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

TheChronicOne · February 24, 2019, 05:31:01 PM

Howitzers are now glued in:

And I've finally closed everything all up. Wing dry fitted for effect.

Rick Lowe · February 24, 2019, 11:26:32 PM

I hope the howitzer crews also have good sets of Thermal Undies... bit of a breeze there, what with all the holes...

zenrat · February 24, 2019, 11:44:55 PM

Coming along nicely Brad C.

TheChronicOne · February 25, 2019, 09:22:01 AM

Thanks, y'all!! I had indeed wondered about the crew... they will be to the hilt with furs and leather I suppose. I wonder how difficult is is to load a howizter wearing all that junk.

I also kind of wonder if the holes are too big... in my fantasy, everything is reinforced so I hope it's not too much of a problem. I wanted to be able to SEE The howitzers so I made them a little large and gave them in world capability of being big enough to allow the howitzers to swing a little from side to side. BUT, Last thing I want to do is post this thing on the facebook and the first thing I get is "oh man, what an idiot, that thing would crumple up like a tin can the first time it blah blah blah"

I THOUGHT I did my research and settled where I need to be but uhhhh...

More on this today, I think! Time to start working on the seams. This thing actually fit together somewhat decently (considering it's origin) but when compared to high quality modern kits, it's just not that good. It's not the worst, but, not that good. Requires quite a bit of filing and some parts will need filling.

That was concering just the fuselage halves and how they fit.... The WING to FUSELAGE fitment, however, is a massive pile of arse!!!!

I've already done a bunch of work on it just while I was working on the fuselage halves.... and it STILL looks like bunk.

Pictures inbound!

Rick Lowe · February 25, 2019, 09:33:17 AM

Quote from: TheChronicOne on February 25, 2019, 09:22:01 AM
Thanks, y'all!! I had indeed wondered about the crew... they will be to the hilt with furs and leather I suppose. I wonder how difficult is is to load a howizter wearing all that junk.

I also kind of wonder if the holes are too big... in my fantasy, everything is reinforced so I hope it's not too much of a problem. I wanted to be able to SEE The howitzers so I made them a little large and gave them in

Like all Military Types, they'll do the best they can with what they got... complaining all the time, no doubt! And modifying the kit to be more comfortable...

I think that's a fair compromise... you can always 'McGuffin' your way around things, and there's nothing as frustrating as putting in all the effort and then not seeing the detail when you close things up...

TheChronicOne · February 28, 2019, 08:49:06 PM

Back at it. The fuselage is finally together. I mocked up the wings temporarily:

Since this.... I have found MANY instances of poor fitment. I still appreciate this kit very much and am happy to have it... but.... DAMN.

The wings to fuselage fitment is terrible. Even after much fixing there is a 2mm gap between one wing underside and the fuselage. Trust me, it's not ME being a sub-par builder... this one is on the kit.

It's fixable, though!

Other work done was to clean up all the seams on the engine parts. They look pretty good now! But... oh... wait!! More REALLY BAD fitment! The engine-to-wing fitment is .... BAD. I'll try to get pictures pictures later.

Lastly, I'm trying to fit the cargo door into the hole in the fuselage for it. Guess what?

TERRIBAD!!! This whole entire door is wildly out of spec and far too wide/long in EVERY dimension. It's like these parts were molded from different kits, FOR different kits. I've been filing the hell out of it however and it's nearly there. Once it finally fits, I'm sure I'll have to fix things with putty however.

Also, there's nothing stopping said door from simply falling inside when I try to glue it so I cut up some random plastic and made supports:

In far less frustrating news, I've finished off the props! These are already favorites!!

Not the usual black affair, this time they're blue and yellow.

jsport · March 08, 2019, 06:00:04 PM

over excellent

TheChronicOne · March 08, 2019, 06:51:26 PM

Thank you!!!

I'm going to be back at work on this one very soon so I hope to have some new pictures.

I'll probably even be working on it in a few minutes because I think I'm done on my other project for the night. I need to glue the engines onto the wings.

TheChronicOne · March 17, 2019, 08:23:52 PM

I haven't updated much, but I've done quite a bit of work on this one. Mainly, cleaning up of seams and trying to putty things. I managed to get the rear door forced into place and am trying to get it looking correct. It's been rough. It was wildly out of spec and I've gained muscle mass from filing and sanding on this crap to get it to work.

Also, I've glued the pieces the props attach to to the engines and in turn glued the engines onto the wings. Well, one side anyway.... the fitment is absolutely terrible. Still, it's getting done, but slowly.

Also, I've made progress filling the gigantic gap between the wing and fuselage:

I swear, this was molded by chimps using wooden machinery.

There was a point I was having a lot of fun with this, but now my fun factor has decreased.

I'm going to need to order in a few tons of concrete to fill all the ridiculous gaps and make everything correct. STILL..... I'm fully on board with this project and will not abandon it. And, while I said my fun factor has decreased, It's still there so I AM still having fun with this.

I just wish the parts fit together better.

In other news, I order a set of masks for all the glass. This will help save a couple hours at least and didn't cost much. To that end, I'm going to go ahead and glue the cockpit and nose glass on pretty soon. I just want to get the major PSR work done first to minimize handling and to keep the glass looking nice.

chrisonord · March 19, 2019, 01:01:45 PM

I could have sworn I had commented on this Brad,

Large turbo prop and Russian aircraft are a favourite of mine, I just wish I had room to put them. This is looking excellent I must say, and I am looking forward to the finished result

Chris

TheChronicOne · March 19, 2019, 06:29:29 PM

Hey, Chris!!!!!

No worries, mate, you're here now and I thank you! I love to hear from other people about my builds!

It's nice to know that I'm doing something others enjoy. It's not always like that.

Same here about the turbo props and Russian stuff... man... for all the complaining, I do love EE and Amodel and the like for having these kits. I try to mitigate the size problems by keeping these in 1/144.

Definitely going to get more..... I have a Tu-95 Bear as well that I'm going to do in a Civilian scheme. I learned that there were a few VIP craft (or something) that were almost literally Tu-95 sans weapons and having altered interiors. Perfect for me, so I don't have to alter the kit!

Old Wombat · March 19, 2019, 06:38:36 PM

Don't ... panic .. Brad! We're ... watching you .. Brad!

TheChronicOne · March 19, 2019, 06:56:45 PM

In 42 days, I will be finished!

chrisonord · March 21, 2019, 03:24:32 PM

I only build in 1/72nd scale, anything smaller I will really struggle to build it, any bigger, and storage becomes a problem. I would love to buy and build some of Amodels big turbo prop transports but I have nowhere to put them. I have a trumpeter TU-95 in 1/72, bought it without thinking, I am seriously considering selling it on, along with the TU-160 and Concorde in the same scale.
Chris.

TheChronicOne · March 21, 2019, 06:41:13 PM

I have the Trumpeter 1/72 Tu-95 and Tu-160 as well, they are two of my prized model kits.

I have no clue about where to put them once built, and will struggle with the space to actually build them..... but I will build them... and soon. Well, "relatively" soon. Within the next 5 years or so maybe.