Clearwater Models: 2K12 Куб KUBE S.A.M. SYSTEM (Trumpeter)

The 2K12 Kube Куб (cube) short- and medium-range surface-to-air anti-aircraft missile system was used by the USSR, all Warsaw Treaty countries, and various importers which bought it from the USSR. It was designed to destroy aircraft up to 10 000 m altitude flying under 2000 km/hr with a single shot kill probability of 0.7. Updated versions remain in use.

The model shows a regular Soviet Army air defence battery live firing a missile during the May 1977 Zapad-77 Запад-77 (West-77) exercises for most of the Warsaw Treaty members held in the USSR, Poland, Czechoslovakia and the DDR.

Understanding the holes in their air defence against NATO attack, the Kremlin ordered a new mobile air defence system, Development of this crucial battlefield SAM system began in 1958 at the Scientific Research Institute of Instrument Design (Научно-исследовательский институт риборостроения) and at the Mytishchi Machine-Building Plant (Мытищинский машиностроительный завод ММЗ). A completed system shot down its first aircraft in 1963, and a further four years of refinements brought it to full production from 1967 - 1985 of what amounted to over 500 launchers and several thousand 3M9M4 missiles. Most were made in the first few years at the Kalinin Machine-Building Plant (Машиностроительный завод имени М.И.Калинина) and the Ulyanovsk Mechanical Plant (Ульяновский механический завод УМЗ).

Each missile has a range of 4–24 km and an reach from 50 m above ground to 14 km up. It weighs 600 kg and the warhead a further 56 kg. Top missile speed is about Mach 2.8. This was the first combined solid rocket motor and ramjet ever deployed.

The main customer was the Soviet Army, followed by all the air defence forces of the allied Warsaw Treaty countries. The USSR sold the systems all over the world. The greatest combat success came in 1973 when the Egyptian army used to it shot down at least 40 Israeli fighter aircraft, much to the surprise and consternation of the USA. More bizarrely, the Iraqis used it to shot down a fair number of US-made jets from the Iranian air force in the early part of the Ira-Iraq War Gulf War I, 1980-1987). During the US war against Iraq, the two USAF aircraft were hit by the Kube: a B-52 and an F-16. The USAF made up a story about a friendly fire incident to cover the damage to the B-52. The F-16 was totally destroyed and the pilot captured. Syrian forces were able to destroy some 10% of incoming USA/UK/French missiles in the April 2018 attacks. The lesson is that this old system remains a powerful air defence weapon in the third world, and can even be used against the US military.

In Russia Kube was replaced by the 9K37 Buk (Бук) (beech tree) missile system.

This is the Trumpeter 1:35 scale kit #00361 from 2005, and it is a very nice kit with a lot of detail and more than enough links for the tracks. A small P.E. sheet adds lovely bits. Paints are Tamiya Deep Green for the T.E.L. tractor body, and NATO Green for the missiles. The missiles have been left clean as from the factory, while the armour was rubbed with powders and central-European dirt/mud from Vallejo. A pencil edge made for metal rubbed spots and scratches. I added a painted Xmas tree ornament and cotton wool fuzz as a blast/flame for a launch. Thank you to Bill at Hobby Centre in Ottawa for this used kit.