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I finally made the time to start the A400m, and as expected assembly begins with the interior. This kit has a fuselage within a fuselage, allowing a nicely detailed interior with out sinkmarks on the out side of the fuselage.

IMGP7581-vi.jpg

The colors in the instructions are all Revell paint colors. based on pictures, and what I had handy I decided on FS36320, mr color 307

after using up a whole bottle, I got the parts painted

IMGP7582-vi.jpg

It looks a little too blue, but I think I will roll with it. After this color dries It is on to detail painting the interior / cockpit and assembly.

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That's a monter if a plane and a great kit. A friend build one and it turned out super. So, you have a great start to a great project. :thumbsup:/>

Now, are you going with the box decal/scheme or this will be one of your own?

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In this update, detail painting!

IMGP7586-vi.jpg

I painted each of the jump seats, 25 per side

and the stairs, rack, and black parts of the cockpit, as well as the IP, which is not pictured here

IMGP7587-vi.jpg

on to further cockpit details next time...

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That's a monter if a plane and a great kit. A friend build one and it turned out super. So, you have a great start to a great project. :thumbsup:/>/>

Now, are you going with the box decal/scheme or this will be one of your own?

Thanks!

I am planning on using the decal option for the German air force with a gray/green camo pattern. It is listed as "presumably" in the instructions, but I do not want to build it as the prototype, and I want to build something a little more interesting than all gray.

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Still working on the cockpit

I made a bit of a mess of the horizontal panels

IMGP7590-vi.jpg

and I have the seats painted

IMGP7592-vi.jpg

The sprue attachment points on the bottom were fairly large, and In the process of cutting them off the sprue, I also cut off the mounting pin on the bottom of the seat.

oopsie!

Once all this dries, I am going to spray a coat of future, and then give it an oil paint wash to bring out a bit of depth. might be a few days, since it is rather humid here

Edited by Kurt H.
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Lots of nice work on the interior details. I will be curious to see how much of your effort shows at the end of the day. I am WAY lazier than that when I build these big beasts.

ALF

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And moving right along, I have grunged up the interior

I am still getting the hang of doing an oil wash

After a coat of future was nice and dry,

I started by mixing up some black and brown, and applying it messily

IMGP7598-vi.jpg

Then came back later and wiped most of it off with low odor thinner

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and the flight deck parts

IMGP7606-vi.jpg

I will give it a dull coat then begin assembly

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Major progress

next order of business was to assemeble the inner fuselage The bulkheads mount to the floor, and the cockpit also mounts to the bulkheads

The cockpit:

IMGP7611-vi.jpg

and the parts prior to assembly

IMGP7610-vi.jpg

and the whole inner fuselage:

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the next task was to install the windows in the fuselage. Thankfully Revell has tooled it up with an groove in the inside of the fuselage, and a flange on the window.

It was also important to glue them in securely. few things are more frustrating than having a window fall into the fuselage. The proper adhesive is important. CA may cause fogging. Liquid cement could work if you are VERY careful, but I am clumsy. white glue dries clear, but just does not hold well. This left me with Epoxy. Epoxy is strong, and dries clear. It is also easy to clean up excess epoxy before it cures with denatured alcohol

so I mixed up a small amount of 6 minute epoxy , and very carefully glued the windows in.

IMGP7616-vi.jpg

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to be continued...

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Next thing to do was to ensure enough weight was added to the nose. The instructions called for 80 grams. Ok... no problem, I have a box of sinkers. I did the math and that ends up being 3 ounces.

Since I do not want a tail sitter, I got out my postal scale and kept adding sinkers ....

IMGP7617-vi.jpg

Really? where am I going to put all that?

While I thought it over, I assembled the nose gear well

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After a lot of test fitting this is what I ended up with.

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I had to shuffle the sinkers around since one of them was interfering with the fit of the cockpit.

So after an hour of dry fitting, and fiddling, I used a full touch n' flo of tenax, and here we are!

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That was a day ago, I am going to leave it for at least another day to ensure the seam is fully cured, but not wanting to loose momentum tonight, I started assembling the wing.

IMGP7624-vi.jpg

I only had enough clamps for one wing, I will move on to the other one tomorrow.

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Nice progress Kurt, coming along nicely. 70.gif

I saw the tooth picks in the last fuselage shot and was not sure of their purpose, then the penny dropped! To keep the tape off the join and prevent the glue wicking under the tape! Nice one.

Something I must try next build.

Edited by Trojan Thunder
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  • 2 weeks later...

After a trip to the NATs, and a busy week at work, I finally made the time to back to this model.

I assembled the tail, and the stabs.

IMGP7702-vi.jpg

So, now all major airframe components are assembled

Then, on to the fuselage. The seam shifted a little, so in some areas, I had to build up putty and feather. Thankfully the top of the fuselage is fairly flat, so I do not need to worry about it going out of round. (my Anigrand C-133 which has a round fuselage cross section, and seam I messed up has taken months of work to get right... ugh)

There are also sink marks around the area where there is a mounint pin, so I am in the putty / sand/repeat cycle

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I also assembled the 8 flap actuator fairings, and glued them on the wing. The fit was not great, so I think it is going to require some Mr. Surfacer magic

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Next up is to paint the inside of the intakes so I can assemble the engines, as well as the gear legs, so I can install the landing gear pods. I am tired so airbrushing will need to wait for another day.

Till then, may your seams be flush, and your glue flow freely

Edited by Kurt H.
typo
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Kurt,

That's some fine work. Not a subject I would build but you're doing a really good job. Kudos on hiding all that nose weight too. I really do hope it's enough though. There would be nothing worse than adding the weight and then discovering the instructions didn't specify enough weight. As me how I know... :bandhead2:

I like the toothpick and tape trick. Something I never thought of. I'm stealing that idea.

Look forward to more progress.

Mike

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So here is the look I am going for, this is a Luftwaffe C-160 IPMS stockholm lists the colors as 34102/34079 and RAL 7021 . which after some digging is a very dark gray. Almost looks like gunship gray

c-160_transall_01_of_18.jpg

Thoughts?

Since I can not get ahold of revell paints to do the mix they suggest, I will need to do "that looks about right"

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So here is the look I am going for, this is a Luftwaffe C-160 IPMS stockholm lists the colors as 34102/34079 and RAL 7021 . which after some digging is a very dark gray. Almost looks like gunship gray

Thoughts?

Since I can not get ahold of revell paints to do the mix they suggest, I will need to do "that looks about right"

It's more of an "off black" really, but it does weather quickly. Look for something like Tamiya XF-63 German Grey - that will be pretty close in 72nd. XF-58 with some yellow makes a decent 43102 and I've used XF-65 Field Grey for 34079 (yes, Field Grey is green!) with no dramas in the past.

Edited by Dmanton300
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Thanks for the help on the colors, and for everyones encouragement.

While still plowing through the putty / sand / repeat cycle, I think I have assembled the landing gear struts and painted the rest of the parts I need to finish assembly.

Let me tell you about the undercarriage

I do not know the technical name for these boogers you see on injection molded parts

IMGP7711-vi.jpg

But the main gear strut halves had 3 on each part, and they were on the parts in such a way as t make clean up tricky. I did not think to take a picture until I was done. I am guessing they are there to help tune mold, give the part more volume, perhaps to help prevent short shots or something by giving the plastic more volume to flow through? maybe?

any way I did paint the struts, and turbine faces. The instructions did say aluminum color, and that is fine with me, any excuse not to paint landing gear white is ok with me...

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I did have to paint some white as well, for my ongoing 1/32 F-4g and the fuselage where the landing gear pods are mounted

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Now I have everything painted enough to finish assembly to the point of finish painting. Kind of a mile stone...

up next, putty / sand / repeat and on to the wings/engines.

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Kurt, this is really some Nice work! It sure will be interesting to see an A400M in the Norm 83 camouflage.

Be aware that the above picture of the C160 has a blueish tint to it. Compare it to this C160 which appears to be a recently painted a/c. I managed to photograph it from both sides within two minutes.

Transall_22-Jul-2015_1.jpg

Transall_22-Jul-2015_2.jpg

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Doing good Kurt. 70.gif

Those 'lugs' are to help the plastic flow into the all the areas of the moulds. Nice to see you progressing.

That Transall scheme looks a beaut. I am sure it will look great on the A400.

Another kit in my stash is the C-160 and I think I will do it in a Luftwaffe scheme like the one Lancer has posted above. The greens and greys look very effective.

Edited by Trojan Thunder
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