Eye In The Sky

 A few years ago I bought a 1/288 Antonov AN-72P kit:

I've been thinking that I really ought to get it assembled but seeing Richard Phillips' expanding air armada take shape (see coldwarcommanders.blogspot.com) has inspired me to get moving.

The AN-72P is a patrol version so has a few underwing hardpoints for bombs or rockets (as shown in the box illustration) as well as a 12.7mm gun pod on the starboard side:

Originally I thought that I had been given the wrong kit as there was no sign of weaponry. Looking at the pictures in the instructions though it looks as though they have just stuck a standard AN-72 kit into a different box and called it the patrol version. I've created a gun pod by filing down a bit of sprue and adding a stub of paper clip for a gun barrel. Not quite the right shape but close enough. I also added a couple of rocket pods from the H&R Soviet aircraft weapons pack donated by m'colleague Neil.

In terms of colour scheme, based on the box art I assumed that it was a maritime reconnaissance plane so planned on a basic grey. A bit of research though showed that they are more for border patrols and some of the paint schemes are quite garish for an aircraft:

Anyway, without further ado, the finished product:

The kit comes with a little stand which is helpful as I never thought to weight the nose so it tips backwards. The kit was very rough and not easy to assemble but overall I'm pleased with the finished product. The hole for the little stand can also be used for a flight stand. I'll have to think up some rules for use in CWC. I don't think that it would worry a NATO armoured column but would be effective in some sort of irregular/ bush war. I have read of Canberras getting fitted with rockets and guns for ground strafing in Vietnam, Rhodesia and India-Pakistan so there's a precedent.