Unpainted, unassembled - photo of assembled and painted kit provided only for reference. Kit do not contain paints and glue.

Tupolev ANT-25 or RD (the English abbreviated form standing for "flying range record" in Russian), one of the world-famous airplanes, was constructed in 1933. Its creation aimed at attacking a difficult problem in the aircraft industry-the world longest non-stop flight. A.N.Tupolev, the project manager, conceived the ANT-25 as an ideal glider with reliable engine. This remarkable plane was designed under the guidance of P.O.Sukhoi. A lot innovations in technology were using in design ANT-25. A propellers with anti-icing system were developed. Of special interest were the electrical equipment and navigation instruments. The most complicated technical problem consisted in developing a wing of an uncommonly: long span-34m. Prior to the ANT-25 airplanes with narrow and long wings were non-existent. The first flight took place on 22 June 1933. The creators were distressed: the ANT-25 flew only 7000 km instead of rated 1,300 km.
The chief cause of this failure resided in the fact that the resistance of the wing which had been faced with corrugated sheets was not taken into sufficient account, and, moreover, the fuel consumption appeared to be greater. The first problem was dealt with by making the wings smooth as a result of covering the corrugation with cloth. The second problem was eliminated by A.Mikulin, the engine designed. The first Russian concrete runway with a start hill at the beginning was built in the Moscow region in the vicinity of Shchelkovo making it possible for a heavy airplane of mass 11,500 kg to take off. Then came a time for long-distance flights.
10-12 September 1934 M.Grornov, A.Filin, and I.Spirin set a world record for flying duration and range by a closed route -12,411 km in 75 h 02 min. From this time on preliminaries to a record straight flight from Moscow to the USA via the North Pole started. Several long-distance flights were planned and it is for the provision of those flights and making use of the RD as a trainer or a military airplane that a series of 50 machines was pioneered at the Voronezh Aircraft Plant. By the spring of 1936 there were 20 finished airplanes at the plant including those with AN-1 diesel engine.
3 August 1935 S.Levanevski, G.Baidukov and A.Belyakov started their flight via the North Pole to the USA, but after having traveled 2,000 km they had to come back because of a lubrication system failure and landed in Krechevitsy of the Novgorod region.
20-22 July 1936 the crew of V. Chkalov, G. Baidukov and A.Belyakov set a flying range record having covered 9,374 km in 56 h 20 min. The route was selected by I.Stalin and the ANT-25 airplane with the board inscription ' Stalin's route' started from Moscow via the Franz-Josef Land and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatski and landed on the small island of Udd (Chkalov island at present).In November of 1936 this record-breaker was displayed at the 15th Aircraft Show in Paris with exceptional success.
18-20 June 1937 the same crew set another record flying from Moscow to the USA via the North Pole a distance of about 10,000 km in 63 h 25 mm. (a crow-flight distance of 8.504 km) and landing at the Vancouver military aerodrome.
12-14 July 1937 the third record flight Moscow-San Jasinto. running 11,500 km (a crow-fliqht distanse of 10,148 km) in 62 h 17 min was performed. The crew of the ANT-25 included M.Gromov, A.Yumashev and S. DamIin.Construction of the ANT- 25 airplane is an outstanding event in the development of world aviation technology.
One of the ANT-25 (RD) airplanes is currently displayed at the Chkalov museum in Nizhni Novgorod.