The Blackburn Roc is famous for being probably the most unsuccessful British design that nevertheless somehow made it into serial production and even saw some limited combat duty. The concept of a naval turret fighter itself was probably not too sound, but Roc was also both underengined and terribly overengineered – with features like an anti-spin canopy, retractable fuselage hump, floating compartments, and a special escape trapdoor for the rear gunner adding extra complexity and weight. [See image gallery at 72insight.com] I picked a machine from the 759 Naval Air Squadron from November 193 ..read more

In 1929, Vojenský letecký ústav studijní (Military aviation study institute) received an aircraft Š-20.103, from the fourth production series, for testing. The interesting detail about this particular plane is the photo documentation, portraying it with a ski landing gear. This is why I chose this plane for construction. The fuselage was covered in fabric, the upper wings were coloured in lighter shade of khaki, while the undersides were silver. All available photos show the sheet metal panels darker than the rest of the plane, so I chose darker khaki for them. Another speciality about this p ..read more

In 1926, the Czechoslovakian Army was conducting a series of complex military manoeuvres, which included a joint training with Czechoslovakian Air Force.During the training, two opposite groups of aircrafts were created – the “Blues” belonging to LP2 located in Olomouc and “Reds” of LP1 located in Prague. The plane I decided to build belonged to the Blues, which were equipped with Š-20s (designed by Ing. Antonín Šmolík), specifically Š-20.57 with registration number E1 from 33rd squadron of LP2. During the training, this plane was operated by a private first class (svobodník) Rudolf Škut ..read more

For some, the iconic British World War II fighter is the Spitfire, but for me, it’s the Hawker Hurricane. I almost always think of the movie Battle of Britain when I look at it, and the picture of the victorious night fight of the Hurricane over the Heinkel 111, which comes from Mr. Velc and was printed on the Směr kit box in the eighties of the 20th century. Almost every boy who was making models back then had this particular black cannon-equipped Hurricane in his display case… A lot of years have passed since I made that black Hurricane from the Směr kit and it also doesn’t exist today… The ..read more

Object 279 was a sixty-ton prototype of a Soviet heavy tank developed in 1957-1959. The tank was characterized by very strong armor protection and its shape was intended to withstand the shock wave of a nuclear attack. It moved on four tracks with the possibility of changing the ground clearance of the vehicle, which should ensure high passability through difficult terrain. The armament consisted of an experimental 130-millimetre M-65 tank cannon with a rate of 5-7 rounds per minute, which was supposed to be able to penetrate the 300-millimetre-thick armour plate of the enemy. The cannon was e ..read more

The Gloster Gladiator is one of the most famous late 1930s biplane fighters and probably doesn’t need a long introduction. Although the Gladiators were already hopelessly obsolete the moment they entered the service, they were extensively used in combat by multiple countries in many theatres, from Scandinavia to Africa or China. That means there are so many interesting stories to choose from when looking for a particular machine to portray. I picked the YK-I of No. 80 Squadron RAF, which during the summer of 1940 fought against the Italians along the Lybian-Egyptian border. On August 4th, a ..read more

The British de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito multipurpose aircraft was built in 1938-1940 and entered service in 1941. It was used as a light bomber, night and day fighter and reconnaissance aircraft. Its mostly wooden construction and high flight speed earned it the nickname “Wooden Wonder”. The Mosquitos FB Mk.VI and T.Mk.III were in the Czechoslovak service in 1945-1953 under designations B-36 (CB-36). To all 1/72 scale fans well known Tamiya kit was created in 1999, and the De Havilland Mosquito FB Mk.VI/NF Mk.II version was the first released box. The flaws of this kit are perhaps also well k ..read more

During the Christmas Holidays I wanted to unwind by building an easy, relaxing kit and I was also wondering how I could manage to build some of my SBS models resin kit, which I’ve never done before. I have plenty of them in my stash, but I never had the courage to build any of them. When I first saw the completed model of David Hényk’s Sparrowhawk G-AELT I was really in the mood to build mine too – the 1935‘ King’s Cup Sparrowhawk G-ADNL in the cream finish. The build was straightforward, the only serious issue with the kit was my incompetence of gluing the parts together with the CA glue ..read more

    I managed to finish another Hurricane in 1/72 scale. Arma Hobby is really the best kit of that famous plane in 72 scale. The straightforward OOB build of the Mk.I version is slightly complicated by the non-ideal fitting of the cocpit and error seam on the left side of the engine cowling. As in the previous builds, I have added mirror and stirrup made from scratch. That is all.     The camouflage represents one of the twelve Hurricanes delivered to Romania and operating by the famous Escadrille 53, Grupul 5 Vanatoare in July 1941. Hurricane number 4 was the on ..read more

Praga E-114 Air Baby (name reminiscent of successful automobile Praga Baby) was a single engine light-sport airplane, designed in 1934 at Praga factory (Czechoslovakia) by designer Ing. Jaroslav Šlechta. It was a high wing, cantilever monoplane with side-by-side cabin seating. It had all wood construction, with only tailplane and ailerons strengthen by metal frame. The cabin was enclosed, with doors being absent. For entry, the side window had to be pulled down while the upper panel was put up alongside with leading edge of the wing. The prototype was powered by air-cooled Aeronca E-113A engin ..read more