2023 JC400 Aerooflot - Russian Airlines Ilyushin IL-86 RA-86074 post-Soviet scheme with white tail: where's my radar dome?

[quanng]

Welcome to another thread of my review on the latest IL-86 release by JC Wings - introducing Aeroflot - Russian Airlines Ilyushin IL-86 RA-86074 in the post-Soviet era scheme with white tail (later the tail was painted grey). In this thread you will have a glimpse to the real aircraft, the model itself and a comparison with the 12-year-old CCCP- version released by GeminiJets - one of my most favorite model in my collection. This part 1 features the model in the title. The aircraft type is Soviet's first wide-body plane, known by Soviets as "Air-bus" which could take up onboard up to 350 passengers with the fuselage as "wide as a cinema-hall" (words from Wings of Russia documentary - ep 10: Civil Aircraft: Wings over Continents). Although being inferior to Western-made widebodies due to its 4 low-bypass turbofan, the IL-86 was a staple in Aeroflot's fleet which helped the airline connected the world. Many Vietnamese students (like my uncles) studying in Soviet and later Russian Federation flown on this aircraft from SGN to Moscow, transitted in many airport along the way (like Karachi, Dubai, Taskhent, etc) owing to the short-operating range of this jet. If reengineed, I think the aircraft could be a great regional wide-body.

We shall start with a real picture of the machine, taken in 1993 in SVO - SU's base. Credit to its respective owner. The windows were grey in this picture (albeit without the silver borders). The radar dome above the middle fuselage is present but can only be seen when observing closely due to the picture's age.

Birdeye view on the starboard side. Note the printed dome - which will be discussed in the 2nd part.

A closer look at the wing with the number-part of the registration - 86074. This aircraft suffered from gear-up landing in Dubai in 2001 while operating flight SU521 from SVO. All 322 passengers and crew were uninjured but the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

The nose section on the starboard side of the aircraft. The lower deck features a large cargo door for container freights. JC nailed the mould. The extra pitot-tube(?) printed near the IL-86 made it appear like IL = 86

A ground-level picture of the starboard side. Such a beautiful model!

Let's move onto port-side. A view from above.

The IL-86 was designed so that passengers in insufficient infrastructure airport could board the plane using its integrated air-stairs. A total of 3 stairs are present on the model. The lower deck also features "luggage-at-hand" system which passengers board the aircraft and store their baggage and coats at this level (The IL-86 lacks center storage bin).

A look at the starboard tai-section which features 2 airstars aft of the wing.

A ground level shot could wrap up this post. but oh wait? What's wrong with engine number 1? Apparently JC did not apply sufficient glue to the pylon. I only realized this after taking this photo. oh well! I have attached it again with a little force and it seems to be holding now just fine. My friend had one of his IL86 engine completely felt off and had to reglue.

The model's underside detail. JC did well in this area.

That concludes part 1 of this thread. In part 2 I would share some comparison with the ol' GJ model and details into the middle fuselage radar dome.

 

[quanng]

Part 2 features the comparison between the 2011 GJ CCCP- rego with our 2023 JC RA- rego, Let's spot the differences!

Starting off with the same topic as the last picture of part 1: underside details. Both are well detailed but personally I think GJ has a slight edge with the red-curvy mark on the front gear as well as the rubber-tip stand-hole protection - i have only seen this on my SU IL86 GJ. Does anyone know which model features this clear-rubber protection? The color differences are also visible here. Ah, my GJ version now has bubbles. I am thinking of applying a clear coat layer (matte finish) to protect it.

Next up is the battle between the fuselages. I feel that the old GJ features dark blue whereas the newer JC one has lighter blue. The title "AEROFLOT" font is not the same as well, with GJ's iteration having larger titles.

Upclose shot at the noses. You can hardly see GJ's printed window as it is nearly disappeared into the blue cheatlines. On the JC's it is much clearer. The winged hammer and sickle also appears to be larger on GJ's version.

Finally, our topic of inetrest for today: the middle fuselage radar dome.
On the GJ's version, it seems to be moulded into the fuselage. You can see the bubbling here very clearly.

Then onto my JC version, which is printed.

But things didn't stop here! On some JC SU IL-86 in this very same releases, the dome is printed and then attached to the model. Here is the picture of the customized IL-86 into Atlant-Soyuz by my friend Tung, whose donor is from this JC version. He had around 6 JCs version using for customization and collection, 4 of which came with the dome printed and only 2 with the 3D ones. I joke with him that the 3D-printed is the "PREMIUM" IL86s.

That's the end of today's post. Thank you all for reading and seeing my posts. I hope to bring you the NG Delta L-1011 very soon.

 

[Tropicalista]

Was so much time that i was not enjoying so much a 3D like this one, hope that we will have more in the nearest future!

 

[LeoMuse747]

Really cool review, these models look very nice! Even your old GJ version is still a solid model.
The new JC Wings version is the best for me, though, despite the lack of the moulded antenna.
The IL-86 was such an interesting bird. Underpowered as hell and sadly retired already...
Aeroflot used to visit some South American airports with them back in the late 80s and early 1990s.

 

[quanng]

Was so much time that i was not enjoying so much a 3D like this one, hope that we will have more in the nearest future!

I really hope the same too! The IL86 is so under-represented in 1/400 scale.

Really cool review, these models look very nice! Even your old GJ version is still a solid model.
The new JC Wings version is the best for me, though, despite the lack of the moulded antenna.
The IL-86 was such an interesting bird. Underpowered as hell and sadly retired already...
Aeroflot used to visit some South American airports with them back in the late 80s and early 1990s.

Thank you so much Leo! The GJ stood the test of time really well. I agree with you that the 86 is an interesting bird, it climbed really shallow just like the 342/343 with hose tiny CFM56. Aeroflot used the aircraft a lot throughout the world. They even built a fuel farm in Shannon to refuel these aircraft crossing the Atlantic.

 

[planes_on_a_shelf]

Great review! Of a unique aircraft! Pleased to see you received yours! Mine still shows as Pre-order on Waffle.

 

[quanng]

Great review! Of a unique aircraft! Pleased to see you received yours! Mine still shows as Pre-order on Waffle.

Thank you so much for your kind words. This model got sold out very quickly. Even my favorite shop in SEA region doesn't have it. I was really rushed to get this model when I saw it was on sale in China.