Flankerman

You can see the twist in this photo - wot I took at Zhulani, Kiev...... You can see that intakes (and whole rear fuselage) are offset to starboard just behind the rear canopy... Ken

I recall that Zactoman had something to say about that at the time...... Ken

There's one in the Monino collection...... (in completely ficticious camo).... Great model BTW Tom - well executed and painted. It certainly looks much bigger than 1/72 scale. Ken

Great photos Serge - I think we visted the Gzhel pottery during one of my many aviation trips to Russia - on the way to an Aeroflot training base somewhere..... Other 'Pretty' tanks are available..... These two at the Great Patriotic War Museum in Kiev - photographed in 2006...... (now covered in graffiti)........ and... the Russians hold an annual 'Tank Biathlon' for crews from Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Armenia - with each country having a different coloured tank.... This is my attempt at modelling them..... Tanks for looking... Kyen

The Aleksayev Lun ekranoplan ..... has been moved from its dry dock in Kaspiisk ( https://igor113.livejournal.com/51213.html?page=1) to a new location ........... http://translate.google.com/translate?prev=/language_tools&u=https%3A%2F%2Fzen.yandex.ru%2Fmedia%2Flanasator%2Fekranoplan-lun-proekta-903-v-derbente-udalos-oboiti-ohranu-i-popast-vnutr-5f30e9b9bbe8572b801cebe9 Interesting story of a fascinating machine.... Ken

I hope you don't mind me butting in ......... It's the only surviving Civilian Aircraft Company Coupé. One of only five built - the 1929 vintage Coupé still flies on a 100hp 5-cylinder radial engine. I took these during a visit to North Weald in 2014..... Great selection of photos Alpha Delta - thanks for sharing... Ken

This one? Ken

and.... SB stood for 'Skorostnoy Bombardirovshchik' - or simply 'Fast Bomber' - like the German 'Schnell Bomber' programme. As Warhawk points out the 2 should be followed by the engine type ..... SB 2 M-103 or SB 2 M-100 or SB 2 M-105 etc.... Never just 'SB 2' Meanwhile... back to modelling the beast...... Ken

I'm in the middle of a house clearance - so I'll be 'offline' for a week or two as far as building goes. All down to you for the time being Alexey...... Ken

I built the Amodel Be-200ChS in 2011 (blimey! is it that long ago??) :- http://www.flankers-site.co.uk/modl_be-200.html I didn't have any trouble at all with the decals - in fact I wrote a magazine article about the build - and wrote:- The Amodel decal sheet is very well printed by Decograph – with dense colours and good registration. Only one marking option is given – the first production machine for MChS, coded RF-32767. This plane (ex RF-32517) carries the name of twice Hero of the Soviet Union, major general of aviation Vasily Rakov. The decals went on beautifully with no hint of silvering even without the use of setting or softening agents. There is a slight hint of translucency on the forward MChS ‘star’ (called a Windrose) – where it lies over the underlying orange and blue stripe and the front vee shape on the stripe does not quite meet up with the radome. This latter problem may mean that either the stripe is slightly too short, or I have not painted the radome correctly. You must have had a bad example..??? Sorry for the thread hijack - but I had to come to Amodel's defence on this one. Ken

I'd use Halford's Appliance White' - over a few misted on coats of Halford's White Plastic Primer - with great success. The primer was applied - and then gently sanded down to an eggshell finish before the Appliance White top coat. Appliance White straight onto grey plastic needs care to get a nice dense coverage - hence the use of the primer first to give it something to 'key' to. A good trick is to warm the rattle can in hot tap water before use - and test it on some scrap plastic first - I've encountered 'rogue' cans of White Plastic Primer that spattered on me. Oh! - and shake (rattle) the can after warming it for a good ten minutes before use. Hope This Helps Ken

I've made a start....... Being a limited-run kit, all the parts need 'fettling' to fit... edges need trimming to square them up, some of the parts have flash in awkward places, delicate parts need careful trimming and are prone to breakage ......etc All par for the course for this type of kit. The four seats have sides that are way too thick - and benefit from being thinned down...... (as moulded left, half trimmed middle, fully trimmed right).. What's the collective consensus on seat belts??? - just lap straps - or full 4 - point over-the-shoulder type straps ????? The instructions are lacking - and there are are very few colour notes in the instructions..... After trimming, the mounting struts are attached... The mounting parts are very delicate and easy to break when removing them from the thick sprue gates - but they are nicely moulded. The seats are attached to a floor - which then fits into a groove in the cabin side panel..... But.... the floor is too thick (or the groove too narrow) to fit - so I had to widen the groove and tapered the floor edges until it fitted. This would have been easier to do BEFORE I attached the seat - so Top Tip - make sure parts fit before assembling them !!! More later... Ken

The Zvezda 1/144 scale A-90 is a re-boxing of the Revell kit :- http://www.flankers-site.co.uk/modl_a-90.html It has issues around the nose intakes and cockpit - but it is fixable.... Thanks for all the compliments guys - much appreciated. Ken

I have never found clear evidence that the A-90 could be 'flown off' the An-225 - in other words, could the A-90 fly out of ground effect??? Delivering the A-90 (configured in its 'flying rescue' / Spasatel guise) to an airport near to where it was needed by the An-225 - and then unloading it and getting it to the nearest water seems overly complicated. You would need a massive crane at least at the destination airfield That's why I suspect that it would be flown off the An-225 - and then fly conventionally in 'aeroplane mode' - before 'landing' on the water and assuming its WIG/Ekranoplan flight. Fascinating all round... Ken

Is it the guy on this website Serge... ?? http://www.greenmats.club/forums/topic/6917-готово-калинин-к-7-mikromir-172/ If so.... does he say how much weight is needed ed?? A lot - or just a small amount ?? Can you ask him ??? Ken