большая оранжевая птица! Petlyakov Pe-8 Polar Aviation (Amodel 1/72) - where the heck did that deadline come from?!

[TonyOD]

The interior is nearly there. I have five seats for a crew of seven, and nowhere for Signal the dog. How well this reflects the interior of the actual plane is anybody’s guess, I think it’s just the same as the bomber version of the kit. Some of the later “ON” transport versions of the Pe-8 had rather swanky passenger cabins but N396 was a repurposed bomber. The fit is pretty dreadful throughout, that forward bulkhead especially, much sanding required. Seatbelts knocked up from foil.

 

 

Out of shot is a new tool Airfix B-25 that is mocking me from the comfort of its box.

 

I ummed and ahed over the colour of the gas bottles, originally thinking to go with brass then I came across a photo of one of N396’s sister ships that suggests they were red. Needless to say they will be hidden from view...

 

 

Edited May 18, 2021 by TonyOD

[Andwil]

Great work on this monster Tony.  Having built an A-Model kit and vowed never to build another*, I can imagine what a struggle this must be.

 

AW

 

 

*but I still have one in the stash😟

[TonyOD]

6 hours ago, Andwil said:

Great work on this monster Tony.

Thanks AW. I like to think that the end result will reward the not inconsiderable amount of work that's gone into it! Every single piece of the kit so far has required the attention of file and/or sandpaper. Which Amodel is it you have in the stash?

Edited May 16, 2021 by TonyOD

[TonyOD]

Just spent thick end of two hours on one landing light. it really is that kind of kit.

[Pin]

11 hours ago, Andwil said:

*but I still have one in the stash😟

 

AModel kits may be very different, ranging from "awful" to "brilliant". After all, they are short run kits and one should expect tougher challenge. 

[Andwil]

10 hours ago, TonyOD said:

Which Amodel is it you have in the stash?

Mirage III.  I bought two to do a pair of Israeli jets, one NMF and one camouflaged.  Built the NMF one and haven’t summoned the courage to do the second one.  The plastic was incredibly thick and hard to work with. There is some nice resin in the kit but matching up the parts was a real battle.

 

Having said that, 

2 hours ago, Pin said:

After all, they are short run kits and one should expect tougher challenge. 

I understand this, and I have more experience with short run kits now, so maybe the second one will be a bit easier 🤞

 

AW

[Pin]

8 hours ago, Andwil said:

Mirage III

To the best of my knowledge Amodel does not have Mirages in their catalogue. It must be Modelsvit

[TonyOD]

9 hours ago, Andwil said:

The plastic was incredibly thick and hard to work with.

 

This is my experience too. It's a bit weird in that the parts are really nicely moulded if you can work through all the dross that is attached to them, they're all very rough around the edges. It reminds of something that Michelangelo is reputed to have said, that the statue is already fully formed inside the block of marble and his job was just to get rid of the surplus bits (cuz him producing the renaissance masterpiece that is David and me knocking together a little plastic aeroplane are totally on a par...)

 

11 hours ago, Pin said:

they are short run kits and one should expect tougher challenge. 

 

I have a bit of experience with sort run kits (Special Hobby, MPM, Valom) but I haven't ever come across anyhting like this.

 

Still enjoying the build though. I feel like after this even the most challenging old Heller will be a doddle. I'm doing a new-toll Airfix P-40 for the Less Than A Tenner GB and that feels like by building Lego by comparison.

Edited May 17, 2021 by TonyOD

[Andwil]

15 hours ago, Pin said:

To the best of my knowledge Amodel does not have Mirages in their catalogue. It must be Modelsvit

My mistake.  I checked Scalemates (my stash is in storage at the moment), it is AML not A-Model.  Easy enough for my addled brain to mix up 

 

AW

[PeterB]

Hi guys,

 

I wonder how the Zvezda one compares - I was considering buying one after it first came out and at £30 it is not a bad price! It is one of 2 four engined bombers missing from my collection, the other being the Piaggio P 108 which is a lot more expensive.

 

Pete

Edited May 18, 2021 by PeterB

[ckw]

I have a Zvezda one waiting my attention, so I can't yet tell how it builds, but the sprues look superb with good engineering. I built their Pe-2 recently and found it to be one of the best kits I've ever built - superior, IMHO to the Tamiya Stormovik I built around the same time. Given the size of the beast, it appears to be fantastic value for money.

 

Cheers

 

Colin

[TonyOD]

5 hours ago, ckw said:

Given the size of the beast, it appears to be fantastic value for money.

 

Well the Amodel was the most I've ever spent on a kit, but it's certainly a lot of plastic for the money!

 

5 hours ago, PeterB said:

It is one of 2 four engined bombers missing from my collection, the other being the Piaggio P 108 which is a lot more expensive.

 

I've developed a bit of an interest in things with more than one prop lately and the Piaggio caught my eye. You're right though, pricey if you can get hold of one, or at least the Special Hobby kit is.

[Pin]

6 hours ago, PeterB said:

I wonder how the Zvezda one compares

 

Zvezda is a different league, major manufacturer whereas AModel is a short run. AModel kit was released several years earlier and represents different modification(s) 

[Pin]

17 hours ago, PeterB said:

It is one of 2 four engined bombers missing from my collection,

Do you mean 4 engine bombers used in WW2? Do you have TB-3, Farman 223, Nakajima G5N2 and B-32?

[TonyOD]

On 5/18/2021 at 2:11 PM, PeterB said:

It is one of 2 four engined bombers missing from my collection

 

Incidentally, the Pe-8 was originally conceived as a five bomber, the fifth being inside the fuselage... however they never got round to adding it to the prototype so it never made it onto the production model.

[Pin]

4 minutes ago, TonyOD said:

 

Incidentally, the Pe-8 was originally conceived as a five bomber, the fifth being inside the fuselage... however they never got round to adding it to the prototype so it never made it onto the production model.

 

Well, not quite so. The "fifth" engine was actually a supercharger to increase operational ceiling and was installed in early production machines 

[TonyOD]

3 minutes ago, Pin said:

The "fifth" engine was actually a supercharger to increase operational ceiling

 

Sounds like an engine to me. 😉

[Pin]

1 minute ago, TonyOD said:

 

Sounds like an engine to me. 😉

 

Yes but it was not the same engine that drove props. I looked it up, 2 prototypes and 5 production machines were equipped with it

[TonyOD]

1 minute ago, Pin said:

 

Yes but it was not the same engine that drove props. I looked it up, 2 prototypes and 5 production machines were equipped with it

 

Sure, it didn't drive props, but it was a powerplant. A Klimov-100, which was a license-built Hispano-Suiza 12Y. I looked it up.

 

Thanks for the info on the prototypes though.

[Whirly]

On 5/18/2021 at 9:25 PM, Pin said:

 

Zvezda is a different league, major manufacturer whereas AModel is a short run. AModel kit was released several years earlier and represents different modification(s) 

 

This is interesting, I often wondered how difficult would be building a polar plane starting from the much more buildable Zvezda TB-7 kit (radial engines) apart from the obvious lack of specific decals.

Could you please be more specific about AModel's kit modifications?

@TonyOD Apologies for the thread drift, you must be applauded for tackling such a difficult kit!

[TonyOD]

23 minutes ago, Whirly said:

Apologies for the thread drift, you must be applauded for tackling such a difficult kit!

No worries, and thanks. Next time I decide to do a Pe-8 I’m going to scratch build it. It’ll be easier.

[Pin]

 

51 minutes ago, Whirly said:

I often wondered how difficult would be building a polar plane starting from the much more buildable Zvezda TB-7 kit (radial engines)

Probably easier than building AModel, although personally I don't think AModel is too hard to build

 

53 minutes ago, Whirly said:

Could you please be more specific about AModel's kit modifications?

 

Simply speaking, there were Pe-8s with radial and liquid cooled engines, AModel produced radial versions, Zvezda offers both ( + VIP transport version tool )

Reality is a bit more complicated as there was quite a zoo of different engines and each of the planes built was somewhat unique; Zvezda kits represent a "compilation" of features. as such it does not accurately represent any of the planes built. 

[TonyOD]

Quick update:

 

The interior is done and I'm ready to close her up. I added detail to the various instrument panels using little blobs of paint on the end of a cocktail stick. It's rather crude but it's all I've got.

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile those wings I said were done almost a fortnight ago... weren't. There are these things that wrap around the engine nacelles, three parts per engine (plus the air intakes on top), and the fit was very poor. Not only that but the whole thing seemed out of kilter by about ten degrees so some surgery was required. Cue yet more filler. 

 

 

The landing lights were interesting. For each one there's an internal lens and an external cover. According to the instructions the internal lenses are more-or-less glued to thin air. I walled them in (Milliput backed up with bits of sprue glued inside the wings) and then painted the inners grey. The problem I'd created myself was that now the external covers wouldn't go flush with the wings, so I had to drill/dremel quite large holes to house the lenses. Once I'd sorted that I lined the lenses with aluminium foil, and put the covers over the top. The fit was still pretty lousy so I sanded and micromeshed everything flush. the result isn't perfect but should look alright with some careful masking before I paint it.

 

 

Finally, there's a large antenna on the nose that wouldn't have a prayer of staying put with a tiny butt joint alone, I figured I'd melt some fuse wire into it to act as an anchor but it didn't go well. There's a second, spare antenna that I can adapt for the job, I think I'll just drill a hole of the required size and glue it in.

 

 

Onward...

 

[Pin]

I should have probably mentioned this earlier

 

 

But it will not be visible anyway  

 

 

[Whirly]

On 5/19/2021 at 11:33 PM, Pin said:

Zvezda kits represent a "compilation" of features. as such it does not accurately represent any of the planes built. 

Great tip, I will keep this in my mind when I decide for a buid!

Thank you