Probably my last big Depron plane

[The Hangar]

Finally assembled the AS124.
View attachment 184945
Given the weather and the need for calm conditions I will give it some paint before the maiden. The lightest scheme is more or less a light white 'wash' over the white Depron but a stronger gloss colour on the fuselage underside for both visibility and to improve the scuff resistance of the Depron for belly landing.

Beautiful job! It must be exciting to see it all come together like this!

 

[quorneng]

Apart from any decoration the next problem is how to launch it hand held? A problem made worse by the fact 99% of the time I fly alone and the fuselage is far too big to hold with one hand.
On some on my other bigger planes planes I have used specific finger holds built into the fuselage positioned so the plane can be balanced with the fingers of one hand and strong enough to take the launching impulse.
The sheer size of the AN124 means the three finger holds will have to set into the underside underside, bowling ball fashion, with some internal reinforcement.
Thumb and forefinger to support the weight with a side grip. The index finger behind to provide the push.

The holes are braced with a portion of flooring.

It will still need great care as virtually all the weight is in the wing on top of the fuselage with only a few light weight frames and Depron keeping them in position.
The AN 124 fully decorated and taken outside for the first time.

The inside of the fuselage seems to go on for ever and with absolutely nothing in it.

Big, delicate and likely to be a bit powered the maiden could well be a one off, never to be repeated event.

 

[Piotrsko]

You need a bit of a hill or slope to give you altitude for airspeed, or a low resistance trolley. I hope you have a camera person to record that first flight.

 

[Wildthing]

That looks really slick. Bungy launch ?

 

[Grifflyer]

Apart from any decoration the next problem is how to launch it hand held? A problem made worse by the fact 99% of the time I fly alone and the fuselage is far too big to hold with one hand.
On some on my other bigger planes planes I have used specific finger holds built into the fuselage positioned so the plane can be balanced with the fingers of one hand and strong enough to take the launching impulse.
The sheer size of the AN124 means the three finger holds will have to set into the underside underside, bowling ball fashion, with some internal reinforcement.
Thumb and forefinger to support the weight with a side grip. The index finger behind to provide the push.
View attachment 185369
The holes are braced with a portion of flooring.
View attachment 185370
It will still need great care as virtually all the weight is in the wing on top of the fuselage with only a few light weight frames and Depron keeping them in position.
The AN 124 fully decorated and taken outside for the first time.
View attachment 185371
The inside of the fuselage seems to go on for ever and with absolutely nothing in it.
View attachment 185372
Big, delicate and likely to be a bit powered the maiden could well be a one off, never to be repeated event.

That fuselage looks like the portal to the world where batteries never die and trees no longer attract planes 😂

 

[Timmy]

Apart from any decoration the next problem is how to launch it hand held? A problem made worse by the fact 99% of the time I fly alone and the fuselage is far too big to hold with one hand.
On some on my other bigger planes planes I have used specific finger holds built into the fuselage positioned so the plane can be balanced with the fingers of one hand and strong enough to take the launching impulse.
The sheer size of the AN124 means the three finger holds will have to set into the underside underside, bowling ball fashion, with some internal reinforcement.
Thumb and forefinger to support the weight with a side grip. The index finger behind to provide the push.
View attachment 185369
The holes are braced with a portion of flooring.
View attachment 185370
It will still need great care as virtually all the weight is in the wing on top of the fuselage with only a few light weight frames and Depron keeping them in position.
The AN 124 fully decorated and taken outside for the first time.
View attachment 185371
The inside of the fuselage seems to go on for ever and with absolutely nothing in it.
View attachment 185372
Big, delicate and likely to be a bit powered the maiden could well be a one off, never to be repeated event.

Looks really scale! Can't wait to see it fly!

 

[The Hangar]

That fuselage looks like the portal to the world where batteries never die and trees no longer attract planes 😂

 

[quorneng]

To my absolute amazement it does fly and remarkably well at that.
Of course it is 'silly' slow although maybe all the more realistic for that.

I had no idea if I could land it without damage so I kept flying for as long as I dared, a full 5 minutes, although after the power off glide test I was confident it could 'dead stick' safely.
The only 'damage' was the battery hatch departed at some point during the flight. I never found it.

 

[BoredGuy]

To my absolute amazement it does fly and remarkably well at that.
Of course it is 'silly' slow although maybe all the more realistic for that.

I had no idea if I could land it without damage so I kept flying for as long as I dared, a full 5 minutes, although after the power off glide test I was confident it could 'dead stick' safely.
The only 'damage' was the battery hatch departed at some point during the flight. I never found it.

Amazing, it flies so great! For taking off, though, you could add landing gear that just falls off after takeoff (takeoff gear???), I think @Mid7night did this with his b52 build

 

[Wildthing]

Awesome, floats like a butterfly.

 

[Grifflyer]

To my absolute amazement it does fly and remarkably well at that.
Of course it is 'silly' slow although maybe all the more realistic for that.

I had no idea if I could land it without damage so I kept flying for as long as I dared, a full 5 minutes, although after the power off glide test I was confident it could 'dead stick' safely.
The only 'damage' was the battery hatch departed at some point during the flight. I never found it.

That flies so well! I love how slow it is

 

[Piotrsko]

Not sure one would want a fast large transport model. However, very well done, but I was never in doubt of your success.

 

[Mid7night]

Looks great! Awesome job! No you don't want a zippy cargo plane, I thought it looked very scale in the sky.

I didn't do drop-away gear on my B-52, it was just simple lightweight fixed gear. I personally haven't had good luck with fall-away cradle gear, although I know it has worked for others in scale and full-size.

Here's to many more flights! Get someone out there with you to get some more video!

 

[quorneng]

Thanks for the kind words.
You may have noticed that it required rather more bank to turn left than right. It has no rudder so I was concerned it might have a wing warp or an asymmetric thrust issue.
However a bit of 'eyeball' examination identified that the huge fixed fin did not point exactly down the fuselage centreline!
That will have to be corrected before it flies again.

 

[Tench745]

Thanks for the kind words.
You may have noticed that it required rather more bank to turn left than right. It has no rudder so I was concerned it might have a wing warp or an asymmetric thrust issue.
However a bit of 'eyeball' examination identified that the huge fixed fin did not point exactly down the fuselage centreline!
That will have to be corrected before it flies again.

Looks great! You can definitely see it dragging the tail through turns. I'd want differential thrust to coordinate, but it seems to fly nicely enough without it.

 

[The Hangar]

To my absolute amazement it does fly and remarkably well at that.
Of course it is 'silly' slow although maybe all the more realistic for that.

I had no idea if I could land it without damage so I kept flying for as long as I dared, a full 5 minutes, although after the power off glide test I was confident it could 'dead stick' safely.
The only 'damage' was the battery hatch departed at some point during the flight. I never found it.

Congrats - that looked like it flew great!

 

[mastermalpass]

As usual, your build looks amazing. I appreciate the size as I can always get a good look at it, even on your camera - are you ever going tp upgrade that? You build some of the most scale and detailed scratch builds I've ever seen, but I can only appreciate it in your stills haha!

Still, amazing. And once again inspiring me to build more scale!