Alex1978 Posted March 17, 2017 Share Posted March 17, 2017 (edited) If there would be an award for "The worst kits ever produced", the Eastern Express IL-96M / T would win this price miles ahead of any other competitor... I am used to the "not so easy" kits as I build a lot of yesteryear kits.But Eastern Express' offering makes even Plasticart kits look like state of the art. Not one single piece had a decent fit let alone a seriously warped fuselage that was not only warped,it had also a different diameter in the back end which resulted in tremendous use of putty and hours of sanding sessions. I worked on and off this kit since early 2016 and finally managed to get it through my production line last weekend.Seeing this airliner now done is a big reliev. Paints used for this build are Revell gloss white 04 for the fuselage upper half,Revell grey 374 for the lower part and the wings and Testors silver for the leading edges.All applied with my airbrush. Sealed with Revell 01 gloss clear. The decal set comes from a russian ebay seller (Pimenov2010) and the quality of the decals is very good. The only thing I have to change is the display stand as the model is not sitting comfortably on it. The finished model represents this elegant airliner nicely and as I really like the IL-96,I really hope that Zvezda or Amodel would produce decent kits of both IL-96 versions. And as long as this is not going to happen this IL-96T along with my IL-96-300 will be the only ones as it is very unlikely that I have the nerves for another Eastern Express offering of this type... This IL-96 version was equipped with Pratt & Whitney engines as well as a digital 2 man cockpit by Rockwell-Collins in the hopes of selling the type also in the west. Sadly,the interest was almost non exsistent,even Aeroflot chose used DC-10s as freighters over the IL-96T. It was also probably because the IL-96 came to the market after the break of the Soviet Union when they were also able to buy western airliners The aircraft was later refitted with russian engines and cockpit as the parts had to be given back to its respective manufacturers.If this plane is still active somewhere I cant say surely. Cubana showed interest in the bigger IL-96 version,but if they will ever be delivered is unknown now that Cuba is no longer under US-restrictions. cheers, And with my usual "something else" even though they seemed more interested in whats going on in the neighborhood... Edited March 19, 2017 by Alex1978 19 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zebra Posted March 17, 2017 Share Posted March 17, 2017 Great work Alex. You beat it into submission! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindan Posted March 17, 2017 Share Posted March 17, 2017 This is a very fine model,as are all of your builds. The fact you have made such a good job of a difficult kit is testament to your exelent modelling skills. I am a friend of Michael, the other good airliner man, it's always good to see both of your offerings. Lovely "model" cats as well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerrardandrews Posted March 17, 2017 Share Posted March 17, 2017 excellent model. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skodadriver Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 Splendid work Alex. Many years ago I tried and failed to make something of that kit so respect from me for such an excellent result. Nice to see that the cats have found the sunny spot! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael301757 Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 Very nice build after what sounds like a big challenge, well done. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitchem Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 Excellent tenacity there in finishing off what you started (Wish I could do that more often) Unusual subject not often seen Aeroflot - great scheme Cheatline - Cats (not one, but two) - No undercarriage - (either a bit of cheating going on there OR you haven't actually finished it) mike 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex1978 Posted March 18, 2017 Author Share Posted March 18, 2017 26 minutes ago, mitchem said: Excellent tenacity there in finishing off what you started (Wish I could do that more often) Unusual subject not often seen Aeroflot - great scheme Cheatline - Cats (not one, but two) - No undercarriage - (either a bit of cheating going on there OR you haven't actually finished it) mike Thank you Mike. No undercarriage - (either a bit of cheating going on there OR you haven't actually finished it) ..... Neither of both ... the kit came with no undercarriage at all.And as the rest of the build was already nerv-shredding I didn't bother to bash another 747 kit for the landing gear as I did on my IL-96-300...... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BerndM Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 Difficult build with a happy ending. Superb ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitchem Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 1 hour ago, Alex1978 said: Thank you Mike. No undercarriage - (either a bit of cheating going on there OR you haven't actually finished it) ..... Neither of both ... the kit came with no undercarriage at all.And as the rest of the build was already nerv-shredding I didn't bother to bash another 747 kit for the landing gear as I did on my IL-96-300...... Okay Alex - you're off the hook and I reverse my decision ! That makes it a cracking build all around. mike 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viking Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 You must be a very determined guy Alex, to have struggled with that and seen it through to completion! I'd never guess from looking at it that you had any such troubles, it looks superb. Cheers John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex1978 Posted March 18, 2017 Author Share Posted March 18, 2017 8 hours ago, Viking said: You must be a very determined guy Alex, to have struggled with that and seen it through to completion! I'd never guess from looking at it that you had any such troubles, it looks superb. Cheers John Thank you John. Yes,here I was really determined to finish it,although at the beginning of the build I was close to bin this kit but in the end I thought I try to make at least a nice desktop model out of it.I like challenges but this was a tough one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil1 Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 beautiful!! i thought i was seeing double until i realized yours has all the fine detail on the wings which i sanded into oblivion! also no nasty gaps on the wing root like mine. just noticed the giant cargo door on the starboard fuselage - i have the decal for this and didn't even realize where it should go 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graeme H Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 Well done in completing it to such a beautiful standard, certainly looks good now I 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex1978 Posted March 26, 2017 Author Share Posted March 26, 2017 7 minutes ago, phil1 said: beautiful!! i thought i was seeing double until i realized yours has all the fine detail on the wings which i sanded into oblivion! also no nasty gaps on the wing root like mine. just noticed the giant cargo door on the starboard fuselage - i have the decal for this and didn't even realize where it should go Thank you Phil. Because of the gaps I decided to glue the wings on the fuselage before painting. I also rescribed all the flaps and other panel lines on the wings beforehand and made them deeper,so after the sanding sessions were over the lines would still be visible. As for the cargodoor,I had to do some research to find decent pics where the door was somehow visible to find the exact location. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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