AN-12BKM Civilian Gunship ***FINISHED***

[TheChronicOne]

Starting a new project! This will be an Antonov An-12BK-M (Mitigation). This is a modified AN-12BK made for a North American company Avalancer ( "Ava" for avalanche and "lancer", a weapon with long reach) operating out of Sioux City, Iowa. Souix City was chosen for its facilities and central location with regards to the more traveled mountainous regions of the United States and Southern Canada. 

Basically, various Departments of Transportation, ski lodges and various others hire Avalancer to make pre-emptive strikes on avalanche prone areas. This is typically done with truck mounted "guns" of various description and permanent stations.

I'm trying my best here to make a bit of background and half-assed story but I'm just not very good at it... but this serves a reasonable outline of what I'm trying to accomplish here.

So.. I have a kit:



I have two 1/144 scale howitzers (3D printed). They are German sFH 18 150mm Howitzers. (who knows how they got ahold of these, but it's whif-world anyway so I won't be losing any sleep over it...)



I have plastic card to make a floor and to make the walls and reinforcement around where I will cut holes into the fuselage:



And I even have a livery:


The purple lines on the fin will be more subdued on the model, I had to make them darker to distinguish them from the panel lines. There likely won't be as many, either... I'm  going for a subtle "background mountain peaks" effect behind the main Logo, which is simply an "A" with a snow cap for the negative space. The plan is to mask for all this and only use transfers for common markings and stencils.

So, I have a plan and hopefully it goes down without a hitch. So far the only problems are with the kit itself, covered in flash and terrible sprue gate placement. Lots and lots of filing and sanding. No alignment pins on the fuselage so I will glue some sprue chunks to the inside to serve as such. It calls for nose weight, as well, but will have to be placed aft of the cockpit as there isn't much room up there and the nose is glass.

So far, I've jumped right into it and have already done enough research to be able to measure and mark the two areas I'll cut out to make openings for the howitzers. They will be large enough so the guns can elevate to compensate for a banked aircraft and be able to swing however many degrees from side to side:



Not sure how much more work I'll do on it today, but, I'd like to get these openings cut out and get the new fuselage alignment posts glue in at least.


Should be fun....  I hope! 

[nighthunter]

I want to do something similar with a Turbopropped C-123, only its an air support gunship used by contractors.

[TheChronicOne]

That sounds badass!!!!   Get after it!! 

[nighthunter]

I'm too poor at the moment. Lol!

[TheChronicOne]

 

[zenrat]

 

[Weaver]

Oh nice one! 

I've got a 1/72nd An-12 in my 'gunship' pile. The idea is the Soviets try it and get their arses kicked because it's big and slow and it's only got small-calibre guns and Afghanistan in 1982 isn't Vietnam in 1967. Lessons learnt, they then come back for round two with an An-72 fitted with forward and side-firing 30mm weapons as well as side-firing AT-6 missiles that extend from the tail ramp...

[TheChronicOne]

Oh nice one! 

I've got a 1/72nd An-12 in my 'gunship' pile. The idea is the Soviets try it and get their arses kicked because it's big and slow and it's only got small-calibre guns and Afghanistan in 1982 isn't Vietnam in 1967. Lessons learnt, they then come back for round two with an An-72 fitted with forward and side-firing 30mm weapons as well as side-firing AT-6 missiles that extend from the tail ramp...

That sounds like a hoot, H! And in the most glorious scale.... You should throw everything off the bench and start this one! 


EDIT: Oh yeah.... for an update:  I've created both openings and also made the fuselage alignment posts!     Next up, I'll cut strips (won't need to make a "box") to add to the borders around the openings then it's on to making a floor.

[Tophe]

Basically, various Departments of Transportation, ski lodges and various others hire Avalancer to make pre-emptive strikes on avalanche proned areas. This is typically done with truck mounted "guns" of various description and permanent stations.

Thanks a lot for this "invention"!
While I hated bombers-killers I admired civilian water-bombers, and I love also these civilian avalanche-bombers!

[TheChronicOne]

I take destruction and flip it upside down!!! Gunships to save lives! 


Thanks!!!

I'll have some more pictures of this up later.

[Weaver]

I guarantee that flipping a gunship upside down will not save any lives. Quite the contrary in fact....

[TheChronicOne]

 

[TheChronicOne]

Alright, I've manage to cut out the floor and get it into the proper shape (a bit tapered toward the nose) to sit snuggly inside the fuselage. I made sure that it sits at the SAME level as what would be in in a real one. As luck would have it, once I install the gear bays for the main gear, I will be able to glue the floor directly to them! Nice! That will help. I'll still probably glue in a couple posts in the front and back for the floor to sit on so that I can glue it into one half of the fuselage rather than trying to cram it inside later after it's sealed up.

Also, I made sure to dry fit the howitzers inside and while I think I'd like to make a couple minor adjustments, they seem to sit just fine in there.





That last pic give me a S-3 Viking vibe!


That's it for now, I'm going to quit while I'm ahead and appreciate the fact that most of this is going well so far, considering these types of modifications and efforts are virgin territory for me. 

One good thing I will mention in closing, is that I've finally looked at some of the other pieces. The smaller things like the props and all that....   and they look pretty good!! Not as "gnarly" as the fuselage halves! That's a pretty welcome sight. 

[McColm]

Looking good, maybe the Mach2 AW Argos Gunship idea will make a comeback

[TheChronicOne]

Thanks!

Get on after it! Don't let you baby languish in limbo!