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A&A Models is to release 1/48th An-2/-3 kits. New tool or based on the OOP Bílek kit (link)? That's the question. - ref. AAM4803 - Antonov An 2 "Colt" - Utility biplane - released - ref. AAM4814 - Antonov An 3 "Colt" - Utility turboprop biplane - released - ref. AAM4815 - Antonov An 2 "Colt" - Utility biplane - Cobra Air V.P.

Antonov An-2, pics thanks to Graeme H

I had posted this project in the Aircraft RFI a week ago. I'm guessing it fits the bill for this forum too. My apologies for the repost. Cheers, Alex. The Antonov An-2 was widely used in Russia, and neighboring countries. A hardy, easily maintained, Short-Takeoff-Landing aircraft, it proved to be a life-line to many far flung rural communities. This little vignette is supposed to reflect the aircraft in that vital role. Thanks for watching! Cheers, Alex.

The Antonov An-2 was widely used in Russia, and neighboring countries. A hardy, easily maintained, Short-Takeoff-Landing aircraft, it proved to be a life-line to many far flung rural communities. This little vignette is supposed to reflect the aircraft in that vital role. The Build: There was some minor scratch-building attempted on the aircraft: The cabin door was molded closed, so it was opened and a basic interior was created before joining the halves together. The engine was detailed a little as it's visible thru the front. The kit was missing the prominent wing-flap hinges, so they were created from 0.5mm styrene sheet. A bi-plane without rigging is no bi-plane at all, so despite the 1/144 scale, it was worth the effort. The cockpit frame was created with decals, unfortunately that area is one of the weaker points of the build. The rest of the scene is scratch built. The base was made from epoxy-putty, with real stones,graded sifted soil and match-sticks for the fencing. Static grass and colored saw-dust was used for the ground cover. Twisted wire and brush bristles dusted with colored saw-dust made the conifer trees. The chocks, access ladder and crates were built from stretched sprue, styrene sheet and choice expletives. Barrels were just bits of sprue. The man and dog were made from styrene sheet and stretched sprue. The man measures around 1cm in height, and had me cross-eyed for a few days after making him. On to the photos! Thanks for watching! Cheers, Alex.

I've just reviewed this here and as I have the Airsoft version of what is (to me) the best looking variant of the AR15/10 family, I decided to crack it open for a quick build. I started slapping it together last night, building up the major assemblies so they would be cured by today. The parts all fit quite well, with a good friction fit of the pinned parts, and only a little mould slip and ejector pin marks on the sight mounts to worry about. There are quite a few lips on the edges of parts that need a little work, but overall it went together quite quickly. I've begun working on hiding the seams on the receiver, magazine and stock, only to re-scribe them later as appropriate to their construction, in an attempt to get a nice clean line. The magazine seems a little tight in the magwell, so I've been scraping and sanding that area a little bit to sort it out, to avoid splitting the front of the lower receiver over time. The model breaks down very similarly to the real thing, and I've had plenty of experience in dismantling the Airsoft version too. Even the pins holding the upper and lower receivers are there, and they are a friction fit too, so you can leave them unglued while you're building it. One of the lenses for the scope was missing in my kit, but I'm not too bothered, and if you look closely at the sprue pics in the review, you'll see it was missing from the outset. The barrel of the rifle is nicely moulded with no mould-slip and a fine seam running down it that's easy to scrape off with a concave blade, then sand back smooth with a polishing stick. Here's how it looks at the moment: A bit dusty, but that's to be expected at this stage. The tricky part is remembering which seams are present in the real rifle, and which aren't. I'll have to check my references before I go ahead and re-scribe, but I'm rather enjoying the build. Incidentally, the gun-rack that comes with it is quite fancy. As well as extending vertically to suit the rifle, it can also be turned slightly left or right to better show off the rifle in your cabinet if you're so minded. Sure it's not very realistic, but it is quite a good idea, and with some weathering over an olive-drab base, should look good.

AR15 Assault Rifle SR25 1:3 Trumpeter The AR15, often known as the M16 or M4 rifle is the staple assault rifle of American forces and many more around the world, designed by ArmaLite, sold to Colt and first seeing service in Vietnam. It was a great success as the M16, with short straight mags that were replaced in more modern variants with the longer forward-curved magazines that contain more rounds. The VN mags as they are sometimes called are still sometimes used for specific applications where the number of rounds carried isn't such an issue. The SR25 is such an application, which would typically be issued to a designated marksman within a troop or squad. It uses the larger 7.62mm cartridge for stopping power, a longer barrel and forward Picatinny hand-guard for stabilisation of shot and muzzle velocity, and usually mounts a scope, but still manages to share up to 60% of the parts of an AR-15. It is an attractive rifle due to the long free-floating barrel within the cylindrical forward RIS rails, and the original M16 style butt-stock. A tripod mounted to the underside of the RIS system and the small VN mags allow the operator to get low to the ground without the mag catching on the terrain, which helps with concealment. The Kit Trumpeter's range of 1:3 weapons is fairly new, and I've been wondering how good they are for a while, so when one of my favourite AR15 variants turned up, I thought it would be churlish not to have a looksee. Arriving in a fairly small box suitable for a 1:48 single engine WWII fighter, the box at first doesn't appear to be well filled. Once you start removing the contents however, that changes, as there are six sprues of various sizes in a dark grey styrene, plus two in a wood brown, a clear sprue for the optics, and of course the instruction booklet. The brown styrene makes up the stand, and the large vertical part is surrounded by a protective card insert that is glued to the bottom of the box, with the part held in place by a pair of black twisty-ties. All the other parts are individually bagged for their protection. Construction shouldn't take too long, as no painting will be needed until the model is almost completed. Starting with the butt-stock, which is in two halves split vertically, and trapping a sling eye at the rear. The butt-plate is nicely detailed with the two retaining bolt-heads, and a small textured hatch, which on the real thing contains a cleaning kit if memory serves. In the Airsoft world, that's where the battery goes! The upper receiver is next, with the larger angled profile of the 7.62mm chamber evident, and the shell ejector port backed by an insert that replicates the visible part of the bolt, and should be painted a dull aluminium metallic colour. The T-shaped cocking handle inserts in the rear of the upper receiver, and the picatinny rail is glued to the top of the receiver. The instructions here show you installing the upper onto the lower, but in the third step it also shows the construction of the basic lower receiver from two halves plus a trigger part, so it looks like someone got their steps out of order. The upper and lower receivers are pinned together in the front and rear, just like the real thing, and the shell-ejector cover is added in an open position. The fire selector switch and the bolt-release lever are added to the left side of the receiver, and the two-part handgrip is shown added to the receiver in two stages for some reason. The barrel and its RIS rail covered forward handgrip is built up next, with the rails made from two halves, the barrel a single part, and the rear locking ring sitting between the rail/barrel and the receiver. The RIS rails themselves are then added along the full length of the cylindrical handgrip top, bottom and both sides, and the optional covers can be added as you see fit. These slide on and off the real thing and just make the area more easily gripped with fewer sharp edges, but they can be removed to add extra equipment such as a bipod, torch, laser designator box or whatever. The front of the barrel with gas-block is a two-part assembly that is mated to the front plate of the handguard, and you will be pleased to hear that the barrel has been tooled using slide-moulds to be hollow. The sight is in two halves split horizontally, with two clear lenses inserted front and rear. The RIS adaptors are added with their mounting screws, and the adjustment turrets are added to the sight body both on top and on the right side of the sight. The VN style mag is built up from two halves, and you have a choice of top inserts that show either bullets within, or the spring-plate for an empty mag, but if you're planning on inserting it into the receiver, they aren't used. The sub-assemblies of the weapon are brought together with the butt-stock sliding onto the receiver's long "tail" just like the real thing, and the barrel mounting into the circular hole in the front of the upper receiver. The scope and optional mag are inserted top and bottom respectively, and that ends construction of the rifle itself. There is no sling included in the kit, which is a shame, but there are many types of slings out there from one-point, through two-point to three point, some with bungee sections, some without. If you feel like adding one, you'll have to do your research and find some suitable material. The "gunshelf" is a simple stand to show off your finished rifle in the vertical position, and if you own more than one, you can link them together using a small lug on the base to turn it into a rifle rack. The vertical section is actually two parts, and the upper section slides up and down to suit the height of the rifle, held in place by two or four détente lugs moulded into the lower section. A base-plate is added without the use of glue, and this is twisted onto the base, held in place by a keyed lug at the back. Markings There aren't any markings per se, but sometimes the lower receiver is stamped with the maker's mark, which in this case hasn't been replicated, probably due to copyright issues. The Fire-Select legend is engraved in the surface however, and could be picked out in white if you feel the urge to add a little visual interest. The rifle itself is usually either painted a very dark grey/black, but the operator is able to custom paint the external parts to suit their needs, often using Krylon paints that are very matt and also tough enough to stand the rigors of extended handling. The key to a realistic paint job however will be depiction of wear and tear to the weapon, so remember to check your references. Conclusion As someone that's interested in firearms due to my former hobby of skirmishing, these miniatures appeal on a number of fronts. We're not allowed anything that resembles a full-scale model these days, unless we're re-enactors or regular Airsoft skirmishers, and these small kits are easy on the pocket and take up a fraction of the room (a third actually!) of the full-size things. Detail and shape appears to be good, but I'll be building this up shortly to see how it looks, and will report back later. It won't take long, but the painting and weathering might. Highly recommended to anyone interested in guns, and a something a little different for the cabinet. So much so that I built the review sample up straight away: Work In Progress Thread Review sample courtesy of

Antonov AN-2 Detail Sets 1:48 Quickboost for HobbyBoss We have here another five sets released by Aires, in the Quickboost range. This time for the Hobbyboss Antonov An-2 to give it that extra bit of detail that can really make a model. The modeller can use as many or as little of these sets as they see fit and they don’t have to buy a big set, not all of which may be used. Each item/s are contained in a poly sleeve that Quickboost regularly use with a card backing. Not too much protection then, except that most of the parts are on their moulding blocks and protected by solid uprights. The Engine (QB 48 542) It contains the single ASz-62IR 9 cylinder single row engine. The moulded detail is very nice including the cylinder cooling fins, bolt heads and other details on the crankcase. The modeller will still need to add the wiring harness and other details, but it is a good base to start from. Cowl Flaps (QB 48 533). If you’re going to change the engine you may as well change the cowl flaps too. These well moulded examples have really fine trailing edges and are moulded in banks of three so they shouldn’t tax the modeller too much with fitting. Air Intakes and Oil Radiator (QB 48 534), provides a very nicely moulded set of three air intakes, each hollowed out for that correct look. It also provides a replacement oil cooler radiator. Each end is hollowed out to the radiator and the radiator even has the grid pattern moulded onto it. Each part is easily removed from the casting block and shouldn’t take more than a few swipes of a sanding stick to clean up. Exhaust (QB 48 535), contains a direct replacement exhaust and fairing. The exhaust is nearly hollow all the way through giving a great look along with the very thin sidewalls. Floodlight (QB 48 543), contains three replacement floodlights, each beautifully moulded right down to the bulbs. All the modeller has to add is a lens for which a drop of Klear or Glue N Glaze. Conclusion Quickboost seem to be really knocking these small but very useful sets out. The Hobbyboss kit is already very nice out of the box, but these sets will add that little something extra to enhance the model. Highly recommended. Review samples courtesy of distributed in the UK by Hannants Ltd.

After the NeOmega, Valom and Bilek 1/48th Antonov An-2 "Colt" kits here's the HobbyBoss one, under ref.81705. Soon in the best hobbyshops Source: http://www.hobbyboss.com/a/en/product/fly/...2/0504/849.html Despite their poor quality, here are the sprue shots of this new kit: µ V.P.