28.3.2016 Olda Homola - 6,527 přečtení

Last time we introduced sprues and etched parts of brand new L-29 in 72nd Scale. Now we follow with test build report.

How does L-29 "Flying Dolphin" by AMK fit?

Olda Homola

Kit: L-29 Delfin

Scale: 1/72

Producer: AMK

Kat. číslo: ?????

Intro

My last article here on Model Web introduced a brand new kit by  AMK (see here 1/72 L-29 Delfín AMK – náhled na výlisky). Now I follow with test build report.  From the very beginning there must be said this kit fits like lego toy. Only basic cleanup of some parts  is needed. Well, lets roll.

Omit the Czech comments under pic, they are common to both language mutations. All important notices are included in article. 

Interior

Most of us begins our kit build by assemblying of interior. For this kit it means not only cockpit, but even nose bay and exhaust pipe. When cutting halves of fuselage from the tree we certainly notice large sin marks on the cockpit/nose bay walls. But, as the following assembly prove they would not be visible so no bother to remove/clean them.

But those ones on pilot seats sides will be definitely visible, so remove them is highly recommended.

Also, when removing oxygen bottles from the tree, there is no need to pay much attention to clean up the sign as the bottles themselves are to be glued on place in such direction (to the wall) that it wont be visible.

Oxygen and other pressurized bottles are pretty similar to each other so on the reverse side there are different number of  holes. Those match only the exact part and place to be glued to.

Exact position of cockpit is secured by various locks.

....same as for nose bay equipment and also for exhaust pipe

which give us a perfect fit especially on the very end of fuselage.

Here is how it looks before the fuselage halves are joined together.

Nose gear is to be attached onto the hole in nose bay/cockpit bulkhead, but I was afraid that would be difficult after fuselage halves are joined (as instructions says), partially  due to the small nose gear bay and  also by pressing the leg into "small like" hole it could be easily broken (I guess)

Don´t worry  hole is big enough to allow us to place leg on correct place with just slight pressure, just securing by glue is needed. And this gives us strong fit what is importan if we speak about landing gear.

Cockpit is pretty detailed and this sub-assembly doesn´t make any difficulty to any modeller. Just follow the instruction, as parts of the seats and seat rails are cast as the one common set in sprue C, thus being inserted twice in kit. But, on the real plane, seats and rails differs so some slight cuts for rear seat and rails are required. Seats also don´t have locating pins, but they are supposed to be glued between seat rails.  Rear dash board must "sit" on the side wall of cockpit, otherwise bulkhead between front and rear cockpit wouldn´t fit.

When installing glass part of such bulkhead, it is better just place it on position without gluing to rear dashboard - that allows us to trim it slighlty to get perfect fit with its plastic frame (what is incorporated part of fuselage halves)  after fuselage halves are joined together. Don´t worry, glass bulkhead has strong location pins to hold it on place.

I wasn´t sure how would  front dashboard and its cover fit into fuselage, so I glued the dashboard into cockpit base and then attached dashboard cover together with dashboard using tack-it. That gave me an opportunity to trim slightly the dashboard cover after fuselage halves are joined together to get best possible fit.

There was still a narrow gap,but it would be completely hidden by windshield instalation.

Don´t miss to put some weight under cockpit department   (guess who did  ).

Fuselage halves go together pretty well.. Unfortunately, the mid-cockpit bulkhead struts don´t fit the bulkhead itself, but I left the bulkhead as is due reasons explained next.

When you put both canopies on place, the rear one fits perfectly but between the front one and bulkhead there is a small "V" gap on the top - which is little strange. If you would try to move bulkhead angle little forward the gap will appear between rear canopy and bulkhead. I wonder if I made mistake somewhere here.

Fortunatelly there is a option to leave both cockpit canopies open.

Wing and flaps assembly

Wing sub-assembly is not difficult again. Due to the fact kit allows to install flaps in up or lowered position, I decided to assembly right wing with flaps up and lef wing with lowered flaps.

First I tried dry fit of wing parts -  there was a small gap around wing tip. The reason was "stick" of Electostaric Discharger. We need to do a small  furrow line in the top half of wing part, which needs to correspond with part of Electrostatic Discharger "hidden"  inside wing tip.

Now you can glue together wing parts, if you building kit with flaps up and put there air intake. Intake is hold on its place very firmly so no glue is needed.

Flaps are designed to be placed in lowered positions, therefore there are solid location pins. Those need to be cut out, if you like to glue them in "up" position.

After that they flush in place perfectly.

When assembling the wing with lowered flaps, there are etched parts to be prepared first. They simulate internal wing structure, showed when flaps are in lowered position. Assembly is simple - just bend the ribs to 90 degrees against surface .

Such sub-assembly is to be put into certain place in top half wing part surrounded by little sqares of plastic.

Then wing is glued together and air intake is put on its place. Both wings were attached to fuselage - result is perfect fit.

Once wings are on its place, lowered flap can be attached.

Tailplane, Elevator & Rudder

Tailplane is from two parts (top and bottom). After gluing togehter it just needs to be "snap" together with location pin on the top of the fin. This gives us perfect fit and the line is the same as engraved lines on all kit surface . Construction of location pin and interface also helps to get correct "zero" dihedral.

Elevator can be glued in different position, fit is also perfect.

Rudder is also from two parts with solid location pin, but put in place comes into nice and relevant result.

 

Undercarriage and its covers

Main undercarriage legs are glued to the rear side or "spar" in  u/c bay. There is a quite massive location pin who make this very easy. Although it may look crispy, as the main gear leg don´t lie on the bottom of the u/c bay, we get pretty firm join.

Main oleo leg strut is to be glued on its place with a bit of  "structure" into the do recessed place among u/c ribs.  Also u/c covers are glued onto massive location pins, and fits perfectly as well.

Assembling "inner" u/c covers is however a bit tricky. There are a small triangular-shape location pins on these parts

but the place they supposed to be glued in is without any counter-holes. So I press them onto the wing part as shown, it is hold in "mid-air" by traverse tension as the covers went there pretty tightly.  The results is quite ok, however I am  not sure if I get the correct angle between wing skin and inner u/c covers.

Now its time to put front u/c leg on its place - no problem at all.

Exterior - tiny parts

Following the build with gluing of air brakes. They are consist of eteched fuselage joints  and brakes themselves. The joints are to be glued to airbrakes frist and then into small recessed lines on the rear fuselage. I glued one brake open (dont forget to add oleo strut, which also helps to get correct angle) and one in closed position just to give you an impression how it looks.

 

Really nice and really tiny details are position lights  made of clear plastic. They also fit into its place  in wing tip so good than no glue is needed -so no extra drop of glue accidentally dropped onto light will destroy the effect!

Now the cabin air intakes follows. They are nice,but so tiny to clean up from rest of sprue and to hold in tweezers - I lost one supposed to be placed just behind the wing trailning edge Extremelly care must be taken to handle with them.

Clever details are avionic covers  (+ including one from eteched part), which makes nice 3D effect.Most of them just snap onto its place and  secured with glue.

Fuselage antenna/aerial could be also snapped onto its place and secured with very little drop of glue.

"T" shape underwing antennas are glued  - there is recommended to slightly deepen the hole where supposed to be place, as they are quite shallow.

Now crampons are to be added - no problem to attach them at all as they are glued into small holes in fuselage below cockpit.

There is also option to use external fuel tanks casted with their rack - fit to bottom of wing perfectly.

At the very end we place the nose bay cover on its place - also just one click - no need to use glue....

and both canopies are attached to fuselage. The front one has to be glued on small triangular-like marks on both the fuselage side and canopy itself and "secure" with eteched strut. The latter is to be glued into small recessed places in both top of windshield and movable canopy which also help to get correct opening angle. Clever enough!

Conclusion

I must say the kit met my expectations. Apart of two slight difficulties mentioned above its a superb kit which fits pretty well and  and its enjoyable build comes into perfect results. Highly recommended.

 

Olda Homola

Many thanks goes to Annetra for providing kit sample for this test build.

Rubrika AMK, ANNETRA s.r.o., Letadla - 1:72, Letadla - Stavební recenze | 1 komentář

Komentáře

1 odpověď k článku “1/72 Aero L-29 – AMK | test build”

1. Olda Homola napsal:
   March 28th, 2016 at 09:23 AM

   Dodatek - pro zájemce o fotografické detaily L-29 je připravena reedice CDčka "Aero L-29 Delfin in detail".
   Bude v prodeji na Modelimexu nebo na http://airplanephoto.net/

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