Lucien Harpress Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 The ANT-26 wings will be a bit longer (wingspan of 95m vs. 88m for the An-225), but at least the inner wings appear to have no anhedral or dihedral, so you can use a straight-through spar. Bruce That was my thinking. That way I can build the wing as a single unit and sorta build the fuselage around it. This leads to problems with how I want to build the fuselage (a solid unit carved out of wood), but... we'll get to that later. Besides, (compared to the An-225) the wing is much larger in comparison to the fuselage and will bear more of the stresses. I want to see if the skin can take some of the stresses in addition to the spar and not just be a simple covering. Something similar to ICM's TB-3. The wing/fuselage joint always gives me worries, especially on the larger builds. I have a 1/72 B-36 that's experienced some major wing droopage even with a decently sized spar. If I can avoid that completely, that'd be best. But (back on topic again), as before I can't wait until this build gets to the more "finished" look, especially the fuselage. Most decidedly a "one-of-a-kind" build. Once again- good job! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bruce Roberts Posted October 28, 2007 Author Share Posted October 28, 2007 Hello All, Once again, it's been a long time between updates. I never get to spend as much time as I would like on this project - real life keeps intruding. And most things take me multiple tries to get right, since I don't have a clue how to do any of this when I start. This report is the about the good, the bad, and the ugly. It'll be a two-part post because I really want to show a few more pictures. I hope some people get something out of my failures as well as successes. Here's the progress summary: The good: 1. The masters for a number of engine subassemnbly parts have been made, turned into molds, and test resin casts or vacuum parts made. A few things took me a while to do (one master took five tries to get right, but along the way I figured out some new techniques). I'm particulary proud of how the engine nacelle turned out - I have hopes to do a bunch of other large planes in 1/72 scale (particularly a bunch of 747's), and I now feel like I have the necessary techniques to scratchbuild any jet engine nacelle I need. I've still got a fair amount more fiddling with the different parts to get them to fit right, though. 2. The engine pylon has been started. It's not quite finished yet, but I think it'll turn out pretty well and should be pretty straightforward to cast. 3. The empennage is done save for a little bit of sanding. I was close with the last update, but hadn't finished the An-225 vertical stabilizer - it's done now except for some sanding and finishing work. The bad: 1. Things don't fit quite as well as I had hoped. I've had to modify a few of the masters in order to improve the fit. I have a lot of new respect for people who engineer kits or create aftermarket parts - it's hard to get all this stuff to fit together well. The ugly: 1. The wings I had built are seriously screwed up. I believe I used way too much solvent glue, and the parts of the wings that had no vent holes have distorted as a result. That's a bit frustrating with all the effort I spent, but I wasn't too happy with the wings anyway since I knew I had the shape pretty wrong. I'm going to redo them with a different technique - one which hopefully won't take as long. Next up - redo the wings, and finish the masters for the engines. I built a master for the support structure and first stators that sit behind the bypass fan, but I'm not happy with it so it needs to be redone. And I still need to do the bypass fan - haven't figured out yet exactly how I want to do that. Anyway, on to the pictures (more in the next post since each post seems limited to 10 pictures - apologies to anyone on dialup): The engine nacelle master (it was damaged while being removed from the RTV mold - I was overly optimistic about how easy it would be to remove from the mold): Here's a shot of the mold in action: The three-part mold plus a copy: A closer picture of the copy: The starting point for the engine nacelle, made from wide and thick styrene stips glued together: Test fit of the engine and the nacelle components (sadly, there's no one to blame but myself if the parts fit poorly - I've redone the master for the rear of the engine nacelle for a better fit, but I just haven't vacformed a new example to test). The fit's a bit better than this picture shows because of the tape holding things together: Another picture of the test fit (the pylon master really isn't done yet - there's some more shaping to be done and I over-dremeled it so I needed to add some Aves Apoxy for correction). The fit should be much better when I'm finally done: Some vacform adventures for the engine subassemblies. Here's the original setup: And here's the result - not too good (I didn't get the plastic warm enough, and the pleats aren't very good either due to the layout of the parts - later runs worked a bit better): After some fiddling I managed to get some decent parts. Here's a master with the resulting part for the end section of the engine nacelle: More to follow in the next post. Bruce Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bruce Roberts Posted October 28, 2007 Author Share Posted October 28, 2007 One more post to include more pictures. Here's some pictures of the tailcone assembly. First all the parts together (sorry about the focus): The parts separate: An example master part and a copy: The molds for some other subassemblies (some of the parts in these molds I'm not using since I don't like how they turned out, but they're interesting as tests of the limits of the molding or casting processes): The tailcone and spinner masters and copies: And finally, the UGLY - the bulge in the wings that I built - it's actually worse than this picture shows - this particular bulge is about an inch across. Back to the drawing board for these. Sigh... Thanks for looking - hope you enjoyed. At the rate I'm going, expect another update in three months with some successes and some failures. Bruce Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AnthonyWan Posted October 28, 2007 Share Posted October 28, 2007 (edited) Molds = more copies right? and more copies = surplus copies for sale? :D My my my that looks really good Bruce...:D Edited October 28, 2007 by AnthonyWan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Icchan Posted October 28, 2007 Share Posted October 28, 2007 Looking amazing, absolutely amazing. Sorry to hear about all the wing troubles, but you're right - there's a lot of similarities between this and the real-size birds, what with weight distribution and all. But it's still incredible to see and I hope to see more too! Awesome project and I wish you the best of luck. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
geedubelyer Posted October 28, 2007 Share Posted October 28, 2007 This is inspirational Bruce. Your dogged determination is a lesson to all. Keep at it mate. As you overcome each obstacle you learn new tricks and techniques, that in turn makes the next hurdle easier to overcome. By the time you've finished these big birds there should n't be much you can't accomplish. Thanks for showing every aspect of your build. It just explains that not everything goes smoothly all the time. Very impressive stuff. :blink: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
janman Posted October 28, 2007 Share Posted October 28, 2007 Truly impressive work! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Flankerman Posted October 28, 2007 Share Posted October 28, 2007 Great work Bruce - I can't put it any better than geedubelyer - so I'll just agree with what he says..... If you ever want to sell one of these beasts as a kit of parts - please let us know ! Keep up the good work. Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Berkut Posted October 28, 2007 Share Posted October 28, 2007 HOLY BLOODY MOLY!!!!!!!!!!! :blink: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Midnight Storm Posted October 28, 2007 Share Posted October 28, 2007 WOW!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bruce Roberts Posted October 29, 2007 Author Share Posted October 29, 2007 Thanks everyone for the comments! As for making a kit, I've thought a little bit about it, but I don't think I've planned the parts very well to make that possible. I might try making fiberglass molds for the wings and fuselage (sort of like AModel's big planes), but I might wait until I start my next project (a bunch of 747's in 1/72) to figure out how to do that. I'm still coming up the learning curve with this one. Bruce Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Flankerman Posted October 29, 2007 Share Posted October 29, 2007 Thanks everyone for the comments!As for making a kit, I've thought a little bit about it, but I don't think I've planned the parts very well to make that possible. I might try making fiberglass molds for the wings and fuselage (sort of like AModel's big planes), but I might wait until I start my next project (a bunch of 747's in 1/72) to figure out how to do that. I'm still coming up the learning curve with this one. Bruce Of course, as soon as you do decide to make a kit, Amodel will bring both out in their 'Amonster' range Guaranteed ! Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bruce Roberts Posted October 29, 2007 Author Share Posted October 29, 2007 Of course, as soon as you do decide to make a kit, Amodel will bring both out in their 'Amonster' range Guaranteed ! Ken Yeah, I know. I'm tempted to announce one just to make that happen - I'd be doing everyone a favor that way. Bruce Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Icchan Posted October 29, 2007 Share Posted October 29, 2007 No you wouldn't, Bruce...we'd all go broke! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Lucien Harpress Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 This thread has given me the "big airplane scratchbuild" itch, let me tell you. This, combined with my currently-ongoing ANT-25 project, has got me wanting to scratch an ANT-20 'Maxim Gorky' now, ALONG with the eventual ANT-26. But see, I have a GOOSE to finish! Aw, geeze.... In any case, good to see that progress is still happening, albeit at a slower pace. Keep up the good work! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Camo Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 Hey, Sorry to drag up a year old thread everyone, but I was just wondering if there has been any more work done to these beasts. Cheers, Camo Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bruce Roberts Posted March 8, 2009 Author Share Posted March 8, 2009 Hey,Sorry to drag up a year old thread everyone, but I was just wondering if there has been any more work done to these beasts. Cheers, Camo I guess I missed this post back in October. I haven't abandoned the project - it's just slowed to a glacial pace. Due to some personal reasons, I took about a year off from modeling. I'm back in the groove again now and hope to start making significant progress soon. Bruce Quote Link to post Share on other sites
pttaa Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 I'm back in the groove again now and hope to start making significant progress soon.Bruce GREAT NEWS Quote Link to post Share on other sites
janman Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 I guess I missed this post back in October.I haven't abandoned the project - it's just slowed to a glacial pace. Due to some personal reasons, I took about a year off from modeling. I'm back in the groove again now and hope to start making significant progress soon. Bruce Good to know you're back. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JMan Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Hey thats great cant wait to see what you have done to these two iconic birds! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Deon Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 These builds are amazing, i really hope you get back on track Bruce, good luck! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bulldog 09 Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 Holy snaps man! That’s it I give up; I think I will take up under water basket weaving. Those builds are simply amazing. Dave Fassett Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mario krijan Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 Thanks for returning to modeling!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Camo Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 Eff Yeah, that is excellent news. Can't to wait too see these 2 finished - easily my favourite planes out there Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.