The Thomas Ruth Antonov AN 225

Before Covid, the crew of the An-225 would sometimes allow for an impromptu open house for those who just happened to be working in close vicinity of the aircraft. I missed such an opportunity but my friend (who was surveying the security fence line) was able to get aboard and he said there we no off-limits areas within the aircraft/cockpit. He was very impressed with the aircraft and the hospitality of the crew!
 
tommieboy said:
Before Covid, the crew of the An-225 would sometimes allow for an impromptu open house for those who just happened to be working in close vicinity of the aircraft. I missed such an opportunity but my friend (who was surveying the security fence line) was able to get aboard and he said there we no off-limits areas within the aircraft/cockpit. He was very impressed with the aircraft and the hospitality of the crew!
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The hospitality of the flight crews are spectacular. The first time the An-124 visited EAA in '89 it showed up the Saturday before the show. As members my Dad and I were able to get on the show grounds as we already had our weeks passes. They had the 124 parked on the taxiway off of 18-36 and were letting people just go wherever in the plane. I was in the pilot's seat (and my Dad was in the co-pilot's seat when one of the Russians came to my seat. I started to get up but he patted my shoulder said "No, stay.", reached across me for something (I assume it was the parking brake) and we started rolling! They had hooked up the tug and were towing us into the plaza with my 14 year old butt in the pilot's seat! We hung around outside while the two Su-26 aerobatic planes were unloaded.
 
Oh well....
Just when you think you have it...and have spent ages going off at a tangent instead...
Seems there may have been a naked bum version at some stage...but generally/currently the bum is light blue.
I think I've now found 5 distinct variations on just one plane built.
Going back to the first...that is...current one...undoing a whole swag of things...then reinventing alphas and specs yet again....
I can absolutely say for certain that I might be close....or not....light blue needs a tweak....

ant 225-39.jpg
 
After all the work and rework on the 'current' paint I'll have to move on to the 124...just to justify the effort, though knowing my luck the models will have even more different properties. The alpha shine on the fuse is a heck of a lot different to the wings...so by the time you have 4 layers involved...main...alpha...spec...spec alpha there's a whole world of hurt involved chasing your tail.
I gave up and treated the main, spec, and spec alpha the same...and only altered the alpha to make sense of things...but have a feeling I'd also need to change the wing white to be less white than the fuse. I have both at 240,240,240....but maybe the wings need to be 230 or darker....;)

Gonna have to stop sometime....ended up with the wings at 235,235,235 while the fuse was still 240.

Got the white into the intakes...as that was yet another thing omitted...

Here's the low-res original....

before.jpg

....and after a month or so of reinventing....the 4096 'final' [hopefully]

after.jpg

...not a lot different...but now there will be a paint kit ...;)
 
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I think I have the 3rd version reasonably OK....it's really the first...1988...but there's still one more with blue stripes....

ant 225-43.jpg
 
Done all 4 that are 'different'...so took the current ver out for a spin.....heading off from YMML...probably time to put them together for upload....still in 8,8,8 format...;)

ant 225-46.jpg
 
What-ifs can come in all sorts....but I might draw the line at a 'Thunderbirds' version...doubt a 225 would be all that fun...in a formation of one...;)

ant 225-48.jpg
 
CG_1976 said:
A Cuban Airforce An225 would be a hoot lol.
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That's the sort of reason why I've spent all this time making the Paint Kit. [over a month]
The original had no actual correct specs...the metal 'shine' was 2004 vintage ...stripey grey and flat.....you know....the bright bit stays in the same place no matter where you turn.
Doing a multi-layer 4096 Kit means everyone can have a go at it...;)

BTW, CG....what are you doing with my cat? [Tessa looks identical]...;)
 
I think I'm right to upload the Paint Kit. It'll be 3 parts...Main, Left Wing and Right Wing, with bumps compiled separately...shouldn't need altering. Each part will handle the bitmap, alpha, spec and spec alpha. I had to combine layers logically to reduce the size. You can easily exceed mem capacity with multi-layers at 4096....it gets all panicky when you can't 'unmerge' and you think you've lost the lot...;)
They'll be in PSD format as that's handled by both PS and PSP ...;)
 
Had to stop sooner or later...so I've uploaded the Paint Kit here at SOH.

I'll get around to upping some paints too, but I'm thinking of doing it all again with the AN-124 from Thomas too...;)

AN-225 Paint Kit.jpg
 
I saw there was a Lufthansa one around...so did a bodgy reload of it using a rough variation of the kit....
I kinda prefer the 3 decks...cos it's big enough for 3 decks..;)
ant 225-49.jpg
 
Jafo said:
Had to stop sooner or later...so I've uploaded the Paint Kit here at SOH.

I'll get around to upping some paints too, but I'm thinking of doing it all again with the AN-124 from Thomas too...;)

View attachment 82061
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That's superb news. I didn't have the heart to say it, but I like the -124 even more than the -225!

I remember seeing these at airshows in the 80s. I remember taking a picture same day as this, almost same angle, at the Abbotsford Air Show in 1986:

http://www.geocities.ws/smalnbrg/abbotsford86/a86a124b.jpg

They were pretty impressive: (again, not my photo)

https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/6573779

I curse having lost some amazing 80s era negatives in a move.

Thanks for bringing these great friendly giants back to us!

dl
 
delta_lima said:
That's superb news. I didn't have the heart to say it, but I like the -124 even more than the -225!

I remember seeing these at airshows in the 80s. I remember taking a picture same day as this, almost same angle, at the Abbotsford Air Show in 1986:

http://www.geocities.ws/smalnbrg/abbotsford86/a86a124b.jpg

They were pretty impressive: (again, not my photo)

https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/6573779

I curse having lost some amazing 80s era negatives in a move.

Thanks for bringing these great friendly giants back to us!

dl
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No dramas, dl. It's a bit of a hobby messing with kits...and converting this one to work with the 124 could be 'entertaining'.
I've never seen them in the flesh....tho the 225 did get to Perth once....that's still 2000 miles away from where I am.
My biggest issue is I have so many versions of the kit...as it gets too big to manage and if I add them up I'm gonna need a bigger boat...er...hard drive...;)
 
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