Scale aviation modeller international

K-12 Firebird

First look at Mikromir 1/72 Kalinin K-12 Firebird by Robert Podkoński

U

krainian manufacturer

Mikromir is generally

better known for its

series of submarines and other

naval kits, but nevertheless, they

surprise us from time to time

with some interesting flying

machines, most recently the Miles

M.57 transport plane in 1/72, and

the Fokker ”Razor“, which were

welcomed by many modellers.

Mikromir has now released a

model of a very exotic machine,

namely the tailless Kalinin K-12

light bomber, constructed and

flown in the late thirties in the

Soviet Union. Being focussed

on the strange and unusual, I

immediately ordered one.

Konstantin Alekseyevich

Kalinin’s (1889-1940) construction

team was responsible for some

successful but now rather forgotten

flying machines. Quite a number of

passenger planes bearing his name

were used, for example, by state-

owned Aeroflot airlines. However,

perhaps the best known Kalinin’s

creation is the ugly, behemoth-

sized, powered by no less than

seven engines, K-7 heavy bomber

prototype. Its flying characteristics

eventually proved unsatisfactory,

so the project was soon abandoned.

The K-12 tailless light bomber

handled better and ten pre-

production aircraft were built.

One of these appeared at the Air

Parade at Tushino on August 18,

1937, painted in a spectacular Zhar-

Ptitsa (“Firebird“) scheme. Still,

some delays with the disposition

of adequately powerful engines

meant that weaker units – license-

built Bristol Jupiters – were

fitted, and consequently (among

other weight saving alterations),

the undercarriage remained

fixed in the open position.

Save the flying wing layout,

the K-12 construction was quite

typical for the time, featuring

straight wings with Junkers-

type ailerons and flaps, while

the fuselage airframe was made

from welded steel tubes covered

with canvas. Kalinin envisaged

the development of an all-metal

version of the bomber, the K-14, and

its larger four-engine derivative,

the K-17, but when he fell victim

to Stalin’s paranoia, all the

assembled planes were scrapped

and his design bureau disbanded.

THE KIT

Mikromir is notorious for keeping

their boxes looking uninteresting

and cheap, so let me only say

that the Kalinin K-12 model

kit comes in a typical big, top

opening box, adorned with a

picture of the Firebird in flight.

Even so, the box is sturdy enough

to have all the pieces intact.

Inside one finds an instruction

booklet (in colour), and a big

bag filled with seven light grey

polystyrene sprues with over 100

parts. Another much smaller bag

contains six clear parts on one

sprue. A third flat bag contains

two decal sheets, a photo-etch

fret, and pre-cut vinyl masks

for clear parts. The latter is a

much welcome addition, taking

into account that there are a

pilot’s canopy, two defensive

turrets’ domes, and extensive

glazing of the bombardier/

navigator’s compartment in

the nose to be masked.

The clear parts look a bit thick

and distorted, but except for the

cockpit, there is not much inside to

be seen. A closer look at the black

and white photos of the real thing

reveals that, most probably, only

the mock-ups of the turrets were

installed on the Firebird. Still,

even if there were no interiors, the

glass framing needs to be painted.

The smaller decal sheet contains

red stars and the red ”eyes” of the

Firebird, while on the much larger

one (measuring about 12 x 8¼

inches!) one finds all the ”feathers”

needed to replicate this special

painting scheme. These are made

as big fragments, covering, for

example, almost the whole upper or

lower surfaces of the wings. I think,

however, that even though it seems

to be a tedious process, it would be

wise to cut the decals into smaller

stripes or pieces and put them in

the appropriate places one by one.

Interestingly, some sources

suggest that the Firebird was

painted red with orange feathers.

In my opinion, the scheme

presented here, i.e., white feathers

on typical green over light

blue, is much more probable.

The photo-etch fret contains

the instrument panel, the

actuators for the control surfaces,

and (most probably...) pushrods

for the engines, although there

is no installation of such in the

instructions. There are also some

round engine screens. The engines

themselves are moulded in plastic,

but they look unconvincing. Still,

they will be mostly hidden behind

the above-mentioned screens

after they are assembled (or one

can try to find some aftermarket

Bristol Jupiter miniatures).

There is a bit of flash on a few of

the parts, but it is easy to remove

with a modeller’s knife. Generally,

parts are cleanly moulded, and

panel lines are recessed, straight

and in scale. The polystyrene

looks a bit soft, and sprue gates

protrude onto mating surfaces,

so come attention will be needed

during the cleaning up. Also, some

sink marks appear on the roots

of the trailing edge of the wings,

but these can be easily puttied.

Interestingly, there are

openings for a spar on the sides

of the fuselage, but there is no

such part in the kit, the wings

being just butt-joined to the sides.

I think that fabricating such a

spar from a piece of thick plastic

54 • MARCH 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

FIRST LOOK!

052-57-FirstLooks-0318.indd 54 09/02/2018 14:28