Modelsvit 1:72 Antonov 225 Mriya

[Wolfhound32]

Hi fellow modelers,

 

This topic is about my latest project in progress, the Modelsvit 1:72 Antonov 225 Mriya.

Enjoy!

 

On april 3th 2020 it finally arrived, my dream kit I was waiting for.. A 1:72 scale An-225!! 

Carefully wrapped and packaged for transport from Ukraine:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you see, a lot of content in the box... 975 parts in total, with PE set and mask, and 4 decal options.

The first thing I just wanted to see was the size when finished  , so a quick dry fit was done:

 

Length: 1.17 meters

width: 1.22 meters

weight: 2.5 kilogrammes.

 

I also have the Modelsvit 1:72 Antonov 124, a project on hold now I have the 225 kit. The 124 is the 'little' brother of the Mriya. Here you see them side by side..

 

 

I also have the Amodel 1:72 Buran kit, the Russian Space Shuttle for which the 225 was specially designed. It was meant to ride 'piggyback' on the 225 for transport, just as the Boeing 747-123 SCA (Shuttle Carrier Aircraft).

(I'm also building a 1:72 B747 SCA with Space Shuttle, a project on hold, but I will add that topic on Britmodeller some time  ).

 

I could place the Buran on the 225, then it would look like the Mriya on display in the late eighties:

 

And this is what my model would look like:

 

 

Look at the 1:72 scale figure... This will be REALLY huge!

The problem is, I really like the modern An-225 with yellow and blue striping. I'm still doubting which version I'm going to build..

Well, first I need to start building this kit, time enough to make the ultimate decision which version it will be.

 

I started with the tail. As the fuselage and wings are made of fiberglass with a thin polyester coating, it's kind of difficult to work with. So sanding the surfaces to be glued rough, and use superglue or 2 components glue for the different materials used in this kit.

The tail was a bit tricky, as there is a difficult dihedral angle in the tail of the 225:

 

 

 

Then I started attaching the 'bumps' on the fuselage. Quite a lot of them:

 

 

 

I didn't attached the biggest bumps yet, as they partially cover the wings which are detachable. So to avoid breaking loose again during a test fit, I'll wait with the attachment on the fuselage:

 

 

 

A 1:72 Piper Cub for scale comparison.. Look at the massive size of the stabilo:

 

The tail has 2 large aerodynamic cones attached to the rear, so I glued those parts to the tail but didn't fit at all.. Be warned, as you will notice during this project, literally EVERY part of this kit has to be sanded to shape. Modelsvit kits are not for the 'easy-builders', you need to do a lot of scratchbuilding and improvising to get things done..

These are the cones:

 

 

 

The fiberglass under the polyester layer becomes clear after sanding

 

 

One thing I noticed during the very first dry fit, was that one of the 2 provided aluminium tubes (used for sturdy but detachable wings on this model) had a wrong diameter.

As you see, in the manual it says 5mm and 8mm diameter:

 

The 8mm fits like a glove:

 

But the 5mm doesn't fit:

 

After checking:

 

..it needs to be 6mm. 

The problem with this fiberglass-polyester coated material that it is really hard t cut or drill; it is very brittle so widening this hole with a drill is risky.. I screwed up a little on my Modelvit An-124 model with cutting a piece, the material just 'shattered' during cutting.

So as this hole is very important for a 'glove-like' fit (it has to support a large wing with 3 engines!) I will look for a 5mm diameter tube as replacement.

 

The kit comes with a little PE set, consisting of little vents to be placed over the fuselage:

 

Also, the fuselage has a sharp hardened edge over the entire length. So that needs to be sanded carefully:

 

 

Now a little side jump.

I started my 1:72 An-124 a couple months ago, but that's a project on hold at the moment as I want to finish the 225 first. 

From the 124 kit I already finished the nose with cockpit section; that was a project on it's own as nothing fits inside the fiberglass nose!

It's a matter of constructing the polystyrene flightdeck parts together (sanding every part and filling of gaps of course):

 

And then just 'glue the flightdeck somewhere in the nose' or something like that : ( ..

No prefabricated inserts or points to attach to:

 

So I thought first: I'm going to use my finished An-124 nose on the 225 kit, as both have identical nose shape and it saves time.. 

(I'm going to post my An-124 topic here some time, promised, but here a very short side jump of the construction of the 124 nose).

First I glued the transparent upper part to the nose section:

 

And here you see the constructed flightdeck, attached to a scratchbuilt support fuselage-rib, and the attached nose weight for a sturdy construction of the flightdeck to the nose.

Yes, be prepared to improvise and adapt with this kit!

 

Ok, a little more explanation.

Here you see the 2 noses. Left the 124-one, right the 225-one. As you see, I fabricated a supporting rib from Plasticard.

 

This rib 'fills up' the empty nose and provides support for the attachment of the flightdeck. This way it is possible to safely attach the flightdeck into the hollow nose, because should you 'bump' the kit to something after glueing the nose to the fuselage, and the flightdeck should come loose... you never can repair or attach it again. Also, this rib provides sturdy and secure support for the heavy nose weight these kits need to have as these kits are potential tail-sitters.

 

This is the flightdeck:

 

I need to blend the rib with parts of the flightdeck to make it 1 smooth construction. In this case, I replaced the curtains-parts by drawing the contours on the rib and cut it to the same shape:

 

Measuring the width of the front flightdeck, so it can fit through the rib:

 

This is how it will look:

 

 

After cutting the contours of the curtains and fitting the flight deck through the rib, this is the result:

 

 

But I engaged some fitting problems afterwards with the flightdeck, so I let it be for the moment. 

So I started the construction of the engines.. 6 in total.

6 Little projects, as there are quite a few parts:

 

 

For every part you need to remove edges, and sand them smooth first. For example:

 

I sprayed the turbine blades parts polished steel:

 

 

And here I made a mistake.... Due to an error in the manual!
It shows an incorrect drawing of fan blades attachment, so I need to glue 1 part upside down to avoid too much distance between the 2 fan blades parts. It's a little difficult to explain, but it needs to be said that this is a careless mistake from Modelsvit. Also because it's not clear how the parts finally look after glueing them. Well, lesson learned: more dry fitting with the rest of the parts first!

 

 

The 2 fan blades parts are supposed to fit into each other so the 2x16 fans have to shape into 1 ‘disc’ of 32 fan blades..?? It’s clearly that that is not possible...

 

whatever I try; upside down...

 

...it keeps consisting of 2 parts stacked on each other.

 

This is how it's supposed to look:

 

So I did it my way. The manual is just wrong.

First I cut of each blade of 1 of the 2 fan blade parts and I glued each fanblade between the other part’s fan blades. I used a circular mold to keep a steady circle as the little fan blades are bended and need to be glued at an inclined angle:

 

 

 

Almost finished...

 

And there it is, a perfect 32 bladed fan.
Now 5x16 more blades to go..

 

 

...but job done, and ready to continue the build. So be warned, don’t glue something from this kit before test fitting it and think in advance what the result will be. 

 

Continuing the engine project, first a lot of sanding and test fitting before painting and gluing. Some parts are quite a challenge:

 

And surprising, the engine halves don't fit at all. So sanding again...

 

The turbine parts:

 

 

 

 

The exhaust cones need to be drilled open:

 

 

during the build, I made a bigger shelf to the wall as this behemoth needs a place to sit later. The shelf is 2.50 meters long and 60 centimeters deep..

 

...and guess what.. still needs to be deeper, I think 70 cm:

 

Well, first continue the build. I still got time enough left to think about another shelf.

 

After research on the Internet I found out that the 225 engines are quite 'clean' and maintained from the inside, I saw a lot of white inner plating. So I decided to do that instead of 'gunmetal' inner halves as the (wrong) manual says:

 

Added just a little weathering of panel lines, you don't see much left later on as the halves are glued together:

 

And, the intake ring and exhaust cone need a lot of sanding as they do not fit well. still a lot of work to be done to these engines : ( 

 

To be continued....

[ERK]

Amazing.😲

[Dragon]

WOW, that'll eat up some shelf space! What a project. Looking forward to your build.

[Teeradej]

Awesome improvisation!

 

[Sturmovik]

Very interesting, I'll be following you to see how the build goes.

[Adam Poultney]

Wow. 

And I thought my 1/72 V Bombers were big........

[AdrianMF]

Wow! A fascinating project. I was amazed by your work on the fans - such a neat result.

 

I won’t be buying one so I will just follow along...

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Flankerman]

I was going to buy this kit - (I even stocked up on five 1/72 scale T-80 tanks to display in front of it) - but my sensible head baulked at the asking price and talked me out  it.

 

So my 'Dream' was denied - but I will be following your excellent work with interest - and not a little envy.

 

I'll be interested to see what you do with the undercarriage - it is all to scale (with not very positive fitting) - and therefore too weak to support the 2.5kg model.

 

 

On my An-124 build, I resorted to making a support from clear perspex fo fit under the centre fuselage.......

 

 

It's crude and isn't perfect - but it is hidden by the bulk of the fuselage and difficult to see on the finished model......

 

 

Good luck with your stunning build ......

 

Ken

 

 

[Wolfhound32]

1 hour ago, Flankerman said:

I was going to buy this kit - (I even stocked up on five 1/72 scale T-80 tanks to display in front of it) - but my sensible head baulked at the asking price and talked me out  it.

 

So my 'Dream' was denied - but I will be following your excellent work with interest - and not a little envy.

 

I'll be interested to see what you do with the undercarriage - it is all to scale (with not very positive fitting) - and therefore too weak to support the 2.5kg model.

 

 

On my An-124 build, I resorted to making a support from clear perspex fo fit under the centre fuselage.......

 

 

It's crude and isn't perfect - but it is hidden by the bulk of the fuselage and difficult to see on the finished model......

 

 

Good luck with your stunning build ......

 

Ken

 

 

Thanks everyone😊!

 

@Ken: Wow, to be honoust I was searching the Internet last weeks for an article from you, the Flankerman, about this kit.. and to read now that you passed up on this one surprises me.

When it’s a Russian build or article most of the time you’re somewhere in the comment section😬!

 

But you’re right, it is an expensive kit. I’m aware of that, and also that a lot of people would like to buy it but besides the absurd size and therefore space you need, it is simply too expensive.. My model is no. 49 of the first batch, so I think it will be rare soon.
It really is a gem in my collection of kits.

I was in regularly contact with George Wise from Hobbyterra and with Radko Mitov from Modelsvit about the release date of this kit, so I saved money for almost a year to be able to buy this kit.. it was my biggest wish so I bought it, I had the amount available finally.

 

And your earlier detailed article about the Modelsvit An-124 has convinced me to buy that kit😜! So I knew about the upcoming gear-problem. 

About the gear: well, that is gonna be an interesting project on it’s own for sure. It will take some time before I start constructing the gear but I will keep your advice in mind! 

 

[Rizon]

This kit is very high on my "want list". Apong with the C-5 and 747, which I see you already have. 🙂

Very cool! 

Looking forward to following this build!

[Booty003]

Incredible work, rather you than me though!!!

[Pin]

When I saw The Galaxy I suspected that you are a bloody maniac, now I know it for sure! Keep it up, man, really impressive! 

[Max Headroom]

 about sums this up

 

Trevor

[Wolfhound32]

1 hour ago, Pin said:

When I saw The Galaxy I suspected that you are a bloody maniac, now I know it for sure! Keep it up, man, really impressive! 

.... You're right! Thanks!

[Dermo245]

[alt-92]

On 6/14/2020 at 2:12 AM, Wolfhound32 said:

could place the Buran on the 225, then it would look like the Mriya on display in the late eighties:

Another EHSB compadre  👋

 

Le Bourget, 1989 IIRC.
I wonder if this is before or after the MiG-29 crash? When we went there, the wreckage was on a trailer covered by a tarp, right next to the An-225. 
They must have put that in there at some point.. 

 

 

[Wolfhound32]

On 15/06/2020 at 15:46, alt-92 said:

Another EHSB compadre  👋

 

Le Bourget, 1989 IIRC.
I wonder if this is before or after the MiG-29 crash? When we went there, the wreckage was on a trailer covered by a tarp, right next to the An-225. 
They must have put that in there at some point.. 

 

 

Yess😬👍🏻! Wolfhounds forever! 
 

Ok? That story is unknown to me.. 

[DaveJL]

Good grief! What a great build! I've just picked up the 1/144 Revell kit and it is rather big; this one must be huge!!

 

Best of luck with the build, will be following.

 

Dave

[Dennis_C]

That is excellent work here!!! Magnificent!

 

I would just give up and would never want to attach 6×16 fan blades. Well I would give up even earlier - on the stage where I would be to clean up 6×32 propeller blades from flash 

 

And size of the model. Even 1/144 Mriya is 4 times larger than my biggest model which is a 1/72 B-17...

[alt-92]

50 minutes ago, Wolfhound32 said:

Yess😬👍🏻! Wolfhounds forever! 
 

Hoeveel pitjes zie je voor de baan hangen?

 

50 minutes ago, Wolfhound32 said:

Ok? That story is unknown to me.. 

Ok, story time!

The thursday before we arrived, the MiG-29 crash happened during the low-speed high-alpha pass when one engine flamed out due to a bird ingestion.
The wreckage itself was collected and put on a trailer which stood parked early on next to the 225. We got on the airfield pretty early (8-ish) so beelined to there where you could still see a part of the tail & stab poking out from underneath the tarp.
A few hours later, the trailer was gone, but also the 225 was closed for walkthroughs (which was one of the attractions a year before with the An-124 @ Farnborough).

I'd guess they loaded it on the 225. 

 

[Wolfhound32]

12 hours ago, alt-92 said:

Hoeveel pitjes zie je voor de baan hangen?

Goeie ouwe tijd.. en die irritante F-27’s en Sherpa’s er tussendoor..

 

 

Never heared that story, interesting! Well, enough space in the Mriya to transport the Mig wreckage back home..  

[Wolfhound32]

12 hours ago, Dennis_C said:

That is excellent work here!!! Magnificent!

 

I would just give up and would never want to attach 6×16 fan blades. Well I would give up even earlier - on the stage where I would be to clean up 6×32 propeller blades from flash 

 

And size of the model. Even 1/144 Mriya is 4 times larger than my biggest model which is a 1/72 B-17...

Thanks Dennis !

 

yeah, I don’t understand why Modelsvit made the fan blades this way.. with their An-124 kit the fanblades consist of just 1 part, 32 fanblades next to each other. That was correct, and now with this newer kit it they fabricated 2 new parts of it, and that just doesn’t fit at all. Why..?

[Wolfhound32]

13 hours ago, DaveJL said:

Good grief! What a great build! I've just picked up the 1/144 Revell kit and it is rather big; this one must be huge!!

 

Best of luck with the build, will be following.

 

Dave

Thanks Dave !

 

yes, this version is twice as big as the Revell.. 

 

I’m not sure how many of these kits Modelsvit will produce in total, but the first batch was immediately sold out. The second batch in may is also sold out. So there are more ‘crazy modelers’ like me it seems.. 
 

[Flankerman]

FWIW, I did a 'walkround' of the An-225 at Gostomel in 2006.

 

The photos are here :- http://www.flankers-site.co.uk/An-225.html

 

Great work on the model Wolfhound32.... watching with interest (and not a little envy)...

 

Ken

[TheFlogger]

I wanted to buy one but my wife said I need my both kidneys a lifetime  🙂