Revell 1:72 Airbus A400M "Atlas"/"Grizzly"

[TomTwin]

Afternoon all,

Will be starting this one very soon, possibly tomorrow, so just thought I would get the thread going.

It's going to be a monster, around 60cm wingspan and 65cm long. So easily bigger than the B-1 I did a couple of years ago!

All the parts have been washed today, to get rid of any agents still lingering on there and to aid paint adhesion, so it won't be long before the ball gets rolling.

Like I said, hope to get some progress done soon.

Regards,

Tom

[Jamesv9820]

It is a beast \Tom - Just watch the wing join and the undercarriage - it is VERY weak!

[TomTwin]

It is a beast \Tom - Just watch the wing join and the undercarriage - it is VERY weak!

Thanks for the advice, I will be leaving the wing join unglued for storage and space reasons though. I hope a company like SAC releases a set of metal legs for the A400M soon then!

[TomTwin]

Evening all!

Not exactly an update, but a few pictures to show I have started this one. I will stress that I will only be able to update this when building for SAM allows, so apologies if updates seem a bit far in between.

To begin then, the complimentary box shot.



Next, I started building some sub assemblies, and was going to start painting when the nozzle on my Double Action airbrush broke, so I've had to resort to my Revell basic single action airbrush until my spare parts/replacements arrive, which may be the middle of next week.

So having solved that dilemma, I turned my attention back to the sub assemblies, building up the wings, tailplanes and the tail itself. At this point I couldn't resist a wee dry fit.....




That light tent is 1M square, and it's filling it up quickly! 60 odd centimetres long, crikey!
And to prove it's size, here is a 1:72 Su-35, which is in itself a big model.



Hope to get painting tomorrow, which I'm looking forward to!

Regards,

Tom

[Deacon]

First of all teh Grizzly,

Secondly, the Su-35,

looking forward to the next update Tom.

Alan

[TomTwin]

Cheers Alan, though the Su-35 is actually one of my worst kits in recent years, all thanks to Flory Models Wash messing with the colour scheme and deciding to stick to 48 hour dried paint. Hate the stuff Always use MIG wash now, much better! Still, thanks for the comment, much appreciated.

[TomTwin]

Right guys, first update, and I have to say, I'm really enjoying this one! It's been a while coming due to SAM builds and simply not having enough time to do modelling, but hey I'm progressing on this one nicely.
The construction obviously started with the interior, and what an interior! I was practically salivating at the thought of this being assembled before I had even painted something!

Speaking of assembly, it was rather straightforward, the parts coming together well, with only a small area near the front of the cargo bay needing some attention, but nothing too major. I've gone and used the kit decals on the cockpit, as naff all will be seen when complete, and even though a PE set is available for this from Revell, I decided against it, as the decals were more than sufficent for the job.

Before assembly, I had done some minor weathering on the interior, mainly in the cargo bay, with the floor and walls recieving some slight scuffs and scratches and the panel lines being given a pin wash to highlight them and simulate some grime and grease running down the edges of the interior walls. The airframe I'm planning to model is EC-402, so one of the older ones, and I'm aware this has done a fair few loadings of equipment, cargo and vehicle trials, so I'm guessing the interior will looks a bit worn from the one I saw at Fairford this year, which looked factory fresh!

Onto the pics, and here is where I have differed from my usual magazine set up. All I've done is grab one or two lights and quickly get some photos done, as the area I usually take photos in is a bit out of bounds at the moment, as the Olympics are on! Also, the brother was busy playing with his camera, so I let him have this shoot, felt a bit mean to stop his fun! Obviously gave him some guidance, as he will be doing a couple of WIP's on here soon, and he takes photography seriously, so a bit more practice was a good excuse for him to start snapping away.

Onto the pics then, hope you enjoy them!











As I type this, some minor touch ups have been done and also the interior is now fully enclosed and drying. Revell have done a good job here, with the interior in a seperate, I'm going to say tube, to the windows and outer airframe. A marvellous idea, I believe it was first used on the Transall a couple of years ago?

Will hopefully have some more progress soon, but need to get some more tape soon, as my stocks are running low after the behemoth masking job on the interior floor!

Regards,

Tom

[Craig]

Superb start! I suspect this is going to be somethnig rather speciial...

[Deacon]

I hate you.............

Alan

[TomTwin]

Cheers guys for the very swift comments, much appreciated! Off to do some more now, might have the fuselage and wings on later, not promising anything though!

[Logster]

That is going to be a beauty - it also looks massive!

Wonderful stuff
Matt

[TomTwin]

Many thanks guys for the comments.

Another update, and to be truthful I had said last Saturday night to myself that I would put this aside for a bit to do some SAM builds. Unfortunately the next day the garage suffered a small flood from the torrential rain we experienced in a pretty violent thunderstorm, and all my SAM builds were in there, in various degrees of assembly. Thankfully, the builds haven't been water damaged, but are in a slightly inaccessible place, so whilst it's drying out, the builds there are out of bounds, and the only kit I could do was this one. Add to this the fact I started a new job this week, and my modelling time has dwindled, but thankfully my shifts are well worked out, so overall modelling hasn't taken too much of a hit.

Progress has been rather swift, but unfortunately in many places, such as the sponsons, wing join and engines, the filler has been broken out to plug various gaps in the kit. Not major problems, but still annoying when it was going so well.

All I have left to do is mask the windows properly, and she will be ready for priming and painting. Should get that started tomorrow, or in the near future.

As before, a couple of quickly done pics to show you all what the state of the build is.





C+C welcome as usual!

Regards,

Tom

[DanH]

That's absolutely huge where on earth are you going to put it when it's done?

[TomTwin]

Good question Dan! Whenever I buy a kit, I always think of how I can display it, like measuring the area of space I have on where I wish to display it, and check the dimensions of the kit itself on the internet. If it's too big, like the Revell 1:48 B-1B Lancer, then obviously I don't buy it. All my older builds go upstairs in the attic, while the newest go downstairs. Plenty of space in my attic, literally loads, so I'm thinking of putting a display cabinet up there, in place of old, broken things which need chucking out.

HTH

Tom

[Craig]

That's looking very sharp mate looknig forward to seeing some paint chucked at it!

[Deacon]

Well done sir.

I hope the garage is in a better shape now.

Alan

[TomTwin]

Well done sir.

I hope the garage is in a better shape now.

Alan

Cheers guys for the comments. It is indeed Alan, the stuff went back in there yesterday, after a mountain of carpet and old electrical appliances were disposed of, course they were all disposed of carefully and without a big hammer....

[TomTwin]

Apologies for the delay in updates to this, but work has stopped me modelling for a while. Got a day off tomorrow, so should get some modelling done then!

I have applied a primer coat, which revealed some "ghost seams" that needed urgent attention and some slight sink marks that magically appeared once the primer was on! Sorted it all now, thanks to filler, nail varnish remover, cotton buds and micromesh. Once that was done, I sprayed the first coat of Xtracrylix Neutral Grey, with a drop of Tamiya Black added to it to darken it a bit.

Hope to post some piccies tomorrow or Monday, depends how much I get done!

Cheers,

Tom

[TomTwin]

Evening all,

Heres a little update for you, some quickly taken pics to show the progress on this behemoth!

I have sprayed the overall airframe Xtracrylix Neutral Grey, which was lightly post shaded at the end. Next up was the black on the nose, which was Tamiya X-1. This isn't even half what I plan to do with the painting, but it's starting to come together now.

Like I said, a few quick piccies for now, hope for some more progress soon, but I really need to step up my SAM output. So many kits, so little time!









Cheers,

Tom

[scotthldr]

Coming along now Tom. Certainly is a big beast this one, hope you have somewhere to put it afterwards

[Jamesv9820]

Colour looks good Tom - I have a load of mine to put up on here one day if I can find the motivation - I hated building the kit in the end!

[Cimmerian]

Holy buckets, it's a monster.

[TomTwin]

Many thanks for the comments guys, much appreciated!

A quick update, with the paintwork almost complete. Just the red on the tail, the main walkway and some touch ups left and she can be glossed up ready for her decals. I've painted some panels in the new Airbus A400M colour, as these test aircraft are starting to show some wear and tear after years of pretty intense flying, and to break up the overall colour and put some fizz into it so to speak.

Also, painted her aluminium parts with Alclad II, using it for the first time. And it's the usual response to Alclad, simply superb stuff! Will definately be using it again!

To the pics then;








The only problem I have after all the painting is done is what aircraft to depict her as. Revell give two options for the Airbus prototypes, EC-402 ( seen by many on here at RIAT 2010 ) or EC-404. Decisions decisions....

Kind Regards,

Tom

[mattlaker]

Absolutely cracking job!

[TomTwin]

Many thanks for the comments guys, much appreciated!

Finally, here is some progress on this beast.

I have got most of the decals on, but unfortunately, Revell don't give you the centre walkway as a decal, so you have to paint it. And this ties in with another bad point to this kit - The confusing instructions! Some decals are repeated twice on the instructions, and other decals have different numbers that simply don't match up onto the sheet. Furthermore, the walkway position is difficult to decipher without applying the lines that surround it, so I have a bit more painting to do after this stage, which does infuriate me a bit. You also have to cut the door decals to make them settle, as if you tried to apply the decal as one it would shrivel and curl up, ask me how I know..... cratch: A simple horizontal cut, seperating the decal in two, and lining the two bits up is a much easier and better way of dealing with this problem.

But the worst bit about these decals was indeed the walkway lines - They were simply torture! Each one is so fiddly, and as I mentioned before, the decals and numbers don't add up. Some decals are too lomg or too short, and some ( like the leading edge decals for the wing ) are TWO decals for one line. Why? Why not have ONE decal for ONE line! Simply dreadful torture putting them on, but thankfully my endless patience saved me from wrecking them completely.

I'm going to post some pretty crap pics from my phone, mainly as the light in my computer room is crap and there will be too much noise on the DSLR for any decent piccies, I'll take some better ones when the main walkway is painted and the rest of the decals are on.





Kind Regards,

Tom