Lower nose after priming. MSN1 had a pyrotechnically armed hatch, through which the crew would have bailed out if needed, which I modeled with a raised piece of card.
This device was only present on MSN1 and thankfully was never used.
Propeller #3 had some thin black rings... which you can see in the pictures of the real thing and which I did not finally replicate. I tried but was not able to get a good result...so no rings for me.
Blades of propeller #3 were numbered. I think the markings on this propeller are somehow related to the simulated ice shapes test campaign, but that is just an assumption.
The A400M in 1:144 from Revell, done as MSN1 during the last part of its career.
Some artistic license has been used, as the configuration of the different appendages that comprised the Flight Test Instrumentation suite hugely varied depending on what was being tested at the moment. Lots of orange things, lots of speed tape...
References are the pictures found on the internet, mainly in Airliners.net.
Currently the aircraft is retired and well looked after in the Aeroscopia museum, in Toulouse, France.
The model was done as a commision for one of the former Test Flight Engineers who flew the real thing.
Kit is really good and way better than the bigger one in 1:72. Altough the two kits are spot on regarding the basic geometry of the aircraft, the smaller one has surprisingly more details such as the different bumps and strakes in the lower wing surface and the paratrooper door air deflectors, all of these being absent in the 1:72 kit.
This one is easier to build as it is not as flimsy as the bigger one.
This kit is unfortunately OOP. I don't really get it since it's more accurate and more reasonabily sized than the bigger one, which is being rereleased over and over... I guess the bigger one sells bettee!
If you can find it I recommend you grab it!
