Mil Mi-V-12 - the BIG one!!

[digger303]

Does that mean the mil 8 is in between those 2 in regards to size.

[RangerNeil]

Does that mean the mil 8 is in between those 2 in regards to size.

Nope The -8 and -24 are both smaller than the -6. Which in turn is - just - smaller than the -22 and -26 but about the same size as a -10. All of which are smaller than the -12...

[Tomcat64]

Nice work scratch building those struts on the rams

Sorry if I missed it but are any of the 12s still in existance?

[DRUMS01]

Every time I look at the build and its various bracing it reminds me that the Soviets must have taken a class in spider web engineering. Only the mother of this child would love it as a beautiful thing. Not that your work isn't great, I would say the kit is a brute in a mechanical and challenging sort of way (smile).

[RangerNeil]

Nice work scratch building those struts on the rams

Sorry if I missed it but are any of the 12s still in existance?

Many thanks. 2 machines were built and both still exist in museums. One is in the what is now called the RusVertol museum on the outskirts of Moscow, the other is in the museum of Military Aviation - also just outside Moscow. This one is complete, the one in the RusVertol museum has had the rotor blades removed I believe. If it hadn't been for the current unpleasantness I likely would have arranged a visit as I have friends from the living history scene out there.....

Every time I look at the build and its various bracing it reminds me that the Soviets must have taken a class in spider web engineering. Only the mother of this child would love it as a beautiful thing. Not that your work isn't great, I would say the kit is a brute in a mechanical and challenging sort of way (smile).

Given it was meant to carry 40 tonne ICBM's I guess there is a degree of wisdom in the belt and braces approach. 40 tonnes of missile with a nuke sat on top is the last thing you want falling out of the domestic skies....

Anyways - cleaned the excess CA today, refitted the grab handles/rungs on top of the engine housings and fitted the handles to the passenger access doors - 3 closed and locked, 1 open, the gave the top a final coat of primer. Tomorrow it gets flipped and primer applied to the underside. Once thats dry the fun REALLY starts!!!

[digger303]

The weird and wonderful. It's surprising how much of it comes from France and Russia.
Can't wait until the paint is done so you can fit those rotors.

[RangerNeil]

Everything is now primed - hopefully it will stay attached to the surface as there is a LOT of paint and masking to do. Especially white!!!

[RangerNeil]

Quickie update.
I ordered the large amount of gloss white required the week before Xmas from eBay & delivery was scheduled to be by 3rd Jan.

Needless to say theres no sign of it!!

Can't progress the build without it so have filed an undelivered action with eBay. Order confirmation said it had been sent by "Other Courier - 48 hr" so I can't chase it up myself unfortunately as I've no idea what courier firm was used and have no tracking number.

So if anyones wondering why things have gone quiet on the big Mil front - this is why.

[RangerNeil]

Heard back from the eBay supplier - apparently their courier has told them it was "lost in tansit" so they are refunding me the cost. Would have resent the order but they are out of stock. At least its a good resolution for me - just need to find someone else stocking the stuff at affordable prices.

[DRUMS01]

Thats a bummer Neil, I had a similar issue trying to locate British Dark Green No.24 B.S. 381 for the Churchill I'm working on. Finally found an extremely close alternative (I can't see the difference). Sure hope you get your paint issue fixed as I'm rather excited to see this big hunk of plastic and resin have some color. So far so good, right?

[digger303]

Hopefully that gallon of white paint will arrive soon.

[RangerNeil]

The big day has come - the first paint has gone on!!!!




This will now sit and dry for a few day to make sure it doesn't rip off with the masking tape.
But we are moving forwards again!!

[RangerNeil]

One step forwards - 4 steps back
Important lessons learnt:
1) Don't paint large areas/,objects after dark using room lighting.
2) Humbrol aerosol paints are a lot thinner than they used to be!

Looked at the Mil in daylight whilst thinking what the next colour to go on would be - and got met by this...








So - back to sanding. Again..... I'll let it sit for another 24 hours to fully dry/cure and then start rubbing these down......

You do not want to know how I feel right now.

[RangerNeil]

Started work on repairing the paint runs/sags tonight. Looks like its going to be a slow job........

[digger303]

Oh that's a awful sight to be confronted with first thing in the morning.
On the bright side that's a nice gloss on the top.

[RangerNeil]

Finally got those runs removed!! Between the Mil and the Rotodyne I'm running seriously short of finger prints!!!








Resulting in:




Either I have a new one at the front in the top pic - or I missed one!!

[digger303]

[aur0ra145]

That is an enormous kit. Can't wait to see the end result!

[RangerNeil]

That is an enormous kit. Can't wait to see the end result!

Neither can I!!!

[Twokidsnosleep]

White is painful to spray
You cannot see it go down very well, especially painting onto white styrene
It is so easy for you to over spray and get runs or under spray and miss areas
You nailed it with good lighting and thin multi layers
I don’t envy you re-sanding out the runs

[DRUMS01]

Totally agree with Scott, while it may be easier to cover white on white, it is definitely easier to see the application when spraying white over something like gray or another light color (not white). Another thing I do when spraying white, or any other light color, especially over a darker color, is to apply several light applications or layer it as they say. Even then runs can occur without super bright lighting all around to gage the coating thickness (don't ask me how I know this). This build has fought you all the way through it so its no surprise with the paint. With your tenacity so far on this build, I'm confidant you will have this back on track and looking good soon.

I'm eager to see it in all its glory.

Ben

[RangerNeil]

Been a while because there has been a LOT of sanding - and cursing - and sanding - and cursing..... You get the picture.....




Now to find the paint diagram and work out where its needs masking.for the rest of the colours.... And offering fervent prayers the masking tape doesn't lift the paint!!!

[digger303]

The white has come up well mostly due to your perseverance and elbow grease.
Can't wait to see some colour.

[Garion77]

I think all your efforts were worth it ! Nice job !
As for white, as everyone said it's a pain in the ass ! but found out recently it's quite easier (for Vallejo and AK 3rd gen) they go down in an easier way using VMS thinner and adding just a small or two of their retarder
Again great job ! you don't see any seams no where ! so great elbow grease when sanding !

[RangerNeil]

The colours are going on at last!! Spent an age today sticking masking tape to the cutting mat, peeling it off, sticking it back - multiple times to reduce the stickiness and thus reduce the risk of it taking paint off.
Had fun with the airbrush too - pull the trigger - get needle jet a couple of mm wide. Let go and pull again and get a spray pattern maybe 10mm wide. Hence the overspray in the wing pylon thatt I will need tontry and polish off when dry.
Still got to do the engine pods with the same blue. Then there is a darker blue stripe over the windows, red infills on the fin & stabilisers and the lower nose.






Paint scheme for ref.

[digger303]

A bit of blue after all that white makes a huge change.

[RangerNeil]

Engine pods got their blue treatment today as did the rear cargo doors and ramp.




Something I forgot - apart from the White and the Red every other colour is matt so can anyone recommend a good alternative to Humbrol gloss clear coat in a rattle can??

[RangerNeil]

Darker Blue going on. This was "fun" - the Humbrol #14 came out of the bottle like mud and needed to be thinned in the cup. I added a couple of drops of flow improver to the mix too - seemed to do the trick. The Light Blue sprayed beautifully straight from the bottle. Going to be interesting to see how the Red goes.....




Then the middle stripe was added:




Despite best efforts at masking there are a couple of spots of over-spray and a couple of sports where where the Dark Blue bled under the tape. These will get polished off tomorrow nefore masking up for the Red.

[digger303]

I don't envy you having to mask up this monster what with working around the pylons and maybe having to flip it. Seems fraught with potential disaster.
I shall cross my fingers all goes well.

[RangerNeil]

I don't envy you having to mask up this monster what with working around the pylons and maybe having to flip it. Seems fraught with potential disaster.
I shall cross my fingers all goes well.

Cheers Digger. Did I ever mention this beast absolutely EATS masking tape??
Got all the over-spray polished off now, just gving it overnight to dry then its masking up for the Red - underside of the nose, an arc from the upper Light Blue stripe down to the cockpit windows and the band around each engine pod.

[RangerNeil]

Red is now on. Again some over-spray to polish off where I missed gaps in the tape - and some blue to add where I missed it dirstime around under the Red arc on the nose.
First up - rather excessive masking???


Finished for the day and ready for tidying. White has been done on the rear doors - they just need the Dark Blue now.




Despite trying to "desticky" the tape as much as possible there are some VERY small areas where paint has lifted and will need touching in when everything is done and before the pre-decal gloss coat goes on.

[DRUMS01]

WOW, it seems like a lot of work but will sure be worth it when done. Looks good so far....

[RangerNeil]

Small steps but progress - The open passenger door has its dark blue section as do the rear cargo doors and ramp.




Looking at the rear doors I think I've taken the light blue up too far so I think I may have to sand the existing join line down and re-do it.

The not so good news is when it was inverted on the bench I've lost 4 of the rungs on the engine pods - and only managed to find 1 of them. Not sure what I am going to do/can do about this yet.

[RangerNeil]

More small steps:
* Main undercarriage repainted after getting covered in primer over-spray (despite being masked).

* Nose wheel is now on permanently.


* The paint layout on the rear doors has been altered to how it should have been.
Before:


After:


I managed to find another one of the missing 4 rungs from the engine pods by examining the old making tape used to cover the white areas of the pods. Still leaves 2 more to.replace - not looking forwards to.solving THAT issue!!

[RangerNeil]

Rear doors coated with gloss clear coat. They've had 2 light layers and now I'm waiting a few hours in case there is any bad reaction to the Liquitex gloss clear coat.

[RangerNeil]

A spot of scratch building - tubular access ladder for the passenger door thats open.


And the Mil itself has been gloss coated ready for decals:


The end is - almost - in sight, I can see light at the end of the very long tunnel.
(Of course, with the "fun" involved in this kit that may also be an express train going the other way..... )

[digger303]

ha ha

[RangerNeil]

Boarding steps done - made 1 set full width but not sure I like it so I made another half- width. Painted Orange as that seems the de facto Soviet colour for boarding ladders.
Full width:


Half width:


I am thinking the half width looks better - what does the Group Mind on here think?
For some add reason the treads look all to cock but they are actually parallel - an optical deluson?

Next job on this one is tidying up the paint on the main undercarriage legs and rear rams. Then the decals go on followed by another clear coat.Then its fitting the rear ramp, making the finger plates that fold over the gap between fuselage floor and ramp then lastly the clamshell doors.....

What can possibly go wrong........

[RangerNeil]

Had a bit of free time today - so I measured up the back end and made up the finger plates to cover the gap between fuselage floor and the ramp. A bit of 0.25mm plastic card cut to length (60mm) and width (20mm), scribed down the cente line for the hinges and thence into 5mm wide "strips" to represent the fingers. Once the paint was dry I used AK's "Dark Grime" streaking brusher to dirty up the ramp and fingers.




Went to tidy up the undercarriage legs and rear rams - and found my pot of Light Grey was all but dried up so I've had to order a replacement.

[digger303]

Boarding steps done - made 1 set full width but not sure I like it so I made another half- width. Painted Orange as that seems the de facto Soviet colour for boarding ladders.
Full width:


Half width:


I am thinking the half width looks better - what does the Group Mind on here think?
For some add reason the treads look all to cock but they are actually parallel - an optical deluson?

Next job on this one is tidying up the paint on the main undercarriage legs and rear rams. Then the decals go on followed by another clear coat.Then its fitting the rear ramp, making the finger plates that fold over the gap between fuselage floor and ramp then lastly the clamshell doors.....

What can possibly go wrong........

Steps....the wide one would be good if it had hand rails. The narrow one looks fine for that situation.

[RangerNeil]

First of the decals went on today. Only got the fin, upper wings and one side done as holding the beast became impossible with one side done so its being left to dry overnight and I'll do the other side + the rear doors tomorrow.

[digger303]

[RangerNeil]

Decals are now on the other side and the rear doors. These can now dry overnight then I can look at replacing the rungs on the engine pods before a final gloss clear coat to protect the decals.
As usual the kit is fighting back - as the last decal went on - the nose landing gear fell off. Next time I'll use CA to put it on with!!

[RangerNeil]

All the decals are on now and have been given a coat of Gloss clear coat






Next job is to fit the rear ramp and doors then measure up and scratch-build the loading fillets.

[DRUMS01]

Moving right along, despite the past complications.

Looking good so far

Ben

[RangerNeil]

Its amazing to think only 51 years seperate the first flight of the Red Barons Triplane (1917) and the first flight of this gargantuan beast (1968). So just for fun - spot the Fokker......

[digger303]

To even more amazing is how much either aircraft can carry . With the Fokker managing 3 people equivalent and this monster with 40 tonne

[DRUMS01]

That's a cute little Fokker......and a big spider looking behemoth its sitting on.

[RangerNeil]

That's a cute little Fokker......and a big spider looking behemoth its sitting on.

And the big spider-looking behomoth is presenting its own unique problems again!
Its time to fit the rear ramp and clamshell door - but to fit the ramp requires the Beast from the East to sit level constantly. And no matter how I try it something is always catching on the bench now. So I've come to the conclusion that it needs a base board about 500mm square to sit on. Then I can work on top of the mobile draw unit it currently sits on between operations. So - the issue is - find a baseboard thats minium 500mm square, max 600mm and a minimum of 3mm thick to ensure rigidity. The hunt is on!!

[digger303]

That's a cute little Fokker......and a big spider looking behemoth its sitting on.

And the big spider-looking behomoth is presenting its own unique problems again!
Its time to fit the rear ramp and clamshell door - but to fit the ramp requires the Beast from the East to sit level constantly. And no matter how I try it something is always catching on the bench now. So I've come to the conclusion that it needs a base board about 500mm square to sit on. Then I can work on top of the mobile draw unit it currently sits on between operations. So - the issue is - find a baseboard thats minium 500mm square, max 600mm and a minimum of 3mm thick to ensure rigidity. The hunt is on!!

50mm insulation foam board will do that and be light weight.