RUSSIAN PROJECT 1:72 ANTONOV AN-26 CURL
'INBOX Review'

 

Reviewer: Johan De Wolf  (rec.models.scale)   

History:  The An-26 is a military freighter development of the airliner An-24. The first prototype flew in 1968. In 1969 the new type was first noted by the west, which gave it the NATO reporting name Curl. The An-26 differs from the An-24 in having a pressurized cabin, a big rear loading ramp, and an apu/boost engine in the right engine nacelle to boost power for take off with heavy loads. For over 30 air forces the An-26 is a reliable, rugged workhorse. Many cargo companies also make use of civil and ex-military Curls. To date over 1400 machines in several versions have been produced.

The Kit: Packed in a flimsy box with a full colour lid, you get 9 sprues of low pressure limited run injection molded parts. The plastic used is soft and it wasn't mixed properly resulting in a marble like look. Being a low-pressure mould, the sprue gates are thick, and here and there some flash is found. The plastic of the fuselage halves is rather thick making it very sturdy. But on my example the area around the cockpit was short shot. The parts are finely engraved. The fit of major parts needs some work. The clear parts are thick and could do with a thorough polishing. The etched fret is very thin.  The decal sheet is well printed and includes some stencilling. The carrier film looks rather thin. 

Instructions: Instructions consist of three A-4 size leaflets, with a drawing identifying the sprues and part numbers, three exploded construction diagrams, 6 detail drawings (taken from Aviatsiya i Vremya, two complete colour schemes and one with only side views. 

Accuracy:  Length is 5mm short and span is 2mm too large. If you want to correct this simply sand off the wingtips a bit as they are a bit too rounded. The fuselage can be lengthened by inserting a 3mm plug just in front of the rear loading ramp, and 2mm at the tail cone, which is a bit too blunt. Apart from these two errors the kit conforms very well to the scale drawings in Aviatsiya i Vremya. All the panel lines are where they should be and the shape of the fuselage and engine nacelles has been captured very well. The observation window on the left side of the fuselage has been molded as one piece with a slant frame line. In reality this window consists of two parts, a "goldfish" bowl and a transparent teardrop fairing behind it. This fairing has a vertical frame line at the front where it meets the bowl.

Construction:  It begins with the cleanup and removal off flash from the parts. Besides in halves the fuselage is divided into a front and rear part. I would start with joining the front and rear parts using a panel line and a flat surface to make sure they are correctly aligned. Doing it this way rather than first joining the halves and then connecting front and rear will ensure a good fit without the need of much filler. To get a strong bond you might want to use CA glue. The fuselage window parts are very thick and on my example all except one contained a bubble, thus making them useless. I will use Microscale KristalClear as a replacement. 

For the interior detail there are only a few parts for the cockpit. Super detailers can have a field day on the cargo hold, but I will just build the model with the loading ramp closed.  Cockpit detail is rather spartan and crude. The floor and bulkheads need work to result in a tight fit. Even though little can be seen through the small windows, I think that it will still show if you improve it a bit. I will add side consoles and the prominent scope for the weather radar on top of the instrument panel. I will also add the navigator and radio operator’s consoles behind the pilots seats. Note that the control yokes are fitted to the instrument panel and not to the floor as the kit parts suggests. Add some weight to the nose before you join the fuselage halves. 

The rear ramp needs a bit of surgery to fit snugly in the fuselage. Then the seam can be filled and sanded smooth. The canopy is a poor fit calling for careful filling and sanding. The slant frame line on the observation window needs to be sanded off, followed by a good polishing. The drawing indicates that the part of the fuselage behind this window should be painted white. However on most aircraft it has the same colour as the fuselage around it.

The wings need to be sanded down a bit, like you would do with a vacuform, to get a sharp trailing edge and a better mating surface. Beware though that the outer wing panels have a negative dihedral. At the first try the fit of the engine nacelles to the wing is poor. However with some careful cutting and sanding a good fit can be obtained with only a touch of filler needed. 

The small intakes molded on the nacelle sides are a bit soft edged and in need of redefining or replacement. Also the intake for the booster engine in the right nacelle is a but too simple for my taste. The large bulged wheel bay doors have been captured very well but again the fit needs work. It’s a good thing they are always closed thus eliminating the need to scratch build a wheel bay. The engine exhaust part needs to be drilled out. Or better yet drill a hole in the nacelle and place a length of tube (6.5 mm in diameter) into it. 

The props consist of a two-part spinner and four separate blades. The blades are too thick and need to be sanded down. Compared to the rest of the kit, the wing to fuselage fit is exceptionally good. No filler needed here. The same goes for the tail planes if you cut off the locating pins. The mating surface of the tail fin halves needs to be sanded flat before they can be glued together. The fit to the fuselage is good. A nice touch is the separate clear cover for the red anti collision beacon in the base of the fin.

The landing gear is a bit crude and has been molded in a no load situation. So unless you display your model on a stand, they are too long. The nose gear needs to be trimmed by about 3 mm, the main gear by about 4mm. Note that an aircraft with an empty cargo hold has a slight nose down attitude. The wheels are a bit of a disappointment. The main wheels are about a 1mm too small in diameter, while the nose wheels are 1 mm too large. I could live with this but the hub detail is also wrong/ absent. I hope Equipage will come to the rescue. They produce some very nice replacement wheels for several kits. Next to be fitted are several smaller details like small intake scoops, the guide rail fairing for the ramp and the etched parts. For the smaller blade antennas, windscreen wipers, and static dischargers they are ok. But for the pitots, small gear doors and larger blade antennas they are too thin and too flat. I will replace them by plasticard and rod sanded to shape.

Painting & Finishing:  Colours for a few details are given but it is far from adequate. Having pictures will be of great help. Colour schemes are given in generic terms only. There are decals for 3 aircraft from unspecified soviet regiments. First is red 01. This machine is dark sea grey all over, with bare metal leading edges to the wings and engine nacelles, the only touch of colour being the red tops of the spinners. Second scheme is for red 22. This machine is painted in a dark green/light green camo, with light grey undersides. The last machine, for which only side views are given, is red 35. The chart indicates light grey blue grey neutral grey and sand grey, but what goes where is unclear because the symbols in the chart do not match those on the plane.

Conclusion:  This is certainly not a shake and bake kit. So if you are into the quick to build Tamigawa kits this one is not for you. However any modeller with average skills and some patience, who is prepared to do some work on this kit, will be rewarded with a very good replica of this important Russian workhorse. Russian Project is to be commended by their choice of subject. I look forward to seeing their An-24, An-30 and An-32, which are announced on the side of the box. 

References:  

 

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