"Size Matters" - Large aircraft build '06-Whenever

I'm still plugging along on the An-124 and An-225.  I added another update to this thread:

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Bruce

Good news!  I scored!  I ordered the some Ploesti Raider decals (limited run, only 300) from Meteor Productions and they still had some in stock!  They arrived on my doorstep yesterday afternoon!  Woo Hoo!!!! 

Midnight Storm wrote:

Scott, You should put lights & motors in your B-24. I'm doing that to my P-3B when I start it next month. That would be sweet on your warbird.

That would be cool, and since there is no end date.... wait, don't even get me started down that road.   I'm already buried in model projects.  

Scott,

You should put lights & motors in your B-24. I'm doing that to my P-3B when I start it next month. That would be sweet on your warbird.

Thanks Geof,

I'm just about ready to begin construction.  I'm still analyzing the instructions to determine the best "order of operations" so to speak to facilitate air brushing.  I seldom build my kits in the exact sequence of the instructions.  They work great if you're brush painting, but not for spraying. 

This will be my first multi-engined aircraft build so I want to be as pro-active as possible and avoid any possible snags.  If any of you have built this kit, I'd appreciate any "heads up" or pointers you can share with me. 

Eddie the Antonov is looking great!

Scott, good luck with your Lib, and post some progress pics!

Midnight Storm wrote:

Sounds good, if I were doing a B-24 I'd do that two tone Blue one. I forgot it's name. Another great B-24 is the Strawberry B*tch or the current B-24 flying, WitchCraft. Those are some sweet looking planes! No matter what the B-24 is a great choice. Always been one of my fave.

Funny you should mention WitchCraft.  My daughter and I drove down to McClellan AFB on Saturday to check out three flying WWII bombers (Collings Foundation), the B-17G "Nine-o-nine", the B-24J "WitchCraft" and the B-25J "Tondelayo".  It was awesome being able to check them out, climb inside and best of all, see them fly! 

Here are just a few of the pics from that afternoon. 

You can see the rest of the photos here: http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y106/Zushia/2007%20McClellan%20AFB/

See it's the same color you are talking about.

Sounds good, if I were doing a B-24 I'd do that two tone Blue one. I forgot it's name. Another great B-24 is the Strawberry B*tch or the current B-24 flying, WitchCraft. Those are some sweet looking planes! No matter what the B-24 is a great choice. Always been one of my fave.

looking good Eddie! 

I ordered my decal sets for the B-24D from Meteor Productions, so far so good as I haven't received any indication that they are out of stock and can't fill the order.  I'm leaning towards the pinkish sand scheme of the Ploesti Liberators based in Libya. 

Here is an update on my AN-124!

Just basic paint as of right now. I still need to paint the edges and fix a few things here and there. The wings and flaps still need to be painted silver & white. Also the nose gear is not installed on these photos.

Midnight Storm wrote:

I just finished painting my AN-124. I just need to gloss coat her and start decaling. Looks like there are over 150 decals per wing and much more to go on the body.  I better get started!

Yikes, looks like you've got your work cut out for you!  Good luck!

Actually, I'm thinking of making this GB open-ended. Mostly because I've gotten very little done on my B-24 and I too, will not be able to finish by July. I kindof got burned out on it and moved on to other, "less frustrating" kits. I'll come back and finish it eventually, though! 

So let's make it official then......this GB now has no end date. Keep up the good work guys and post some pics!

Here's an update on the An-124/-225:

/forums/754234/ShowPost.aspx

Bruce

I'm glad to see someone is still here, I was beginning to think this GB had died.  I'd love to see some pics of your superfort when it's complete. Good luck with your decal issues, I know what you mean, I tried to do a couple of old kits before and the decal sheets were a complete loss.

I'll get my airbrush back in working order tomorrow, so hopefully I'll be able to post some progress pics of my Libby soon...

Your Antonov's are looking great, Bruce, I'm really impressed on how much work you're putting into those things! The use of brass rods to reinforce is especially cool. Keep up the good work and keep posting pics!

As for me and my B-24, I've stalled out a bit because my CO2 regulator needs to be replaced. So, I'm dead in the water with no AB until I get a new one. But, once I get that up and running, I'll be able to make some progress.

How's everyone else doing?

Another update in the Aircraft forum:

/forums/754234/ShowPost.aspx

Enjoy,

Bruce

Posted a new An-124/An-225 update to the Aircraft Forum:

/forums/748381/ShowPost.aspx 

Bruce

Bruce, you obviously have a lot more patience (and time) than I do! I'm really looking forward to seeing that Antonov finished. Post more pics whenever you can, I'll be watching your build!

Oh, I almost forgot, I hit up the Evergreen Air Museum over the holidays and got a few decent pics, namely a B-17, a B-25, and of course a bunch of the "Spruce Goose".

Lucien, if you're interested, I've got "Goose" pics of both the exterior and interior, including the flight deck. Let me know...

Hello guys,

Nice progress on the B-24 and the B-29!  I've finally made some progress on the An-225 and An-124.  I've managed to get the fuselage profiles and cross sections created and cut out.  I decided to add a few extra cross sections that weren't on the plans by taking two cross sections and drafting a third partway between the originals.  I was worried that the cross sections were too far apart to allow me to build up the fuselage.  Surprising how much time this took to get to this stage - just to deal with the plans and get the plastic cut out.

So here's a few pictures.  Not very flashy, but at least it's progress. 

The An-124 fuselage profiles and cross sections laid out (the yardstick and the 1/72 scale Bf.109 are for scale):

The An-225 profiles and sections:

A shot of the An-124 nose with profile locations marked (the An-225 is the same as the An-124 in the nose area - it's stretched around the wing box):

Some sample fuselage profiles:

Next up is cutting the profiles in two, attaching them to the patterns, and then beginning to create the fuselage shape with plastic sheet, strips, and putty (oh, there will be lots of putty).

Maybe I'll finish by the end of this year... yeah, right.

Bruce

Well, as promised, here's a couple pics of my progress on the Lib. Obviously I'm just getting started. Like I said before, I have the entire bird rescribed, the engines are painted and in, the wing halves and tail section are assembled. Now I'm "working" on filling up the bad fit around the engines and then it's on to the interior......more pics later.

Looks like you're off to a great start, wirr, I'll have to take some pics of my libby and post. Even though all I have done is the scribing and the wing halves are together. I've kindof stalled out on this build because I have alot of filling and sanding to do, and that is my least favorite part of modelling....

This GB has been pretty quiet of late.  So, some pics of my 1/48 "Enola Gay"

First coat of primer showed a lot of work still to be done on seams and wing roots.

Anyone for spaghetti ?

plenty of room in the engine nacelle for the 1.5 volt motor.  prop shaft is ballpoint pen tube (thanks Lucien Harpress)

still a lot to do and also have to transform a piece of 4ft x 4ft board into a little slice of Tinian Island.  C'mon guys, lets see some pics !