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

[Awry_Chaos]

To be honest, there is no need for clear windows unless you have an interior to show off, or you want light from inside to shine out. my Viper by Revell-Fan build, I toyed with putting the interior in, but decided to do no cockpit, and blacked out windows.

This model is looking great, keep up the good work.

Have I mentioned that I love WIG craft?...

Thank you!

I'm planning on doing some WIG craft sometime down the line. I have a few models that I want to do, including one of the Lun Ekranoplan that will look awesome when its finished. @zathros shared a couple models which are in the Resources section.

Lun-class ekranoplan - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I would've loved to see these in action!

 

[Awry_Chaos]

I thought this was a WIG craft, my mistake, but it is still a cool looking transport.

Don't worry about it. I'll eventually get to the WIG craft. Sometime, someday! There's a lot of other Soviet and Russian aircraft to build first.

 

[Awry_Chaos]

We do have a great WIG craft in the Resource section, it's called ESKA. It has a full interior. File is there, I just checked. This model has been remastered and looks great!!

ESKA Link = https://www.zealot.com/resources/eska-ekranoplan.1779/updates#resource-update-1949

This one is definitely on my list! If I had the money I'd build a 1:1 scale one! A boat and a plane!

 

[zathros]

Thank you!

I'm planning on doing some WIG craft sometime down the line. I have a few models that I want to do, including one of the Lun Ekranoplan that will look awesome when its finished. @zathros shared a couple models which are in the Resources section.

Lun-class ekranoplan - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I would've loved to see these in action!

To be honest, the video shows a WIG similar to ESKA, it is a Lippisch design. The ESKA was far more robust, and at full speed, with only 63 h.p. it could hop 250 feet into the air. It flew approximately 5 feet in the air, in ground effect, and got fantastic mileage. It flew for 10 years as part of the Soviet Union Department of Environmental Protection, going up and down the Volga for 10 years!! That started in 1973, till the early 1980's. The video below gives a good idea of what it looked like flying. The ESKA could land on snow and ice easily, and water, of course. They would beach it in the Summer months. All fiberglass construction with wooden formers. No one knew that this craft existed till the fall of the Soviet Union.

 

[Awry_Chaos]

To be honest, the video shows a WIG similar to ESKA, it is a Lippisch design. The ESKA was far more robust, and at full speed, with only 63 h.p. it could hop 250 feet into the air. It flew approximately 5 feet in the air, in ground effect, and got fantastic mileage. It flew for 10 years as part of the Soviet Union Department of Environmental Protection, going up and down the Volga for 10 years!! That started in 1973, till the early 1980's. The video below gives a good idea of what it looked like flying. The ESKA could land on snow and ice easily, and water, of course. They would beach it in the Summer months. All fiberglass construction with wooden formers. No one knew that this craft existed till the fall of the Soviet Union.

I love it!

 

[micahrogers]

Thank you!

I'm planning on doing some WIG craft sometime down the line. I have a few models that I want to do, including one of the Lun Ekranoplan that will look awesome when its finished. @zathros shared a couple models which are in the Resources section.

Lun-class ekranoplan - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I would've loved to see these in action!

We were scared shitless by those "Caspian Sea Monsters" I did a tour of the Med in the late 80's and those were all we talked about in our down time.

 

[Awry_Chaos]

We were scared shitless by those "Caspian Sea Monsters" I did a tour of the Med in the late 80's and those were all we talked about in our down time.

They would have been fearsome in battle!

 

[Awry_Chaos]

I am now ready to start building the middle part of the fuselage. Its the part where the main wings will attach.

There is a definite challenge here, but I'm thinking of ways to overcome it. The challenge here is the gray 'Cut out after assembly' area. The question is how to approach it. I could finish the internal tabbing and attach the three pieces seen in these pictures together before cutting it out. Or I could attempt cutting some of it out before assembling the three pieces and see where that takes me. If I'm careful about maintaining the structure, the assembly should come out all right.

I have a couple ideas of how that might happen.

So stay tuned and see what happens next!

 

[zathros]

Lots of dry fitting will get you where you want to be.

 

[Awry_Chaos]

Lots of dry fitting will get you where you want to be.

Yep! That's the secret! Thank you!

Dry fitting is helping me out greatly to help form the model pieces and plan out where and what to glue.

This model is being assembled at the rate it wants to be completed! There is little I can do to speed up the process. My advice is to multiply the time you think it's going to take you to complete the model by (at least) 4 or 5. The original *plan* was to have this model done in about a *week*

I was very optimistic and naïve back then!

 

[micahrogers]

My main bad habit, I try to speed up things that want to go slow.

 

[Awry_Chaos]

I'm making some real good headway with this project, so it's time for another update.

Here I've got the windows, for the most part installed, with the fuselage section attached.

I did figure out how to cut the gray area out. The solution presented itself as I was working on the next piece... It was just a matter of following my intuition more than anything and letting the process flow.

 

[Awry_Chaos]

Here are the two sections ready to be attached to each other. If you look carefully you will notice that I've done some strategic internal tabbing which provides some necessary structural support (in particular to the second piece with some of the gray areas cut out).

 

[Awry_Chaos]

Here are the two sections attached together. Simple enough.

 

[Awry_Chaos]

I then carefully cut out the remaining gray area which left me, again, with two separate pieces.

 

[Awry_Chaos]

After doing the necessary internal tabbing around the circumference of the fuselage I was able to carefully reattach the two pieces together again, this time leaving the hole where the main wing will be placed once it's built. This was just a matter of taking my time making sure everything was properly glued and matched up.

If you look carefully, you can see a couple of the internal tabs used for structural integrity. When I go to attach the tail fuselage sections I will use more of these around the circumference of the piece shown here. Simple, time-consuming, but well worth the results!!! This section of the model is quite sturdy.

 

[Rhaven Blaack]

You are making great progress on this project!!

 

[Awry_Chaos]

Some ''stand-up'' shots, showing the model in all it's glory!

I'm quite pleased with how things are turning out. I have overcome a major challenge. Now it's time to move onto the other challenges.

 

[Awry_Chaos]

You are making great progress on this project!!

Thank you! It's coming along well.

 

[Awry_Chaos]

You are making great progress on this project!!

A big THANKS to all your advice and support!