Just signed up for the Seeing Red Campaign, I have Airfix's Moskva Helicopter Carrier, 1:600th scale, the Soviet Navy's first step in providing air support at sea. The instructions (written) are few.. the diagrams for assembly look pretty clear, however, there's not much in the way of color scheme, etc. Was wondering if anyone had any reference material for this build (its OOB) and any ideas, hints, and suggestions as to how to go about completing this. It is only my second model and the other was a Panzerwhagen SDKFZ. Any help here would be greatly appreciated.

Here's the URL for a pic of the Box....


http://www.happyhobby.com/hobb_html/images/airfix/1182405202.JPG

Might start here Ma'am doesn't look by the photos here there was much of a color scheme. Basic Soviet Gray ?
http://www.hazegray.org/navhist/carriers/russia.htm#moskva.htm

The Soviets kept is pretty simple. There was a wooden colored deck and the rest was gray.

Jeff

Hi Jean!!

You're welcome to ask!
I also belong to another Virtual modeling club (SMML - Ship Modeling Mailling List) and I copyed a review of Airfix Moskva - this is not my writing, it is from Modeler Mike Dunn. I hope this help you a little more.
I'll check some more references on the exact colors for you... By the way I am also on the "Seeing Red" Campaign

Skipper

From SMML, Moskva Review, by Mike Dunn:
"Looking at the sprues, the two large ones hold the main hull (one half each), the hull spacers (a nice touch - keeps the hull rigid once assembled), the base, and all the detailing parts, eg missiles, radars, small boats. I was very disappointed to see only two helicopters in the entire kit - bearing in mind that the standard complement was 20 KA-25 Hormone helicopters, and could go up to 30, I feel that this is a major omission. Readers of my other aircraft carrier reviews will know that I feel this is pointless cost-cutting. Moving on, the two smaller sprues hold the foredeck, the bridge assembly, and flight deck. A nice feature of the flight deck is the ability to have one, both or neither access lift recessed. I would have liked to have this recess going as far as the hanger deck, but I guess I can always scratch-build this. Another nice feature is the recessed boat deck at the stern - I guess this makes up for the hanger deck! Moulding is clean and crisp, with little excess flash on the majority of parts. Those that did have flash had only small amounts.

Looking at the decals, these are split into two areas. You get a choice of three pennant numbers (remember, the Soviet Navy changed pennant numbers of their ships on a monotonous basis - and there were only two vessels in this class, the sister ship being the Leningrad), and five flight deck numbers with heli-netting. The numbers are hard to make out under the netting, but this is my only quibble with the decals.

As mentioned, the instructions are across eight A4 sheets. The first is a multi-lingual history of the vessel, the second being the various warnings and icons. Page three has the first 3 procedures, being the hull, the boat deck and the under-hull. Page four has procedures 4 to 7, being the fore deck and bridge deck, the bridge assembly and the recesses for the flight deck. Page five has the next 3 procedures, being the deck assemblies onto the hull, the crane sub-assembly and the fore deck detailing. Page six has sub-assemblies of the radars and the KA-25 helicopters, together with the detailing of the bridge assembly. Page seven finishes with the last 3 procedures, where the bridge detailing is finished. Page eight covers painting and decal locations. The various sub-assemblies are exploded and are clearly shown. The various detailing sections for the fore deck and bridge assembly could be confusing with the number of parts, but are handled carefully and clearly. It's good to see an instruction set like this, as too many lack clarity.

The painting guide is, all things considered, good. You get a side profile and a top profile, with the four main paints clearly shown in shades of grey. Two of the other colours used are indicated quite clearly here. However, you have to refer back several pages in the instructions to find the other colours are shown to be done during some of the sub-assemblies. These are not clearly marked, and can be missed if care is not taken during assembly. The decal locations are clearly shown, and all required decals are present.

The box art is OK. Several parts of the details are out of scale with the model, and I have my doubts about the validity of the railings shown all around the perimeter, except for the bow - the first deck above the fore deck/flight deck level is flush against the sides of the Moskva, yet the artwork shows the railings extend here. Additionally, no collapsible railings are seen along the flight deck, except by the lifts. While this artwork is probably OK for general guidelines, research photos of the real vessel have to be a must.

Overall, I'm happy with this kit. The lack of helicopters means that I'll have to try & track down some in this scale, and I'll have to source some good photos to ensure I get the detailing correct. Apart from this, a kit I can happily recommend to builders of carriers, or of Soviet vessels."

End quote!

Jean,

Here are the equivalent mixes in Tamiya Acrilics:
Main Hull & Superstructures: Tamiya Acrylic Sky Gray XF-19 cut about 2:1 with flat white.

Deck: Blend Tamiya Acrylics Flat Brown XF-10 with Orange X-6 and a very small amount of Flat Red XF-7 , until you'll match the color on the box

Best Regards,

Skipper

Check and see if Tom,s Gold Medal MOdels, White Ensign Models, or even Eduard make a brass PE set for your kit. If nothing else, get a generic set of 400 scale handraqils. Not too difficult to deal with and will enhance your ship immeasurably

Thanks for the help, the site is very interesting and I appreciate the paint combos and research you guys are helping me with. I am noticing the web has a serious lack of pics of the carrier, and those that are presented are not very good clear pics. But between what you gave me here and what I can find and the advice I've been given, it should be a good build. Its OOB campaign, so I can't go and buy extras, like PE, for it. I have to use what's provided. We managed to find some of the colors in acrylics and the metallic in Enamel (Sel likes enamel metallics, his opinion is metals just look better in enamels). Any other info you guys have would be greatly appreciated. My first ship model, this should be interesting.

The review was very interesting, I"m going to have to find out more about the construction of the ship to know what they're talking about in the review. hehehehe.. I have no clue.

:P

Due to the lack of helicopters in the kit and small scale, Jean has started painting little red stars on the wings of a couple dozen flies she has captured....

Training them to land on a simulated landing deck in the bathtub has proven to be difficult.

#:-)

You know.... I swear.... I'm gonna .... well .... that was just hilarious ... hehehehehehehehe. Sel !!!!!!!! You just wait !!!!!