Creating a Monster...Contrail Mya

[wallyinoz]

Years ago I bought a 1/72 Contrail MYA "Bison" on ebay. I dont really know why except it is such a mean looking aeroplane. I opened the box and studied the vacuform kit many times over the years shook my head and pushed it back. About 18 months ago I pulled it out again and cut the bits out of the formed sheets, tried to match the bits together, shook my head and pushed it back again. Then I tried to sell it, hell I tried to give it away but no, everyone is smarter than me. My missus left for a 4 week visit to the UK 10 days ago and I thought I would do a model marathon and pulled this bugger out again, sanding filling cutting adjusting swearing and repeat ad nauseam. I have now primed it and loosely attached all the bits together.. jeez it is big, really, really big! Now I wanted to make it as easy as possible for me, at the end of the day I just want a nice looking model, I have no AMS at the best of times and this one will not pay service to scale accuracy..and I am not really interested in the boring VVS scheme, so something unheard of for me, it gonna be a wiffer.. "Air Forski One" no less. I have come to the realisation it is gonna take a hell of a lot of paint! It is so big it is going to be awkward to mask and paint I will have to build some sort of paint jig to do it. I thought I could paint the sub assembles and put them together but is not going to work, the bits dont fit well enough to go that option.. any way I am still thinking while the primer hardens









[

[Crossofiron1971]

Cor, your not kidding!

Did the Trolley Dollies need a ride on trolley to get backwards and forwards!!!

[wallyinoz]

Babushka is coming along..big day masking, another big day of masking tomorrow!

to achieve something like this..still playing with it

[AdrianMF]

Wow! Certainly a bit brighter than yer average VVS scheme! Good wrestling of a basic and huge vac there.

 

Regards,

Adrian

[ROBOT]

Hello wallyinoz (?)

 

First: This is so cool, what an impressive build!!  Kudos for finally starting this Monster !!!  you just made my day !!

Second: Loving vacform-buids, I wondered, how did you get the mating surfaces even ?? I halfway manage it with a 1:144 Fokker 27 but in THIS scale ??? How did you sand the wings and fuselage halves ??

Thanks

 

Oliver

[wallyinoz]

5 minutes ago, ROBOT said:

Hello wallyinoz (?)

 

First: This is so cool, what an impressive build!!  Kudos for finally starting this Monster !!!  you just made my day !!

Second: Loving vacform-buids, I wondered, how did you get the mating surfaces even ?? I halfway manage it with a 1:144 Fokker 27 but in THIS scale ??? How did you sand the wings and fuselage halves ??

Thanks

 

Oliver

Hello Oliver, glad you like it..I had hope it comes out ok, I am not much of a graphic designer..

Re your query of mating surfaces.. this is my vacuform sanding board:

 

Sheets of wet and dry sandpaper contact cemented to a base board. After I cut the forms from the plastic sheet I wet sand the parts "to the line" (the line being the marker pen line run at the crease of the part and sheet prior to cutting out)

I use tape folded over on itself and stuck to the parts to give "grip" to move the part over the sandpaper.

 

cheers

wally

[zebra]

Not sure if this is genius or lunacy, but I think it's going to be marvellous!

 

 

[ROBOT]

@ wally,

 

thank you for the superfast reply,

 I drysanded vac-parts up until now, I have to get me some wet&dry....better for my lungs, too

 

Can't wait to see this build finished and hangig from the ceiling!

 

Gretaings,

 

Olli / ROBOT

 

 

[bbudde]

I will get me in here, as I like the postwar russian planes. So the Bison. I think she will look very special in that colurful unique scheme. Cheers

[Pin]

Interesting, allow me to make a couple of remarks.

1. MYA - I guess it was supposed to be the first two letters of the surname of the chief constructor - Vladimir Myasishev (Мясищев), like "Tu" for Tupolev or "Il" for Ilyshin, however "mya" sounds a bit odd for Russian ear so his machines were designated with just "M"

2. The colour scheme looks too kitschy, although it may be intended. Actually there were a couple of VIP aircrafts born as bobmers, I'm speaking of Tu-116, of course, that were made from Tu-95 bombers. They wore standard Aeroflot livery

Early:

Late:

http://cdn-www.airliners.net/photos/airliners/2/6/5/1350562.jpg?v=v40

 

And finally - there was a real project of civil transport based on 3M bomber designated M-29, so you won't be too far away from the reality

 

[Pete in Lincs]

If anyone can, Wally can!

Go for it, Mate!

[wallyinoz]

17 hours ago, Pin said:

Interesting, allow me to make a couple of remarks.

1. MYA - I guess it was supposed to be the first two letters of the surname of the chief constructor - Vladimir Myasishev (Мясищев), like "Tu" for Tupolev or "Il" for Ilyshin, however "mya" sounds a bit odd for Russian ear so his machines were designated with just "M"

2. The colour scheme looks too kitschy, although it may be intended. Actually there were a couple of VIP aircrafts born as bobmers, I'm speaking of Tu-116, of course, that were made from Tu-95 bombers. They wore standard Aeroflot livery

Early:

 

 

 

 

 

Hi Pin,

1. MYA-4 is ws what is on the box and instruction sheet, neither here or there really "Bison" is easier though come to think of it I may have to dream up a bogus Nato "C" code name for this beastie.. how about Comissar?

2. I agree I have been tinkering with it trying to get a pleasing look, I am happy with the fuselage and tail, the cheat line is actually stolen from the USAF B707 Airforce except red instead of blue of course. I have decided to keep the wing tip pods light aircraft grey like the most of the wing which will carry standard star insignia..looks better and quite pleasing to my eye now but will continue to tinker with decalage when she is put together

 

cheers

wally

[Pin]

47 minutes ago, wallyinoz said:

Hi Pin,

1. MYA-4 is ws what is on the box and instruction sheet, neither here or there really "Bison" is easier though come to think of it I may have to dream up a bogus Nato "C" code name for this beastie.. how about Comissar?

2. I agree I have been tinkering with it trying to get a pleasing look, I am happy with the fuselage and tail, the cheat line is actually stolen from the USAF B707 Airforce except red instead of blue of course. I have decided to keep the wing tip pods light aircraft grey like the most of the wing which will carry standard star insignia..looks better and quite pleasing to my eye now but will continue to tinker with decalage when she is put together

bisonscheme by wallycacsabre, on Flickr

cheers

wally

 

1. The correct designation is M-4 (later 3M), no "Mya", not even "Myasishev M-4". I don't know why English wikipedia calls it "Molot" or "Hammer" - it is definitely not an official name and I haven't heard it is ever used in relation to this aircraft. 

 

2. The word "Comissar" was not in much use after WW2, just went out of fashion, neither planes (unlike ships) carried any official names - "Bison", as you may know, is NATO designation, very few people in USSR knew it. What Soviets really loved were various abbreviations therefore naming your beast "M3-VKP-2M" or "4M-ONS", where VKP (ВКП) stands for "Airborne Control Centre" and ONS (ОНС) means "Special Purpose Aircraft", or whatever you find amusing will  be more appropriate than any nomen proprium.

 

2a. - regarding the scheme - Soviets were very pedantic about the symbols and standards. Red stars (no yellow border, simply not possible!) would mean a military plane that must have followed military standards, therefore - no "hammer and sickle" or red banner. If the plane is not military then it must bear civil registration ( CCCP-<five digits>) and the flag on the tail. Again - no standalone "H&S" sign. What I would suggest - registration instead of the stars, white tail with national banner instead of H&S on the fin, full national coat of arms instead of the banner on the body, no "Myasishev" logo (your one is the modern version). It must not be "VVS-1", Soviet leaders intentionally countered "peaceful" image of USSR to "aggressive" US/NATO, if US president is travelling on AirForce-one by no means Soviet leader would do the same - just not possible

 

Born in the USSR  

 

[wallyinoz]

22 minutes ago, Pin said:

 

1. The correct designation is M-4 (later 3M), no "Mya", not even "Myasishev M-4". I don't know why English wikipedia calls it "Molot" or "Hammer" - it is definitely not an official name and I haven't heard it is ever used in relation to this aircraft. 

 

2. The word "Comissar" was not in much use after WW2, just went out of fashion, neither planes (unlike ships) carried any official names - "Bison", as you may know, is NATO designation, very few people in USSR knew it. What Soviets really loved were various abbreviations therefore naming your beast "M3-VKP-2M" or "4M-ONS", where VKP (ВКП) stands for "Airborne Control Centre" and ONS (ОНС) means "Special Purpose Aircraft", or whatever you find amusing will  be more appropriate than any nomen proprium.

 

2a. - regarding the scheme - Soviets were very pedantic about the symbols and standards. Red stars (no yellow border, simply not possible!) would mean a military plane that must have followed military standards, therefore - no "hammer and sickle" or red banner. If the plane is not military then it must bear civil registration ( CCCP-<five digits>) and the flag on the tail. Again - no standalone "H&S" sign. What I would suggest - registration instead of the stars, white tail with national banner instead of H&S on the fin, full national coat of arms instead of the banner on the body, no "Myasishev" logo (your one is the modern version). It must not be "VVS-1", Soviet leaders intentionally countered "peaceful" image of USSR to "aggressive" US/NATO, if US president is travelling on AirForce-one by no means Soviet leader would do the same - just not possible

 

Born in the USSR  

 

the stars do have a yellow border but I am not pedantic about this, I just want a good looking model out of a kit I really should never have bought!

[wallyinoz]

Well most of the painting is done (with touch ups required). I tried on some decals that I had produced for my first livery ("experiment) to see how they would have looked and also to check adjustments I have to make to the red hue for the final scheme decals. The first version would have had a mostly white fin with a large motif so. Even though I am not going with these markings in my view they would have looked ok (though the jury is still out on if the fin would have looked any good.)

I am now going for something like this:

so the next few hours will be spent drawing up and printing the required decals

[woody37]

A strange aircraft, but it looks gorgeous in this scheme, great progress

[wallyinoz]

Tailplane and 1 wing on!

 

 

[wallyinoz]

Well, it has been a trial, the shape of the wing root and the fuselage wing root fairings were grossly mismatched. I adjusted the wing roots by making plastic ribs which were forced and glued into the wing butt ends (which were open) which increase the wing thickness to almost match the fuselage fairings. The addition of these had a bonus of providing extra support for the wing spars. When the wings were being trial fitted, considerable sanding was required at the wing root base to get the correct(-ish) anhedral and get a good joint. there were still gaps but sand anymore and I would have worn through my ribs.
Both wings were glued on with gaps and shape mismatch still happening at the wingroot junction. Several days were spent  filling sanding priming sanding masking priming and respraying the area. That was finished today, I cleaned and polished the now grubby fuselage to get rid of the silver residue finger marks etc right so now while i wait for the silver to harden I have to:
print the decals, do some minor touch ups on the paint  (I will use white painted decal paper where required) paint the intake and exhaust interiors, make a refuelling probe, decal it and install some wing fences.
My plan to use an Airfix Concorde stand wont work.. the Bison is too heavy and there is not enough friction on the stand swivel ball to hold the model firmly enough.. I did mention that this thing was big right?

[Pete in Lincs]

Wally,

That does look rather magnificent.

Keep them coming!

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

Looks great (as mentioned elsewhere )  Have you thought about gluing the swivel art of the stand in a specific attitude so it can take the weight?

[wallyinoz]

42 minutes ago, TrojanThunder said:

Looks great (as mentioned elsewhere )  Have you thought about gluing the swivel art of the stand in a specific attitude so it can take the weight?

Hi Ray, yeah I did BUT the bit of the stand that goes into the model is a kind of wedge shape that requires an internal mounting in the model.. as I havent engineered this and the fuselage is all closed up I can't. I am thinking that  I might be able to saw off that wedge shape and glue in  some brass rectangular tubing that will "mate" with a bit of larger tube that I have in the model, that would allow me to pick a model attitude that will be the "best fit" for the shelf then drill a screw into the ball and socket joint to lock it up

Another problem is that when I beefed up the area where the stand was going to be mounted I chose a point that while being the best structurally (with formers all around it) it is too far forward of the c/g, the imbalance puts a large load on the stand pivot

[wallyinoz]

hi chaps,
almost done, a few touch ups to go, have to get the stand finalised (obviously sitting on a borrowed item) after decalling I couldnt resist setting it up on stand and taking a pic or two

[Pete in Lincs]

Comrade,

He is beautiful.

Have a medal.

Take two!

[Pin]

Can't approve the choice of the livery, to me it looks like an item from B-rated spy movie from 70-ies, however in this capacity it is very well done and looking gorgeous, add a fur hat and a bottle of Vodka

[wallyinoz]

21 minutes ago, Pin said:

Can't approve the choice of the livery, to me it looks like an item from B-rated spy movie from 70-ies, however in this capacity it is very well done and looking gorgeous, add a fur hat and a bottle of Vodka

Hi Pin,

never liked vodka..overdid it once the first and only time I ever had it, I'll take a fur hat though.. good for my bald head when walking the fells. I am not one much for "whatifs" so I empathise with your your reaction. I took a little out of "airforce one" (old scheme replaced the blue with red and USA with CCCP you probably dont like the tail... I love it so there you go. I had a kit I should never have bought, I couldnt give it away! So I built it and actually had fun with it, I am actually pleased with it despite all it's faults, it is a magnificent looking aircraft in real life, in red and white it looks even better! (to me and that is the important thing I guess)