I lived in town where they build the 124's - Uliyanovsk - Volga-Dnepr (the pictures are of their aircraft) airline is also based there. There is another plant producing An-124 in Kiev, Ukraine. Unlike An-225 "Mria" (the 6 engine version), An-124 is a production model. There is only one An-225, and another one is half assembled. That little flying thing i've seen only on pictures, with Russian space shuttle Buran loaded onto it - I should have one somewhere - i'll see if i can find it.
Anyways, Aviastar (the name of the aircraft plant i lived next to) would have open-doors days, and was it something! The plant is a city onto itself - their own trams, railroad tracks, bus lines, etc. Of course, the final assembly hangars were the place where all people would go. They also produced Tupolev-204, competitor of 757, but those things are dwarfed by An-124 when they are next to each other in the hangar.
I moved outside of town after few years and lived next to Uliyanovsk-Vostochny airport (16,400 feet long runway, 644 feet wide - 3rd longest civilian), which is where they were testing and painting these bad boys... When you see an unpainted Ruslan (the name of An-124) go up, it's something (there was a spot, directly behind the runway, so you could be standing couple hundred feet behind one when it takes off), but the most impressive is when they move them to the airfield. There is a taxiway that connects Aviastar and Uliyanovsk-Vostochny - cars are allowed to use the taxiway and there are few roads crossing it. So, imagine yourself driving to the next town, when you come to a crossing which is now blocked. So you get out of the car and wait for a few minutes. And that's where you see this monster coming out from behind the trees and crossing your path. Huge thing - light green in color (unpainted). 5 minutes later, the traffic is restored, you pick up your jaw off the floor and you are on your way - just another day in living around an aircraft plant.:thumbup:
I'll try to go through photos at my parents' - i may have a few shots of the unpainted ones - i'll scan and post them if i find them.
Cheers,
