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Tupolev G-1 Polar Transport [Mikro-Mir 1:72] - Complete


Alex

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Nice! Always had an interest in early soviet civil aviation. They had a cooperation with Germany, so Junkers designs were common in soviet aviation, both civil and military use. A lot of Junkers engeneering made it into soviet designs or used to be the base for further soviet developments.

 

Great work! Keep rolling!

- dutik

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3 minutes ago, dutik said:

 A lot of Junkers engeneering made it into soviet designs or used to be the base for further soviet developments.

 

Exactly - if you read the Wikipedia entry on this bird they point out specifically the Junkers J7/J9 as the pioneering all-metal designs that Tupolev was looking at when designing the G-1/TB-1.  This aircraft was also powered by a BMW engine (license-built in the USSR), so multiple sources of German engineering.

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Masking over that corrugated surface was a bear.  One the wings I ended up slitting the tape on each side of each of the couple dozen major ribs so I could press the tape down square into the corners, then patching the slits with masking fluid.  The blue color was a total guess - the instructions just say "blue", and I'm pretty sure there's no period color photography out there on the interwebs.

 

pmtYwhF6j

 

I used the silhouette to make a mask for the vertical tail

 

pmq622DUj

 

Not bad overall.

 

pm9JmL0dj

 

Next up I've got masks cut for the national insignia and registration numbers.  Conveniently the numerals and letters are sized to fit between the main ribs on the wings, which should hopefully make masking easier.

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As I work on this I am reminded that had I chosen the ski-equipped Soviet Army version, I'd have four red stars to paint and that would be it...

 

pnIemwrkj

 

pmBXezdJj

 

Of course the flipside is that I can't IMAGINE trying to get decals of this size to settle acceptably on a surface like this.  Having the silhouette machine seems essential to getting any kind of a reasonable result.  I hope that the few small decals that I will need to use for this scheme can be persuaded by a local gloss coat and a lot of Micro Sol.

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Got the numbers sprayed.  The vinyl masks *barely* wanted to stick to the corrugated surface, especially on the (curved) sides.  Had to burnish them down hard and then immediately spray.  Still a few little spots of overspray, but not terrible.  I figure in reality they probably were spraying these things with cardboard or sheetmetal templates, which over a corrugated surface was going to produce some overspray anyways (neat rationalization there, huh?).

pm9rIt8Fj

 

pmeYsnN7j

 

poWzgTFwj

 

Next up, trying to get a few decals to work.

Edited by Alex
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10 hours ago, Jennings Heilig said:

Dayum!!  That looks fantastic!  Mikro Mir has some really nice stuff (formerly known as Amodel).  They’ve really upped their game.


Your masking is amazing!

 

8 hours ago, Out2gtcha said:

Wow, really amazing work with the masks, as I'm very familiar with how prone they are to bleeding.

Well done!

Thanks guys.  I’m still climbing the learning curve on the whole DIY masking thing, but it’s an amazing tool.  Being able to paint stuff like this rather than having to rely on decals is a game changer for sure.

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