This is the huge 1/72 scale Antonov An-124 'Ruslan' (NATO Condor) from the Ukrainian firm of Modelsvit.

The main parts (fuselage, wings, fin and tail planes) are made in fibreglass resin - with all the other parts (cockpit, engines and wheels) in injection moulded plastic.

It is the same type of kit as made by Amodel in their 'Amonster' series - and I think it's the same guys making it.

The nose visor is separate - but there is no interior detail, so it has to be fitted in the closed position - and the cross-section does not quite match - so lots of filler was needed to blend the nose visor into the forward fuselage.

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The injection-moulded cockpit is fully detailed - although not much of it can be seen on the finished model.

The wings are designed to be detachable for transport - and two metal tubes are supplied, although I reinforced mine with brass tube and rod.

The engines are small models in their own right - with fully detailed interiors, front fan and 'hot' section. 

The biggest problem I had was with the wheels - 20 main and 4 nose wheels. The undercarriage is fully detailed - but very delicate and no way able to support the 1.7 kg (3.11lb) weight of the finished model.

I made a support trestle from thick acrylic sheet - and this is more-or-less hidden under the fuselage.

This enabled me to get all 20 main wheels to touch the ground - after filing flats on the bottoms to give an impression of weight.

Although Modelsvit supply massive decal sheets for six options, I chose to model mine as a machine from Russian Air Force 224 Sqn that I had photographed in 2012 during the RusAF 100th Anniversary flypast - the decals for which were very kindly made by Begemot

The finished model is huge - and dwarfs the Revell A-400M next to it (model kindly provided by Alan Firbank)

Ken Duffey (Flankerman)

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