Jump to content

1/72 Kharkiv KhAI-3 from MikroMir


Unkempt

Recommended Posts

Now what the heck is that, I hear you ask? It's one of these:

 

21mZxFU.jpg

 

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.

FBE14Tz.jpg

 

Bits:

 

CJLUNM3.jpg

 

- 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:

 

HA56WOK.jpg

 

ehhh, it's a short run kit. Details a bit soft, a bit of flash. No locating pegs/holes. In particular,

 

0c6BJRI.jpg

 

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

 

  • Like 9
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

 

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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:

49416894412_5fc3209bd7_b.jpg

 

49416205653_54b632f104.jpg

 

49416894657_7e074cf409_c.jpg

 

49416682746_685aec1523_c.jpg

 

49416894747_202127054f_b.jpg

 

49416894537_352567d24b_c.jpg

 

49416205698_eb2fb537a2_z.jpg

 

49416205738_b9fba48b78_c.jpg

 

49416205798_7e868b5769_h.jpg

 

 

  • Like 6
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

 

 

 

  • Like 1
  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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:

 

 

 

49416894657_7e074cf409_c.jpg

 

 

 

 

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.

 

xBYW95j.jpg

 

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.

 

tLIelxd.jpg

 

That's one. These fit into the bottom half of the centre section. Or at least they do when suitably fettled.

 

fgF8Ppd.jpg

 

There we go. And with a bit of colour:

fuu8e8H.jpg

 

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:

 

TLZXkLJ.jpg

 

The seats got a coat of sky blue:

 

AzddSSG.jpg

 

... and I spent too long yesterday doing 12 tiny seat belts from painted tape and scrap PE.

 

kffRGvS.jpg

 

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.

 

 

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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! :thumbsup:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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! :thumbsup:

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:

 

ev8hUpy.jpg

 

That was fun.

 

Got all the seats in:

 

Z3GsgWc.jpg

 

The top middle section didn't fit very well

 

yD3pwoh.jpg

 

I added a bit of sprue for a bracing/strengthening thing

 

wbz9EYX.jpg

 

eAxNcTH.jpg

 

That's a bit closer.

 

My wings had some moulding issues:

 

uqCDGfK.jpg

 

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 -

 

xUicAZm.jpg

 

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.

 

0PtzFCu.jpg

 

So I think that's the next job.

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

20191224-112836-1-1.jpg

Coming along great.

 

Stuart

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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. 

 

wNoQKx6.jpg

 

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:

 

lDBdnti.jpg

 

And from the front:

 

ssFBjbJ.jpg

 

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.

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Stuff's going on, it's just not very visual!

 

Cockpits glazing on -

 

Ngv4PuZ.jpg

 

Fin and engine mounting -

 

dpZcpMS.jpg

 

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!

 

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...