The Soviets got off to a good head start on the Americans in the
very early years of the Space Race. There was Sputnik, the
world's first satellite, Laika the first space animal, and Yuri
Gagarin was the first human in space. Luna 1 was the first
spacecraft to hit the Moon. It wasn't long before the US started
racking up the firsts, and by the beginning of the Gemini
Program, at least seen in hindsight if not always at the time,
it was clear that the US would go on to be the leader at least
until the end of Apollo.
One of the USSR's other early "firsts" was the first
spacewalk. The cosmonaut was Alexei Leonov, and he flew with his
fellow cosmonaut Pavel Belyayev in the Vokshod II spacecraft. It
was an update of the Vostok which Gagarin used on the first
human spaceflight, but with the ejection seat replaced with two
(and in other missions, three) regular seats.
For Vokshod II, it had an inflatable airlock attached to allow
Leonov to exit the spacecraft for EVA. This was because the
design of the ship's cooling systems prevented a complete
depressurisation, unlike the US Gemini spacecraft from which
several spacewalks were performed not too long after this
flight.
Leonov spacewalked for 12 minutes and because his suit was so
pressurised, he found it hard to bend his joints enough to get
back into the airlock. He sweated profusely from the physical
effort, and ended up deflating his suit in a dangerous way just
to get back inside. These facts only emerged much later, in true
Soviet style.
Belyavev died a few years later but Leonov went on to enjoy a
long career in his country's space program. He flew on the
historic Apollo-Soyuz joint mission in 1975.
This one is an interesting kit of a subject I don't believe has
been released in an injection moulded format. You get several
parts. Five of the major pieces you see in the photo form the
spacecraft, and there is another large part to represent the
inflatable airlock. There's a cosmonaut with a body and two
arms, plus a long piece to represent the umbilical cord. I feel
like it is too thick for the scale. The long straight resin part
is the stand, and the star is the base. The various wires are
used to make the prominent antennae.
Generally the mould is pretty good though as you can see,
especially on the star, there is what I guess we can call
"flash". In my limited experience with resin, this stuff is
super easy to get rid of.
Personally I feel the star is a bit silly, and the box seems to
show a brass rod for the stand rather than a resin piece. I will
probably make my own stand, but this kit will certainly need it
because those protruding antenna and the spacewalking cosmonaut
will make it a fragile model once finished.
There are no decals.
All in all I am pretty pleased with this purchase and I look
forward to building it. as always the service from Real Space
Models was very good.
If you have one or two simple resin kits under your belt, I
think you'll enjoy this rare but historically important
subject.
This one is an interesting kit of a subject I don't believe has
been released in an injection moulded format. You get several
parts. Five of the major pieces you see in the photo form the
spacecraft, and there is another large part to represent the
inflatable airlock. There's a cosmonaut with a body and two
arms, plus a long piece to represent the umbilical cord. I feel
like it is too thick for the scale. The long straight resin part
is the stand, and the star is the base. The various wires are
used to make the prominent antennae.