[Soviet/Russian] Antonov An-14 -- Build Thread

[Awry_Chaos]

For my next project I have decided to do the Soviet/Russian aircraft, the Antonov An-14 'Pchelka' (Russian: Пчёлка, ''Little Bee''). NATO Reporting name: Clod. It was first flown in the late 1950s and produced 1965 to 1972 with a production of 332 aircraft.

For more information please visit the Wikipedia page:

Antonov An-14 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

You may also visit the Russian encyclopedia page to learn more about the aircraft:

Уголок неба ¦ Антонов Ан-14 Пчелка

Also, if you wish to obtain some nice 3-view and sectional drawings you may go here:

Уголок неба ¦ Чертежи

Уголок неба ¦ Чертежи

The model I will be constructing was designed by Kancho Iliev and may downloaded here as a free model:

Home

phobby.com

Kancho has designed several other models which look to be good builds and he has graciously decided to make them available for no-cost. He accepts donations if you find his offerings of value.

For this model I am thinking of using no tabs and seeing how that goes. I'm also going to attempt to create actual windows for the aircraft using plastic film and have rotating propellers. I printed out two copies of the templates in case I make any mistakes and for extra parts. Kancho has some excellent build photographs on his site that I will be referring to as needed.

Thank you for your interest and watching this build!

 

[zathros]

Oh yeah!! You've got my attention, I love planes like this. I was a pilot of single engine aircraft for a while, and worked on planes for a few years. My personal favorite was the Piper Cherokee Warrior. Like this one. I did some crazy stuff in that plane (one like the one below). An excellent handling aircraft.

 

[Awry_Chaos]

Oh yeah!! You've got my attention, I love planes like this. I was a pilot of single engine aircraft for a while, and worked on planes for a few years. My personal favorite was the Piper Cherokee Warrior. Like this one. I did some crazy stuff in that plane (one like the one below). An excellent handling aircraft.

View attachment 190095

Nice plane! It would make a nice paper model. Someday I'd like to get my pilot's license. What crazy stuff did you do?

 

[Awry_Chaos]

Oh yeah!! You've got my attention, I love planes like this. I was a pilot of single engine aircraft for a while, and worked on planes for a few years. My personal favorite was the Piper Cherokee Warrior. Like this one. I did some crazy stuff in that plane (one like the one below). An excellent handling aircraft.

View attachment 190095

Eventually I am going to do a whole force of Russian and Soviet aircraft.

 

[Awry_Chaos]

Cutting out pieces. The first page of parts has most of the delicate parts of the aircraft. The tiny little bits that tend to be tedious to cut out.

But we shall PERSEVERE... then PREVAIL!!!

 

[Awry_Chaos]

More pieces. Not fully cut out, but just in general. I am planning on replacing the ''blue'' windows with clear plastic ones to give more of an illusion of a real aircraft. I'm prepared to cut away the tabs and fashion my own internal ones, after being given some good advice and tips by Rhaven and Zathros. Thanks guys!

 

[Awry_Chaos]

Here's the front nose ''cone'' of the aircraft fully cut out and ready to be formed and glued together. I'm not too fond of the ''starburst'' pattern used but probably was the best design option considering the circumstances and constraints of the design problem. It probably will be tricky to glue but I think I can manage. I've seen this method used on a lot of models. With a decent repaint job one could make it almost invisible.

This is the first model where I've given up using tabs as defined by the pattern or template. It's also the first model where I'll be cutting most everything freehand instead of using a straight edge the majority of the time.

 

[zathros]

What gauge paper are you using? You could get away with 67 lb. stock, or 110 lb. stock for the skins, double up on the 110 lb. for the formers.

As far as what I did in the Cherokee, that I'll admit too, I used to try, as this plane is very resistance to this, to get the plane into flat spins and practice recovery, rolled it a few times and did a couple of loops, which the carburetor on this plane is not designed for (which I always thought was kind of dumb). I got to fly a Mooney 235, the only plane I drove that went so fast. You can stall one of those doing 235 mph (indicated) if the planes forward pitch is not set right as it has laminar flow wings. It was a little rocket, and the interior was car like. I also flew a Beech Baron, it has only one Yoke and you just pick it up and pass it to the other pilot. That plane was neat, but it's loading c.g. and the way it landed made me understand why it is called a "Doctor Killer", very sensitive to stalls. I also flew a Beechcraft Bonanza, with the V tail set up, called ruddervators, that was a really neat plane but you did not see to have the accuracy of a conventional aircraft. I was warned, and you should do this any ways, always have your feet on the rudder pedals, as those planes, if the piano hinges are lose of the ruddervators have been known to "give out". Supposedly that issue has been fixed, and I have not ever heard of that happening. The Mooney below is a spitting image of the one I flew. It had a pressurized cabin, felt like a Lexus inside, had a variable pitch prop, so you really had to watch the manifold pressure, and was a Rocket of an aircraft. The Beech Bonanza below looks like the one I used to fly also. The major drawback about these planes is the retractable landing gear, it only saves you maybe 10 to 20 knots at top speed, but one of them will fail you at some point. Kind of a "Ho-Hum" plane. I would never own a plane with retractable landing gear. Some of the Rans RV's kit planes sold perform these aircraft and have convention tricycle landing gear. IMHO.

 

[Rhaven Blaack]

It looks like you are off to a great start on this project!!!
I am looking forward to seeing how it turns out!!!

As for the nose section and how to deal with it. The best way that I have found is cut very thin strips of paper to use to help close the seams. You will also benefit from the use of a doming tool set (I have this particular set. You can find it at Harbor freight. It is a great asset for doing this kind of work.).

Use the domers to help with shaping the nose.

 

[mijob]

That's a nice introduction Awry. I use cake decoration tools.
I'm looking forward to your next potings.

 

[Awry_Chaos]

What gauge paper are you using? You could get away with 67 lb. stock, or 110 lb. stock for the skins, double up on the 110 lb. for the formers.

As far as what I did in the Cherokee, that I'll admit too, I used to try, as this plane is very resistance to this, to get the plane into flat spins and practice recovery, rolled it a few times and did a couple of loops, which the carburetor on this plane is not designed for (which I always thought was kind of dumb). I got to fly a Mooney 235, the only plane I drove that went so fast. You can stall one of those doing 235 mph (indicated) if the planes forward pitch is not set right as it has laminar flow wings. It was a little rocket, and the interior was car like. I also flew a Beech Baron, it has only one Yoke and you just pick it up and pass it to the other pilot. That plane was neat, but it's loading c.g. and the way it landed made me understand why it is called a "Doctor Killer", very sensitive to stalls. I also flew a Beechcraft Bonanza, with the V tail set up, called ruddervators, that was a really neat plane but you did not see to have the accuracy of a conventional aircraft. I was warned, and you should do this any ways, always have your feet on the rudder pedals, as those planes, if the piano hinges are lose of the ruddervators have been known to "give out". Supposedly that issue has been fixed, and I have not ever heard of that happening. The Mooney below is a spitting image of the one I flew. It had a pressurized cabin, felt like a Lexus inside, had a variable pitch prop, so you really had to watch the manifold pressure, and was a Rocket of an aircraft. The Beech Bonanza below looks like the one I used to fly also. The major drawback about these planes is the retractable landing gear, it only saves you maybe 10 to 20 knots at top speed, but one of them will fail you at some point. Kind of a "Ho-Hum" plane. I would never own a plane with retractable landing gear. Some of the Rans RV's kit planes sold perform these aircraft and have convention tricycle landing gear. IMHO.

View attachment 190099View attachment 190100

I'm using the 110 lb stock. I'll probably try the 67 lb paper at some point because I'd like something a little thinner than what I'm using, something similar to index cards. Also, I tried using coated copy paper in a past project which is a bit thicker than regular copy paper but it didn't work too well when I tried laminating it.

 

[zathros]

I tend to use 110 lb. for just about everything, but use dowels when forming radii, so no creases appear. I use .67 lb. also. If your printer uses Pigment Ink, you can do what's called water forming, buy using a surface with a radii that you need as a buck, and a sponge with water. The Moisture will soften the paper and allow you to get compound curves you couldn't get otherwise. The raddii can be the inside of a plastic sphere, or the outside, depending on what your doing. Try it sometime for the heck of it, youi'll be surprised what you can make. Works fantastic on small parts.

 

[Awry_Chaos]

I tend to use 110 lb. for just about everything, but use dowels when forming radii, so no creases appear. I use .67 lb. also. If your printer uses Pigment Ink, you can do what's called water forming, buy using a surface with a radii that you need as a buck, and a sponge with water. The Moisture will soften the paper and allow you to get compound curves you couldn't get otherwise. The raddii can be the inside of a plastic sphere, or the outside, depending on what your doing. Try it sometime for the heck of it, youi'll be surprised what you can make. Works fantastic on small parts.

I'll try that sometime.

What's your favorite printer to work with? Right now I'm using a color laser but I want to look into some of the inkjets, especially the higher end ones.

 

[zathros]

Go to www.inkproducts.com and look at what printers they recommend. Get an Epson (if they have one they recomend, but stick to their recommendation), and only get a printer that uses pigment ink if you don't want your models to fade to white. Laser printers will eventually peel off the paper. Bad to use for modeling.

That website sells O.E.M. ink from the supplier, 1st tier, from Dupont. You can't get any closer. They sell refillable O.E.M. "Ink Stations" that will give you two sets of filled cartridges, and huge bottles of ink, plus all the printer head cleaning supplies.

 

[Awry_Chaos]

Go to www.inkproducts.com and look at what printers they recommend. Get an Epson (if they have one they recomend, but stick to their recommendation), and only get a printer that uses pigment ink if you don't want your models to fade to white. Laser printers will eventually peel off the paper. Bad to use for modeling.

That website sells O.E.M. ink from the supplier, 1st tier, from Dupont. You can't get any closer. They sell refillable O.E.M. "Ink Stations" that will give you two sets of filled cartridges, and huge bottles of ink, plus all the printer head cleaning supplies.

Which Epson printer do you have? I want an inkjet that will actually last and do what it's supposed to do. I never had any luck with Canon (they do build great cameras and scanners, though).

 

[zathros]

I have a very cheap Canon XP-320, that has a scanner built in, and it takes around 15 minutes to clean the threads manually, if clogged, a realistic problem with Pigment Ink printers if you let them sit a long time without using. I have a large format Workforce 1100, impossible to find now. If I purchased a new one, it would be of of what www.inkproducts.com recommends, they really test the printers.

 

[Awry_Chaos]

So far I have been cutting out pieces, slowly but surely. I've messed up a few times especially cutting out one of the nose fuselage pieces and the wing spar pieces.

Which brings me to an important lesson I've learned: Always print off multiple copies of the template or pattern you're using. Best case, you have another pattern to use to build another project. Worst case, you have extra needed parts.

 

[Awry_Chaos]

I've been building the aircraft tires by laminating them, as suggested by @Rhaven Blaack which is tedious but will make for a much sturdier object that won't look like a ''boxy cylinder'' when finished. Once layered they will be sanded down and formed into shape giving the proper illusion I'm going for. After that is done, they will be painted with a special paint that @zathros suggested to give them that extra ''feel'' of aircraft tires.

 

[Awry_Chaos]

This is the wing spar assembly before I glue it. The ribs were kind of intricate to cut out but I managed to do it with my trusty X-Acto and the Z-blades (zirconium nitride-coated) which seem to take a long time to dull providing me with a lot of ''cutting'' power.

Right now I'm using Mod Podge as a glue. It also doubles as an excellent sealant and initial primer for painting. Last summer I found a cardboard box the perfect size for a painting I have in mind and sealed it up with the Mod Podge and primed the surface with White Acrylic Gesso. Also, if you let a thin layer of it dry on your skin, you end up with a nifty piece of ''skin''. The Mod Podge is Non-toxic so no worries there.

 

[zathros]

I like UHU and ZIP DRY glues, both available at Micheal's Craft Stores. The stores that do picture framing will give you card stock (1mm) for free, as they are not allowed to sell it, but you have to be nice, and it helps to show what your doing with it. They have given me 10 lbs., some pieces 2' x 3', of 1mm no acid card. This is perfect for ship bulkheads and is of the highest quality. Be humble in your approach, as sometimes they think people want the stuff to frame other peoples pictures and charge them, so why give it away. I brought in my 36" Lilla Weneda" model, and the guy went nuts, and handed me a ple of paper. I went back and handed him a disc with assorted models, around 500, and that got me another pile. Oh, make sure you buy something their. I purchased an Olfa cutting matte for $15 bucks on sale, only to find out later they go for more than double that price!!!