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Beriev BE-4 Russian puddle jumper *FINISHED*


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As some light relief from cutting and sanding the Perth, I thought I would have a go at a parallel build of the Beriev BE-4. 

 

This kit kit is a typical, brittle plastic kit from the old eastern block, with lots of flash and no doubt a dubious fit. However given the number of parts I hope to get this kit finished this week while I an working away from home. "Famous last works of many a modeller" :doh:

 

 

 

 

IMG_3539

 

 

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image

 

Right more later, time to stop posting and start building

 

cheers Pat

 

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Hi Pat,

 

A second entry at such a short notice is to be commended :) The little thingy looks pretty basic but the aircraft is quite interesting!

 

Good luck, hope the fit is not too bad.

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

 

 

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3 hours ago, JOCKNEY said:

Err, anyone know what colour the interior should be ? :hmmm: :shrug:

 

cheers Pat

Looks like lots of conjecture on Russian interior colors.

 

Here are a few references that don't necessarily agree with each other :mellow:

 

http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/colorcharts/stuff_eng_colorcharts_soviet.htm

https://www.cybermodeler.com/color/cockpit.shtml

 

And this:

 

Russians used some different primers for both metal and wooden parts preservation.

for metal

A-14 Stalnoj - steel - Humbrol 156 , FS x7200
ALG-1 - dirty yellow - Humbrol 81 , FS33481
ALG-5 - grey green - , FS x4670
Grunt mataliczeskij - blue green - Humbrol 122 , FS34664

for wood

Aerolak dierewjannyj - grey blue - Humbrol128 , FS x6320
At the beginning of the war it was AII aljumnij ( aluminium, silver ) FS17178 Humbrol 56,11.

 

Hopefully someone on here has some better info.

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This one is pretty, but it can be a bit of a challenge Pat :o!

 

I had a go at it around 12 years ago. Nothing much fitted together nicely, so a lot of filler and clamping was needed. That said, it does look very nice in the end :). Humbrol filler was my friend.

 

You're not wrong regarding seeing vac forms everywhere; the old story behind this kit was that it was a copy of a Wings 72 Vacform kit, but that the original Vacform went together better due to it being thinner plastic.

 

It's not often a vac form is used as the basis for i/m, but this is what I gleaned at the time. 

 

This is the Wings 72 kit; it apparently had resin details too:

 

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/168858-vac-wings-vw7223-beriev-be-4-kor-2

 

I have some other Wings 72 Vac forms and they're ok; Heinkel He-46 and Heinkel He-60. Both have since been superceded by injection moulded kits, but in both cases, with a lot of scratch detailing, the kits produce nice models. The engine on the He-46 was a bit mind boggling for me; that one beat me.

 

I'm sorry I can't really help with the interior colour beyond that; early WWII Soviet aircraft (I was advised) often had silver grey interiors. It's a mix, a recipe, so the colour/tone varies. It was around the cheapest protective coating that could be made at the time.

 

Pre 1943, AFAIK only two Be-2 were made, at a different factory to the later batch. I noticed on the instruction sheet one scheme from 1941. It could be ok to assume that at least this one had the silver grey interior? I used Tamiya aluminium with a bit of grey in it for a couple of LaGG 3 aircraft last year; the original 1:1 is a wood/resin aircraft (kind of).  Photos do show a silvery grey or just plain light grey interior.

 

Looking forward to seeing you bash this into submission, you'll do it, no problem :winkgrin:!

 

Best regards

TonyT

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As you might have guessed there are a few quality issues with this kit

 

image

 

as you can see, it's not going to fit inside no matter what the instructions say, lots of filing fitting and more filing did the trick only to find the float moulding is also not the best !

 

image

 

I think it's fair to say that these floats wouldn't ! 

 

Then the blooming cheapskates have only given me half the seats, no really ! Look at the instructions below in iii) you appear to be asked to make a box, well actually 2 of them, they then reappear with the seat back in iv) 

 

image

 

 

Here a photo of the seat backs, you will see there is 3 of them, but they miss the rear one out of the instructions altogether 

 

image

 

Without access to the spares box ill have to improvise

 

cheers Pat

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This kit is turning into an absolute sod, so much for the easy build while away from home for a few days.

 

image

 

Homemade seats in, sorry I couldn't face grey seats in a grey interior, so I poshed them up by painting them a different colour. Apologies to the local modelling commissars if this is politically incorrect, and not in the spirit of socialism  :lalala:

 

The wings represent an interesting challenge, with seemingly no means of attaching them together see photos below.

 

 

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Side on view below shows you the challenge, i.e. No location or fixing points

 

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So two Guinness's later I think I have the solution :drink:

 

A third Guinness and forget the whole thing ? NO but good answer anyway...

 

Use the sprue as a splint / brace between the 2 parts, which to make life just a bit more difficult are at an angle i.e.  Gullwing but not as pronounced as say a Corsair.

 

image

 

I had hoped to have this assembled tonight painting tomorrow, I now don't think that's going to happen 

 

Wing splints in place

 

image

 

cheers Pat

 

 

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If you had been at home you could easily have made tabs for the wings from card. However the sprue pins are just as good and will no doubt be strong enough. I hope that you have your tube of filler with you because you are going to need it!

 

Obviously not a quick build - which is a relief because mine isn't going to be either!!

 

P

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On 07/09/2017 at 11:51 AM, Dazey said:

Hi Pat,

 

Looks like a challenging kit, but an interesting subject.

 

I have barely managed to wash the spues on my project!

 

Regards,

David

Thanks David

 

Come on in the waters lovely !

 

Look forward to seeing your own build, the range to kits is just brilliant 

 

cheers Pat

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9 hours ago, JOCKNEY said:

Hi Jerzy

Yes I have thanks very much, I only hope mine looks simular to the ones in the pictures !

cheers Pat

Pat,

This Polish kit is very basic. It is like a rough bullion - to have a tasty soup of it one have to add a lot of ingredients. I have it in my stash of course, but still have not done it yet. I wish your sour "soup" will be tasty :)

Regards

J-W

 

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Afternoon Pat

Keep at it my friend - you'll get there in the end!!

 

To rub salt into your angst and heartache - i don't recall my copy of this beast being that bad; its now resident flying gracefully from under the middle shelf above a selection of Luft 46 models!

 

By 'Shades of Grey' you were of course referring to the Tamiya colour charts and the myriad nuances of that tone? !!

 

Take Care

Andrew

 

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23 hours ago, SeaPlane said:

Afternoon Pat

Keep at it my friend - you'll get there in the end!!

 

To rub salt into your angst and heartache - i don't recall my copy of this beast being that bad; its now resident flying gracefully from under the middle shelf above a selection of Luft 46 models!

 

By 'Shades of Grey' you were of course referring to the Tamiya colour charts and the myriad nuances of that tone? !!

 

Take Care

Andrew

 

That is indeed rubbing it in

 

Shades of Grey, sound a bit like the description of an Audi paint chart :rofl:

 

cheers Pat

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You're doing a grand job Pat :thumbsup: .

 

I like the improvisation with the kit sprue to provide wing locators.

 

I'm sure the local commissar wouldn't mind a bit of leather on the seats :).

 

Best regards

TonyT

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