W I M M E R

SCALE MODELER
Volume 9, Number 10, OCTOBER, 1974
3 pages, page 8, 9 and 12

Published by
CHALLENGE PUBLICATIONS; INC.

AN-12

Anfang 2009 bekam ich von meinem Hobbyfreund Don aus USA zwei Ausgaben der Zeitschrift SCALE MODELER von 1973. In diesen Ausgaben sind Artikel über KVZ/Plasticart Bausätze. Da wir diese Artikel für alle KVZ/Plasticart begeisterten für interessant halten, haben wir uns bei CHALLENGE PUBLICATIONS; INC., um die Erlaubnis zur Veröffentlichung bemüht. Im Juli 2009 bekam ich nun vom Verlag die Erlaubnis, diese auf unserer HP zu veröffentlichen. Wir bedanken uns dafür ganz herzlich beim Verleger Edwin A. Schnepf.

Besuchen Sie auch die HP von CHALLENGE PUBLICATIONS, INC.. Auch wenn es die Zeitschrift SCALE MODELER nicht mehr gibt, so werden nach wie vor sehr interessante Zeitschriften herausgegeben.

Wenn Ihnen weitere KVZ/Plasticart betreffende Artikel bekannt sind, würden wir uns über eine Nachricht sehr freuen. wimmerrichard@hotmail.com

Visit also the CHALLENGE PUBLICATIONS; INC. website.

THE ANTONOV AN-12 TACTICAL TRANSPORT OF THE SOVIET AIR FORCE CODED “CUB,” BY THE ALLIES, IS NOW IN SERVICE WITH OTHER AIR FORCES FRIENDLY WITH THE U.S.S.R. THIS AIRCRAFT IS THE SUBJECT OF THE LATEST 1 / 100th SCALE KIT FROM BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN.

BY  JORDAN  ROSS

Hohe Auflösung / High resolution

IN MAY OF 1968 the citizens of Prague awoke to find their borders being crossed by Soviet columns, while assault troops and light tanks offloaded from a flock of awkward four-engined transports liberally splashed with the insignia of the Soviet Air Force. Czechoslovakia had been taking its western exposure and relaxed control too seriously and had to be brought to heel.     The Czechs, unwilling to go through a bloodbath such as the one Hungary had experienced in 1956, bowed to the inevitable with the best grace possible and welcomed their uniformell “visitors” to the accompaniment of futile whining from the West.     The aircraft which played a prominent role in this bloodless chastisement were Antonov An-12’s, four-engined tactical transports springing from the same design and mission concepts which had produced the United States’ Lockheed C-130 Hercules, and as a result resembling their American counterparts in many ways.     Low-slung to speed cargo-handling through a huge door in the aft fuselage, high-winged to keep engines and propellers clear and to allow for oversized flaps which made short-field operations possible, their		dumpy appearance did nothing to affect an impressive ability to fly off of primitive fields little better than cow pastures.     Derived from the twin-engined Antonov An-8, the An-12 was initially intended to be used as a military troop and cargo transport, built in parallel with the An-10 passenger plane. With a glaringly obvious bombaimer’s position in the nose and a tail gunner’s station in the tail, complete with a pair of 23mm cannon, the An-12 was anything but a small plane, with a span of 124 feet 8 inches and a length of 108 feet 7 inches, measuring 34 feet 6 inches from the tip of the vertical tail to the ground.     Powered by four turboprop engines, the plane could move out at an amazing 400 mph, and throttled back to a more conservative 360 mph could haul an eleven-ton payload 1,800 miles, and still have an hour’s fuel left in reserve.     Anything but shy where foreign sales are concerned, the Soviet Union has offered its planes to governments all over the world at extremely reasonable prices, with a view towards establishing lines of communication (and eventually

8   scale modeler

Hohe Auflösung / High resolution

spheres of influence) with as many places as possible. Following its service debut with the Soviet Air Force the plane began appearing in foreign colors: Cuba, Ghana, Syria, Egypt, Algeria, and India, all operate the Antonovs at present, either as military transports or as civilian freighters.     A demilitarized version was put on display at the 1965 Salon Aeronautique Internationale, held at Paris’ Le Bourget Airport, the tail gunner’s position minus its guns and hidden under a coat of paint but still visible. Put into service in the remoter areas of the country by the state airline, Aeroflot, it continues to serve dependably if inelegantly today.     All in all, the Antonov An-12 is an interesting example of the state of the art in a country which is finally learning to relate to its neighbors in a rational manner. lt does its job well, which is all that can logically be expected of a machine, and should be around for a good many years to come.     This kit is one of the latest releases by MODELLBAUKASTEN of East Germany and its arrival will no doubt make fans of Russian civil aviation and military aviation very happy. For the rest of the modeling world the reaction will probably be —“an AN-what?”     In prior articles dealing with MODELLBAUKASTEN kits comments have been made on the quality of plastic and molding techniques and this offering is no exception to those reports. Again the brittle white plastic has been used for most of the kit.		Great care must be used when detaching parts from the trees or you’ll leave great chunks of plastic hanging onto the trees instead of the part where they belong.     I recommend scrubbing all the parts to be painted with scouring powder before assembly to remove the molding residue and to rough up the glassy surface of the plastic so paint will stick to it.     For the first time in this series an alternative to the civil version can be made. The conversion consists of simply installing a tail piece with twin cannon openings instead of the solid tail piece used an civil versions. The kit also provides decals for military or civil versions.     This model was built stock except for the tail guns which are wire stock as the guns in the kit were grossly oversized.     A lot of weight is required to make it sit up an its nose wheel as there is a tremendous amount of plastic aft of the center of gravity. I believe there are between 2 and 3 ounces in my model. I used fishing sinkers and cemented them in plane with Krazy Glue.     The fuselage interiors were sprayed Pactra Flat Black before any assembly work was started.     The wings an this plane have what the engineers call an anhedral on the outer one third of the span. I call it a droop. It’s supposed to be there so don’t let your friends tell you the thing is broken.     This is far from the easiest kit to

scale modeler   9

Hohe Auflösung / High resolution

Hohe Auflösung / High resolution

build and this example took about 25 to 30 hours to complete. The hardest part is getting the four engines attached. The designers of this kit really missed the boat there. If they are put an without correction they wind up pointed down at about 20 degrees. The way to do it is to attach them at the wing leading edge straight and level and then fill in the large gap from there to the back of the engine with putty. See diagram for clarification. Since there are four engines just the sanding alone in this operation is a week’s worth of spare time.     Another problem area is the cargo openings and the doors for it which		are slightly undersized. This is no problem if the doors are to be displayed in the open position, but if they are to be closed a lot of filling and sanding is going to be required to eliminate the gaps.     The props and spinners will need some work. There is an unsightly rough seam running around each spinner between the prop blades. A file and some very careful sanding should take care of it but be careful not to break off the blades while doing this.     The transparencies are of acceptable quality and do not have to be replaced with vacuform parts unless the builder really wants to go

to the trouble. The frames are raised and unfortu- nately somewhat “peaked” which makes them harder than most to paint neatly.     The landing gear is simple yet very rugged and should support this heavy model with no problem. The tires were painted Pactra Flat Black with Testor’s silver hubs. You don’t have to paint the hubs on the inside of the tires as they cannot be seen when the wheels are in place.     The overall paint used was Floquil Reefer Grey which is, as near as I can tell, a pretty close match to the Russian Grey. The anti-glare panel is Pactra Flat Black. The kit decals were used but if I had it to do over again I’d probably consider using something else. The red stars aren’t quite straight and even using the Micro system of decal application I couldn’t get all the little air bubbles out from under them.		Reference material for this model came from “Soviet Transport Aircraft Since 1945” and the Czecho- slovakian magazine “Letectvi + Kosmonautika” issue #3 for 1973. To get this magazine you will have to correspond with someone who lives in Czechoslovakia. I belong to the International Plastic Modelers Society and through that organization contact can be made with modelers in other countries to trade kits and publications. For information write IPMS/ USA, P.O. Box 163, Ben Franklin Station, Washington, D. C. 20044. Membership is $8.50 per year.     The directions are printed in German, Russian, Polish and one other language I can’t identify but fortunately all the drawings and pictures are in English. Incidentally, the plans contain some very accurate drawings of this plane and could be saved as reference material if desired.

12   scale modeler

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