Maquette 1/72 SA-2 Guideline

MAQUETTE 1:72 SA-2 GUIDELINE

Reviewer: Richard Stracey (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted: 13 November 2004

Kit Details:

MARQUETTE #MQ7270 1/72 SA-2 GUIDELINE

History:

The S75 Volkhov is a medium to high ground to air missile better known by it’s NATO name of SA-2 Guideline. It entered service in Russia and it’s Warsaw Pack neighbours in 1958 replacing the S-25 / SA-1 Guild. It saw active service in the various Middle East conflicts of 1967 and 1973 and in Vietnam where it accounted for the destruction of forty B52’s. It has gone down in history as the missile that brought down Gary Power’s U2 on May 1^st. 1960. The SA-2 is a two stage missile with a solid propellant booster stage and a liquid (kerosene and nitric acid) fuelled core stage containing a 130kg high explosive warhead. The SA-2E contained a 295kg nuclear warhead. Both China and Egypt have produced copies known as the Hong Qian (Red Leader) and Tayir as Sabah respectively. The SA-2 is 10.60m long and has a diameter of 0.70m.

The Kit:

This Russian made Marquette kit consists of thirty two parts on two sprues, twelve parts for the missile and twenty for the launcher all in white plastic. It also includes a decal sheet for the stencil detail on the rocket. The instructions, mainly in Russian, are fine and the box has a quite useful photograph of a real missile and launcher on it.

Construction:

Naturally, assembly and painting is simple although Marquette is a little vague as to the location of parts 4 and 14. As shown in the instructions, the lug on part 11 is located below the pin on part 13 and that would restrict the angle that the missile can be moved to and anyway it flops down so, either make sure that the lug is above the pin or glue the whole assembly to whatever angle you desire. I glued the blast deflector 21 to the launcher and the legs 8 to the base 26. When all was dry, I set the launcher onto a flat surface, added a dab of glue to the tops of the V legs and slid it under the deflector till it made contact. After it was dry I added the remaining leg 9. I also added a couple of grab handles made from wire to match the pair shown on the box.

Version/Decals:

As I said, painting is pretty simple, the launcher is Khaki Green for which I used the discontinued (why?) Humbrol H114 Russian Green or Testors 2129 Russian Armour Green would do. Marquette goes for Aluminium for the missile but many seem to be painted in a variety of colours, mainly grey so, I preferred a suitable Light Grey. The decals, with a bit of trimming, went on quite well. To finish, I gave the launcher a bit of weathering, including a burnt rusty area on the deflector and made a simple base for it all to sit on.

Conclusion:

I haven’t much information on this missile but there is quite a bit on the Internet, including lots of photographs. This kit was originally produced by a company called Gran (kit #7208) without decals and distributed by Linden Hill. What happened to Gran or what their relationship to Marquette is, I don’t know. Planet models have also made a SA-2 (#MV-16) in this scale but, being resin, is far more expensive although, not as costly as the 1973 Airfix “OO” (1/76) scale set #3303 (Series 3) that includes a missile, launcher, transporter and Zil prime mover. I wonder what happened to the dies? Recently, Trumpeter has released a far more detailed (as one would expect) 1/35 kit. The point with this kit is that it is fine as a model but is also cheap enough to have a few in a diorama or for war gaming.

RHS / 118

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