Airbus A-400M

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July 3, 2020
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July 3, 2020
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July 21, 2020
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July 21, 2020
Somehow I managed to glue both halves of the fuselage together while adding the left half. After a bit of bending and prying, I managed to get the nose gear bay, counter weight and rear door in.
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July 21, 2020
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July 21, 2020
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September 16, 2020
Adding some supports under the wing assembly to hold the base of the wings down. The wing assembly has a fairly significant arch that is unsupported, which allows it to flex a lot.
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September 22, 2020
I have no idea where I'm going to put this thing when it's done
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September 22, 2020
Lots of filling and sanding.
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October 10, 2020
Putting these engines together isn't super difficult, the pieces fit very well. Slight amounts of force needed to get the lower intake panel and prop mount in place if you've glued the in intake/exhaust
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October 10, 2020
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October 10, 2020
I decided to keep the gear bay fairly clean and low on detail. The gear and wheels will obstruct most of your view into the bay anyways
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October 10, 2020
Short of gear, doors, props, and other miscellaneous stuff, this build has come together much quicker than anticipated.
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April 29, 2021
I've been waiting for some items for other kits, since this is ready to be painted, I figured I may as well start it while I wait
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May 5, 2021
Since I just switched to acrylics, I don't have all the colors I should, so I improvised. This color is a mix of Tamiya xf 20, xf 8, and xf 63 at a ratio of 10 to 4 to 3 respectively
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May 5, 2021
Good and fun marbling. Its crazy how much longer it actually takes to do it this way compared to just coating the surface.
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May 5, 2021
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May 5, 2021
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May 5, 2021
It took me about 6 hours total to completely cover the aircraft. Also, it really doesn't fit on my bench
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May 5, 2021
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May 5, 2021
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May 5, 2021
Under direct led light
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May 5, 2021
Under natural room light. I wasn't sure if xf 26 would be a good shade for this, but I'm very happy with how it reduces some of the blue tones in the gray
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May 5, 2021
Once the basic camo is down, I think I'll probably try to unify the entire aircraft with some mix of this green and some lighter gray
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May 9, 2021
This was my first time free handing a camouflage pattern. Overall, I'm fairly happy with the results. My poor compressor
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May 9, 2021
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May 9, 2021
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May 9, 2021
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May 9, 2021
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May 9, 2021
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May 9, 2021
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May 9, 2021
Not sure how I feel about the camo just abruptly ending here
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May 9, 2021
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May 9, 2021
Getting under the wing was very frustrating. On reflection, I should've held the body straight up or down at this section, rather than horizontally. My recommendation would be not to attach the flap rails before painting.
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May 9, 2021
Bit of overspray on this section
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May 9, 2021
At one point I got a little too vigorous with my shading and not only spilled paint on the model, but also got splatters everywhere from the airbrush. This was the result of the failed clean up attempt
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May 11, 2021
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May 11, 2021
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May 11, 2021
I started with a very thinned mix of xf 20 and xf 63 to lighten some of the gray areas. I then added some xf 8 to add the blue hue to match the existing paint. Once the mark was covered up, I added some xf 26 green to add some shades to the green areas. Between each addition, I gave the entire aircraft a thin coating
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May 17, 2021
I'm not sure how I feel about adding the walkway lines. Luckily the lines are gray, so they are less noticable.
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May 17, 2021
I'm not too happy with this gloss clear coat. I loved how the testors dullcote came out, so I'm thinking of trying their glosscote
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May 17, 2021
From a distance i think the walkway lines don't disrupt the camo in a major way
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May 17, 2021
I have the decals from the newer revell kit 03929. Those walkway lines look to be way easier to work with, but are black, so I will stick with the older ones.
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May 19, 2021
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May 19, 2021
I'm a little surprised at these decals. Revell decals are usually very good, and I've built older kits than this with better decals. There is a good amount of silvering, although I'm not 100% certain whether that's because of the decals or the texture of the gloss coat.
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May 26, 2021
Blown away at how glossy the testors glosscote actually is. Will definitely be using it as my go forward gloss coat. Decals are 60% done
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May 26, 2021
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May 26, 2021
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June 25, 2021
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June 25, 2021
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June 25, 2021
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June 25, 2021
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June 25, 2021
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June 25, 2021
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June 25, 2021
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June 25, 2021
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June 25, 2021
Every time I work on this, I forget how big it is. Final Matt clear coat is on, and now it’s time to add the gear, props, and other small pieces
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August 16, 2021
Back again after quite a break. Gear and wheels are ready for clear coat
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August 26, 2021
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August 26, 2021
Following Ray’s advice, I used brass rod to replace the axles of the main gear. As expected, I didn’t drill squared up holes, so the gear is slightly misaligned.
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August 26, 2021
In order to get the front wheel of the main landing gear into the gear bay, I had to snip off the top of one of the aligning pins.
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October 3, 2021
And finally, she’s sitting on all 14 of her feet
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October 3, 2021
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October 3, 2021
Nearly done, Gear doors will be white. Exhaust vent will be steel, and a couple other bits will be green.
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October 9, 2021
The decals for the prop striping don’t even remotely fit (or I’m just dumb). Unfortunately we’ll take it the harder way, and paint the stripes. 1/4 done after an hour and a half of masking
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October 12, 2021
Props are almost done, there is some minor overspray, but it is hard to see over the gloss black
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October 12, 2021
Gear bay doors are on
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October 15, 2021
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October 15, 2021
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October 15, 2021
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October 15, 2021
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October 15, 2021

Comments

46 3 July 2020, 23:05

Łukasz Gliński
Watching

16 September 2020, 07:49

Treehugger
Any special ideas for this build? 🙂

16 September 2020, 08:49

Laurent VILLANUEVA HELLER ForEver
nice

16 September 2020, 16:58

Reaper_lead Author
thanks! Nothing special planned so far. I think I'm going to stick with the "assumed" camo that revell provided for the german livery despite the fact that i can't find any reference material for any non-standard paint schemes. I'm not very partial to the standard gray.

22 September 2020, 01:49

Reaper_lead Author
Ideas are always welcome though!

22 September 2020, 01:50

Łukasz Gliński
Haven't seen interesting schemes for A400M, unless you include this one:
[img1]

22 September 2020, 07:15

Ray Seppala
Nice start, I built one a couple of years ago as a RAF machine, unfortunately A400s are grey, grey or grey. Have seen some nice what-if camo ones in Belgian and RNAZAF markings. I have another to do in a very speculative scheme.

22 September 2020, 11:05

Treehugger
Is it possible to glue on all the wheels after gluing the rest of the hull togehter, or must the wheels ideally be glued on early? I had some difficulty with with that, with the 1:144 kit.

10 October 2020, 08:00

Reaper_lead Author
The instructions dictate that you glue gear and wheels after you close up the bays. It'll definitely require a little bit of maneuvering. I assume the gear construction is probably different from the 1:144 scale kit

10 October 2020, 14:54

Ray Seppala
I might suggest replacing the axles with brass rod, they become fragile over time. And the gear units with wheels attached drop into the wells with a bit of fiddling.

10 October 2020, 23:55

Reaper_lead Author
I will definitely look into that Ray.
I've decided I will go with the green and gray pattern presumed for the german air force

29 April 2021, 23:08

Skyhiker
Taking a seat

30 April 2021, 14:10

David Taylor
Its a big bugger.

30 April 2021, 14:43

Laurent VILLANUEVA HELLER ForEver
great

30 April 2021, 15:33

Charles Nichols
Wow that's massive

30 April 2021, 15:57

Cuajete
Huge.

5 May 2021, 18:26

Skyhiker
I have been considering buying this kit. But I don't know if I should. It takes a lot of paint and space.

5 May 2021, 18:38

Cuajete
Skywalker, If you are not faithful to the scale, you can try to get the same but at 1:444 scale:

Airbus A400M "ATLAS" (Revell 04859, 1:144)

5 May 2021, 18:49

David Taylor
Massive sea of grey.

5 May 2021, 19:25

Reaper_lead Author
precisely why i didn't want to do the standard gray scheme. There's a bit more of a blue hue in the color than i was hoping for. I think some highly thinned xf 20 over the gray portions will tone it down a bit

5 May 2021, 21:23

Reaper_lead Author
Skywalker, honestly, it is massive, and it does take a lot of paint and time. If 1/72 is your scale and 1/144 is less than appealing (my case) I think it's a fantastic way to bring some scale to your other 1/72 builds.

5 May 2021, 22:43

Skyhiker
Reaper_lead 1/72 is my scale and I am faithful to it. I've built a Concorde, which is actually longer than the A400. I love the difference in size compared to WWI planes. But comparing a Concorde to an A400 is like comparing a greyhound dog to a rottweiler; two totally different beasts!

6 May 2021, 18:05

Reaper_lead Author
This will be a walk in the park compared to the Concorde.

9 May 2021, 05:03

Dmitry Agafonov
Hi, nice result. Rear camo. Never saw such before. Looking forward for perfect result.

9 May 2021, 09:31

Skyhiker
Whoa stipes! Looks great.

10 May 2021, 17:50

Daniel Klink
That is developing to something really big and spectacular 👍

10 May 2021, 17:53

Oliver Zwiener
Following

11 May 2021, 16:55

Reaper_lead Author
I want to hear what you guys think. Should I keep the walkway lines or get rid of them and just keep the no step decals?

17 May 2021, 01:10

Skyhiker
Keep them

17 May 2021, 03:56

David Taylor
Keep them,if its on the real thing.

17 May 2021, 15:44

Cuajete
I agree with Skywalker and David.

17 May 2021, 19:42

Reaper_lead Author
I'm glad i kept them, although they were quite fiddly to get on there

19 May 2021, 13:46

Treehugger
Re. photo 45 and silvering. I suspect that adding some decal liquid before adding the decal might help (I never really bother doing that myself. Adding Microsol (iirc) should help a little making the decals stick, but one have to avoid fiddling with the decals after being brushed with Microsol (soften the decals).

Good luck with the numerous long black decals on the top side. I had to work smartly and do some dry fitting to make sure I could make the line decals connect in the end on my 1:144 model. Removing some adhesive from Tamiya masking tape and taping some of the decals on for "dry fitting" might help.

19 May 2021, 14:15

Reaper_lead Author
i used sol before and set after getting them in place for all of the decals. Unfortunately, it didn't help much. Even with the gloss coat I put on, the texture is still fairly rough, so im suspecting that is the cause of a lot of it. I ordered some glosscote, and will give the aircraft a good coating of that before I add any more decals. Hopefully that is the cause of the issue

19 May 2021, 16:27

Dave Flitton
Watching this Beast come together.

25 June 2021, 04:23

Skyhiker
Looking sweet!

25 June 2021, 17:27

Treehugger
Q: Were the mouldings ok for the engine housing? I thought the 1:144 version had some weird plastic moulding in places.

17 August 2021, 06:13

Reaper_lead Author
Nothing specifically of note about the engine housings. They fit fairly well and didn't have any flashing that i can remember

17 August 2021, 22:27

Bruce Huxtable
Totally approve of you using your 'eye' to adjust colours 👍🙂 The results speak for themselves. Superb outcome, all round 👍

9 October 2021, 15:33

Reaper_lead Author
And she's all done. This took a lot longer than I expected, but I'm very happy with the result. Thanks for all the helpful advice and compliments!

15 October 2021, 14:35

David Taylor
Big thumbs up.

15 October 2021, 17:19

Łukasz Gliński
Great finish 👍

15 October 2021, 17:25