Anigrand C-17 - 1/72

[Jay Hornet Fan]

Ray I love your work. Very impressive work on this kit and I can now clearly see what you have done with the sections. I am starting to hatch a few plans on how to tackle this kit now based on your work.

Excellent work and pictures please keep them coming

[Aggressor Supporter]

Interesting build so far.

[Trojan Thunder]

Ray I love your work. Very impressive work on this kit and I can now clearly see what you have done with the sections. I am starting to hatch a few plans on how to tackle this kit now based on your work.

Excellent work and pictures please keep them coming :D

Thanks Jase,

Got the left side the windows cut out again, they look much better, I have found some more filler required the square up the top of the nose near the forward windscreen panels, putty is drying at the moment. Club meeting tonight so no picture update for a day or 2.

Interesting build so far.

Thanks

[GearDownPlease]

Ray, INCREDIBLE job, that's some major improvement work you're carrying here! I was just wondering if the landing gear parts were serious enough to support the model's weight? And how do the wheels look like?

I witnessed a few days ago this kit closing @ US$210 on eBay, I was tempted but not at that price, even if the kit was top accurate.

Looking forward to your updates.

Regards,

Steven

[Trojan Thunder]

Thanks Steven,

The gear struts are white metal and should handle the weight fine, I will have to add extra weight in the nose and under the forward floor to make sure it is not a tail sitter. I am going to pin the joints on the gear as a precautionary measure.

The wheels themselves are resin and look OK. It looks like the moulds were misaligned when they were moulded. I have cleaned up the seems and may have to add some putty to round and square them up.

The main wheel wells are not engineered like the aircraft or Revell kit, they have a ceiling about 1/2 way up the well where the struts plug in. I think the weight of the kit was a factor there. I will be adding some support bracing to the gear struts (mainly asthetic). Not sure how much I will change the wells, the frame work on the walls look like a flight of fancy to me and I think I will remove it and start from scratch. Will have to check the refs when I get to it.

[DC10Oiller]

Ray, that' amazing work. If anyone is going to tame that beast no doubt you will. I can't even being to think about moving the wing like that. Just fantastic!!!

[Trojan Thunder]

Ray, that' amazing work. :blink: :) If anyone is going to tame that beast no doubt you will. I can't even being to think about moving the wing like that. Just fantastic!!!

Thanks, its not the first time I have moved wing roots, I have done it on my yet to be finished 747-300 and -400F, see the Airline GB thread there. This time it looked fairly straight forward and it turned out fine (IMO :D)

OK, update time!

While I have been waiting for putty to dry on the nose I took a look at the tail fin, I knew from Efrain's build thread that the shape was a little out and the top of the leading edge needed building up. Here is a pictures with some work done on the forward top edge of the fin. I also drew a few lines on it for further mods:

As you can see after comparing it to pictures and the trusty Revell kit I found the fairing that supports the horizontal stabs was too big, so out with the trusty saw and Dremel and away we go. After a little grinding cutting and filling here is how it looks.

Next I will be cutting the rudder sections out as I want to pose them in a power off position.

I also started cutting out the doors on the sponson, it did not turn out as tidy as I hoped so some rework will be required.

Edited May 26, 2010 by Trojan Thunder

[CW4 Erick Swanberg]

Ray you are a better man than most of us especially after spending the cash for that kit once you are done I would ask Anigrand for a refund and send them your kit to use to remold their kit hahah yeah right. Great job as usual hows the electra, I put mine back on the shelf for a later date, still waiting on the kit from Welsh models to come out. Erick

[GearDownPlease]

Hi,

Erick is so right, and a very sad thing is that Anigrand was offered numerous times help in obtaining accurate station diagrams or designing this kit but they always declined.

Same about Trumpeter, which was offered numerous times help. Politely declined. And often the final result was average, or a mess (1/24 Mustang).

These unscrupulous tool/model makers releases "the only game in town" kit, and they KNOW modelers like us will think "but-hey-it's-the-only-game-in-town-so-let's-get-it-no-matter-it's-grossly-inaccurate-and-absurdly-expensive" but... .

Speaking about this big Anigrand kit, it's not about "improving" Anigrand's C-17 kit, it's about braveness ... I mean I don't know if I woulf have had the b@**s to correct in such way a plastic kit but here, a resin kit?!?!?! Two words, BRA-VOOO!!!

I look forward in reading your updates.

Regards,

Steven

Edited February 16, 2009 by GearDownPlease

[Trojan Thunder]

Ray you are a better man than most of us especially after spending the cash for that kit once you are done I would ask Anigrand for a refund and send them your kit to use to remold their kit hahah yeah right. Great job as usual hows the electra, I put mine back on the shelf for a later date, still waiting on the kit from Welsh models to come out. Erick

Thanks Erick and Steve,

I wish I could send it back :D, no I am enjoying it ( I say that until I hit somethig I can't manage)

The Electra sits on the shelf, I am not happy with it at the moment and may trash it... I have got myself a replacement kit and conversion at a bargain price though. This one may end up as a desktop model while I will do a better job on the next one. I wonder if we can have arace tosee who's gathers the dust faster!

Well back to the C-17

Edited May 26, 2010 by Trojan Thunder

[aim9xray]

As you can see after comparing it to pictures and the trusty Revell kit I found the fairing that supports the horizontal stabs was too big, so out with the trusty saw and Dremel and away we go. After a little grinding cutting and filling here is how it looks.

I think that Anigrand left you some more to fix... As far as I can tell, the vertical stabilizer chord is at least a 1/8th to 3/32nds of a inch too wide. It subtlly changes the whole look, making the Anigrand part look stubbier. The reduction of the leading edge sweep begins further down. (Tilt your head to the left when you look at the photo below). Also, you'll see that there are not two rudders, but four rudder panels. The trailing panel has a greater travel that the forward one.

Press on with the good work!

HTH,

Craig (frustrated owner of an unbuilt Ani C-17).

[Trojan Thunder]

Thanks for the heads up Craig,

I was aware of the rudder issue and have cut it away from the fin (in 4 pieces). I will take a look at the chord issue, nothing an orbital sander won't fix

[Jennings]

So... in other words, after reading this entire thread, what I'm coming away with (the "take-home message" "at the end of the day" to use current business double-speak) is that the Anigrand kit is basically a POS? I mean, I knew that before, but jeez.. this is ridiculous.

Aren't we glad Revell didn't use it for reference for their kit???

J

[juanchopancho]

Aren't we glad Revell didn't use it for reference for their kit???

I'll be glad when Revell upscales their 144 kit to 72. I'm not touching 144. This POS is the only game in town.

[atdb27]

Hi Ray,

Another meeting place for us and our beloved C-17's!

Wow your work so far has really impressed me. I see what you mean about the wing root issue. :)

Think I will have to seriously consider major deconstruction/modification to get this to look anything right on mine!

Having the Revell baby family member will certainly help with a lot of things I think.

At least everything is x2 in size, position etc.

Did you not find on 1st impression that there was no way the Revell kit was 1/2 the size of the Anigrand one?

I will dig out my C-17 bits n bobs over the coming days and add/share some bits here if that's ok?

I have as you may recall an old Vac model of this kit in 1:72 that had some decent resin bits with it.

One major plus was a better frontal engine shape.

Will post a pic at a later stage. I intend to cut and shut between these more accurate fronts with the Anigrand carcase.

Do you intend to do a clean wing? or everything hanging down?

Though not too difficult compared to the rest of the kit having the engines in thrust reversers open is one bit of detail too far?

This is one hell of a project. Good on yer I can feel the stiring of wanting to return to this monster coming on again.

Adrian

[Trojan Thunder]

So... in other words, after reading this entire thread, what I'm coming away with (the "take-home message" "at the end of the day" to use current business double-speak) is that the Anigrand kit is basically a POS? I mean, I knew that before, but jeez.. this is ridiculous.

Aren't we glad Revell didn't use it for reference for their kit???

:)

J

I do agree, but I have now started the journey to correct it as best I can, can't stop now I have seen so many completed Anigrand C-17s and they just don't look right.

Back to the bench

:D

[Trojan Thunder]

Hi Ray,

Another meeting place for us and our beloved C-17's!

Wow your work so far has really impressed me. I see what you mean about the wing root issue.

Think I will have to seriously consider major deconstruction/modification to get this to look anything right on mine!

Having the Revell baby family member will certainly help with a lot of things I think.

At least everything is x2 in size, position etc.

Did you not find on 1st impression that there was no way the Revell kit was 1/2 the size of the Anigrand one?

I will dig out my C-17 bits n bobs over the coming days and add/share some bits here if that's ok?

I have as you may recall an old Vac model of this kit in 1:72 that had some decent resin bits with it.

One major plus was a better frontal engine shape.

Will post a pic at a later stage. I intend to cut and shut between these more accurate fronts with the Anigrand carcase.

Do you intend to do a clean wing? or everything hanging down?

Though not too difficult :D compared to the rest of the kit having the engines in thrust reversers open is one bit of detail too far?

This is one hell of a project. Good on yer I can feel the stiring of wanting to return to this monster coming on again. :)

Adrian

Thanks Adrian,

I have found that Anigrand over simplified most of the kit, yes from a distance (2-3 miles? :D) it looks like a C-17.

The Revell kit a breath of fresh air and scales out at 1/2 the size of the big one (as you would expect!) which has helped me a lot in the initial astages of this scratchbuild project (feels like one anyway).

Fill your boots in contributing Adrian, I have already been chatting with a friend here who has offered some good sugestions in tackling various aspects like the undercarriage and the false ceiling in the wheel well the kit U/C part fits to. I can see why they have done it that way, due to the weight of the kit. The Revell gear I have found has been simplified and in some aspects the Anigrand gear is more accurate! I did not think I could say that with any part of this kit!

The wing will be clean, I might cut out the ailerons and reposition them just to break up the wing lines, the engines will be left except for improving the lip.

I am trying to finish up a couple of models for a comp tomorrow but will be back to this one after that.

and thanks for the interest all.

Edited December 1, 2009 by Trojan Thunder

[Trojan Thunder]

After a flurry of work on other models for the Royal Canberra Show I am now back to work on the C-17. I was not too happy with the windscreen layout (still) and went and modified it again. There is still something not quite right about the length/shape of the nose are so some measurements for the windscreen panels don’t add up. I am going to fudge it a bit as I want to move on. So I cut out the pillars I had installed and inserted new thinner ones. These look better in my opinion and the set up is more robust. I will be filling the holes with clear plastic from a CD case. I have cut some bits out and tried to glue them in botching them. So now they are my test pieces for fit which will be replaced with newly manufactured pieces. It looks a mess with all the cutting, sanding , filling and cutting I have done but hopefully it looks better when a coat of primer goes over it.

I have also updated the vertical stab, there is a kink missing in the kit fin about 1/5th of the way up the leading edge (thanks Craig!) that I have now added (you can see this in the second shot below, it may need a little more refinement). The rudders have been removed and I added strip to the leading edges to make up for the material cut away. A channel has been carved into the trailing edge of the fin recess and the inner rudder segments to allow the respective pieces to slot in.

I think these bits need a little more refinement and the lower segments look like they need a little material added to their bases to square them up.

I have also been studying pictures of the main wheel wells and it looks like I can update the interior detail to include the large ribs (missing from both the Anigrand and Revell kit) that support the U/C assembly which will also improve the strength of the kit’s gear as well. I am not sure how I will tacked to top support arms that are visible through the top doors when they are open. More food for thought. I hope to get a better idea of the set up when I trip down to Avalon. I am amazed that the Anigrand gear is a little more accurate than the Revell set up. I just need to figure out if the main wheel wells have flat ceiling and how up the well it is.

:)

Edited May 26, 2010 by Trojan Thunder

[aim9xray]

I just need to figure out if the main wheel wells have flat ceiling and how up the well it is.

As far as I can tell, no large flat ceiling. I shot these at MCAS Miramar Open House, 2007.

Right main landing gear well, forward, looking aft...

Right main landing gear well - aft, looking forward...

HTH,

Craig

[Trojan Thunder]

Excellent, thanks Craig.

In a couple of weeks we have a big airshow down this way and one of our C-17s will be on display, I am taking camera and filling the memory card with pictures!

[Aussie_superbug]

G'day Ray.

I'm liking how the Build is coming along. It looks like it has tested your patience a bit.

I'll also be going to the Airshow, I will be there on the Thursday for the trade day, And im hoping to be there on the Saturday as well

Regards

Brendon

[Trojan Thunder]

Hi Brendon,

I will be there on Tuesday and Wednesday for the trade days, my boss 'forced' me to go Tuesday will be company related business plus some poking around, Wednesday is my day to do as I please.

Another update....

I was in a measuring mood last night and turned my attention to the right hand sponson, and guess what? It needs work on top of the known length issues (missing APU compartment), who would have thought! :huh:

Where do I start? Well lets see... the main well is short by 10mm and too far forward my 3mm. As a result the paratroop door behind the sponson is also out by about 3mm, the auxilliary gear doors also need moving and I had previously noted the shape was out as well. Which means that the locating holes for the main gear legs are too far forward by about 5mm... are we having fun yet? So the Aux door I cut out on the other side is wrong and will need filling and moving to the correct location.

I also found another issue with the height of the well openning on the sponson (outborad side), it seems to be too tall, At this point I am not going to change it, all it may need is some card to fill the top edge of the opening and removing some material for the outboard gear doors. I may revisit it later.

On the picture below you can see my scribling, the dotted lines show the current scribed positions of the aux and para doors, I have also drawn in the sponson extension. The hatched areas are what I need to cut out/off.

I then turned my attention to the opening for the rear doors, I had previously cut these out using the kit panel lines as a guide, after a cross check with the Revell kit and other refs I have remeasured the opening and the hatched areas are the extra resin I need to cut out.

While it looks like a lot of work I am still enthusiastic about this build, it is stretching my abilities and hopefully making me better at this stuff. I just hope after all this work I can do it justice at the paint stage (where I usually botch things).

I have the whole day off tomorrow doing a modelling demo at the local show, so guess what I will be doing?

Edited May 26, 2010 by Trojan Thunder

[atdb27]

In a couple of weeks we have a big airshow down this way and one of our C-17s will be on display, I am taking camera and filling the memory card with pictures!

Now that sounds like a Golden Opportunity Ray?

Lucky Devil!

Adrian

[DC10Oiller]

Wow. When all is said and done, there won't be much of the original resin any more. It's coming along great.

[Trojan Thunder]

You are right there, its more of a scratchbuild using the Anigrand kit for parts.

Ok on to a progress report, I spent Friday and Sunday morning demonstrating modelling to the public at the Royal Canberra Show which gave me great opportunity to progress.

First I got the windscreen openings on both fuselage halves done, I have started to putty the area up to cover up all the divots from all the changes in this area.

I then opened up the ramp opening to the correct size...

... and have started putting the ramps together from the resulting pieces.

Finally I started work on the sponson extension, I was going to go the 'build a putty bomb' at the front of the sponson but a friend suggested cutting the front of it off and filling the bit in between instead, so that is what I have started to do. I cut the sponson apart and then added some thick card to each part. This resultant gap was filled with thin card wrap over some formers that were glued to each sponson part. This did not go to plan but I think I have salvaged it. I layered superglue in behind the thin card as it will need some reshaping and I will need to drill a hole into it for the APU exhaust. Next will be to shape it and get it ready to glue to the fuselage half, this will not be done until the Under carriage rejig is carried out.

The bottom sponson does not look too straight but it is fine, I have filled the bottom side to straighten it out. I had also extended the main wheel wells back by 10mm on each side by cutting a chunk out of the sponson and as you can see in the picture the top sponson has had the forward area filled to bring it back to the correct length and position. Further work on the sponson includes relocating the holes for the gear legs and modifying the leg's top portion to show a bit more support structure while retaining the locating area in the false ceiling in the well.

After an application of Milliput the bottom looks straighter, after sanding this should look the part.

Here is a shot of the reverse side to show how I built up the plug.

Finally I had started to shape the cockpit floor piece ready to populate the cockpit.

Edited May 26, 2010 by Trojan Thunder