From the archive (2009):
The KHAI-1 was the first Russian passenger plane to operate
with a retractable landing gear. It was fast for the time and had some degree
of comfort, including a restroom. Its design premises were advanced, although
did not include extensive metal construction for the airframe. They aimed to
streamlining and to an easy and affordable construction, a must at that time
for Russian aeronautic endeavors. The plane was mostly made of wood and covered
in plywood and received treated fabric on top of the wood skin, creating a
smooth surface.
The KHAI-1 was
designed as a supervised student project at the Kharkov Aviation Institute.
After approval one prototype was built and was found to meet and exceed
expectations. 43 of these 6-seat wooden wonders were built in total with some
modifications and used in regular passenger services.
Later modifications
of the type included –among others- a change in engine (M-22 for the production
versions), repositioning of the access door, different location and number of
windows, revision of the rudder/fin shape, addition of one more piece to the
wheel covers in order to completely hide the gear in the retracted position,
moving forward the tail skid, extension of the cockpit turtledeck and the
deletion of one seat to make up for the increase in weight due to structure
strengthening. I am pretty sure these other versions could be done with some
mods. The first two configurations of the plane are what can be built with the
kit. The initial one had no Townend ring and a wood prop; the second is
depicted on the box with Townend ring and variable-pitch prop
TEMA’s 1/72
rendition of the Neman KHAI-1 contributed to reveal to the modeling world the
beauty of a Russian plane which not many modelers were aware of.
If you never heard
before of TEMA, do not panic. Now we have also in the market AModel’s release
(marketed as HAI-1, not quite the Russian pronunciation), which seems to have
used basically the same mold and add an extra, much more complete sprue for the
engine. The parts look cleaner in this Amodel release too.
Construction
started by cleaning up some rough spots and flash present in some of the parts,
as per photos, but that was accomplished without trouble. Otherwise the molds
have a reasonable quality and even some subtle details on the parts, like the
ribbing on the control surfaces. Unlike other short-run kits, most of parts are
keyed and not just butt-joined. The fit wasn’t perfect, and needed some work.
Areas to be careful (meaning you will have to sand and check for the fit a few
times) are the cabin floor (as it is, it doesn’t fit inside the fuselage
comfortably –surprise!) and the dreaded wing to fuselage joint. The latter
being the worst on my kit.
I found some
references on the Net, among them a detailed plan, but photos were not of a
good quality in general. Nevertheless enough was gathered to proceed.
Part #16 on the
sprues –the instrument panel- is not present in the building sequence
instructions.
The kit could be
assembled “as is” after some minor refinement but also more could be done if so
you wish. An aft bulkhead could be added, perhaps a few details in the cockpit
like rudder pedals, may be the landing gear doors could be refined a tad.
Perhaps the decals’ carrier could be trimmed closer to the images. The real
plane had a simple toilet located opposite the access door, on the right hand
side of the fuselage. Transparencies are good enough and have a reasonable fit.
Beware that the fuselage door is included in the transparencies’ sprue, so you
have to mask the door window and paint the part with the rest of the fuselage.
White styrene sometimes fools you because it makes it difficult to catch
mistakes and gaps. So, in spite of the above-mentioned reasonable fit of the
transparencies, I managed to glue them too far “inland”, and not flush with the
fuselage exterior. By the time I realized it, they were fantastically glued.
That no doubt should be attributed to the fact that they were in the wrong
position. Then I put too much Future in a hopeless intent to gain some
thickness but instead I achieved a sticky cake of dubious transparency. That,
also, should be attributed to the fact that I spent a lot of time detailing the
interior, now barely visible.
Some small
additions were made on the engine area to make it a bit more detailed, like
pushrods, modification of the front “shield” and exhaust tubes (18!) that had
very personal ideas regarding which way they should go. Cockpit and cabin
received uplifting home-made addendums –toilet included- as per images in this
article. A toilet paper roll –made of real tissue paper- was also added. I
always wanted to do that.
The vertical
stabilizer is molded complete on one fuselage side, not exactly in the middle
which is correct, as the real plane had it so to compensate for engine torque.
What is not correct is the building sequence diagram (by the
way, not the most brilliant I have seen) which shows the fork of the landing
gear going along the short leg of the cover. It goes along the long leg of the
cover. If this is true for the real plane too, I can’t tell from the photos I
have, but if assembled as per instructions, you will be in trouble.
Parts that were metal in the original were given a gloss
black base and painted with Alclad II. The rest was model railroad acrylic alu
paint over a white primer. Color trim was also acrylic. The kit box shows the
painting scheme on the back..
The decals’s
carrier was trimmed a bit closer to the images, but in applying them
(fortunately under the wing) I discovered that the carrier was way too much
evident. The usual tricks didn’t render an acceptable result, so I scanned the
decal sheet and printed it on a laser printer on a decent decal paper. I have
no idea how good the decals are on the Amodel release, but I hope they are
better.
Now, we have here
a situation that is common in the hobby: I very nice subject that the
mainstream manufacturers are very unlikely to touch and the limitations of a
given media (whatever that happen to be, short run, vac, etc). So yes, you have
to exercise those modeling skills and learn new ones. Hey, isn’t that
remarkable similar to life itself?
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