Kitbashed 1/72 Kamov A-7 By Joel Christy

Background

I have always enjoyed modelling off beat subjects of early aviation. When I came across the Kamov A-7 I was immediately smitten. First flown in 1934 this was an autogyro with a difference. We are familiar with the Cierva types used in the West but here was a rotor aircraft that could have been designed by the creators of Buck Rogers! The A-7 had a 3-bladed ridged rotor with a clutch for a jump start which could send it aloft in less that 100 feet. It had a streamlined tricycle land gear, one of the World’s first, and a steerable nose wheel.

The A-7 was also the first weapons carrying rotocraft and it was equipped with a PV-1 fixed machine gun in the front of the fuselage, and one or two Degyarev machine guns on a Scarff ring in the rear cockpit. It could also be armed with four 220 lb. bombs and rockets that could fire forwards and rearwards mounted under the wings. The rotor diameter was nearly 50 feet and it could fly at a top speed of 137 mph, the same as a Vietnam War era Huey!

No matter how you view the Kamov A-7 it is an amazing appearing aircraft. From the front it could almost be mistaken for it’s sucessors the Mil Hind or the Hughes Apache.

I first became acquainted with the A-7 when a friend gave me plans of the aircraft from the magazine Modelist Konstructor, a Russian publication of the Soviet era. These two sheets of drawings were very comprehensive and I reckoned a model could be scratch built from them. By the way, this was before the Planet Models kit was on the scene.

Although the shape of the A-7 is quite complex I decided that I could use bits and pieces from my spares box. I started with the fuselage. I found a vacform fuselage from an old Curtiss SBC Helldiver that could be adapted. The cowling came from a Matchbox Boeing P 12 as did the engine. The vertical fin and rudder on the A-7 were integral to the fuselage so the Helldiver one was perfect. All that had to be done when the top of the fin was cut down was to fill the gap on the top. The thick plastic allowed me to sand quite a bit off the nose to round it off to receive the engine. Since the A-7 had a tricycle landing gear I added a good deal of weight to the front of the fuselage before closing up the two halves. I definitely didn’t want a” tail-sitter.”

The wings and tailplane came from a matchbox kit, the 1/72 Hawker Typhoon. I cut the wings to conform to the shape of the A-7 and sanded off all the detail. Once I was satisfied I cut off the tips and reglued them to the angle shown on the plan. Lastly I separated the ailerons. I shaped the horizontal stabilizer and added the two outside vertical stabilizers made from 20 thou plastic sheet. Once all the flying surfaces were complete they were glued to the fuselage and carefully aligned. The engine on the A-7 had a downward thrust incidence so that was established and the engine glued in place.

Next the wing struts and rotor support were fabricated out of Contrail Strut material. The rotor support was further refined using Milliput to make the top streamlined faring. This same material was used to make the spatted nose wheel landing gear. The spats for the main undercarriage wheels again came from the spares box. The two lumps housing the landing gear shock absorbers were fashioned out of plastic sprue.

The two cockpits were furnished with instrument panels and seats. I scratch built the Scarff ring and Degtyarev machine gun out of wire and sprue and set it aside to attach later.

Once the basic airframe was complete I turned to the three bladed rotor. The blades came from an Airfix Sprite and were aligned according to the plan. The hub was made of of bits of plastic rod.

The Kamov A-7 had a pretty basic colour scheme; dark green and sky blue. I used Humbrol number 30 for the former and number 47 for the latter. When all the painting was finished I attached the rudder and rotor control rods made from thick hot stretched sprue. The engine was painted tank grey and highlighted by dry brushing with silver. When all was dry the Townend cowling was attached.

Placing the rotor in the A-7’s shaft completed the Kamov A-7. I feel it is one of the most striking aircraft I have built. Like its present day successor, the Hughes Apache, it has the same malevolent look. It must have made a terrifying sight to those on the ground being attacked in the early days of World War Two.