Roden An-12 plus etched brass

[AAbshier]

Hi folks,

I haven't posted much on my project, due to some personal business that has taken most of my attention. Lately, though, I've been getting back into it in a big way.

I bought the ACE etched brass set for the model, which significantly upgrades the flight deck, and also includes some detail parts for the nose gear, antenna fit on the outside, and the derrick carried in the cargo bay which Roden completely omitted. I've built the majority of the brass parts, and have this to report:

THE GOOD NEWS:

The flight deck gets a big upgrade, with correct seats for all crewmembers to replace the generic-looking ones in the kit. The seats require folding the brass; it's not bad for the pilots' seats, but it is a bit trickier for the other crewmembers. All seats need cushions to be fabricated from sheet plastic, but that's not difficult. The navigator's station gets a lot of help, with all instruments, including the canopy-mounted radar viewer, depicted. Film is provided for backing the IPs as well.

THE BAD NEWS:

The cargo bay derrick is too wide. I found this out AFTER battling the folding exercise that is required to get the basic frame and adding many of the small parts--some of the most challenging PE work I've ever had to do. Roden completely missed providing not just the derrick, but the rails it rides on when moved in the cargo bay. Evergreen makes I-beam material that will suit, but proper placement of it is impossible due to the fact that the derrick is too wide. :P BTW, Roden made an attempt to provide a cargo bay roof, but it doesn't look right when it is installed, and getting around that would have been extremely difficult. Now I know why all the An-12s I've seen built up have had their cargo bays closed!

I'll post pictures later. The brass set is worth having for all the other upgrades, but forget about the cargo bay derrick, unless you're some sort of masochist.

Andy

Also, the upgraded torque link parts provided for the nose gear are so fragile that they broke while I was trying to clean up the burrs on them. I would leave the molded-on torque link in place on the kit.