Bruce Roberts Posted February 19, 2007 Share Posted February 19, 2007 Hello, Here's a progress report on my 1/72 scale scratchbuild of an An-124 and an An-225. Today I hit a major milestone (in my mind, at least) - all of the wing structural components are complete and I have built the first wing spar box. The fuselage is being made from 0.040" cross-sections attached to two full-length profiles, and then I'm planning on planking it with 0.040" planking. The wings have a core 0.060" pattern with ribs made from 0.040" plastic. They'll be planked as well with 0.040" sheet. I experimented with thinner sheeting on a test piece, and didn't like the way it bowed in. Appropriate planking, profile, etc. thinkness was taken into account in creating the fuselage profiles and wing ribs. The wings are supported by a Rube-Goldberg assortment of brass and plastic spars. I'm trying to make the wings removable for ease of transport and storage while I work out appropriate clearance for display from the wife (I have been told in no uncertain terms that these will NOT be displayed on the dining room table, which is currently the only place I have space to display them - I may have to build something for display). Here are some pictures - they're not very exciting, but at least I'm making some progress. The An-124 fuselage profiles and cross sections laid out (the yardstick and the 1/72 scale Bf.109 are for scale): The An-124 in the jigs while the spar box is drying (the clamping is just to hold everything tight - the wings can be detached once it's dry - I'm also going to reinforce various parts of the box with additional plastic and epoxy after I take the wings off): The spar box itself. The brass spars in the wings slide into larger brass pieces in the box, which are in turn inside larger plastic tubes. This way I can use plastic glue for strength to attach the plastic tubes. I don't trust superglue or epoxy in shear mode - I've popped one too many CA glue joints to want that to happen to an internal structure like this. The An-124 and one-half of the An-225 fuselage, with the Bf.109 for scale again. I only have space to jig one plane at a time, so the An-225 will be done later (and it's more complicated because each wing has two pieces to do): The bottom of the An-225 wing. The outer and inner wing sections are just placed together at this point - the outer section will be removable while the inner section will be permanently attached to the fuselage: The top of the same wing: That's it for now. Next steps are to reinforce the An-124 spar box, and to construct the spar boxes (one in the fuselage and one at the edge of the inner wing component) for the An-225. Then I can start sheeting both the wings and the fuselage (and constructing the empennages - these will be more traditional plastic over balsa cores), and working on the engines, landing gear, cockpit, .... the fun never ends. Thanks for looking, Bruce Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Platypus Posted February 19, 2007 Share Posted February 19, 2007 That's insane, but nice. But insane... But nice. :lol: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
janman Posted February 19, 2007 Share Posted February 19, 2007 What can you say... That's gonna be huge! Nice engineering there too. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mycole Posted February 19, 2007 Share Posted February 19, 2007 ambitious project!! looking very nice so far!! looking forward to more progress pics. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted February 19, 2007 Share Posted February 19, 2007 Wow! You're both artist and engineer!! As far as where to put it...well, at least it isn't 1/48! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Girolamo LORUSSO Posted February 19, 2007 Share Posted February 19, 2007 Wonderfull job sir! great modelling job, continue please. we can learn again! bye Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Flankerman Posted February 19, 2007 Share Posted February 19, 2007 What, you're not having a hollow fuselage with internal detail and an opening nose visor ?? It's looking great Bruce - keep up the good work. Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bruce Roberts Posted February 19, 2007 Author Share Posted February 19, 2007 What, you're not having a hollow fuselage with internal detail and an opening nose visor ?? It's looking great Bruce - keep up the good work. Ken Thanks everyone for the nice comments. I did actually think about doing an interior, but only for about a second. I think I would truly go insane if I tried to do that, rather than just appearing insane. Bruce Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MickeyThickey Posted February 19, 2007 Share Posted February 19, 2007 What, you're not having a hollow fuselage with internal detail and an opening nose visor ?? I guess some people just aren't up for a challenge. Will be following this one eagerly. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 I guess some people just aren't up for a challenge. :D No pleasing some folks! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
David Walker Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 Simply amazing engineering. Those will be very impressive. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AnthonyWan Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 ....Are my eyes decieving me?!! :blink: 1/72???!?!!? This is gonna be a sweet thread B) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sebastijan Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 Whoo, that's gonna be huge... my modelling table was too small even for 1/144 Ruslan :o Quote Link to post Share on other sites
desaix Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 TO Bruce Roberts hi I can see that you´re working on the same insane project as me (I´m doing 1/72 Ruslan but I have bad drawings so I choose the method of buying revell an-124 and according to this model to doublesize all parts) I always wanted to build AN-225 with BURAN shuttle but I couldn´t find any good drawings of AN-225 in 1/144 or 1/72. Do you have some useful web page with these or how do you work??? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
neu Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 Really ambitious project, can't wait to see it! I remember someone was producing these in this scale with short run vacuformed kits, but I didn't hear about them for a while! Good luck, and keep us updated! Greetings, neu www.deploymentproductions.com Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 I think it's the actual engineering involved that's as amazing as anything. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bruce Roberts Posted February 20, 2007 Author Share Posted February 20, 2007 TO Bruce Robertshi I can see that you´re working on the same insane project as me (I´m doing 1/72 Ruslan but I have bad drawings so I choose the method of buying revell an-124 and according to this model to doublesize all parts) I always wanted to build AN-225 with BURAN shuttle but I couldn´t find any good drawings of AN-225 in 1/144 or 1/72. Do you have some useful web page with these or how do you work??? The plans I have for the An-124 were given to me by Chris Rodak - he was the proprietor of Heavykits, and had planned to do kits of the An-124 and An-225 but dropped the idea after making Spruce Goose kits. He gave me two very nice An-124 drawings in .tif format - they're very detailed and scale up to 1/72 well (I think they're from the Ukrainian magazine Aviatsiya y Vremya). The An-225 plans I have are also in .tif format, but are not as detailed as the An-124 plans. I have (had? - my home computer died this morning and I don't know if it's recoverable) a software program called IsiPlot (used by the RC modeling community) that allows me to scale .tif files appropriately and print them out on a normal printer as a bunch of pages that can be taped together to make a good to-scale drawing. I printed out master blueprints and a bunch of copies that I could cut up to use as templates for various sections of the plane. For the An-225 itself, the scaled up drawings still aren't great so I supplemented them by matching to the An-124 drawings where appropriate, and using the An-124 fuselage profiles and cross sections where I could. I would be happy to send you what files I have if you're interested - it may take me a few days to get to it depending on whether my computer is recoverable or not (I have backups, but I may need to replace the computer first). Feel free to send me a PM with your email info and I'll send you what I've got. Bruce Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Synthale Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 This is one to watch! Good luck on this one! :) For the rest I can only :lol: Grtz, Sven Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TheFlyingDutchman Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 Wow. That's just incredible! Do you already know which liveries you're going to make, and how? Self-printed decals? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Su-34 Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 Oh my god... You did not... How...? :) Subscribing to this thread and looking at each pic. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 Yep, this one's different, isn't it? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bruce Roberts Posted February 23, 2007 Author Share Posted February 23, 2007 Wow. That's just incredible! Do you already know which liveries you're going to make, and how? Self-printed decals? I want to do the An-124 in Antonov house colors: light blue-grey bottom, white top, and pale blue tail (see http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1160389/M/ for an example). Most of the livery I should be able to airbrush with careful masking. For the rest of the markings, I think it'll have to be self-printed decals - haven't worked out exactly how I'll do that yet but I'll figure something out - I've done some small decals myself but I wasn't totally happy with them. They were on InkJet paper and tended to run unless I put a large sealer coat on, and that made the decals look too thick when applied. I'll probably try to find a place where I can do laser printing or dye sublimation (ALPS-like). For the An-225, I'm planning on doing it in the most recent markings - not that there's that much difference from the original colors, but the fuselage advertising is different. Here's a recent image: http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1121999/M/. Bruce Quote Link to post Share on other sites
reddeathdrinker Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 Holy Mother of all that is Huge! I could understand an An-124, but a -225 at the same time? You Sir, have my shock and awe! I thought my 1/48th MH-53 was big, but you have me gobsmacked....I'll be watching for updates!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bruce Roberts Posted March 4, 2007 Author Share Posted March 4, 2007 Here's an update - maybe nothing really exciting except to me, but all of the wing spar structures are complete for both the An-124 and the An-225. After static ground tests with the An-124, I decided to seriously beef up the structures surrounding the brass tubing. The tubing and direct connections held fine, but the fuselage profiles and cross sections would distort when the wing was attached, leading to significant wing droop. It's much better with the added reinforcements. The An-225 wings. The inner section will be permanently fixed to the fuselage, while the outer section will be removable (matching the removable section of the An-124 wing). The inboard leading edge of the outer wings will get cleaned up later - they've got a projection that matches the An-124 that I just haven't cleaned up yet (I made all the outer wings using the An-124 plans). Closeup of the inner An-225 spar connection, showing the extra tubing wrapped around the spar plus extra structure attached to the profile and cross-sections: The outer An-225 spar connection. I'll probably add some epoxy here for additional structural strength - here I think that would help because the epoxy will sandwich the wing, rather than just adhering to the plastic (I've popped epoxy and superglue joints before and I really don't want that to happen here, so I'm using plastic cement for most of the structural strength): The underside of the An-124 wing connection. There are three ceramic magnets on each wing and inside the attachment point. This worked out really well - they hold the wing pretty tight to the fuselage, but not so tight I can't take it off for transport, so I think I'll be able to get an acceptably small joint line with the tubing inserts and the magnets. The An-225 magnets still need to be installed. With this picture you can also see the reinforcements added to the An-124 spar box. The two skeletons out of the closet and onto the dining room table: Next up, I have some wing rib corrections to do for the An-225 (the wing plans I have for it are poor, and now that I've got everything together I can see that I need to make some adjustments - doing it now will save me a lot of puttying later), then I'll start planking the wings and working on the empennage. Thanks for looking, Bruce Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kaburaya Posted March 4, 2007 Share Posted March 4, 2007 :lol: What more can be said, these are huge! Enjoying your build. Peter Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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