1/600 Russian helicopter carrier Moskva (Aurora)

A few years ago I built this model without painting it - just for the experience of re-living a fun part of my childhood. A month ago I decided to paint it the way I  would have in the early '70s (paint only the parts that were not "battleship gray." I took many parts off to help with masking, but the break between the main deck and the superstructure did not work out too well.

I used Testors enamels and acrylics. I custom-mixed a grayish red for three decks and dark gray for the flight deck, red for the lower hull, and light gray for the aircraft.  As best as I could find, the Kamov 25 helicopters in the 1960s and 70s were painted light gray, and the rotors were natural metal. In hindsight I probably should have made the gray lighter.  The rotors are painted silver and covered with clear flat.  For the helos, I did not use red star decals that come with the kit because they are much larger than the ones I saw in photos, but I used one on the stem.

The model is not excellent, but it is pretty good. It goes together easily and is quite accurate.  It has some sink holes and lacks a little too much detail behind the bridge. The small parts have too much flash.  The Aurora model has two more propellers than the prototype, but this is forgivable considering the Cold War secrecy when the model was introduced.  If I were trying to make the model more realistic I would file off the circles on the flight deck and the lip around its edge.

The decals have not yellowed and were not cracked or brittle.  However, they fell off after they dried.  I used clear flat coating to make them adhere.

Airfix makes a 1/600-scale model of the same ship. I lined it up next to the Aurora model, and the Aurora is only slightly inferior.  The overall shapes are the same, but most of the parts on the Airfix are slightly more accurate and detailed.

Overall, the model was quite satisfying to build.  Too bad it is out of production.

Gallery updated 12/23/2015

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