Gagarin For It

 The Aifix issue of the Vostok Rocket was one of the best space kits I ever had. Back in the early seventies, I bought it on release, with the gorgeous Roy Cross box art. As it was quite a complex model, I got my dad to build it and he did a straightforward job, with no painting or decals. Nevertheless, I was happy, as it came with a tiny, removeable Vostok capsule and a Soyuz. The first version states that it comes with Vostok, Soyuz and Sputnik build options, but the later release a few years ago addresses the issue and correctly identified the smaller capsule as the Luna vehicle housing. Colour was also an issue, as Cross illustrates it as all white with its name on the hull, but the latest release shows it as a battleship grey with white accents.

However Kenneth Gatlands book Missiles and Rockets shows the full stack Soyuz launcher on the cover as a dark green, as befits the original R7 ICBM and soviet military style.

My original kit is long gone, so I decided to get the re-release. For various reasons, I missed the retail version and had to buy one from ebay some time later. It was worth the wait, as the kit is unchanged and the packaging and decals reflect the Luna configuration. The painting guide suggested a grey for the body with orange accents, like Gatlands book, as information on the rocket is much more readily available from post Glasnost Russia. However Matt Irvine on Scale Modellers forum suggests the white colouring is due to icing on the fuselage  due to the extremely low temperature fuel. However, as I had become enamoured with Gatlands version over the years in between releases, I decided a military finish would look better.

I have never been a good modeller, lacking patience and skill and the Vostok requires a bit of both, as some of the parts are tiny and delicate. It also begs a bit of customisation, as to make the Soyuz version it requires the capsule to be covered by the launch shroud, hiding a perfectly good model capsule. So I added some solar panels to the simple Soyuz capsule and left it as the Vostok launcher.

The tiny Vostok capsule is the most detailed, but again needs a little modification. The engine section has a rounded back to clip on the the fuselage part, so I trimmed that off and added a small cone to give the right shape. the whole capsule is just under 2" and a nightmare to paint!

The model also comes with a tiny 7mm Yuri Gagarin for scale too!