American Eagle ATR-72 1/144

[TheChronicOne]

I've managed more work on this one. It is the F-Rsin plastic kit.

I'm in NO hurry on this one. I plan on it taking ...ohhhh... I don't know... another 6 months? So much to be done so I'm giving myself a lot of time. Any how... I'll update more over time. To date I've gotten the fuselage halves and main wheel well put together. I've PSRed MOST of the fuselage, but part of one side caved in for some reason, something to do with the glue I put in the weight I suspect, even though there is no weight or glue in that area... uhh.. but whatever... I filled that in today and after it dries I'll sand it and see if it needs more. The wings have also been cleaned up and glued together so after the caved in part is done, I'll glue those on and the tailplanes and we'll have a proper airplane.





This is the current state of the fuselage. Here are some earlier pics of the other stuff, in random order:










Extra set of prop blades they provided in the kit:



And other parts in their "natural" state:





















I'm nothing, if not thorough!


This is a pet project of mine... these planes flew in and out of LAW for year (Lawton/Ft. Sill Regional) and I saw them everyday fly past. It took a fair sum of money to obtain all this crap but the fact that it was even possible is delightful. Subjects such as this weren't (and sort of still aren't) readily available in years past. If I can keep from losing my mind with all the PSR it should turn out to be a lovely model.

Thanks for looking!

[F-27pax]

Good luck with this one. I made the F-Rsin Plastic ATR42 and ATR72 and they were some of the most challenging models I've made. Your close up photos show some of the problems. But the end result is very attractive.

[TheChronicOne]

Thank you! I'm hoping that if I take my time and be patient I can do this thing justice. I can say the same; this is the most "intensive" build I've ever taken on. I'm not the most adept modeller so I hope I can press on and make my way through the pitfalls.

[hrtpaul]

Nice work man. As I said previously I have one of these to do in the PNG Air scheme. I hear you with the state of the parts in the box but we are modellers, not assemblers. I'll be watching this very closely mate

[TheChronicOne]

Thank you!!!!

Finally back to work and at a point where pictures will actually show advancement. I haven't been working on this one at all for awhile but a couple days ago I picked it up and have been furiously addressing PSR and getting the fuselage into acceptable shape. This has gone very well! I had to stop at this point and glue on the gear housing:



Yeah... I know... uhh... yeah... too lazy to take another, you get the idea....

Had to putty and PSR that but it didn't take long as the shape and placement helps move things along.

I also had to glue 8 very wee fences to the bottom of the wings:



I had to do some adjusting but they actually went on pretty well and look quite nice for being so small and from a short-run kit such as this.

Next up the main wings go on.... then the tailplanes. I had to use my big curved wood file to do a bit of clean-up on the tailplanes but they have an excellent fit and snugged right up on the fin. A slight, quick touch of sandpaper and these will be perfct. Very impressive the fitment of these. A shame the main wings weren't as tightly engineered but I have to hand it to the FRSIN guy and his cohorts for this one. I've seen worse out of mainstream injection kits.




Next, work on the engines will commence. If I can get the nacelles on and perhaps the spinners, I can stop and prime everything because the only stuff left are fiddly bits!! It's nice to be making such progress. I could be finished with this sooner than I was predicting which would be lovely. As I said, it's a pet project. My birthday is coming up soon so I can set that as a deadline and present it to myself as a nice treat (12-18, it ain't THAT close but .... it is) . Anyway, here it is to date:



I'm through for today, though. I'm eager to get back to work on it again, however. I feel like I'm at the point where I'm beyond 50% on the build and that the bulk of the "heavy lifting" is behind me!

[hrtpaul]

It's coming along real nice mate. Keep it up

[TheChronicOne]

Thanks, Paul. I can't wait to work on it, now! It's definitely a nice feeling to be past all that PSR. I'm looking forward to seeing it in primer.

[Ansett A330]

There should be a Scale Modelling equivalent of Medals for tackling particular models.

For example if he ever finishes it I reckon RayS deserves the Modelling equivalent of the VC for his 1:72 "Anigrand" (in inverted commas as there probably isn't anything original Anigrand left in the build that hasn't been modified!) C-17 (let alone for the old adage that if someone scratchbuilds or converts something then we'll get a mainstream kit of it - a la the Kinetic 1:72 C-17).

For this one I think you'd get a DSO or DFC turning this "roughie" of a kit into a pretty good model.

[TheChronicOne]

Thanks!!

Sounds a little self serving but I can't help but agree... this is hands down the most labor intensive project I've ever taken on. Perhaps an HoG award, we could call it "THE HOG" for those who Hop on (the) Grenade, so to speak.

I still have some rather PITA work coming up, too. Not sure how well the engines will go together, for one, and the radome on this thing has some pretty unique qualities about it including paint colors and some weird line jive on it then the NAZCA decals will be pretty tedious as well. I am well motivated at the moment, however, thanks to the head of steam I built up the other day so hopefully I can press on and get this sucker knocked out by December. Hell, if it Primes up really nice and I don't need to do much more PSR I could get it done much quicker and that would be a blast!

Either way, It's back to work on this one at some point today so I should have some pictures by later. My PLAN is to at least get the engine nacelles cleaned up and glued on. If this goes exceedingly well I could potentially have this primed today as well but I'm not counting on it.

[TheChronicOne]

Props and spinners together and engine nacelles are together as well. I've done a bunch of clean up work already but more will need done to each of these items. Not too much on the props, but the nacelles will need a bit of filler and probably some adjustment after dry fitting to the wings.





I've had enough of this fun for one day, however. Stuff needs to dry anyway and I don't feel like messing with the gear. That stuff is wee, and also very rough looking. I'd rather tackle that at the beginning of the day than the end. Beside, I consider it quite the victory getting the prop blades and spinners together, to be honest. They actually turned out pretty nice, though!