Unkempt Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 Now what the heck is that, I hear you ask? It's one of these: Now what the heck is that, I hear you ask again? Well, from a Google translated page at airwar.ru - Quote At the end of the 30s, work on tailless aircraft reached such a level that aircraft designers were able to move on to creating transport wing aircraft. First of all, young people are striving for a new and unusual one, and there is nothing surprising in the fact that students of the Kharkov Aviation Institute in 1935 were the first in the world to design a 12-seater passenger aircraft of the "flying wing" type. For the project, they used the idea of a “glider”, that is, a low-speed aircraft with good aerodynamics. “Glider flying is essentially a giant motor glider. At that time it was believed that an aircraft of a similar design, consuming a little fuel and undemanding for take-off and landing conditions, could provide mass air traffic. That is why the Civil Air Fleet of our country gave an order to designers for creation of a glider for transporting one ton of cargo or ten passengers with an average speed of 120 km / h. After long calculation estimates and trial configurations, the young designers of the KhAI-3 airframe settled on the original scheme. On a wing with a sweep of about 20 degrees. and with an extension of 6.5 and with a straight trailing edge, they arranged a closed two-fuselage cabin (each compartment for 6 people). An M-11 motor with a pulling screw was placed between the fuselages. In front of the right cockpit housed a pilot. (hopefully this will work:) http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.airwar.ru%2Fenc%2Fcw1%2Fhai3.html According to that site 'for some time it was used for transportation on local lines', so apparently it actually got used in real life. I've got to admit though, details about this plane are scarce and I can't find anything outside that website and Wikipedia. That includes any details about colour scheme, interior or exterior, so I'm just following orders from MikroMir on that count. (There was apparently a previous kit of this by Unicraft in resin and all the built examples of that I can find have an all-over yellow scheme, but frankly I prefer the blue and white, so.) So, what's in the (unexpectedly large) box? Instructions: It's fairly straightforward. This thing'll have a wingspan over a foot, but there are only 36 parts and a third of those are seats. Bits: - 6 sprues of grey plastic;; two are identical, for the left and right gondolas; two for the wings; two for all the other bits and bobs. Two clear identical canopies. Moulding quality: ehhh, it's a short run kit. Details a bit soft, a bit of flash. No locating pegs/holes. In particular, See on the instructions how the square pegs on the seats fit into the square holes on the floor? See those pegs on the seats? No, me neither. Not the end of the world though, I shall just use extra strong glue. Also in there is a small decal sheet and that blue sheet is masks for all those windows. I've got the canopies off and soaked in Future and I've made a start fettling the gondolas*. I can tell already that this one will be mostly fettling but them's the breaks with this kind of thing. While I've got you here, some questions for the audience: Does anyone have any colour scheme references? If you don't can anyone suggest what the interior colours might be for a soviet plane of this type in the 30s? And would it have seatbelts? *Oo-er 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 I love this one, and am elated that another fellow modeler is building it! Mine has been on its way from the East for almost a month now. I had a folder on it for many years, hoping to scratch it, will have a look and report back. Cheers 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 Yeap, as I thought, I do have some files on it. Will have to make room in my flickr account to post them, since I am at the limit (I dropped my Pro account due to absolute disagreement with rampant hikes on price and unacceptable down time during the change of ownership). May be later today or tomorrow. As an advance, some illustrations show a light blue/grey color, not a net blue. It could also be some shade of grey or aluminium. Will discuss when I post. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unkempt Posted January 20, 2020 Author Share Posted January 20, 2020 Not sure what it is about this kit but I actually ordered it November 17th last year and it took exactly two months to get here. A week of that was from NYC to VT which frankly you could walk in that time... Anything from your folder would be most welcome! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 9 minutes ago, Unkempt said: Not sure what it is about this kit but I actually ordered it November 17th last year and it took exactly two months to get here. A week of that was from NYC to VT which frankly you could walk in that time... Anything from your folder would be most welcome! Here it is: 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 A clipping http://xn--80aafy5bs.xn--p1ai/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/3.08.10.36-Kr.zv.-HAI-3..jpg The same Bureau produced other planes, this is a Khai-1 (a "normal" looking plane) I posted here at BM: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235050858-khai-1-passenger-transport-tema-172/ And this are, loosely speaking, similarly-configured planes from other Russian Bureaus: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235052903-bich-boris-ivanovich-cheranovsky-7-scratchbuilt-172/ https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235052904-bich-boris-ivanovich-cheranovsky14-172-scratchbuild-parable-wing/&do=edit https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235047973-scratchbuilt-172-bok-5-1937/ And now I will leave you in peace. Cheers Looking forward to your build! 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 This looks absolutely bonkers! Nobody will be that surprised to discover that I'm in. Following! Martian 👽 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billn53 Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 I’ll be interested to see how this builds up. And, I must admit, when I first saw this kit advertised what immediately popped into my mind was this: “Moa” 😉 I’m happy — but not surprised — to see he’s following along. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted January 22, 2020 Share Posted January 22, 2020 25 minutes ago, billn53 said: I’m happy — but not surprised — to see he’s following along. You know me too well! I shall surprise you all building a Lockheed Constellation, a Curtiss CW-20, or a Boeing 377 one of these days... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roginoz Posted January 22, 2020 Share Posted January 22, 2020 If I may make a suggestion, place no confidence in the vinyl masks that accompany many of the East European kits, MikroMir, Modelsvit, etc. My experience with them, on this kit and others, is that they lift off anything but an absolutely flat surface, will not accept compound curves and, where they have actually stuck down, come apart in bits on removal and leave a sticky residue on the canopy which is a b***** to remove. Masking the canopy of, especially, this kit, using Tamiya tape or your favourite masking tape, is a breeze, and lacks the certainty that removal may result in tears ! If anyone has had outstanding success with this type of vinyl mask, and can put me in the right direction, I would be most grateful. In the meantime, I will commit them to the bin where, imho, they belong. Rog 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted January 22, 2020 Share Posted January 22, 2020 5 minutes ago, roginoz said: My experience with them, on this kit and others, is that they lift off anything but an absolutely flat surface, will not accept compound curves and, where they have actually stuck down, come apart in bits on removal and leave a sticky residue on the canopy which is a b***** to remove. I agree 100% with you, had the same awful experiences. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted January 22, 2020 Share Posted January 22, 2020 Weird and wonderful subject. Looks interesting, just the subject for @Moa and as if by magic, he's here . Stuart 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unkempt Posted January 26, 2020 Author Share Posted January 26, 2020 Welcome all! Thanks for the pics, Moa. I've decided to stick with the suggested exterior colour scheme for three reasons: first, it looks like this image to the extent you can tell; On 1/20/2020 at 6:15 PM, Moa said: second, I've had a look around for other 30s Soviet airliners and, while there aren't a lot to be found, there's a lovely build of a Kalinin K-5 here: - that has a very similar white-blue-silver scheme. And thirdly, I like the look of it. So there. As for interior colours - basically, I'm making it up. Something neutral for the walls and floor; I've picked Deck Tan for no better reason than I've got a pot of it handy. Seats in blue to match the exterior. So, here we go. Two identical gondolas come in three pieces each. The braver and more imaginative may want to add some sidewall detail to spice things up. No idea what it might look like, though, so I'm leaving it. That's one. These fit into the bottom half of the centre section. Or at least they do when suitably fettled. There we go. And with a bit of colour: The right hand gondola has the pilot's position. You're provided with an instrument panel, a decal for that and a two-part joystick. The instructions show a locating hole for the stick but that seems to have gone missing, so a wee bit of drilling is in order. On the bright side, the stick does actually look like the one in the drawing Moa posted above (if a little chunky). Pilot's station now looks like this: The seats got a coat of sky blue: ... and I spent too long yesterday doing 12 tiny seat belts from painted tape and scrap PE. Today's aim is to get all those in, all nicely lined up despite the lack of any positioning lugs. 11:55 PM, roginoz said: If I may make a suggestion, place no confidence in the vinyl masks that accompany many of the East European kits, MikroMir, Modelsvit, etc. My experience with them, on this kit and others, is that they lift off anything but an absolutely flat surface, will not accept compound curves and, where they have actually stuck down, come apart in bits on removal and leave a sticky residue on the canopy which is a b***** to remove. Masking the canopy of, especially, this kit, using Tamiya tape or your favourite masking tape, is a breeze, and lacks the certainty that removal may result in tears ! If anyone has had outstanding success with this type of vinyl mask, and can put me in the right direction, I would be most grateful. In the meantime, I will commit them to the bin where, imho, they belong. Rog I'm going to go with this - I had a MikroMir Fanera-2 which ended up on the shelf of doom after an Unfortunate Event; I pulled it down last month to see if I could salvage it and the masks seemed like they were superglued to the windows. It's back on the shelf. I'll be using Tamiya tape for this one. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted January 26, 2020 Share Posted January 26, 2020 Nice beginnings! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toniosky Posted January 26, 2020 Share Posted January 26, 2020 I am really curious to see the end result ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew.S Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 I am watching this build with huge interest because this hell of the airplane is on my table now too. Just be careful with attaching wings, that's the tricky bit. I was not happy with the wings angle, it seemed to me quite large, so I flattened them a little bit. So good luck and I am looking forward to another photos from you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unkempt Posted January 28, 2020 Author Share Posted January 28, 2020 9 hours ago, Andrew.S said: I am watching this build with huge interest because this hell of the airplane is on my table now too. Just be careful with attaching wings, that's the tricky bit. I was not happy with the wings angle, it seemed to me quite large, so I flattened them a little bit. So good luck and I am looking forward to another photos from you! Nice to see your thread Andrew, two builds are better than one. Yes, I'm coming up to the wings and I can already tell that it's going to be another fun fettling exercise. Speaking of fun: That was fun. Got all the seats in: The top middle section didn't fit very well I added a bit of sprue for a bracing/strengthening thing That's a bit closer. My wings had some moulding issues: And as Andrew found the trailing edges need considerable thinning to fit properly. I've got them together, and just to have a quick look at how they fit - I want to put some bracing/strengthening in the wing to gondola joints as there's no location holes or tabs but there really isn't much room to work with in there. So I think that's the next job. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew.S Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 Nice progress, I came over this part only with big determination and patience... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 On 1/26/2020 at 4:07 PM, Unkempt said: I spent too long yesterday doing 12 tiny seat belts from painted tape and scrap PE. A new way I've come across and now using is kitchen foil. Cut a length to do all you you belts, paint appropriate colour, cut to length. Where your buckles are, scrape paint off the ends. Coming along great. Stuart 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andwil Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 That’s a really good technique, I will give it a go on my next build. AW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unkempt Posted February 1, 2020 Author Share Posted February 1, 2020 On 1/28/2020 at 2:36 PM, Andrew.S said: Nice progress, I came over this part only with big determination and patience... Oh yes. Determination and patience later... I did put a little bit of plastic sheet in that gap to strengthen the joints, but seem to have forgotten to take any pictures. What a maroon. But, the wings did eventually get stuck on in a passably symmetrical way at a dihedral approximating the diagrams. That's one. As you can see there's a little shim in the top to get the angle where I wanted it. Same on the other side: And from the front: Nearly ready for priming, but there's a lot of putty and sanding to do before that, plus the engine mounting and the rudder. Still, progress. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted February 1, 2020 Share Posted February 1, 2020 Good progress! If I understand correctly, is this a kit that is the base for making a kit to build a model? Or is this one more case for Milliputman, the most fulfilling superhero? Mine is flying as parts in formation towards me from somewhere in Europe... 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unkempt Posted February 1, 2020 Author Share Posted February 1, 2020 I do seem to be doing a lot more actual carving off chunks of plastic with a knife than I normally do. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fjaweijfopi4j48 Posted February 11, 2020 Share Posted February 11, 2020 I am looking forward to this one! Did we have a loss of pressure in the old boiler? The anti-matter core went out of phase? (note: tell Scotty to up his game) A sudden scarcity of Universal Will to Become (or UWTB)? (Sirens of Titan, Vonnegut) A detectable shudder of The Force? Please, go on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unkempt Posted February 11, 2020 Author Share Posted February 11, 2020 Stuff's going on, it's just not very visual! Cockpits glazing on - Fin and engine mounting - There's a lot of filling, sanding, priming and scribing but it's not the most fun bit to be honest. Proper paint'll be starting soon! 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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