Hey all!

For the "Experimental's" Campaign, I will be building Anigrad's Antonov A-40 KT Flying Tank (#AA-2045) in 1/72nd Scale.

A word or two about the kit contents: It comes in a very sturdy white cardboard box with the above artwork on the top. There's a single double-sided instruction sheet (A4 sized?) with a brief history of the A-40 and line drawings for instructions on one side with painting and decal instructions on the reverse. The decals are six white-bordered red Russian stars on a heavy backing with a piece of vellum protecting them - their register looks very good. All of the resin pieces are in a single "compartmented" plastic bag. I should mention that there was nothing in the box to protect the parts from transit damage (bubble wrap or peanuts), so I'm pretty surprised and happy that it arrived safe.

I haven't opened it yet, but a cursory inspection does not show any broken parts nor do I see any warping of the larger pieces. There will be a fair amount of clean-up needed though (flash and pour-stubs). And the "link-and-length" tracks look like they may be, uhhh, interesting to assemble.

More to follow as I plug along.

Mike

Good luck with this kit!
Interesting build. I keep following it!

Paul

Hey Paul....you're not kidding!!

Well, I couldn't get the dang thing back in the box, and I'm drawing a total brain-dump on my school work, so.....I'll start with the tank's "body." Oh, and it would appear that I fibbed about warped parts....

The "body" of the tank consists of (other than the road wheels/return rollers/sprockets and the, uhhhh, track) the hull tub, "roof," and turret.

I've started the cleaning up of the tub and expect that the roof will settle down nice with a little "hair dryer" action. The turret is okay....just a heck of a pour-lug on the back end. Razor saw's awaaaaaay!!

Yeah, there will be a copius use of filler here, but that's okay....kit's too kool to worry about that "piddly stuff."

Mike

Yeesh! This thing is really small!

Certainly not the 1/35th I'm used to working with!

And, the uhhhh.......tracks.

Left "slab" shows the "insides" and right shows the "outsides." OMG.

Mike

Certainly is an interesting looking contraption.
Good luck, looks like a bit of a rough kit to do.

That it is Dave.....that it is!




I've "opened" up more of the parts to see them....get a feel for what's going to come up in the future. So far, it's looking like the tank itself is going to be the "royal PitA."

"Super Glue from Hell's Kitchen:"
Hull tub and roof together:

Filler time!

Mike

And here's the rest of the story! I fibbed again , the lower wing was broken.....it'll be an easy fix though. And, there's a narly bit of a "mold issue" on the underside of the upper wing...grind and fill....


The flash and pour-stubs are clearly shown....again, shouldn't be an issue to clean them up.

Mike

And I thought I had problems with my Minenraumer....I don't envy you this one Mike, those tracks look like they've been in a fire!
Looking forward to seeing this built though...

Iain

Cool build - I will follow this tread with interest.

Definently an unique "tank" and an cool kit despite the two resin plates that should include the tracks

Looking forward to see more

Mike,

WTF is that?? Great model.
To be honest I would not be patient enough to work with these tracks...

Have fun building this madness .

Andrzej

I think one of the reasons I really don't like to build tracked vehicles are the tracks. However, I realllllllllly do like their looks. So, I've been "sucking it up" lately and this A-40 is what's on the plate.

The tracks do indeed look like they've been in a "fire." And, because of their size I'm thinking they're going to be a real bear to build. Alas, it really is a kool kit, so I shall see it through.

About all I've done on this since the last pictures was to use filler along the hull tub and top. I hope to get that cleaned up tonight and start on the running gear.

More to follow!

Mike

Part of teh post seems to be missing. I had originally planned to build the same kit. From the sounds of things I guess it is a good thing I dropped out fo that build. From what I remember that kit did look a little rough, but ti was of such a neat subject.

Good luck with the build shipmate!

Which "part" Jim?

I've fiddled around with the hull this morning and primed it:

Road wheels and sprockets are cleaned up. Not too difficult with the razor saw and the trusty #11. Looking at the alignment of the road wheels and returns and sprockets...in relation to the track...I'm probably going to have to trim off the "nubs" on the transmission covers so that everything is aligned - the sprockets, as they are, would wind up sticking outside of the track.

I began cleaning up the tail boom supports and wing components. There are some pretty heavy mold lines on the tops and bottoms. Those were scraped down some and covered with Mr. Surfacer 500. Once that's totally dry I'll sand and fill as necessary.
I also started filling the air bubble holes on the wings (there were quite a few)...those should not be too difficult to take care of.

"Relooking" at the tracks, I may be okay here. Each side consists of four sections of the link-and-length and ten individual pieces. The moulding of the link-and-length sections is, uh, okay I guess. The indy sections are to an extent useable but there are some in there that are just faint "outlines" of a section....in essence, useless. The good news is that there are "extras" on each slab. I can get at least ten to twelve "good" ones from each which will be enough for the runs.

The 20mm TNSH cannon that is included is warped enough that I'm going to need to remove it, drill out the "mantlet" some, and install a section of a syringe needle.

More to follow as I juggle a couple of builds.

Mike

Started to assemble the lower wing/tailboom parts:


You can see the Mr. Surfacer on the booms and some of the white Testor's putty on the upper surface of the wing (covering the area where the wing broke). There are several air bubbles on the wing tips which are simple enough to fill and sand.

The ends of the booms were trimmed about 3/16" to allow the ends to fit snug into the wing. At the moment the ends are "square"....once everything is dry I'll round off the lower edge some.

I inadvertently cut off the little trim vane(?) on the trailing edge of the rear upper wing (can't think of what that's called...), so I used some thin sheet stock to replace it. The lower rear wing fit in there nice. The boom separator/support needed a little sanding and filler but fit well too.



I dry fit the tank chassis in the lower wing and it seems to go in okay. I just wish I had a couple of decent pictures to see just how the tank was attached to the wings.

I cut off the warped barrel and replaced it with a short section of a 21 gage needle....looks so much better!

Mike

Ho-lee, Mike! Looks like you've got your modelling cut out for you! I don't envy you dealing with those tracks, though. They sure don't look like they'll be easy to work with at all. But this sure is an interesting model overall... like you say, it's pretty cool, so it makes it a little easier to stick with it. Looking forwards to seeing it finished, man!

I primed the lower wing system to see where the flaws remained....yeah, there are a few:

As mentioned before, I was going to replace the resin barrel....that's been done now. Much nicer and I don't have to drill the barrel out!

The tank eventually will slide under the wing root...just about up to the turret, so the rear deck won't be seen.

I need to prep the upper wing...it has a slight bend at one of the tips...so out comes the hot water. I've begun to clean up all the wing supports with putty. There are four vertical round supports that will probably be replaced with metal rod (if I have some thin enough).

MTF ya'll!

Mike

Hi there

I presume you have this pic from Wilkpedia



Nice looking build of an awkward looking kit.

Nige

Hey Nige, yep, got that one. Not too much out there......
A non-picture update: I ran out of the Armory gray prime, so I shot the underside of the upper wing with a gloss almond... BIG mistake I'm guessing that there was some dust and whatnot still on the wing and wound up with a LOT of "fish eyes." Big boo boo!

Anyhow, after it cured, I attempted to sand it off.....talk about filling up the pores of sandpaper! So...(after having restocked on the primer)...I primed it, let that dry, and sanded again. With moderate frustration, I started using putty on the fish eyes. When that dries, I'll use the sandpaper again.

The turret is done, cleaned up, syringe needle in as the barrel, and primed. Looks good.

I found a thin stick of aluminum tubing in the proper diameter for the four uprights that attach to the upper and lower main wing flaps. It'll look a lot better using that versus the resin kit parts.

MTF.

Mike

Worked this one a little this evening. The wings are more or less good to go now. I've added the uprights to the lower wing (upper wing is just sitting on them-not glued):



This one requires some rigging, so the intent is to "pre-drill" the upper and lower wings, attach the upper, then run some of my very fine wire through the holes, glue 'em, let them fully cure, then cut/file/sand and reprime.

Mike

So much for "paying attention" to the ID 10 T instructions!

If you look at the box art photo I posted and the second picture I just posted of the upper & lower and then, do as I should have, and look at the picture Nige posted....I fugged up. The wing supports are on backwards (though the instructions show it this way). They should, from the right side, look like an "N" and I've got them on bassackwards. This winds up kickin' the upper wing about a 1/4" too far to the rear (the tail boom supports won't fit that way).

So, how does one remove CA'd resin?

Mike

Edit: An hour later, patience, some tugging, and the uprights are off....with (whew) no damage. I'm done for the night....I'll redo them tomorrow. Grrrrr.......

Some more work this morning.

Prior to attaching the upper wing to the supports, I drilled out #74 holes at the base of the supports in both the upper and lower wings. This will allow me to run the rigging...I'll be using some fine wire. The intent is to cut eight pieces that are long, glue them into the holes at the lower wing, and once that's set, run the wires through the holes in the upper wing, pull them taut, glue, and then trim/clean up.

I've also attached the boom supports to the upper wing. I had to trim off the "plates" on the boom (where the support attaches) because the supports were too far back (I've since realized that this was probably due to the boom setting too far forward in the lower wing). I will cut some thin plastic stock to recreate these fastening plates and attach them directly below the support bases.

You can clearly see the four holes in the lower wing; these are for the additional supports. The resin is warped, so I've found some thin aluminum tube to use as replacements.

As you'll see, I've also added the road wheels to the tank. I did need to remove the "nub" for the drive sprockets....they'd stick out way too far.






Mike

Little bit more: added the aluminum tube to replace the resin supports and the plastic sheet stock at the base of the boom supports.

Mike

And the beginning of the rigging:

Mike

Looks great, Mike! You are really getting good results for all the time and effort you put into this kit.

Looking forward to see more

It is becoming a neat and beautifull plane-tank.
You are making a great model out of this dog of a kit Mike!
Respect!!!!

Good luck with the rigging!