Beriev Be-200ES

[claidheamhmor]

Beriev Be-200ES

Completed, the Zvesda 1/144 Beriev Be-200ES fire-fighting plane. The Beriev Be-200ES is a Russian jet-powered flying boat used by the Russian Navy and here as a fire-fighting aircraft that scoops up tons of water and drops it on fires. 

It's my 5th seaplane model of the year. The kit fits together really well, and because I wanted it shown dumping water, I did it with wheels retracted. However, to do it "in flight" with water bay doors open, you need to cut the doors out. That was a poor design - too thick, and the instructions just left the doors out. I fabricated thinner doors and mounted them in the right places. The build otherwise was easy, and painting it in white, grey and blue too (though I had to make dead sure the white/grey border was exactly where the decals would be. The decals though! Lots of tiny stencils (sometimes like 5 tiny dots on one large decal). Almost the front half of each fuselage half was a single large irregular decal - it was very stressful cutting it out, placing it, and making sure it lined up with the continuous lines from the rear sides. There were a few lines too, that needed to be all lined up perfectly. Fortunately it all came out well. Then I used the kit stand, and glued cotton wool to give the water dump effect; I think it looks reasonably good when comparing to real pictures.

 

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