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Beriev A-40, Be-200 and R-1


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I'm a bit fascinated by jet and turboprop-powered flying boats. I think it's because the heyday of the flying boat was very much the piston engine era, so there's a combination of the modern and the anachronistic about them. So of course I'm interested in Beriev's aircraft. I'm planning to build three of them - the A-40 Mermaid (which I've wanted to build ever since I saw one at Fairford in '96), its smaller civilian sibling the Be-200, and their ancestor the R-1, Beriev's first jet flying boat.

 

The A-40 and R-1 are from Anigrand - the R-1 is one of the bonus kits in the A-40 box:

Anigrand 1/144 Beriev A-40 Mermaid

 

And the Be-200 is from Eastern Express. In theory the injection moulded kit should be the easier one, but I have a feeling it might be the other way round!

Eastern Express Beriev Be-200 Altair

 

cheers

Julian

 

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I know I said in my other thread that I'd start the Tradewind first, but I couldn't resist the Mermaid, so I've made a start. Here are all the parts laid out - a fairly simple kit. I've painted the cockpit black and filled the nose of one of the fuselage halves with liquid gravity - I think this is likely to be a tail-sitter without it.

 

Beriev A-40 WIP

 

I started with the fuselage. It wasn't a perfect kit - one or both of the halves was ever so slightly bowed, so that they only properly met at the ends, but a couple of hours clamped together while the epoxy glue set sorted that out. The fuselage halves aligned pretty well with each other, although one half was fractionally longer than the other, and a bit of work with a sanding stick has got it looking pretty good. The parts seem pretty well cast, only one bubble to deal with.

 

So here's how it looks tonight:

Beriev A-40 WIP

 

Beriev A-40 WIP

 

thanks for looking

Julian

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Time to get a move on with this. Today I've added the windscreen - not a great fit, but it can be dealt with - and the wings and fin. Wings attach pretty well but leave a bit of a gap, fin went on fine with a smaller gap. There's a bubble to deal with at the front end of the pod on the right wingtip, and a bit of cleanup work still needed around the windscreen, but nothing serious. Here's how it looks tonight:

 

Beriev A-40 WIP

 

cheers

Julian

 

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Woohoo ! I'll be following this ! What a great trio in the making !

 

I share your love of flying boats, Russian and other; in the last stages of completing the Amodel Be200, the 3 different versions of the Ekranoplan  create a bend in the display shelf along with their mates the Be2 and the Beriev-Bartini BBA-14, both from Modelsvit.

Others, of various nations, fill remaining shelves. One day, when I achieve a bit of basic computer literacy and a worthwhile camera, I'll have to share them on BM.

 

The A-40 has just been ordered on the strength of your post, Julian: don't  ya just love Anigrand's inclusion of bonus kits, minuscule though they are.

Great progress on the Mermaid ! Keep 'em coming !!

Rog

 

 

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30 minutes ago, roginoz said:

don't  ya just love Anigrand's inclusion of bonus kits

Absolutely - to the point where the bonus kits are almost as important to me as the main subject! I've been contemplating the YC-14 - I love the shape of the thing with the four engines on top of the wings - but I'm leaning more towards the YC-15 because of the bonus kits (I really want the YC-125 Raider).

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Things have progressed pretty quickly - it's a very simple kit after all - and I've got the upper surfaces painted. I've used AK Real Colour FS36320 which to my eye looks about right. First time using the AK paint - quite impressed.

 

Beriev A-40 WIP

 

cheers

Julian

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This weekend I've painted the windows, gloss coated, decalled and added the engine fronts. All went pretty smoothly, apart from one thing - the decal sheet included a few bort numbers that don't seem to belong to any of the aircraft in the box, and none that are suitable for the A-40. I can't find any suitable ones in the stash. But as it's a 10 and consists entirely of straight lines, I think I'll try making it from red decal strips.

 

Here's the bort-less A-40 as it looks tonight:

 

Beriev A-40 WIP

 

Thanks for looking
Julian

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4 minutes ago, jrlx said:

Very impressive looking machine! Great job, Julian!

 

Not far from finished, right?

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

Thanks Jaime. Not far off at all - just need to sort out the bottom number, give it a matt coat and give it an undercarriage. Then on to the next one - Be-200 next I think.

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  • 2 weeks later...

It's been a while since my last update on this one - have been focusing on the Tradewind and the Phantom in the year you were born GB - but back on it now. I made an ok looking (from a distance) bort number and gave it a matt coat, only for the airbrush to blow off the 1! I'll replace it easily enough but going to leave that for the end. I've got the undercarriage legs on - they seem strong to take its weight - and painted them after I took this photo. Refuelling probe has snapped off, but should be easy enough to fix.

 

Beriev A-40 WIP

 

cheers

Julian

 

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That's coming on a treat, Julian, and the decals look great. Whose are they,I wonder ?

The ones that came with my Amodel Be-200 self destructed and I'm waiting for a replacement, better performing set from Amodel which I'll copy off before application in case of any more drama.

 

You've certainly got a major production line of flying boats on the go, a man after my own heart !! Love the Tradewind and looking forward to following your Be-200 when you make a start on it.

Cheers.......Rog

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8 hours ago, roginoz said:

That's coming on a treat, Julian, and the decals look great. Whose are they,I wonder ?

The ones that came with my Amodel Be-200 self destructed and I'm waiting for a replacement, better performing set from Amodel which I'll copy off before application in case of any more drama.

 

You've certainly got a major production line of flying boats on the go, a man after my own heart !! Love the Tradewind and looking forward to following your Be-200 when you make a start on it.

Cheers.......Rog

Thanks Rog. Those Amodel decals can be a bit dodgy - I've found handling with extreme care can achieve results if you're lucky - but they do seem to break apart very easily and when you get them on they stick instantly and there's no repositioning them. I think whoever makes them might have learned his trade at Novo!

 

The Anigrand decals are ok to work with, they just take ages to come off the backing sheet. I just wish they paid more attention to detail (not the only case of this - some of the text in the instruction sheet is somehow printed backwards!) and included the bort number - and the Tradewind's decal sheet also weirdly includes a logo for a Martin Seamaster.

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One of our cats has recently started expressing its dissatisfaction with things by urinating in inconvenient places. So just got to the dining table I’ve been occupying one end of for modelling and found the instructions for the Phantom soaked (lucky I’m pretty much finished with them) and some of it had run onto the A-40. Cleaned off with a damp cloth, no lasting damage done. Alclad should add “impervious to cat wee” to the marketing for their matt coat.

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