Ilyushin A-50 Mainstay

by Lukasz Kedzierski

Trumpeter's 1/144 scale A-50 Mainstay is available online from Squadron

Here is my A-50 Mainstay in 1/144 scale from Trumpeter built straight from the box.

I made this kit because it is not available in 1/72 scale (apart from some overpriced vacs) and I really wanted to have one in my collection. It is a typical recent Trumpeter production - very nice surface detail, excellent transparencies, good fit and rather poor decals.

Because of the scale the kit is rather simple, has no interior detail and pretty basic undercarriage. However, it does not matter since not much can be seen through little windows in the cockpit and undercarriage bays are all covered anyway.

Apparently a big let down of the kit are the engine nacelles, which are incorrect in shape, but I have not bothered to correct this problem (there is a resin set available done by Ron's Resins). They look a bit odd, but I can live with that. They are of poor fit though and required some putty unlike the rest of this kit.

The colour scheme is simple so is the decal sheet. I could not find any photos of A-50 with red number 50, but I have photos of aircraft with numbers 42 and 51 showing some differences between the two.

I based my scheme on the photos, but omitted a few grey/green panels present on the fuselage.

The final results can be seen here.

I wish that this model was in 1/72 scale since the smaller scale does not really reflect the size of the real thing.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2003 by Lukasz Kedzierski
Page Created 19 February, 2003
Last Updated 17 March, 2004

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