Roden's 1/72 Antonov An-12BK

History

Oleg Constantinovich Antonov started out designing gliders at Tushino in the 1930s, then moved to powered aircraft with the Yakovlev OKB in the early 1940s. In 1946 Antonov branched out on his own, starting his own design bureau based in Kiev, where he quickly became known for building multi-purpose transport planes. Turboprops were the powerplants of choice for the aircraft of Antonov, providing a great balance between power, range, and fuel consumption. The largest turboprop transport in the world comes from Antonov, the An-22 Antheus, as well as the largest cargo aircraft period, the six-engined An-225, capable of carrying the Buran space shuttle.

Probably the most successful turboprop design for Antonov, though, would have to be the An-12. This four-engined transport first flew in 1958 and quickly found its way into military usage with the Soviet Air Force. In 1966, the plane entered international commercial service with Aeroflot. In addition to Soviet service, the An-12 became the cargo aircraft of choice for many countries around the world. Sized similarly to the C-130, the An-12 can carry over 44,000lbs and fly 2,100 miles. The type is still in widespread use, with many Eastern European cargo companies employing the type.

The Kit

This is one large model, with a length of over a foot and a half and a wingspan approaching two feet. In addition to the impressive size, this kit comes with quite a bit of detail in the box, with a complete cockpit and cargo hold, separate cargo doors, loading ramps, and optional tail pieces. The parts are molded in a light gray plastic and features recessed panel lines throughout. There is some flash on the parts, but nothing that cannot be cured with some careful trimming and light sanding. Two decal sheets provide a total of four choices, and I'm sure that it will not be too long before we see some aftermarket sets for some of the more colorful cargo operators.

The fuselage is in several pieces, most likely to fit the large airframe into Roden's injection-molding equipment. The very end of the tail is molded separately, with optional pieces for either the faired in version or the original tail turret. The cockpit section comes with a floor, instrument panel with decal instruments, control sticks, and five seats. Moving back to the cargo hold, this comes with a separate floor and ceiling, as well as rows of seats and bulkheads. All that is missing is cargo, and with the current operators out there, you could put just about anything inside.

The wings are split into upper and lower halves and capture that unique look of the An-12 with its downward-angled outer panels. The engine nacelles are separate and are made up from no less than nine pieces. The large propellers have their blades molded separately, fitting into a two-piece hub. The landing gear is also well detailed, with separate oleo scissors on the main gear legs. All of this goes quite a ways to providing a nice-looking model when finished.

With that said, some notes on the construction are in order. This is definitely not a quick builder. A simple dry-run shows that the fuselage will need some very careful gluing and probably some additional stiffeners along the seams, as the plastic is thin and there is some warpage. The mating between the forward and aft fuselage sections is also one of concern, as there is not much in the way of contact area to glue to two together. This is one area that will definitely need some sort of stiffening up, as the completed aft section is going to be a bit heavy. On the positive side, the wing-fuselage joint is very well done, with a two-direction tab providing a very positive joint. Not only will this result in a strong joint, but alignment is also no problem. The short version is take your time, test fit everything, and don't hesitate to add reinforcement if you think it's needed.

And now on to the decals. This is one shining area of this kit. The two decal sheets are roughly 8 inches square and are very well printed. Registration on both sheets is spot on, and the decals are quite thin. The four choices include two Aeroflot examples, one Ukrainian Cargo Airways, and one from Volare Aircompany. The first Aeroflot example dates back to the early 1960s and features the Soviet flag on the tail and wings on the nose. The Aeroflot titles are small on the nose. The second Aeroflot example is from the early 1980s and has a smaller flag, larger Aeroflot titles, and no wings on the nose. Both are finished with a white top and gray belly and have a blue cheatline.

Similarly finished to the Aeroflot examples is the Ukrainian Cargo Airways. The UCA logo is on the tail, and Ukrainian Cargo Airways titles are on the forward fuselage. This plane dates from 2001 and was one of the support aircraft for the Paris-Dakar race, as seen by an emblem on the forward fuselage. The second Ukrainian example from Volare is the most colorful of the bunch. The back half of the fuselage is painted a medium blue, separated diagonally by a lighter blue line. The Volare logo is on the tail, and small Volare Aircompany titles are on the forward fuselage. The decal sheet also includes markings for inside the cargo bay, as well as several styles of antiglare panels.

Conclusion

While this kit will take a bit more work than some, the result will be quite impressive. With the many cargo companies flying these types today, there are plenty of interesting examples out there, in addition to the four provided in the instructions. Check https://www.airliners.net for inspiration, and go out and pick up one or two of these kits.

Our thanks to Roden for the review kit. Check out their website for their other interesting kits.