A-Model 1/72 Tu-114

[Jennings Heilig]

Just took delivery of my A-Model 1/72 Tu-114 today. If you've seen other "A-Monster" kits, you know what to expect. If not, what you get is a hand-laid fibreglass/epoxy hollow fuselage, and fibreglass/epoxy wings, with dozens (literally in this case) of small low pressure injection molded sprues with all the other parts. Clear parts are okay, but not great (not as bad as Mach 2, but not Tamiya). The injection molded bits are very comprehensive, down to the level of door handles and gear door hinges being separate parts. They typically (being low pressure injection moldings) have a fair amount of flash and rather large sprue gates, but are workable. Surface detail on both fibreglass and injection molded parts is very nice, and all engraved. Some of the engraving on the fibreglass parts will need reinforcing with a few swipes of the scriber to make it more even and consistent, but what's there is nice. And in case I didn't mention it, THIS THING IS HUGE!

The downside: the decal sheet positively 100% sucks beyond belief. It looks like it was drawn with a big fat magic marker. With the exception of a nicely chosen shade of blue for the cheatlines, every single other thing about the decals is wrong, wrong, wrong. Utterly, totally, and completely wrong. All of the lettering is wrong (either shape, size, or color, or all three). Newer style Aeroflot winged hammer & sickle logos are used, which were not on the aircraft depicted (or any other Tu-114s that I know of in the original scheme). The registration letters & numbers are beyond horrid. Shapes are completely wrong. The big Soviet flags on the tail are hopelessly wrong. You do get Japan Air Lines titles, but they don't provide the JAL crane logo (which was on both of the aircraft that flew the JAL interchange), and the lettering for the JAL titles is, well, wrong. Not even close.

Now the potentially good news. I love the Tu-114 so much that I and a couple of friends are considering (strongly) having proper decals printed for this thing. I've already done artwork for the prototype (SSSR-L5611) and the production paint scheme for the Braz 1/144 conversion, so I just need to scale it up and make sure it all fits the A-Model kit properly. If these get printed, they're going to be expensive (for an already expensive kit), but if you use the kit decals, you're going to have a beautiful model with positively rotten looking decals on it. Sort of the opposite of putting lipstick on a pig.

I'll post more here if/when we get the decals done. Meantime, there's a lot of building to be done on this big beauty. When complete she'll be stunning, and a sight to behold.

I bought mine from Linden Hill Imports (www.lindenhillimports.com). If you like the 114, this is *the* kit!

J

[richellis]

Any pics??????

[general melchett]

Hi there , great that your doing the 114 , very nice aircraft.I have the 3MS Bison and M50 Bounder with the Mainstay on order and must say they are great kits with quality improving on each release ! OK they are expensive but as with most good things you get what you pay for.The M50 is simply astounding not to mention huge with great surface detail and accuracy .Great idea with decals, the kit deserves it ....only problem is where to put the things when finished

Cheers,

Andy

[Jennings Heilig]

Any pics??????

Here's a review of the Tu-126 Moss AWACS version, which, aside from lacking a lot of extra windows and an Aeroflot decal, is the same kit as the 114:

http://www.hyperscale.com/2008/reviews/kit...7reviewpb_1.htm

Here's the kit decal (have a vomit bucket handy...). I stand corrected - they do give you something that's supposed to be a JAL crane logo. It looks like an amoeba though...

J

Edited September 15, 2008 by Jennings Heilig

[Airbusians]

Mmm, yes, I see what you mean. Interestingly, Paula and I are running a joint effort of the AModel early version An22 (a monstrosity, size wise) and it appears not to have anything like the same troubles decals wise... most odd!

Dan

[Jennings Heilig]

I still have a few decals that aren't spoken for, so if anyone wants to get one, now's the time. Price is US $30 plus postage if outside the USA. Email me directly [email protected]

Please note - the image shown in my post above is NOT the kit decal. I've swapped out the image for an image of MY decal (the one that's for sale). The color parts are silkscreen printed, and the black bits are laser printed (to keep costs within something approaching reason).

Cheers,

J

Edited October 7, 2008 by Jennings Heilig