speed propeller and turbine power plant design.
MiG Ye-37 Starscream 4 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
First flown in May 1953 the Ye-37 was a MiG 15 fitted with an experimental Klimov TV1-117 development engine driving a six bladed propeller.
The TV1-117 was a Turboshaft/jet hybrid designed to provide both a shaft output and thrust with afterburner.  Transferred via an output gearbox, the shaft passed beneath the pilot to the propeller.
MiG Ye-37 Starscream 1 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
Right from the start noise was a problem.  As the tips of the propeller blades broke the sound barrier (which they did at anything more than a fast idle) the shock waves caused broken windows, sent loose objects flying and even knocked over unprepared ground crew.  Take off runs had to be carried out on runways well away from other aircraft, personnel and buildings to avoid damaging them and pilots complained of hearing loss, numbness, loose teeth, tinnitus and incontinence following test flights.
MiG Ye-37 Starscream 9 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
The experimental life of the Ye-37 wasn't long.  On August 27 1953 senior test pilot Fedor Fedorovitch strapped on his heavy duty flight truss, adjusted his adult nappy to a more comfortable position, put in his heavy duty ear plugs, donned his sound proof helmet, bit down on his vibration dampening gum shield (his fillings had already been reinforced as a precaution but he was proud of his winning smile) and took the Zvezda Vopit (Starscream - as it was nicknamed by those working with it) up to 40,000ft for the first full power afterburner run.
MiG Ye-37 Starscream 11 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
The result was 720mph in level flight and a corridor of sonic destruction 23 miles wide.  There were broken windows, ruptured oil tanks, cracked paving, shattered ceramic tiles, dead and panicked livestock, deafness (both permanent and temporary), miscarriages, heart attacks, seizures, strokes, at least one outbreak of terminal flatulence, a two headed calf was born to a bull and the small farming community of Vludibarstod, which had the misfortune to lie directly under the flight path, vanished into the ground as the permafrost liquidised.
MiG Ye-37 Starscream 5 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
A post flight inspection revealed severe vibration induced airframe fractures and the Zvezda Vopit was grounded never to fly again.
The programme did however provide a vast amount of data which was fed back into both the propeller and engine development teams.
The engine was removed but the airframe remains on display at the Central Museum of the Air Forces at Monino.
MiG Ye-37 Starscream 8 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
Eventually reports of the mysterious swathe of destruction leaked to the West who for many years were so convinced that the name Starscream related to some kind of secret airborne sonic weapon that they allocated millions in research funding in an attempt to find a way of combating it.
MiG Ye-37 Starscream 10 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
The model.  Dragon 1/72 MiG 15 lengthened slightly with scratch built spinner.  The inlet cone is half a bomb of some sort filled with lead and the prop blades are cut down resin C130J scimitar blades (by OzMods I think – they come as part of a set with 4 engine nacelles I am saving for those special Whiffs).  Nose gear is lengthened.  Guns are removed.  Paint is silver car paint and metalisers.  Decals are (IIRC) Airfix Pe3.  Red stars only as from my in-depth research (reading Gunston & Gordons book on the MiG 21) it appears that Soviet Prototypes generally didn't carry numbers.
There are some sink marks on the top of the wings above where the flap hinge lines are on the underside.  I didn't fill them as to do so would mean sacrificing all those wonderful rivets to the gods of PSR.  Other than that though it's not a bad kit.
Pilot and ladder are from a Hasegawa Pilots and Crew set.

[PR19_Kit]

An absolute SCREAM, (pun intended) I love it. 

The description of the final test flight had me in stitches, I'm still grinning now. 

An absolute WINNER Fred! 

[su27rules]

    Fantastic!!

[Old Wombat]

An absolute SCREAM, (pun intended) I love it.  

The description of the final test flight had me in stitches, I'm still grinning now.  

An absolute WINNER Fred!  

What the esteemed gentleman in the hat said!

[JayBee]

An absolute SCREAM, (pun intended) I love it.  

The description of the final test flight had me in stitches, I'm still grinning now.  

An absolute WINNER Fred!  

What the esteemed gentleman in the hat said!

I second that comment. 

[NARSES2]

Great build, marvellous story. I was in tears of laughter  Only time I've heard of terminal flatulence prior to this was in reference to some of my "better" ones, but that referred to their effect on others 

[Rheged]

An absolute SCREAM, (pun intended) I love it.  

The description of the final test flight had me in stitches, I'm still grinning now.  

An absolute WINNER Fred!  

What the esteemed gentleman in the hat said!

I second that comment. 

....and this makes it unanimous!  This is Whiffery at its anarchic best!!

[Captain Canada]

An absolute SCREAM

What he said ! Great stuff. I really like the model, the wee dio is perfect as well. Great story.....thanks !

[Weaver]

That's great - love the back story: Vludibarstod is presumably in the Soviet Socialist Republic of Bakovbiondistan is it? 

[DogfighterZen]

Mamma mia...  That thing would be a weapon of mass destruction, imagine a squadron flying over a target, they wouldn't need anything else...
That backstory, LMAO reading that, thank you! 
Excellent work on both creations!

[zenrat]

Thanks folks.  Glad you like it.

Vludibarstod is indeed in Bakovbiondistan H.  It's about 150 miles North of the administrative capital Stalinsarsich...

[sandiego89]

Wow, turned out great!  I like the off colored panels.  Natural metal can be such a pain. 

-Dave

[zenrat]

Thanks Dave.
I've been building a few in NMF recently.  I think i'm subconsciously building up to tackling "the big ones" (the Boxcar and the Peacemaker - although i'm also thinking about the 36 in either RAAF camo or RAF anti flash white).

[The Rat]

I'm late to the party again, but DAMN!!! That's one beautiful bit o' work! 

[PantherG]

Absolutely AMAZING ....