Alex Posted December 26, 2023 Share Posted December 26, 2023 I decided that I wanted to do something quick and not terribly involved in between finishing the last GB and starting my next complicated quarterscale fast jet project (coming soon to a post near you). Fortunately I have a number of short run kits of obscure commercial air subjects laying around (all in 1:144, since I'm kind of OCD about sticking to a single scale per type of aircraft). The An-24 is a twin-turboprop light transport capable of carrying up to 50 passengers. It was designed in the late 50s and more than 1000 units were ultimately built, seeing both military and civilian service in literally dozens of countries. Almost 100 aircraft are still in use today, including a few with the Ukrainian airline AeroSvit, which keeps them close to home, as Antonov is headquartered in Kyiv. Amodel's kit is a pretty simple and approximate one, but that's fine. The goal (for me) of a project like this is something that goes together quickly, with the goal being getting the shape right and a nice coat of paint/decal job, so it looks good from "shelf distance". Little or no scratch detailing is in the cards. There are a few photos of these aircraft kicking around the interwebs to provide perspective on how to paint them. The kit, as noted, is basic, and I'm making it more basic by painting the inside of the canopy black and ditching the simplistic cockpit parts. There are no canopy or window decals provided, so I will need to make my own canopy masks. I'll use the Crystal Klear trick for all of the cabin windows. To aid this, I thinned the slab-like walls of the fuselage moldings before gluing them together. Most of the major parts will be glued together with CA, since there will be a need to gap-fill everywhere. Here's a look at the "fit" of the wing section to the fuselage. Note that I also accidentally glued the front of the vertical stab a bit off the centerline (the front bit is slightly bent), but I don't care - it's difficult to take back off and at shelf distance under a coat of paint, you won't see that. To try and get those honking gaps filled in one go without covering the whole model with globs of CA, I masked around them before gluing up. I've actually progressed the model quite a bit beyond this point now, but neglected to take any photos before leaving to visit my dad in Albuquerque for a few days. So far I have the wing completely attached and blended in, and the engine nacelles built and smoothed out, ready to glue on. My goal is to finish this one up in the first few days of 2024, so I can park it on the airliner shelf and, duly refreshed, get into the first complicated build of the new year... Derek B, Landrotten Highlander, denders and 10 others 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgbooyv8 Posted December 27, 2023 Share Posted December 27, 2023 Hi Alex, Nice that you tackle an Amodel airliner here. You already encountered typical short run stuff. Amodel (and related brands like MikroMir, Avis, A&A etc.) improved significantly since their very rough beginnings, but are still short run kits. They have a lot of interesting subjects and I'm afraid many of their kits are present in my stash. Keep up the good work! cheers, Peter Alex and Martinnfb 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Ray Posted December 28, 2023 Share Posted December 28, 2023 On 12/26/2023 at 2:31 PM, Alex said: Note that I also accidentally glued the front of the vertical stab a bit off the centerline (the front bit is slightly bent), but I don't care - it's difficult to take back off and at shelf distance under a coat of paint, you won't see that.ted build of the new year... Just tell people the offset is to counteract the torque of the turboprops... Alex and Martinnfb 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scvrobeson Posted January 1 Share Posted January 1 I did a 1/72 version of this from A-Model probably 15 years ago, and the fit was about the same what you see here. Only difference with that one was that the fuselage was in 4 parts. Matt Alex and Martinnfb 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted January 2 Author Share Posted January 2 Getting there. The airframe is pretty close to being ready to paint. Al that's left to add are the main gear doors (thankfully closed, so you can't see the absence of an engine inside) and the turbine exhausts, which I felt compelled to re-make since the kit ones were just lumps of plastic. LSP_Kevin, Shoggz, Martinnfb and 7 others 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted January 4 Author Share Posted January 4 Here are the masks I designed for the cockpit windows. I have been remiss in remembering to take photos. I painted the whole thing with Mr Finishing Surfacer White 1500, then with White MRP. Then masked and sprayed the light gray areas with Mr Color 338. You will see in the above that I forgot that the tops of the horizontal stabs are also supposed to be gray; I've gone back and fixed that now. Derek B, LSP_Ray, scvrobeson and 8 others 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted January 4 Share Posted January 4 Nice progress, Alex. Kev Martinnfb, Out2gtcha and Alex 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted January 4 Share Posted January 4 4 minutes ago, LSP_Kevin said: Nice progress, Alex. X2! Super small, but very cool. Something you don't often see, I like that Alex and Martinnfb 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted January 4 Author Share Posted January 4 3 minutes ago, Out2gtcha said: X2! Super small, but very cool. Something you don't often see, I like that It's an enjoyable build, just the thing as a palate cleanser before the next big and complicated project. Martinnfb and Out2gtcha 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted January 5 Author Share Posted January 5 Wheels came out OK, for as small as they are... Lots of masking to do the anti-glare paint and the black areas on the sides of the engine nacelles. And fiddly masking on the props. Out2gtcha, Derek B, Landrotten Highlander and 7 others 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted January 7 Author Share Posted January 7 Wrapping up the painting. Looks a bit more uniform with a coat of clear gloss on it: Decals tonight if I have any energy left after shoveling the rest of today's snow... LSP_Kevin, Martinnfb, Derek B and 8 others 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 Great! Coming along swimmingly Martinnfb and Alex 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted January 9 Author Share Posted January 9 Some shots of the final product - partially taken during a zoom meeting, thus perched on my laptop... scvrobeson, Shoggz, Derek B and 6 others 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted January 9 Share Posted January 9 That's come out very nicely indeed, Alex! What did the other Zoomers think of it? Kev Martinnfb and Alex 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrish Posted January 10 Share Posted January 10 That’s a beautiful job and an attractive aircraft! is it me or does that aircraft look a lot like a Fokker F-27 Friendship Martinnfb and Alex 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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