Overview
The Antonov An-2 has been a workhorse of the Soviet Union for many decades. Designed as a replacement for the Polikarpov Po-2, the An-2 managed to stay in production for 45 years, a record only recently broken by the Lockheed C-130. The An-2 first flew in August 1947, and by 1960, over 5000 were built. After 1960, production shifted to Poland for the majority of An-2s, with China also producing the type. When production ended in 1991, the Polish WSK factory produced over 13,000 An-2s, making the aircraft one of the most produced post-war aircraft.
The Kit
The more 1/144 Amodel kits I see, the more impressed I am with this line. This kit is no exception, and this An-2 kit can easily be considered one of the best Amodel kits out there. Molded in a light gray plastic, this kit also comes with a small sprue of clear parts and a fret of photoetch brass. A decal sheet provides markings for no less than seven schemes, ranging from Cold War military examples to current day civilian examples.
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While small, this kit is nicely detailed. The model comes with a basic cockpit interior consisting of two seats, a floor, a rear bulkhead, and an instrument panel. The rear cabin has some seat details molded into the sides, but no floor. The windows are pretty small, though, and it is likely that the seat backs molded into the fuselage sides would be all you'll see anyway. The engine and cowling are well done for this scale, although the propeller could probably use some additional bits around the hub. The hub of the An-2 propeller is a busy place, so some extra work here will pay off.
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Both the lower wing and the upper wing are solid, fitting into openings in the fuselage assembly. The struts, both for the wings and for the tailplanes, are provided on the photoetch fret, which allows them to be suitably thin. Also provided in photoetch are all of the control horns for the ailerons and flaps, which is a very nice touch. These would have been grossly out of scale had they been done in plastic. The landing gear looks to be solid, just like the real thing, and the clear parts, although in multiple pieces for the windscreen, should do quite well.
For decals, the sheet includes a broad range of subjects. First up is an Aeroflot aircraft, in the 1972 scheme, finished in white with a light blue cowling. Next is a Soviet Air Force An-2, finished in green over light blue, with standard red stars in all the usual spots. A Polish military An-2 is next, also in green over light blue, with a blue and white fin cap.
The remaining options on the sheet are civilian and include a colorful Hungarian 'Zero G' An-2, a Bulgarian agricultural An-2, a Slovair An-2 out of Slovakia, and a movie 'star' An-2 painted up in WW2 German Luftwaffe markings. The decals look to be well printed and I have heard good things about the newer Amodel decals, so they should pose no problem in application.
Conclusion
This is a great kit of an interesting plane, and although it is multimedia, the brass parts provided are simple ones, ones that do not require much bending, if at all. As such, this would make for a great introduction to photoetch parts, and the subject matter offers up some incredible marking options. My thanks to Scale Model Kits for the review sample.
