Azur 1/72nd Polikarpov R-Z

By Matt Bittner

History

The Polikarpov R-Z was a descendent of the well-liked R-5. It was up-engined, and in performing that modification they also decided to try and lighten the airframe as well as making it a better flying machine. Approximately 1100 were built and were used during the Khalkin-Gol campaign as well as during the Spanish Civil War. In addition, they were used primarily as bombers and reconnaissance aircraft during the early stages of the Great Patriotic War (WW2). The Chinese also flew a number of R-Zs.

The Kit

The Azur kit of the R-Z consists of 49 injected molded pieces, a fret of photoetch with 17 pieces on it, clear film for the instruments and vacuform canopy pieces. In an odd twist of fate, the kit comes with no decals for VVS machines, instead supplying decals for two machines flown during the Spanish Civil War. The first is a Republican machine flying with 30th Group, and the other is a Nationalist captured bird. Decals are spot on and in register.

Overall the molding quality is very high. While there are no sink marks or anything else to mar the exterior of the model, there are two badly placed sink marks on the inside of the cockpit marring otherwise decent cockpit structure molding. It will be extremely difficult to remove these marks without marring the molded on structure.

Unfortunately the kit isn't accurate, especially in one major area, the lower wing. The R-Z wasn't a direct descendent of the R-5, instead it was a refinement of that aircraft. So, while retaining - for the most part - the upper wing, the lower wing was changed drastically. The R-Z lower wing was narrower than the R-5, and the span wasn't as great. Unfortunately the Azur R-Z kept the lower wing of the R-5. In order to fix the kit's lower wing, you have to remove about 1mm from the trailing edge, and a little over 3mm from the leading edge. In addition, the span will have to be decreased by about 1.5mm.

Is this livable? Sure, but when placed next to an R-5 the similarity of the R-Z's lower wing to the R-5 will be painfully evident. It appears Azur based the R-Z on some older drawings, instead of referring to the superlative Armada book on the type written by Mikhail Maslov, a known expert on Polikarpov designs (as well as other VVS machines). The irony is that Azur supplies a separate flyer advertising the French copy of the Armada book.

Not only is the Armada book the best reference on the R-Z (and R-5, for that matter) but here are also some other references that specifically call out the difference in the lower wing (with many thanks to Alexander Ruchkovsky):

Aviamaster 2'97, Kotelnikov, "Zet, the R-5 heir". P.9: "...the chord of wings was reduced and a more speedy profile was selected".
Aviacija i Kosmonavtika 4'97, M.Maslov "R-Z scout plane". "The wings were of the same wooden construction and with canvas skin, and retained their span but had a chord reduced by 200mm for the upper wing and by 300mm for the lower wing."
Krylia Rodiny 4'99, N. Yakubovich "Natasha, fellow combatant". Page 15: "the wing area was reduced".

As we see all modern Russian authors unanimously vote for the reduced wing chord. Shavrov does not tell anything on that but his comments on the R-Z design are very laconic and unfavorable, as if he treated it as a minor plane.

Now to the drawings. The ones in Maslov works (both Armada and Aik) and in Yakubovich work agree on the ways the wing and cowling is treated. Drawings in Kotelnikov article basically repeat the Miranda book on aircraft flown during the Spanish Civil War, a book released in the early eighties.

There are other anomalies as well. The rear, upper fuselage isn't tall enough, the rudder is too small and the horizontal tailpieces are too pointy. Granted, this was while laying the parts over the Armada plans, so it's all up to you if you want to correct these flaws. However, the lower wing is totally inexcusable.

(In the accompanying images, the model in white plastic is the now-Encore R-5, so you can see just how the lower wings are too much the same. In the middle image the Encore kit is sitting on top of the Azur, and in the right-most image the Azur kit is on top of the Encore kit.)

The construction of the kit naturally starts with the cockpit. There are enough pieces within the cockpit to make it a decent out of the box build, but those amongst us wanting more detail have plenty of room to add whatever else we want to. Once the fuselage halves are together, then the lower wing is mounted, as is the built-up underside radiator.

After the horizontal tailpieces have been added, and the upper wing halves glued together, painting can commence. Soviet machines will be easy to finish since they were mostly in all-green uppers with blue undersides. This also includes the two machines catered for on the decal sheet. However, the cover of the Armada book shows a two-tone upper surface camouflage, a nice departure from the typical overall green.

Once painting and decaling are finished, then the rest of the kit can be assembled. Adding the upper wing and all struts, adding the landing gear, etc. Unfortunately there is no rigging guide supplied on the directions, so other reference material is a must to complete the rigging.

Conclusion

Overall this is a very nice kit and cleanly molded. Unfortunately Azur "missed the boat" in supplying the same lower wing as the R-5. It is because of this and other inaccuracy issues that I can recommend this kit only to people that either don't care about the inaccuracies, or are willing to spend a lot of time correcting - at the very least - the lower wing. Correcting the lower wing will result in losing the very nicely molded-in rib detail, so somehow this will have to be reinstated.