This second new sheet from their Winglets series covers Soviet female fighter pilots during WWII. In the properly proletariat country of the USSR, women were considered just as capable of flying modern fighters as men, something that even today is not allowed in the armed forces of many nations.

The aircraft flown by these women were all Yak-1s of various marks and for a kit, the instructions recommend the Modelcraft kit. Frankly, I do not know of any other in this scale and have ordered a kit from the LHS to see what they are like. All of these aircraft are basically stars and aircraft numbers, so nothing really fancy. All are in the typical scheme of these planes which is dark green/black over light blue.

Option one is a Yak-1b as flown by Lidija Valdimirovna Litjvak in 1943 when assigned to the 296th IAP.

Next is white 44, a standard Yak-1 flown by Ekaterina Vasiljevna Budanova in the Fall of 1942 with the 296 IAP.

The third aircraft is a Yak-1b in winter white on the upper surfaces and was flown by Lt. Litjvak in 1942.

The final aircraft is Valerija Ivanova's plane with the 586th IAP in early 1942.

The decals are very nicely done and provide sufficient markings to do all four options from the look of it. While not exactly a fancy sheet, it does cover the aircraft of some pretty good pilots and is well worth having. The sheet comes with a superbly printed color markings and placement guide.  A listing of various paint brands is included so you should be able to find some of these in your area.

Thanks to Balkan Models for the review sheet. Ask your local shop to get this one for you when it is available or visit the link.

December 2012

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