MM Aviation Be-4 - Page 4

**cjwalas** · #31 10-01-2009, 07:42 PM

Next step was to mount the wing floats, which use bent wire to support them. The angles really help to stabilize the wire.

A few pieces of paper lock the wire in place;

And when you carefully line up the wires, the wing frame and the wing skin exactly, you get...

A huge misalignment.

I had to go back in and do a little slicing and dicing of the frame to get things to align. It was then that I noticed I hadn't looked at the diagram closely enough. While the top two sections of wire are drawn at 1:1, the long support section of wire... isn't.

I added a second, longer piece of wire to each strut and moved along again.

After a bit more struggling with the joining pieces, the wing came together;

It's just sitting in place as I need to keep the fuselage as accessible as possible for the moment.
I was surprised at how small the wing is in comparison to the fuselage. I would have thought a larger surface would be called for. What do I know?

I've started trying to sort out the rear canopy. In the kit it's an enclosed canopy as you see here;

But I really would like to add the MG, which calls for an open canopy. I'm debating whether to try and do the open canopy as a single piece or to make it in two sections. Jury's still out on that one.

You can see here that I'm not kidding about it being a small wing;

I guess that big ol' engine just pulls it through the air on its own and the wings are really only there for stability.

Chris

**CharlieC** · #32 10-01-2009, 10:06 PM

The be-4 was designed to be catapulted from naval ships so keeping the wing span short would be a good feature. My guess is that Beriev used a high lift aerofoil probably with fairly low cruising and max. speeds.

Regards,

Charlie

**Romanator21** · #33 10-02-2009, 01:26 PM

I have to say that despite the problems, it's coming together nicely. I like the cowling and vents you added. The shape is right, and you are doing an awesome job of fixing it up. I think you will be the first in the world to have the patience to build it. Not even the Polish modelers have a thread on it :p

**cjwalas** · #34 10-19-2009, 01:24 PM

Still in the middle of a big move, but at least I've got a little bit of a work surface available, so it's back to the Be-4. This is a slightly frustrating model, but most of it fits together all right.

I went in and finished the interior of the cockpit. It's not 100% accurate (or even scale!), but I think it adds something to the model.

The observer/gunners cabin is quite plain as I couldn't find any photos of this space.

The gun is from another kit and the ring support is pure guesswork on my part. It's an obvious simplification of the real thing...

But once it's colored and in place, it tends to do the job.

I meant to take more photos of the process for the gunners' canopy as it was a real stinker. The form of the canopy in the kit is too bulbous (besides being a different canopy than this!), so I wound up turning it around 180˚ and hacking into it, using the discarded section to form the raised extension. The frame had to mostly be free formed.

More in a bit....
Chris

**cjwalas** · #35 10-19-2009, 01:32 PM

Here's another shot of the gunners canopy;

After that, it was finally time to add the main wing, which went on without too much trouble;

Except for the support struts, which were at least 1/4" too short. I added fairing bits (which I forgot to take pics of!);

Added the prop. The front canopy wasn't too bad and most of it fit well enough;

Still trying to get a decent shot of that gunners canopy!

Finished shots coming up!

**cjwalas** · #36 10-19-2009, 01:43 PM

Not entirely happy with it, but it's done.
So...
Here's way too many finished shots of this one!

An interesting model. I wouldn't mind seeing a really good kit done of this one.
Hopefully now I can get back to the other MM kits that have been sitting for months!
Chris

**Ron0909** · #37 10-19-2009, 02:39 PM

Chris,
That's an absolutely fantastic build! Considering what you started with, the end result is a model to be proud of. I tend to usually pass up the older Maly kits and for that matter any kit that I don't see any potential. I think I should change my attitude

Ron

**redhorse** · #38 10-19-2009, 03:06 PM

I've missed waaaay too much lately. This is an incredible build!

**Alcides** · #39 10-19-2009, 09:59 PM

Excellent end for a not so good starting material. I agree: You can be proud of this model. Congrats !!!

**Tim Crowe** · #40 10-19-2009, 11:42 PM

Well done you've done an old MM kit proud!

Tim