This boarding ladder is one of those spiffy little accessories which can add a lot to the presentation of a model. In this case, it’s being added to an old Attack kit of a Pakistani Shenyang JJ-5 trainer (based on the MiG-17).

I cut the ladder itself loose from the PE sprue, and I also cut out the ladder pads. These are very tiny in 1/144, so be really careful.

I bent the sides of the ladder using a “high-tech” tool, namely a pair of “duckbill” pliers. The pliers have a decent grip and good straight sides. I took a photo of the ladder with one side bent, then the other. I spent a few minutes getting the sides trued up and made sure the ladder steps were square with the side rails.

Once the ladder was trued up, I applied a spot of thick CA to one of the ladder pads and touched the ladder top to the CA. I then trued up the pad with the ladder top. Same with the other ladder pad.

I wasn’t sure what color to paint the ladder. Brengun shows a red ladder in their catalog photo, but this might be for display purposes. Or maybe the ladders for MiGs were red? I know the Czechs are a heck of a lot closer to a MiG than I am, so I bowed to their superior access. I do know that the aircraft I worked on had either OD or silver ladders, but that was in Illinois.

I had some trouble placing the ladder next to the aircraft. It would move out of position, and I couldn’t get it to stand straight. I finally wound up putting a small drop of white glue on the pads. Once I got the ladder in place, it stayed there.

This ladder is certainly recommended, especially if you’re going to do an early MiG jet with the canopy open. It’d look funny without a ladder somewhere, even if it was just on the ground next to the plane. You get two of these in the package; it’s a pretty good bargain.

Thanks to Brengun for this neat little display addition and thanks to IPMS for letting me review it.