SDV 1:87 A-2 Dvina/Guideline SAM for the Egyptians in the Yom Kippur War!

For some time I'd wanted a model surface-to-air missile for my YKW Egyptians. I found an STL file for 3D printing and Conscript Byron printed it, but it came out about 1:55 scale and clearly couldn't be scaled down, as even at that scale the missile fins were really thin and some even had to be replaced with card.

Nobody seems to make a 1:100 plastic kit either, except a company called "DIY" that I found on Scalemates... but there is no source for the kit that I could find. I corresponded with a Chinese toy wholesaler who might have had some but they went silent. Too bad because it was a cool looking kit, literally 8 parts so easy assembly, and cheap enough that everyone can afford a battery. I was prepared to buy lots of them and sell them to other hobbyists. But after a few emails exchanged, I never heard back.  

So I went with a 1:87 scale kit from SDV, a Czech model company established back in 1989. And while 1:87 is a little overscale for 15mm (nominally 1:100), it's close enough, and I wanted one, so I went for it.

The kit was reasonably easy to assemble but was not cheap, I think it came out to a bit over $30 CAD. There really wasn't an alternative though. "Mrs. Carina please get back to me!" :-)

Although the model is a bit overscale I think it's pretty cool. The actual missile is nearly 35 feet long I think, so it's not small. And really I probably only need one - I am thinking of a scenario set later in the YKW, where the Israelis hunted SAM batteries with their tanks. That would be pretty cool as a game.

The paint scheme for this model was inspired by an article in a recent Tamiya model magazine I happened to see at a local bookseller. The modeller had built a Guideline missile and ZIL truck and painted them as Egyptian equipment in 1973, sand colour with some splotchy light and darker green camo. Perfect! So that's what I modelled my work on.

More Israelis coming next. Youm Sa'id!