Antonov AN-2/AN-2CX Colt - 1:48 Hobby Boss

[Mike]

Antonov AN-2/AN-2CX Colt

1:48 Hobby Boss

Already established as a successful designer of sailplanes and gliders, an area of interest stemming from his school days, Oleg Antonov worked initially for the Yakovlev organisation prior to and during the Second World War. Post war, he established the Antonov bureau and began the design of an aircraft to meet a specification issued by the Soviet Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. The result was the Antonov An-2, the prototype making its first flight in August of 1947. Few would have imagined that the type would still be in production almost fifty years later with almost eighteen thousand An-2s rolling of production lines in both Russia and Poland. In the early 1960’s, after more than 5000 air-frames had been built, manufacture of the An-2 Colt was transferred from Russia to Poland where a staggering 12,000 further examples were built. Full scale production ended in 1991 however, limited production and re working of existing airframes continued up until 2002. China continues still to produce the Colt under licence as the Shijiazhuang Y-5 and with numbers estimated to be in excess of 1000 examples, it is will be virtually impossible to accurately determine the final production total.

Although originally intended to replace the old Polikarpov Po-2, the An-2 design was soon found to be easily adapted to suit other roles. From agricultural work and basic transport duties, through to flying laboratories and parachute dropping, there are few tasks that the Colt has not undertaken. Though many and varied, and with each type given a different suffix to identify its intended role, it is the An-2SKh or An-2 CX which is the subject of the new 1:48th scale kit by Hobby Boss.

Fitted with a hopper located within the relatively spacious fuselage, the An-2CX could deliver powdered, granulated or liquid chemicals through a powered nozzle system mounted below the fuselage and could treat an area somewhere between 18 and 22 metres wide at each pass. Loading of the hopper with granulated or powdered dusting chemicals is done via a roof-mounted filler though liquid chemicals are usually filled via a pipe and pump mounted in the fuselage side. This system was largely obsolete by 1975, being replaced by a more conventional spray bar system that would almost double the width covered by the aircraft with each pass. Interestingly, the fuselage life was reduced on the An-2CX due to the corrosive nature of the chemicals. However, the development of modern epoxy based anti-corrosion treatments has enabled the 6000 hour limit to be significantly increased.

Despite the somewhat dated appearance, the An-2 is designed around a stressed skin, semi monocoque fuselage normally employed in the construction of pressurised aircraft rather than the frame and stringer format usually associated with aircraft of this type. The idea being, that the stressed skin fuselage will better absorb the stresses imposed on the airframe in its intended role as an agricultural aircraft and distribute them more evenly over the entire airframe, ultimately reducing the loads imposed on specific components. The wings, with a maximum span of 18.1 metres are of metal construction. Based on a two spar layout, the wings are wire braced with a single inter-plane strut. The leading edges are metal covered however, the areas aft of the main spar are fabric covered as are all of the control surfaces. Full span, electrically operated leading edge slats are fitted on the upper wing which, in conjunction with the full span slotted flaps on both wings, gives the An-2 a very impressive short field capability. The outer section of the upper wing flaps doubles as the aileron. The idea being that it is easier to carry out repairs to this type of construction in remote locations. Many photographs exist showing either the control surfaces or large sections of the wing fabric that, having been damaged and repaired in the field, often painted in different colours compared to original. The upper wing also houses the six fuel tanks which supply the reliable nine-cylinder Shvetsov ASh-62 radial engine.

The Kit

The kit arrives in a large top opening box with HB's usual slightly corrugated surface texture. Inside is quite a lot of plastic, ten sprues of mid-grey styrene, plus one of clear parts, which are tucked away in a small card annex within the box for safety, and wrapped in foam to further protect them.

The fact that this is a large aircraft hits you immediately, as the box is dominated by the large corrugated wings and wide body. The fuselage parts are on a separate sprue with square sectioned runners, and sprue gates that hold the parts clear of the sprue runner, which is a necessity when using slide-moulds. This results in even panel lines all around the fuselage sides, necessitated by the square(ish) sides of the fuselage.

The build begins with the cockpit, which sees a lot of detail added to the nicely ribbed cockpit floor and bulkhead. A full relief instrument panel is supplied along with a set of decals that are applied over the raised details. Another decal decorates the central console instruments, and a handful (literally) of levers and extra details finish off the panel nicely. The pilots have control columns and rudder pedals each, plus well detailed seats that have a basic sheel, a cushion in the seat pan, and a five piece mount to the cockpit bulkhead. On the other side of the bulkhead is a well-appointed passenger cabin, with door, fire extinguisher and other details applied, and a rear bulkhead at the other end of the long compartment floor. The side of the fuselage interior is lined with fold-away seats, which can be depicted deployed or stored, with the hard backs up against the internal structure of the aircraft, which is well-moulded and has managed to escape the ravages of ejector pin marks, which is always good news. The portholes on the sides of the fuselage are separate parts that fit into the lipped recesses, as do the smaller windows further back in the passenger compartment. The cargo door on the side is a separate part with its own window, and installs from the inside if you are leaving it closed. It has a few ejector pin marks in it however, and will need some internal detail adding if you were thinking of leaving it open. The cargo compartment behind the passenger cabin is devoid of any detail, but won't bother the majority of modellers, I'm sure. Once this section is complete, it can be sandwiched between the fuselage halves, and here you will notice that there is no internal detail moulded into the crew area. A little scratch-building or a coat of interior green… it's up to you.

The large 9-cylinder Shvetsov radial engine is supplied as a one-piece moulding, and could doubtless benefit from a little extra detail, but should look good within the cowling after some careful painting. The cowling itself is a two-piece affair split vertically, so will need careful gluing and fettling of the seam. The cowling flaps can be posed open or closed by using different inserts. The open flaps have thinned trailing edges to improve their scale look, and have small triangular fillets moulded in to depict the parted sections. The exhaust is also fitted later as an insert, and a central cylindrical oil-cooler is fitted to the underside of the cowling in a slot.

The tail of the beast is a separate part, and comes in two halves, which once joined are offered up to the rear of the main fuselage, located by two sizeable pegs that fit into corresponding holes in the fuselage rear. The rudder is separate and has two actuating rods, while the elevators are moulded into the horizontal stabiliser, both of which have Y-shaped supports attached underneath. Whether the tail will locate better as a finished unit, or would be better joined as separate halves before the fuselage is joined is difficult to call from looking at the parts in the box, but it is certainly worth considering your options to ensure the best joint on the sides of the fuselage.

Once the tail, engine cowling and the two-piece canopy glazing is installed, attention turns to the wings, of which there are four. The lower wing is supplied as a full-width lower half, with two upper halves and a full-width aileron on each side, which is moulded separately. A small panel is added to the central section, and three holes are drilled through for later use. The long ailerons have six actuator rods attaching them to the main wing, and three landing lights are added to the leading edge, two to starboard, one to port. The wing is installed to the fuselage from below, and a pair of strengthening struts are added between the wing root and the fuselage.

The upper wings are made of two halves each, plus the full-length aileron, which has seven actuators on each one. A pair of auxiliary intakes are located under each wing near the fuselage, and wingtip recognition lights are added to the squared off tips. The upper wings mount to the fuselage using the familiar tab-and-slot method, and the single interplane strut stands about ²/[/sub]3[/sub] of the length along the wings, ensuring that the wings stay at the correct angle to eachother and the fuselage.

The fuselage is festooned with small parts on top and underneath, some of which will be best left off until painting is completed. The landing gear is fixed, and has sturdy mounts under the wing and fuselage, to which you can add either the standard landing gear strut and V-shaped braces, or two three-legged skis with matching tail ski if you are going for the cold-weather option. Alternatively, a crop-dusting mechanism is supplied that can be attached to the underside of the wheeled variant if you feel the need to build a crop-duster (someone might?).

The build is finished off by the large prop, which is made from four separate blades that are keyed and fit into a central boss that is split front-to-back. This should ensure that the props make the correct angle to eachother, and they would probably be best installed after the boss is cemented and cured.

There is only one colour scheme with two sets of markings supplied in the box, so if you wanted to build the crop-duster or the ski-shod options, you'll probably need to find your own decals. The two machines depicted on the colour painting guide are in the same Russian Green over Light Blue scheme, with 12972 wearing traditional red stars and the number 802, while 50076 wears only a set of Chinese stars-and-bars plus its tail number.

The decals are in register and have good colour density with fairly minimal carrier film, but some of the stars seem to have a slightly ragged edge between the red and white/yellow, which is however really only visible under magnification (2.5x in my case).

Conclusion

This is a nice kit of a lumbering beast of burden, and should go down well with modellers, especially as it includes a nicely appointed cabin and cockpit. The roof is of course devoid of detail, but that's down to the individual builder to add if they feel the need. My initial disappointment at the canopy being split down the middle(ish) was soon washed away when I looked closer at the angular shape and the way it hangs over the fuselage to give the pilots a better view of the ground. Doing it any other way would have been difficult if not impossible, and at least the join is on a frame-line.

The inclusion of skis and a crop dusting unit is handy, but it would have been nice to see some other decal schemes included that utilised these parts, rather than leaving the modeller guessing as to where to source some appropriate markings. These few gripes aside however, it's a good kit and should build up easily due to its simple nature. The separate tail implies that other versions are forthcoming, and it would be fair to say that some of these versions will have the more rounded fin.

Highly recommended.

Review sample courtesy of

[Radleigh]

Great review Mike, I've been awaiting this and shall have one after xmas! No mention of rigging though, so I'm guessing that'll be down to the modeller?

I assume the rear tail section is like that for maybe an An-3 version, or a An-2M version (square tail.)

Edited November 29, 2012 by Radleigh

[Mike]

Thanks chap - absolutely no mention of rigging in the instructions, no. The wires are there on the boxtop picture, and that's it

Oh, and thanks to Chris (Stringbag) for the assistance in research and prose for the pre-amble. Saved me a lot of time

[stringbag]

name='Mike' timestamp='1354206381' post='1179524']

Oh, and thanks to Chris (Stringbag) for the assistance in research and prose for the pre-amble. [/b]

A pleasure Mike.

As I mentioned, the Colt was built in such large numbers and with the choice of model produced by Hobby Boss there is scope to convert to other variants.

Hopefully the kit will be re-released covering the square tail options in the future but there are so many options open to the modeller using this kit as the starting point.

Chris.

[Flankerman]

The An-2 is so modern, it was on display at the recent Zhuhai airshow wot I went to......

This is a Shijianzhuang built Y5-B with winglets.

It is also still in service with the Russan AF - as witnessed by this 3-ship flypast at the 100th Anniversary Show held at Zhukovsky in August....

And.... the Moscow Aviation Repair Plant (MARZ) at Chernoye are doing a roaring trade refurbishing An-2's into as-new condition.....

Shout if you want more photos......

Ken

[Radleigh]

Ken I'm shouting! You got to love the An-2, The Vietnamese still use them in service too.

Here's one I flew in recently.

LY-AUP An-2 by Rainbow 1984, on Flickr