Comrades, I ask you to wipe aside the tears as we bid a fond farewell to this current series of Diecast Delights, but not before taking one long, lingering last look at another saucy Soviet.

Last week we looked at the GAZ-21, forerunner of this car. That car, now legendary, is all well and good, but for me, for some reason it’s this one that will always be the Volga for me. No idea why. Anyway, it’s mine in glorious 1:43 scale.

It was in 1970 that series production of the Volga got into serious swing, though there had been many prototypes and pre-production cars built well before that date, in fact those were being driven around while the GAZ-21 was still in build. The new car represented quite a step forward in time, with clean, rectilinear styling that echoed that which was happening Stateside, together with a more spacious interior. The basic hull was to end up staying in build for around 40 years, including the 3110 generation of the ’90s which we saw here.

Of course, this model depicts the 24-02 model, the Station Wagon, which you would be very lucky indeed to score if you were just a normal member of the public. Private purchase was made possible only by special dispensation; these things were in heavy demand from the public sector with post offices and Taxis and, of course, Ambulance services taking the bulk of production.

This model represents the 24-02 as it would have been built some time between 1977 and 1985.

So, a good model for the series to go out on? Well, yeah, I like it. In common with the majority of IST models I’ve seen, the proportions are perfect and the castings themselves are very good. The paintwork is good, with just the right amount of gloss to it.

Thought has been put into certain details, too. For example, the last two side windows and the rear screen are made from obscured glass. Well, it’s plastic, of course, but it looks just like the real thing. The wheels and tyres, too, look plenty convincing.

However. If you’re buying one of these via eBay, Be cautious. If there’s any indication that the model will come in a blister pack, the chances are it came from the same source as my one. At some point a huge excess of 1:43 scale models commissioned by DeAgostini for a series concerning Soviet public service vehicles, ended up with a Dutch toy distributor, and a big chunk of this haul ended up with the cut-price chain “Poundland”. Either they were factory seconds or the factory had very, very variable quality. And if yours does come in a blister pack with mainly Russian text but one sticker for a toy distributor, somebody, somewhere has made a chunk of dough out of you if you paid more than a quid.

The chief quality shortfall here is with the chrome on the front grille, which is patch, especially in a strange oval next to the left hand headlamp. Let’s imagine that the car had a section of the grille removed for extra cooling. The headlamps themselves are great, being jewel-type items, as are the rear lamps. The side traffic-indicator markers are merely painted on, though, and the front sidelights, though picked out in the casting, are simply painted body colour.

Apart from those niggles, it’s a nice thing to have. As I say, anybody who wants to build up a collection of Russian public service vehicle should chuck any one of the models in this series into the eBay search bar and see what comes up.

[Dubious Close-Up Images: Copyright 2014 Hooniverse/Chris Haining]