I just finished my vac-kit of the An-8, so I thought I would take some pictures of it and of a couple of other Antonov transports I finished a while back (all are 1/72 scale).
The Vaccuum Lion An-8 kit. I think I overdid the weathering a bit. Most An-8 reference photos show a pretty well-worn aircraft, so I was trying for that effect - I was using pastels and expected the clear flat coat to tone them down more than it did. Next time I’ll use grey pastels instead if I have to weather against a lighter base color. The fun with this kit was scribing all the panel lines, correcting the engine nacelles (too short) and the fuselage (also too short). And just when I finish it I find out that Amodel is planning to issue an injection-molded version - oh well.
Close up of the antennas on the An-8 - the only close-up shot I took that turned out well (I’m still trying to figure out how to take decent close-up pictures with my wife’s digital camera - I think it was random chance this one turned out). Note the not-so-good canopy. I probably should have either vacuum-formed a new one or done a few more (dozen?) future dips. Live and learn.
The Russian Project An-26 kit. Limited run, fit was fairly decent. Pretty good decals. I like transports in tactical color schemes. I think Amodel now has a better injection-molded kit available.
The Roden An-12 kit. Very nice kit, very crappy decals. Should have spent more time on the front/rear fuselage seam.
A couple of shots of them all three together:
And one more for scale, all three with a taped together B-29 that I am test-fitting and nose-weighting (one of my next projects - foiling the B-29):
Anyway, hope you like the pictures and the unusual subjects.
Very nice job. Now you just need that 225, and you’ll be in business! [;)]
It just goes to show you that just because a kit is vacuform doesn’t mean it needs to look any less detailed or realistic as an injection-molded one. Good job! [tup]
The An-12 kit is pretty nice. Overall, the fit is good and detail is nice. There were three things that I didn’t like about the kit. First is that the separate front and rear fuselage made for a crummy gap to deal with. I put the rear halves and front halves together and then joined front to back. I recommend careful test fitting and sanding, or if you’re not doing the interior you could do the left front to left rear and the same for the right and then join the halves. Second thing was the decals. Not very good. They fell apart easily and silvered badly. I recommend a very good gloss coat on the model and carefully trimming the clear film off before you put them on, and maybe test out a few first to see if they fall apart for you. For decals that fall apart I’ve had good success treating them with MicroScale decal film - that seems to allow the decals to hold together better (but test first - sometimes decals react badly to the decal film). Third was the main landing gear - it’s nicely detailed but pretty flimsy for the size of the model. I was careful to get full glue joints for all the different bits of the landing gear to make it more sturdy. None of those issues are too bad - just some things to watch out for.
Oh, also for what it’s worth the front and rear fuselage separation was designed that way to allow them to produce an An-10 airliner kit. Amodel has teamed up with Roden to produce that kit - I have one on order so I’ll see how it is when I get it.
The An-124 and An-225 in 1/72 are coming soon - I’m going to crank some more on the Bv 238 and then spend the winter working on the two big Antonovs. Fun stuff!
