Revell 1/144 Antonov An-124 “Ruslan"
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Overview
The need for heavy airlift was, and still is, a large part of modern
military doctrine, and the Soviet answer was the An-124. Rather than go
into a long history of the type, I will recommend you pick up the Red
Star volume on Antonov
Heavy Transports, which will be an essential reference in building
this kit.
The Kit
When I first heard the rumors that Revell was going to release an An-124,
I thought it was just that, a rumor. When it came out, I was surprised,
and now that it is here in my hands, I am amazed. This is an incredible
kit, both in size and in quality. After moving through the impressive
bags of parts, the bottom of the box is covered with an incredible decal
sheet that offers five options. With such a large model (47.8cm by 50.7cm)
with nearly 200 parts, where does one begin to describe it? Well, let’s
look at what’s on the inside.
As this is a cargo plane, one would expect at least a rudimentary cargo
deck in this model. What you get is far from rudimentary, though. Three
bulkheads, a long ceiling piece, a main floor, and four sidewall pieces
makes up the main cargo bay. All of these pieces have nicely molded detail
in place. But wait, there’s more! There is also a cockpit insert,
ladders, and hoist stanchions provided as separate pieces. With the possibility
of having both the nose and the tail open, all of this could be very visible,
so it is nice that Revell included it.
Moving outward a bit, the next big area is the landing gear. After a
quick count, I do believe that the landing gear in this kit has the same
number of parts as the entire Minicraft DC-8 I recently finished, which
should give some idea as to how long it will take me to finish this model.
With the several different sitting options provided in this kit, you will
have to decide early on just how you are going to display your finished
model. This is essential, because there are two different main gear strut
assemblies, one horizontal and one kneeling. These strut assemblies fit
into a two piece gear well, with separate retracting struts finishing
out the main assemblies. For the nose gear, there are options as well.
For the kneeling example, the main struts are positioned horizontally,
while the horizontal example, the struts are vertical. Sound confusing?
Well, at least the instructions are very clear. Just make sure you follow
them closely.
Moving to the fuselage, this is split into right and left halves, with
a separate bottom piece and separate nose. This somewhat complicated assembly
is essential to preserving surface detail and allowing options for the
open nose, but be sure to test fit before gluing everything together,
to minimize the need for filler. The wings, in contrast, are simple assemblies,
with the only real challenge being the separate flap track fairings. The
engines are simply beautiful, made from no less than eight pieces. These
include three fan discs (two for the aft end, one for the front end),
a one-piece intake lip & trunk, and a two-piece hot section, all trapped
between the two-piece main engine nacelle and pylon. The completed assembly
is easily one of the best looking engines I have seen.
All of this put together results in one big, but nicely detailed model.
With all that done, it is time to turn thoughts to painting this beast.
Not much choice in terms of color to paint on, namely gray and white (with
one exception). The first two decal options are Volga-Dnieper Ruslans.
These are RA-82045 and RA-82081, and the decals include special markings
for International Red Cross flights and “Operation Christmas Child”
in 2003. The decals for this scheme includes full cheatlines, titles,
and, in the case of the “Operation Christmas Child” example,
HeavyLift markings.
Next up comes the only An-124 provided that is not white and gray. This
is RA-82075 of Polet Cargo Airlines. This plane has a white crown, with
the lower fuselage painted in dark blue. The decals for this scheme include
all of the necessary details such as the white tail markings, titles,
and undernose advertisement. For those who like building planes that have
a story, it was a Polet Cargo An-124 that brought back the US Navy EP-3
that diverted to China after striking a Chinese fighter.
No model of the An-124 would be complete without an Aeroflot option,
and that is the next choice in the instructions. This is RA-82021 from
1998 and is finished in white and gray, with large red wingtip sections.
The final choice is a Russian Air Force aircraft, black 10, also finished
in white and gray, with a dark blue cheatline. In addition to the basic
markings for the different schemes, the decal sheet includes a complete
set of stenciling. The quality of the decals is superb, and it will be
tough to decide on which one of the schemes to choose from.
Conclusion
This is a beautiful kit of a subject that is definitely not common.
I think it would be outstanding if Revell continued along these lines
and came out with, say, a 1/144 C-17 or C-141. For the more ambitious
modelers out there, with a lot of extra work one could turn two of these
kits into the larger An-225 Buran transporter. For just a straight out-of-box
build, though, this should do quite well, with impressive results. My
thanks to Model Airliners
for the review copy.
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