Ikarus
IK-2 Modelers Archive CD ROM
By Nenad Miklusev, © 2005
This is a reference CD devoted to the Yugoslav Ikarus IK-2 fighter.
This attractive design, obviously inspired by the Polish PZL gull-winged
fighters, first flew in April 1935. Two prototypes and 12 series machines
were constructed, and one Yugoslav fighter unit became operational on
the type in 1939. The German invasion in April 1941 resulted in some fierce
actions and a swift end to the fighter’s Yugoslav service. Four
captured examples were passed along to the Croats.
The CD is organized and navigated along the website model. It worked
fine on Windows XP (Internet Explorer browser), Mac OS X (Safari) and
Mac OS 9 (iCab). Windows users get a snippet of code that opens the CD
to the “home page”. Mac users have to open the CD and scroll
down to the IK2.htm file - opening that file produces the “home
page.” One minor quibble – the CD has one of those paper stick-on
labels that sometimes cause problems in slot-loading drives. I used an
older tray-loading burner to make a duplicate copy of the CD. I had no
difficulty in copying the material to my hard drive, so there seems to
be no Digital Rights Management in place.
Here’s what you get –
• 19 photos, many of indifferent quality
• 12 “pages” of scale drawings
• a drawing of the cockpit and instrument panel
• 14 “pages” of color schemes - side and plan views
• 10 miscellaneous color views, from various sources
• reprints of various magazine articles, including the
IK-2 section of the old Profile Publication
• a short history, mostly repeating the old Profile
• a few modelers’ notes and photos of resin IK-2 kits
This sounds like lots of drawings and schemes, but there’s little
difference between many of the pages. There are really just two versions
of this plane (prototypes and production) and three color schemes (Yugoslav
silver, Yugoslav camouflaged, Croatian).
This CD is available through the author’s Aeropoxy (https://aeropoxy.on.neobee.net/index.htm)
website for $32, plus shipping. An easier source might be the JKRV Hobby
Source (https://stores.ebay.com/JKRV-Hobby-Source) on eBay. The author
also offers most of this material (drawings, schemes, some photos) in
print form for $24.
Although the CD seems a bit pricey for the amount of material it contains,
it’s likely to remain the high water mark in the IK-2 literature.
|
|