Dear Santa, for Xmas I would like............

[eng]

I know South Front had one of these out earlier this year but I was in Jamiesons in Glasgow this morning and saw this - http://www.scale-rotors.com/news-reviews/z...mi-26-halo-7270 and I just HAD to have a look in the rather huge box!

I'd already purchased earlier in the year a Tu-154 from Zvezda and was really impressed with the quality of the moulds. The Mil-26 "Halo" is awesome, a beautifully detailed interior, cockpit, both main and tail rotors are superb, the main rotors are moulded on 'bent' sprues to simulate the droop of the blades. Cargo and access doors can be left open or closed, and there are 4 nicely moulded crew figures.

There's only 2 decal options an all white UN machine (anyone whose read "Joint Force Harrier" will know what I mean), and a Russian camo machine, but apparently Begemot are to produce a sheet with plenty more options.

Anyway to get back to the point, after having had a good look at Revells C-17, Airfix's 1/48 PR.9 and all the other nice new arrivals in the shop.....I asked the guy's to put a "Halo" aside for me til Xmas!! My lovely wife has already offered to get it for me for Xmas . Just think of the diorama you could build with this beastie.......I don't really build choppers either.

Here's a linky to some sprue shots -

http://scalemodels.ru/modules/myarticles/a...oryid_1272.html

Anyone already got one, or taken a shine to this?

Looking forward to Xmas!!

Eng

[Seamus]

Looks lush, and I reckon in 1/72 must be around the size of herc, so get some shelf space ready

I have a sneaky suspicion Revell are releasing the same moulds, which will probably be a bit cheaper. May well be tempted by one myself

[eng]

Yeah, read somewhere Revell are to re-release it in March 09.

Don't think I could hold out that long, not now I've seen one!!

Eng

[Stebos]

Mine showed up in the post this morning, looks a real nice kit. Though sweet looking sprues is only 1/2 the tale of course.

[eng]

I found the fit of the Zvezda Tu-154 to be superb, the only problem I still have is that one wing has the perfect anhedral, but unfortunately the other is almost a perfectly match but in dihedral!!! I'm hoping a pan of very hot water and a bit of patience will sort the problem out.

I was totally blown away by the Mil-26 yesterday (in case you hadn't noticed!) and I found the Begemot decal sheet thats still to be released last night on t'internet -

http://begemotdecals.ru/showpos.php?〈=2&id=57

Stebos, Will be interested to see how you get on with your Mil-26, are you starting it straight away, or is it a future build?

Rgds

Eng

[Stebos]

I'm waiting on seeing the Begemot options, though a UN Halo is *very* tempting.

New kits are always tempting, but I've got 4 part built right now so I'm not planning to start this soon. Looking more closely at the kit, the windshield is a curious shape. It's about 1cm too wide and much, much flatter that it should be.

It looks like it *does* fit, but it needs to be flexed back into the correct curve by pinching in both sides about 5-6mm or so. It's thin enough to do that without snapping it, but it looks tricky to keep it cemented down as there's a strong pressure to restraighten.

No way will canopy glue work, CA is obviously out as well. A fast setting hot glue might work well. Might be possible to reshape it with hot water, or pre-score lines into the inner frame to make it less springy.

[eng]

Looking more closely at the kit, the windshield is a curious shape. It's about 1cm too wide and much, much flatter that it should be.

Flippin eck, ONE whole CM too wide!!! How the heck did that slip past QC! I wonder if the aftermarket brigade will maybe produce a vac-form replacement. I hope there's a relatively easy fix, I'm afraid thats the sort of thing that would put me off buying a kit at £20......well, normally, in this case I might still cave in and get one.

Thank's for the heads up, will be interesting to see if this is in all kits and how modellers will get around this problem.

Have you seen any artwork of the Begemot sheet, I've seen the sheets themselves but not artwork for each option?

Eng

[Stebos]

Only seen the sheets, I'm waiting on the actual .pdf schemes before deciding if I'm going aftermarket.

I took some pics of the canopy bluetacked on:

As you can see it's spread out. Not sure if it's an error just a side effect of the plastic used. Unlike usual canopy plastic it has a lot of spring in it.

It *does* fit like a glove, but only when bent around! You'll need a good strong bond to keep it in place. The tami tape wasn't strong enough to pin it back.

Edited December 7, 2008 by Stebos

[eng]

Wow thats quite a different profile altogether. I wonder if carefully cutting the windshield into 5 separate panes and gluing them into place individually then filling the gaps where the pillars would be will be an alternative solution? Window's 2 and 4 (counted from either side) are sliding DV windows that open outwards and aft, these could be posed open if the helo is to be modelled on the ground. The panes are thick in real life to, check out the 1st pic here -

http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/mi-26.php

Thank's for posting the pic's, gives me time to think of the best fix for this,

Rgds,

Eng

[Richard M]

I've got the South Front Mil Mi26, mainly because I didn't realise the Zvezda one would be out so soon. The SF is agricultural to say the least, the body being in multiple sections, it does come with Aeroflot decals, which is the scheme I'm interested in. Graham has a Zvezda one on order for me, so it will be interesting to see how the two kits stack up side by side. That Zvezda canopy looks like it will be interesting to fix, I wonder if it will be sorted before Revell box it, as I can't see too many Revell customers being happy about a fit like that!

Best

Rich

[Stebos]

I wonder if carefully cutting the windshield into 5 separate panes and gluing them into place individually then filling the gaps where the pillars would be will be an alternative solution? Window's 2 and 4 (counted from either side) are sliding DV windows that open outwards and aft, these could be posed open if the helo is to be modelled on the ground.

I think that's probably the way to go. Cut free all 5 windows, file down the edges a mm or so at an angle and it should work. As you say a little bit of scratching for a hinge and you can pose the windows open. The canopy thickness seems to scale.

Another thing to try would be to scribe lines into the inner frame, if you scrape out 1/2 the canopy thickness it should weaken the angles enough to bend it round without it springing back.

More puzzling than annoying really.

[Nev]

Good Lord that canopy is horrendous!!

I was wondering if scoring down the framework would help in bending it round? Might need to put a smidgin of filler in the seams when done but it should be easier (and less risk of catastrophic windscreen failure!)

I've not seen the Begemot artwork yet, I just hope their decal quality is better - I have a couple of their decal sheets and I'm not overly enamoured with them.

Edited December 8, 2008 by Nev

[Old VG 33]

Only seen the sheets, I'm waiting on the actual .pdf schemes before deciding if I'm going aftermarket.

As you can see it's spread out. Not sure if it's an error just a side effect of the plastic used. Unlike usual canopy plastic it has a lot of spring in it.

It *does* fit like a glove, but only when bent around! You'll need a good strong bond to keep it in place. The tami tape wasn't strong enough to pin it back.

Hi

I had the same fitting trouble with my Zvezda Petlyakov Pe 8 and used CA glue.

Patrick

[mghbones]

I started the Zvezda Mi-26 this weekend and it's a terrific kit. My copy has no issue with the cockpit windscreen. It is perfectly shaped.