Omega 1/72nd Kasyanenko Number 5
|
 |
History
Early in the war, aircraft designers were looking for ideas to mount
the gun in front of the pilot, prior to the invention of the interrupter
gear. Everyone has seen SPAD's answer to the dilemma, the A series. The
Kasyanenko brothers thought of another - mounting the engine in the middle
of the fuselage with a shaft running through the rear of the fuselage
powering a three-bladed propeller just aft of the tail. Very ingenious,
in my opinion.
Since the prop was in the tail, a tall tailskid was needed to keep the
prop off the ground, and a ventral fin was also added. According to the
best source on WW1 Russian designs - Russian
Aeroplanes 1914-1918 by Mikhail Maslov - the aircraft actually was
taxied hoping for flight. Unfortunately the plane did a ground hop, and
when it landed back down it landed hard enough to snap the tailskid and
ventral fin off, resulting in damage to the prop and the rest of the tail.
Unfortunately that's where the history on the aircraft ends with nothing
else known about the design.
One thing that might have happened if the design actually flourished
was cooling the engine (and this is entirely my speculation). SPAD had
problems with its "pulpit" designs and actually designed extra
vents and channels in the front nacelle to help cool the engine. The Kasyanenko
No. 5 appears to not have these extra vents and channels and only some
"screen" placed over the opening in the fuselage where the engine
was placed. A definite lack of adequate cooling air.
There is an excellent site
on the history of the Kasyanenko Number 5 along with a color profile (which
I don't agree with at all) plus some scale drawings - which I consider
a must to complete any model of the Kasyanenko #5. Thanks to Erik Pilawskii,
I have also included an English translation
of the aforementioned site.
The Kit
 The
Omega kit of the Kasyanenko No. 5 consists of 23 cream colored resin parts,
two frets of photoetch consisting of a total of 16 parts, two rubber "wheels"
(to be used with the photoetch spokes) and two lengths of thick, steel
wire. Decals appear very nicely printed and consist of only Russian roundels
for the typical six positions.
Air bubbles are very minimal and the parts are very nicely cast. While
it has been a few years since I've seen an Omega kit, those few years
have been good for advancement in Omega's quality. The flying surfaces
are nicely thin and the overall quality is extremely nice. Instructions
just consist of an exploded diagram showing - in general - where the parts
are to go. Also included with the instructions is a set of 1/72nd plans
that should help - and is much needed - in placing parts. Placing the
tail pieces as well as the one attachment point for the center wing struts
aren't marked on the fuselage at all, so that's where the plans come in
handy.
The fuselage is split in three pieces - aft of the engine is one solid
piece of resin, while forward of the engine the fuselage is split in two
horizontally which should help with cockpit detailing. Speaking of the
cockpit, the only items provided are the seat, and a rudimentary rudder
bar and control stick. The bottom of the fuselage half is relatively solid
which helps with floor placement, but also makes for possibly a heavy
fuselage. It will be interesting to see once it's all assembled. In fact,
with the solid rear fuselage, as well as the solid, lower, forward fuselage
half, I think I'm going to replace the resin landing gear struts with
brass Strutz as well as replace the photoetch tailskid struts with actual
brass rod. I'm worried about all that weight on these fragile parts.
Assembly - minus one major area - couldn't be easier. Once the cockpit
is detailed to your liking (there are no photos showing the interior of
this aircraft) and the forward upper and lower fuselage halves assembled,
then construction comes down to adding the painted up engine between the
forward and rear fuselage pieces (using a piece of the steel wire provided).
After that is accomplished then the tailpieces can be glued on once their
position is figured out. The horizontal tailpieces need to be "corrected"
in that the horizontal tail was an all-moving surface (no stabilizers)
with the pivot point being directly in the middle of each horizontal tailpiece.
So, some brass rod/wire is needed to attach these correctly to the fuselage.
 In
keeping with the tail area, looking at the photos provided in Maslov's
book, it appears Omega doesn't quite have the propeller blades the right
size or shape. I can't really express what the right size or shape is,
without supplying a scan of the photo in Maslov's book. Image used with
Icarus Press' permission.
The one area that will be difficult is attaching the wing assembly to
the fuselage. Assembling the wings to each other prior to gluing them
to the fuselage is a must. As an aside, I really like how Omega handles
the interplane struts. They supply photoetch "wraps" that form
the airfoil section by "wrapping" the photoetch around a piece
of wire. Omega provides this wire in the kit as steel, but seeing how
steel is difficult to work with I'm going to substitute brass for the
steel. Very ingenious.
To get back to the construction of the wings, both to each other and
then to the fuselage, you definitely want to glue the wings together prior
to adding them to the fuselage. None of the wings actually touch the fuselage
with the struts so getting it all lined up will be interesting. Only the
"center portion" of the central struts is the area that touches
the fuselage, which is why gluing the wings together - I feel - is a must
prior to adding to the fuselage. In addition, leave the undercarriage
off until the very last moment so the wings can be slipped "over"
the nose and then glued into place. This is where the plans are also necessary,
as Omega doesn't provide any marks/indentations showing where the central
struts are to glue to the forward fuselage. In fact, neither the photos
nor the drawings show this to good advantage at all so the "good
'ol Mk.I Eyeball" is put to good use - just be sure to line up where
these struts will go, side-to-side, and top-to-bottom.
While Omega has a list of paints (in the AGAMA and Humbrol range) needed
for this aircraft, they don't really explain where the colors go. This
is where the very nicely done box top artwork comes in handy. The aircraft
was left "all natural" which means that the flying surfaces
were Clear Doped Linen (CDL) and the fuselage and struts were wood. However,
the one area that could be difficult to replicate is the joints on the
fuselage where the wood was partitioned out. Both the box top artwork
and the cover to Maslov's book show these joints, but I can't make head
or tails of them via the photos.
Conclusion
 All
in all this will build into quite the conversation piece. Place it next
to a SPAD A.2/4 to show different thinking into the problem if putting
a gun in front of the pilot. This will generate plenty of discussion,
especially amongst your friends that don't quite understand WW1 aviation.
Aside from adding the wings to the fuselage, assembly could be a breeze.
Aside from wing placement, there is also the problem of tailpiece placement
since there is no indication at all on the fuselage where these pieces
go. However, use the plans, take your time and you'll have an unusual
addition to your model collection. Definitely recommended.
My thanks to Roll Models for
the review kit.
|
|
