Rui Silva Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 I am a big fan of Soviet machinery and could not resist buying Takom’s 1/144 scale Lun-class ekranoplan (Russian generic designation for wing in ground effect vehicle). Initial impressions are good as every sprue is individually bagged and surface detail looks decent for the scale. Further study of the Lun showed up some faults: - The take-off/landing hidro-ski on the bottom of the hull is totally absent, details of this are very hard to come by looking at pictures of the surviving Lun and Spasatel, can anybody please help? - The 2 defensive turrets have somewhat overscale twin cannons each, this is incorrect as the Lun was equipped with the same UKU-9K-502 turret as the Ilyushin Il-76M transport, each equiped with two twin-barrelled GSh-23 23mm cannons; - The proposed colour schemes (1 for the single operational Lun and 2 “what-if” schemes) are each represented in a half A4 leaflet, with insuficcient detail due to the very small size of the illustrations and worse than that, the scheme for the operational Lun is incorrect as it shows the wings painted in grey top and bottom when in reality the whole of the bottom surface, top of the flaps and a triangular section between the outboard floats and the top of flaps were painted in blue; also the dark blue waterline stripe (hull, floats and wing top surface) is not represented and absent from the decals. Cutting and sanding the main components showed great fit of the parts, the exception so far is the left horizontal stabilizer that needs some slight filing (in the area marked in red) to fit in the recess in the fin. And here’s the work so far with nothing glued yet, stay tuned! 16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billn53 Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 I’ve been curious about this kit, so will be following with interest 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyOD Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 Wow. Is that an actual, real-life aircraft, or something out of the Avengers? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rui Silva Posted January 10, 2022 Author Share Posted January 10, 2022 17 minutes ago, TonyOD said: Wow. Is that an actual, real-life aircraft, or something out of the Avengers? Technically it's not an aircraft as it's classed by the International Maritime Organization as a ship but this is disputed, better call it a vehicle and leave it at that! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyOD Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 36 minutes ago, Rui Silva said: Technically it's not an aircraft as it's classed by the International Maritime Organization as a ship but this is disputed, better call it a vehicle and leave it at that! Ah, so in that picture it isn't taking off, it travels along the surface of the water? Amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dukdalf Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 Ah, the "Monster of the Caspian Sea". Fascinating machine and a wonderful choice for a build report. I'll follow your progress with interest. If I'm not mistaken the use of ground effect is the reason for the IMO to classify 'ekranoplans' as ships. Much the same argument could be made for calling them aircraft, it seems. Or flying boats. Would you perhaps have a link to the disputes you refer to? Enjoy the build! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michou Posted January 11, 2022 Share Posted January 11, 2022 Rui, Have you seen this set of photos? https://igor113.livejournal.com/51213.html Also, try searching with the following words - Лунь экраноплан Mike 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roland Pulfrew Posted January 11, 2022 Share Posted January 11, 2022 21 hours ago, TonyOD said: Ah, so in that picture it isn't taking off, it travels along the surface of the water? Amazing. Not quite Tony, it starts on the water’s surface but once a critical speed is reached it gets properly airborne. Generally they cruise at around 20 - 50 feet and once on the cushion, they are quite economical. Boeing had a design concept for a WiGE freighter sometime ago, Google: Boeing Pelican. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moaning dolphin Posted January 11, 2022 Share Posted January 11, 2022 Love these planes ..... errr ships ...... vehicles! This one caught my eye when released so will follow along for inspiration! Bob 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rui Silva Posted January 11, 2022 Author Share Posted January 11, 2022 4 hours ago, Michou said: Rui, Have you seen this set of photos? https://igor113.livejournal.com/51213.html Also, try searching with the following words - Лунь экраноплан Mike Hi Mike, Thank you very much for the link, these photos are the best "walk-around" I've ever seen and this picture is the only one I know that shows the front of the hidro-ski. It seems that Takom has skipped quite a few details of the Lun's complicated hull shape, I'll just try to depict the hidro-ski using a few photos and this amazing thread at BM, unfortunately stalled for the moment: 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rui Silva Posted January 11, 2022 Author Share Posted January 11, 2022 On 1/10/2022 at 9:41 PM, dukdalf said: If I'm not mistaken the use of ground effect is the reason for the IMO to classify 'ekranoplans' as ships. Much the same argument could be made for calling them aircraft, it seems. Or flying boats. Would you perhaps have a link to the disputes you refer to? Enjoy the build! Hi Dukdalf, https://www.imo.org/en/OurWork/Safety/Pages/WIG.aspx "WIG craft are categorized according to the following types: type A: a craft which is certified for operation only in ground effect. Within prescribed operational limitations, the structure and/or the equipment of such a craft should exclude any technical possibility to exceed the flight altitude over the maximum vertical extent of ground effect; type B: a craft which is certified for main operation in ground effect and to temporarily increase its altitude outside ground effect to a limited height, but not exceeding 150 m above the surface, in case of emergency and for overcoming obstacles; and type C : a craft which is certified for the same operation as type B; and also for limited operation at altitude exceeding 150 m above the surface, in case of emergency and for overcoming obstacles. ... IMO and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) have agreed that any WIG craft capable of sustained flight outside the influence of ground effect should also be subject to the rules and regulations of ICAO. Other craft, including those with limited "fly-over" capability, should be covered only by the maritime regulatory regime." It seems the problem resides in the national and international regulatory agencies interpretations of certificationof WIGE vehicles as ships or as aircraft, like this: https://www.revolution.aero/editorial-1/2019/8/29/exclusive-uk-at-odds-with-eu-and-us-over-classification-of-wing-in-ground-effect-craft Now please don't tell me I'm a ship modeller!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dukdalf Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 Thank you for the information, Rui Silva. Interesting stuff. And no, I'll not call you a shipbuilder. The IMO may do so, but seeing the people at Wigetworks baptised their craft "Airfish" I can only conclude they're not certain either as to what exactly it is. Looking forward to your next reports on the build of the beast called Lun. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flankerman Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 On 1/10/2022 at 9:41 PM, dukdalf said: Ah, the "Monster of the Caspian Sea". The 'Lun' (Hen Harrier) wasn't the Caspian Sea Monster - that was the much bigger 'KM' (Korabl Maket - Test Ship).... When satellite images first appeared, American journalists dubbed it the 'Caspian Sea Monster', so the Soviets started also calling it the 'Kaspiisk Monstr' Some great walkround pics of the Lun can be found here :- https://igor113.livejournal.com/51213.html?page=1 Good luck with your build Rui ...... I built the Anigrand resin Lun some time ago.... My builds of the KM, Lun, A-90 and Bartini 14M1P are here :- http://www.flankers-site.co.uk/model_ekranoplans.html Happy Ekranoplanning !! Ken 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rui Silva Posted January 16, 2022 Author Share Posted January 16, 2022 3 hours ago, Flankerman said: Some great walkround pics of the Lun can be found here :- https://igor113.livejournal.com/51213.html?page=1 Good luck with your build Rui ...... I built the Anigrand resin Lun some time ago.... Happy Ekranoplanning !! Hi Ken, Thanks for the link and for the kind words, your models are amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rui Silva Posted January 16, 2022 Author Share Posted January 16, 2022 Hi all, I haven´t done much work on my model, just checking photos against the kit and it seems that Takom has taken some "artistic shortcuts" regarding accuracy. The Lun's bottom hull is quite complex in shape and Takom modelled the rear part of the hull's bottom rounded when it should have the "V" shape almost to the rear gun turret; I will try to correct this simply by sanding. Also the "blast fairings" are depicted in the kit as vertical panels when they should be rectangular "tiles", compare photos of the kit and the actual Lun: That's all for today, stay tuned. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasper dog Posted January 19, 2022 Share Posted January 19, 2022 Hi, great project and information! Just about to start one of these for a GB, doubt I'll go to your lengths regarding accuracy but hopefully I'll be able to learn something from this build and take onboard some of your suggestions and recommendations. Good luck Darryl 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bentwaters81tfw Posted January 19, 2022 Share Posted January 19, 2022 You will also need to file/sand the top surface of the 2 gunners glazing positions, parts F12 & F13, they are a very tight fit. The canopy glazing F9 is a bit of a 'stretch fit' at the back, but finger pressure while the MEK flashed off was enough to hold it. I haven't re-scribed the blast panels, they have too few vertical lines anyway. The worst bit is cleaning up the seams on the Moskit tubes, and getting the horizontal stab fitting well. Mine is in the paint shop, only the detail work and decals to go. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Riot Posted January 19, 2022 Share Posted January 19, 2022 Imagine being on a little boat and that thing comes towards you! I wish the Royal Navy had a couple of squadrons of these. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bentwaters81tfw Posted January 19, 2022 Share Posted January 19, 2022 45 minutes ago, Lord Riot said: Imagine being on a little boat and that thing comes towards you! I wish the Royal Navy had a couple of squadrons of these. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bentwaters81tfw Posted January 19, 2022 Share Posted January 19, 2022 Use decal solution, these decals grab and don't want to slide. Luckily they are few in number. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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