An-27 "Fowler"

[Acree]

Just a teaser, pics soon! (I promise).  

Needing something to do with the various leftover pieces/parts from my 1/144 MB-3A Patriot build (leftover parts consisting of A-10 parts, F/A-18 parts, Airbus A-319 parts and a few leftover bits from the B-47), I quickly came up with this concept (see back story below).  Build is complete except for weapons mounting, pictures very soon.  

Antonov An-27 "Fowler" – designed in competition with the Su—25 "Frogfoot."  The An-27 was Antonov's first and only attack aircraft.  Conceived in response to the West's A-10 Thunderbolt II, the An-27 used a straight, thick wing and overwing, forward mounted engines to provide short field capability.  The engine position also provided some measure of protection from IR SAMs like the US Stinger.  The tough landing gear made rough field work possible, while its length made weapon reloading easy.  Ultimately, the An-27 lost out to the Su-25, but a few hundred were built most of which ended up in satellite air forces, such as East Germany, Poland, and Bulgaria.  A few were also exported to Iraq, where they fared well in fighting against Iran, but not so well against the western allies during operation Desert Storm in 1990.

Cheers,
Chuck  

[Tophe]

Just a teaser, pics soon! (I promise).  
Antonov An-27 "Fowler" – designed in competition with the Su—25 "Frogfoot."  The An-27 was Antonov's first and only attack aircraft.

Yes please, post some pics, someday. Look what Google finds for this subject, so sad, before you came:

[Acree]

Fowler photos at long last.  The paint scheme is entirely imaginary and hand-brushed (you'd have never guessed, right?).  The munitions are all US (because I didn't have anything else), but they suffice to illustrate the point (especially at this scale).  Even though there are a lot of rough spots, I like how this turned out well enough to consider doing a bigger scale Folwer (and doing a better job, too!).    Anyway, here she is - ENJOY!:

[corsair220]

Cool concept. There are some very inspiring elements there.

[pyro-manic]

That's weird with a capital WEE, but extremely cool! I like it a lot.

[Ed S]

Clever concept.  Very original. 

Ed

[bobbo]

Bet it has short range . . . those big mutha turbofans must suck up fuel like a drunk in a beer factory!!

Bobbo

[Taiidantomcat]

That is all kinds of awesome 

[Acree]

Bet it has short range . . . those big mutha turbofans must suck up fuel like a drunk in a beer factory!!

Bobbo

Hence the four bags of fuel under the wings!

Thanks for the comments, guys.  This was really a throw-together WHIF, but I'm seriously considering recreating it in a larger scale (1/72 or 1/48).  If I do, I'll put a LOT more effort into doing a good job.  I'll try to recreate the An-72 engine installation more closely, also.  Any suggestion where I can get a pair of Soviet-looking turbofans in 1/72 or 1/48 without a lot of expense?

[ChernayaAkula]

Very creative and imaginative design! Cool camo as well. I'd say you should definitely build another, bigger version of this.

[Tophe]

Wonderful! The best for me is the modern He-219-like canopy/nose...

The munitions are all US (because I didn't have anything else)

I love Antonov-America, well I prefer civilians peaceful machines, but I prefer US-USSR friendship than war

[Taiidantomcat]

Agree with Moritz, this design is too cool and unique to do just once   I love the giant engines, the twin wheels on all the undercarriage (along with the offset front Landing Gear) the tail with the two ventral fins and the canopy on the fuselage (like Tophe said the He-219 look) , nothing that isn't "different" on this and i would love to see it fully loaded with bombs and rockets  

What kits did you use?

[Acree]

I used the fuselage and wings (plus a few other bits) from the Heller A-10, the tails (both horizontal and vertical) were from Dragon F/A-18F, the engines were from a Revell Airbus A-319, and the canopy was from the Academy B-47B/E, all in 1/144 scale. The munitions came from the A-10 and F/A-18 kits. 

Chuck

[Cobra]

Awesome Job Any plans to do a TU-22 type aircraft?? just Curious!!!!

[Acree]

No plans for a Tu 22, but, the parts have arrived for my scaled-up Fowler.  Several changes are being made due to parts availability (primarily).  The result will be slightly less radical, but more realistic.  I have completed the major surgery and am now in the initial PSR phase.  Instead of the B-47 canopy (a somewhat expensive proposition in this scale) I am using an F/A-18D canopy, resulting in a little less forward-cab design - which is a shame, becasue that is one of the things I liked about the initial Fowler concept.  Still, makes for a good look. 
Another change that makes it less radical is that I am not using the giant honking turbofans from an Airbus (availability) but am converting the original A-10 engines.  Les radical, but more realistic.  The engines are also mounted lower, directly on the wing, a la An-72 to get the engine lift effect, which was the whole point of the engine arangement.  So, overall, it will look less radical, but perhaps better (depending on your point of view).  I also have a boat-load (well techincally a Frogfoot-load) of Soviet weapons for the Fowler.

Cheers,
Chuck