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+++ FINISHED! +++ Soviet Ekranoplan: A-90 "Orlyonok" (Zvezda, 1/144)


jrlx

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This was my entry to the second edition of the Flying Boats and Floatplanes GB, which I co-hosted.

 

As usual, I didn't manage to finish my entry in the timeframe of the GB, so I'll try to finish it here.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Jaime

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear All,

 

As co-host to the 2nd edition of the Flying Boats and Floatplanes GB, I should set a good example. As such, here is my entry: Zvezda's rebox of the Revell 1/144 A-90 "Orlyonok" Ekranoplan:

174034-12660-20-pristine.jpg

 

Seems to be fairly simple to build, with only 38 parts and absolutely none interior detail. Even the lateral windows are simulated with round black decals.

 

I think the most challenging part of the build will be the weathering, for which I'll rely on my experience with my Dornier Do-24T build.

 

I'll build the box art machine: an Ekranoplan of the Soviet Navy, based on Kaspiisk Naval Base, Caspian Sea, Dagestan, USSR, 1990.

 

Due to holidays and my D-Day Typhoon Mk. Ib build, I don't expect starting my entry before October.

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

 

 

 

 

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Thank you @greggles.w, @dnl42 and Chris ( @bigbadbadge ) for your interest!

 

I first heard about the existence of Ekranoplanes in the first edition of this GB. Unfortunately, nobody got to build one. So, I thought it would be a good idea to fill that gap in this second edition of the GB. Additionally, it seems to be a fairly simple kit.

 

@dnl42 as far as I can tell from the information online, the Zvezda boxing is exactly the same as the original Revell, down to the instruction diagrams.

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

 

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I've been doing some research on A-90s and collected several pictures here:

https://www.pinterest.pt/antniojaimer/ekranoplan/

 

Most are of the 1990s A-90 with serial number "26" but the colour scheme is the same as the Soviet machine with serial number "21" I'll be building.

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
4 hours ago, CedB said:

I'm in Jaime - better late than never! :)

Thanks, Ced! It's always great having you following along :)

 

I'm still working on the D-Day Typhoon (haven't updated the thread yet...), so I won't be starting this one in the next few weeks.

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

 

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4 hours ago, JOCKNEY said:

Well done Jaime, delighted that this time we will have one of these in the GB.

 

Cheers Pat 

Thanks, Pat. I hope I won't disappoint.

 

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Hi again,

 

I won't be able to finish my entry to the D-Day GB in time (as usual...). Therefore, I thought I might start right away with my Ekranoplan.

 

So, here are the mandatory pictures of the box contents.

 

The sprues of the fuselage halves and some parts for the front engines:

y4m6TdlSyF9q4pNaMgm_OCjkX4CCAJ9obouLlAS1

IMAG6520

 

Two sprues with all the small parts and half of the parts for the wings and tail plane:

y4m4fvjeBD1Y7XbgF8m9cG4HkMwYdGHyiETAk-w5

IMAG6521

 

The sprue with the remaining half of the parts for the wings and tail plane, as well as the clear part for the cockpit wind shield and the decals:

y4mbsS53Yraex0ZUG8gzHvrDeRGoLJt9hX07SOWj

IMAG6522

 

I took all of the big parts off the sprues and did a dry fit. This looks almost finished:

y4mo6rq9uIMZKokimrhkAUtq6y4-T0psv0QaL2ji

IMAG6523

 

Fit is good, as it all holds together just with masking tape. Only the starboard wing is a bit lose. There's also a bit of flash here and there, but nothing to worry about. It should be relatively simple to build. It'll be the biggest model in the display cabinet even at 1/144.

 

Hopefully, more soon.

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

 

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi again,

 

Time for an update, as I've been slowly progressing with this build.

 

I glued the wing tip floats together and left them clamped overnight:

y4moqq5hlsfHZk3_LoaFwTd2umDLYRTkxlD6_iT5

IMAG6539

 

The wings' and horizontal stabilisers' halves were also glued together. The leading edge of the wings near the wing roots were a bit difficult to join and I had to press them together by hand, as the clamps didn't stay in place due to the curved surfaces. Eventually I got this:

y4mNTPjQu2OGsSxdrp4oTpsPRjT2J0I9FUEjwwGI

IMAG6540

 

Next, I  cut the small parts off the sprues and glued some together. Here we have the engines' air intakes glued together, the radar antenna radome also glued together, and the engine intake grids and the guns and turret isolated:

y4mQ6DhoxiFsE1rEneqbuZPvOxtVlOiFHkuhTcRr

IMAG6541

 

This picture shows the propellers and associated parts, the main landing gear, the engine intakes' variable ramps and a part that closes the gap between the intakes on the top front fuselage:

y4masAu5ciqv-dsPa5T0-n8OXa_5zVbSApGqE_oR

IMAG6542

 

I spent some time cleaning up the sprue gate remains and some flash from the parts, including from the fuselage and the seams from the wings and stabilisers edges. The location pins along the fuselage have a bit of flash that must be removed (as per the instructions). This picture shows the pin on the left still with flash and the pin on the right already cleaned:

y4m25U9EByVMxg2wjgea-W6nVk-l6P4IYVH1P8Xw

IMAG6543

 

Cleaning the pins improved a lot the fit of the fuselage halves.

 

I used a 0.3 mm drill to improve the look of the guns:

y4mWaO4CF82WzRi2YXMYbkwV4Sat0nsuFrZuQFHm

IMAG6544

 

The seams in the air intakes need improvement. So, I applied some Perfect Plastic Putty (PPP) and left them to dry:

y4mxAPHu9OeUzLI96Bqlr9VpI7nSWVyIIzKHJ1UH

IMAG6545

 

This reminds me I'll have to apply some PPP to the seams of the radome as well.

 

The last parts to cut off the sprues where the engine exhausts (only one pair shown here):

y4mpP80rfptuV2kNuwh9u9i0S9d8FYSLQmHFDnZK

IMAG6546

 

and the cockpit windows:

y4mjy5UsvIVwtyi4-183hMuENsKDl7wAnQg1LDD1

IMAG6548

 

It fits the fuselage very well:

y4m8sde81aOFZMjuW-DMToh4269GSW8-uvHJVCkb

IMAG6547

 

I'll paint it black on the inside (there's no interior detail to see) and apply Aqua Gloss on the outside to give it a shiny finish.

 

Thanks for looking

 

Jaime

 

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Hi again,

 

Thank you all for the kind appreciation. Here's a small update.

 

I glued the engine exhaust parts that close the openings on the fuselage sides and left them clamped:

y4mDSxOCfhEz5pvK1xt-SXb-tFqct5pWBI41QmxA

IMAG6549

 

I also glued the floats to the tips of the wings:

y4mwETa7KZhXPXPV9miPG4tXkfwvP6dPBe-4aluI

IMAG6550

 

That's all for the time being. Thanks for looking.

 

Jaime

 

 

 

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Hi again,

 

Not much done today. I've just cleaned up the joins of the parts glued together in the previous post.

 

The joins on the exhaust areas are not very good and need filler:

y4mMMXXQ38dg-uUFT1rlIb93PgUZqmLvhdfOLcZB

IMAG6551

 

Here they are with PPP applied:

y4m1Eeix9Fv7b_2jHL_yNeGV1Is_tUB3M2rWKy5n

IMAG6552

 

I also had to apply a bit of PPP to the underside of one of the wing-float joins and to the radome joins.

 

Next step will be cleaning up the filler.

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

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29 minutes ago, Courageous said:

Is the surface texture as rough as it looks?

 

Stuart

Yes, Stuart. The surface is a bit textured. I'll leave it as is.

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

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What are those chunky Frankenstein stitches behind the exhaust? Not some sort of hinge for the nose surely? Or some sort of crew ladder with pre-warmed rungs? (although I guess it would be even more problematic if they were adjacent the intake instead)

 

You’re making good progress!

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10 hours ago, greggles.w said:

What are those chunky Frankenstein stitches behind the exhaust? Not some sort of hinge for the nose surely? Or some sort of crew ladder with pre-warmed rungs? (although I guess it would be even more problematic if they were adjacent the intake instead)

 

You’re making good progress!

Thanks greggles!

 

The stitches are in fact hinges, as the front of the machine opens to the side in order to load and unload cargo. It can be seen in this picture:

main-qimg-0310f5e0eb644c6adae2a058ca5473

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

 

 

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