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Yuri

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Posts posted by Yuri

  1. Well,

     

    I don't think I'll order from them, as I'm on the wrong side of the pond and shipping costs/import duties increase prices a lot.

     

    Anyway, I used to order from the "old" Squadron years ago, when there simply wasn't so much choice available for certain items. Now things are different and it's probably more that 10 years that I don't order anything from the States.

     

    Anyway, good to read that Squadron is back in business. Good luck to the new management!

  2. 4 hours ago, Fiddler said:

    I don't think there's much else to do, but as you might know the versions before the 27P had a different stinger shape. So you have to check your references for that, otherwise I think you're good to go, good luck and please share your work 😉

     

     

     

    You mean the lack of chaff/clare dispenser on the tail? Yes, of course, but I don't plan to make such a early Flanker, just a late '80s one. Thanks!

  3. On 2/20/2021 at 7:44 AM, SBARC said:

     I agree.  I work with a guy that believes a variety of things...earth is flat....G5 causes Covid etc...the usual oddball stuff.

     

    He was trying to convince me not to take the vaccine because they will inject me with nanobots...that will migrate to my brain.  Then the government can control my mind using my smart phone to wirelessly control the nanobots in my brain.  I replied that should help me organized my daily routine.  He is fun to listen too but after 5 minutes my brain starts to shutdown.  Heck if we had that level of technology....I'm sure the government would think of better things to do with such advanced technology.

     

    Vaccines dramatically improve cell phone coverage 🙂

  4. Hi all,

     

    having almost finished working on the old Airfix Su-27 (started in the mid 90s and retrieved from the boneyard a few monts ago during lockdown) I would like to build another Flanker, this time with less workload....

     

    I have the Trumpeter kit, but I'm not 100% satisfied by its shape... I was wondering if it would be better to start from the Zvezda kit. Unfortunately this is a model of the later SM version, while I want to model a soviet era Flanker. Unless they release also this version (from parts breakdown seem likely.... but, when?) I was wondering how much work is needed to backdate the SM to a standard Su-27. So far I noticed that luckily the kols is not and integral part of the windscreen, so it shouldn't be a great deal to fill and sand the offside shelf and put it in the middle, then I'll need to add the RWR to the side of the intakes and put an earlier "dials only" cockpit. Think I could use the front cockpit from Quinta Studio Su-27 UB set.

     

    Is there anything else to do? Did anyone try this kind of conversion?

     

     

  5. 6 hours ago, Shadrik said:

    The one habit I can't break is that I use a fairly unsuted type of knife. When I started to build again years ago I bought some simple supplys. Amongst them was one of those cheap snap off cutters with the wibbly wobbly blades. I use that to this day. I tried to switch to something professional like an Xacto or a scalpell, but I just don't get along with them. I recently realized that the reason for this is that good knifes are to stable. The blades don't move in relation to the grip and I realized I that I use my thumb and index finger to manipulate the wobbly blade. I wasn't even aware of that. Well, if it works, why fix it 🙃

     

    I never never never use a snap off blade, because a 30 years old, one inch long scar in my middle finger reminds me that these blades can indeed snap off when you don't want them to...

  6. On 1/6/2021 at 5:04 PM, BaconRaygun said:

     

     

    OP, I'm like Howard Hughes with washing my hands, so that's a thing, but it's a thing with literally everything I do, so I'm not counting it as a point for myself. 

     

     

     

    Me too. I always have the habit of touching my face, eyes and so on quite often during the day, so when I'm building or painting something I wash my hand wery often

     

  7. Hi,

     

    always looking for generic Soviet stars (and bort numbers) for my 1/72 planes. I saw that begemot makes a 1/72 decals sheet with stars in various sizes, however I'm a bit puzzled by the description, as they say they are 1955 style that were used until the '70s. The only change I saw in the stars was when Russia in 2010 added the blue trim, I assumed the post WWII stars were always the same until then. And in fact I can't seen any difference between those on the sheet and those used in the '80s and '90. What am I missing?

  8. I prefer to finish building the whole fuselage before painting, so if there are some seams to fill and sand I can do it with no problems. In fact the tall fins of the Flanker are a bit of a headache when you have to mask and paint. For my first Su-27 I painted the engine cowlings after the camouflage (a bit tricky, but it can be done), but I've seen a build review where they first painted the cowlings, then the camouflage (with the fins already in place). Think, I'll try that on my next build

  9. As others said, back in the early days of internet it was THE STORE. Despite the shipping costs (I live in Italy) it was one of the few places where you could find almost everything. I must admit that I haven't ordered anything from them in the last 10+ years as other internet/mailorder companies have surfaced in Europe in the meanwhile and it's easier to order from them, but it's sad news anyway....

  10. Well, with Takom having an 1/72 MAZ-537 it would be an interesting diorama... 

     

    Answering to Craig, I don't think it's for preflight inspection, as the similar Tu-22M Backfire is usually parked with the wings fully swept to save ramp space, so there must be a different reason to park the Tu-160 that way. As I said it's probably a matter of center of gravity that would make the plane unbalanced with the wings fully swept

  11. I have always believed that a parked Tu-160 cannot be displayed with the wings fully swept. In fact all the photos of parked Tu-160 show the wing fully forward and most sources say that it simply cannot sweep the wings on the ground or it would tip over.

     

    Well, trying to save some shelf space (the bird is huge!) I figured out it there was a way to display the plane on the ground with the wing swept anyway... maybe with a support under the tail during maintenance? Then I came across this video. Look after minute 4:30. The plane is pushed into an hangar with the wings fully swept. Looks like a "flyable" Tu-160 being taken inside for maintenance, (i.e. not lacking any heavy equipment such as engines or something else). As the tail and wings host some huge fuel tanks, I suppose an unfueled Tu-160 can sweep its wings without tipping over...

     

    Tu-160 video on youtube

  12. Uhm.... difficult to build a model of what he flew without a photo... not only to identify the model, but also the bort number!

     

    Anyway.... was he an air force or a navy pilot? Because the Su-33 was only used by the navy. The other Flankers with canards are probably not blue...

  13. Can't wait....

     

    Started the KP kit last spring, but gave up halfway..... for some strange reason seems I have bad luck with the Mig-23: many kits started, never managed to finish one..... let's hope that finally an accurate (an easy!) kit will solve the problem :)

  14. The funny thing about russian stuff is that "standard" is not really as you would presume. I suspect some flankers are left with the protective primer (some sort of yellowish and dull zinc chromate paint), others are painted some sort of grey either at the factory or during overhauls...

     

    For my flanker I used a fs26440 grey, that has a slight yellowish hue. Correct or not, there must be (or have been) some flanker painted that way, somewhere :)

  15. Hi,

     

    I finished the general camo on my Su-27 (a standard Flanker B) and it's time to paint the details. I can't decide what color to use for the wheel wells, the "square" section of the main wells (where the wheel lies) seems more or less the same light blue-gray color as the underside, while the rest of the wells and the front one seem some kind of medium gray, with maybe a slight brown or green hue. I was thinkit about Gunze H325 or something like that. Any hint?

    20201026_2007152.jpg

  16. 16 hours ago, Rob de Bie said:

     

    Google Earth indeed works pretty well for shelter measurements, I've done that too for my TAB-VEE page.

     

    What more data do you need to build an AU-16? If you have 'Rote Platze' (congrats!) I think you already have the best there is, combined with the many many photos on the internet and Google Earth. The next step would be measuring one yourself, there still are plenty :-)

     

    Theoretically a MiG-29 should fit an AU-13 I think. If the diameter was 12.8 m, appr. 12.2 m is available in width at the wing tip level, so the 11.36 m span MiG-29 should fit. I remember quite a few air bases with the MiG-29s not fitting their shelters. For example Kothen, but those were AU-11s according to 'Rote Platze'.

     

    I found some more good stuff here, all in German again:

     

    https://www.heimatgalerie.de/unterwegs/3d-modelle/48-3d-modell-8-bautyp-au.html

     

    Your question make me dream a nice resin kit of one of these shelters 🙂 But they would be huge and expensive too..

     

    Rob

     

    Well, looking with Google Earth some former bases have been totally dismantled, some converted in solar farms (but with some of the shelters still in place) and some other still remain, it would be worth a tour when (if) we survive the covid...

     

    Talking about the diorama instead, I won't build the whole shelter (too big), but only the facade as a background. I plan to use eulithe (poliurethan rigid foam) for the front wall and pvc foam for the doors, while the "hill" behind the front wall would just be a piece of xps modelled with a hot wire (for just a some cm of depth) and covered with static grass.

  17. Hi Rob, interesting page (took a look also at yours, by the way, always interesting).

     

    I think the correct shelter for a MiG-29 would be the AU-16. I also have the Rote Platze book quoted by Lothar and used the same 3view drawings to guess some measures. According to the book, the AU-16 should be 15,8 meters wide and this should bring the doors to a total width of 19 meters, more o less. I even used Google Earth to measure some of the visible doors of some of the surviving shelters in former soviet bases in GDR and a 19 meters width seems accurate.

  18. Hi,

     

    I'd like to build a typical soviet hardened aircraft shelter (you know, the ones that were scattered around air bases in eastern europe covered with earth a trees on top). I don't need the full shelter, just the facade (with doors closed) to display an aircraft in front of it. Do you know where can I find scale drawings or at least measurements?

     

    Thanks

  19. On 7/1/2020 at 4:56 AM, DET1460 said:

    I got the "B" when it first came out. I was disappointed to find no flaps on the wing gloves. Odd, the box art shows them but the kit doesn't. So don't show any of it opened... flaps or slats. One of the many, MANY reasons I don't buy TrumpBoss stuff anymore. They seem to screw the pooch on just about every aircraft kit they produce... Not all, just most. JMHO

     

    DET1460

     Is it just missing the option to depict the flap lowered or even the hinge line detail?

     

    In the first case it's not a great deal.... in fact I hate drooped flaps, especially if like in this situation the plane is usually parked with the wings fully swept back to save ramp space. Anyway it's true.... Trumpeter has a great level of detail, however sometimes they make some blunders.... 

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