1/72 Roden AN-12BK Cub

Gallery Article by Scott Vomacka on Mar 3 2011

 

This is my finished OOB build of the Roden 1/72 AN-12BK Cub. A VERY nice kit and not difficult to build. All assemblies went together well with no putty used.

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Assembly was straight forward with no hassles. I started assembling the engines first. They went together with no trouble at all and the fit was excellent. To make assembling the engines to the wing easier, I attached the engine/wing fairing parts to the wing. Then I could attach the front part of the engines with no problems. Just a little sanding of the joints was needed to get a perfect fit and alignment.

With the wings/engines done, I started on the fuselage/cockpit. Since most of the cockpit details could not be seen through the small windows, I didn't do allot of painting. I only added tape shoulder belts to the seats. I tried to use the instrument panel decal, but it would not adhere to the plastic panel, so I just left it off.

I also did not do any painting/detailing to the cargo bay since the model was going to be closed up and nothing would be seen through the tiny fuselage windows. It was at this stage I added LOTS of nose weight in the compartment behind the cockpit bulkhead. I had to use tabs on the fuselage halves to aid in alignment since there were not pins. I then assembled and attached the rear fuselage assembly (including the tail gunner area) with no troubles. Everything fit just fine.

All this time I was concerned about how the wings would fit the fuselage and what kind of seam/joint I would have. After three dry fits, the wings gave me a snug fit. I had to do a little sanding to get them to fit flush, but this only took 5 minutes of sanding. The fit was great!  And I did not have any problems with wing/fuselage angle. It was self-aligning. I then painted and assembled the props and they were also self-aligning with no problems. I added them after the model was finished.

After the model was painted, I gave it a wash using Pro modeler dark wash. This took me a week to do all of the panels lines. I washed a few each day, let them dry for 10 minutes then wiped off the excess. Worked like a charm!

I used a mix of decals from "Authentic Decals" and Aeromaster. The AD decals for the mouth/eyes gave me trouble because they would not conform to any panel lines. Even using LOTS of MicroSol they would not budge or wrinkle. I had to cut them on the panel lines to get them to conform. I then used Clear Gel School Glue for the fuselage windows and they came out looking terrific!

It was now time to assemble the landing gear. One word of caution here. The plastic is soft and easy to sand. The problem with this is that the gear struts/axles are soft as well and bend easily. I was afraid that the weight of the model would bend the gear struts. So far they are holding up nicely. Because of this, I plan on making a cradle to support the model when I take it to any shows to save the soft gear from breakage.

After the model was finished, I added all the antennas. I then added two wire antennas using E-Z Line. (GREAT stuff)

This model was an enjoyable build for me because it did not give me any assembly problems and the plastic was easy to work with. The only area I would be concerned about is the soft landing gear legs holding up over time. I think this is a great kit for intermediate and experienced builders. Now I just have to find a space large enough to display it.

Scott Vomacka

Photos and text © by Scott Vomacka