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Ooh. Thanks for sharing the pics of the MiG-21 in progress. Too late for my current build as far as the bay in the wings goes (I just filed off styrene rod for my air cylinders), but definitely for future reference - and for the wells in the fuselage! And I'm looking forward to seeing more of the Yellow Bird!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Yeah, I'm on it... scrounging twenty minutes here, staying up late there...

I've been doing 'menial' improvement work, mainly cleaning up the intakes, and improving the look of the exhausts. I thought it wasn't worth photographing.

Another day off is required, tho. Sharp objects and restless kids don't mix.

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Some progress at last.

I've done a few things that I have no pictures of - cleaning and glueing the fins, flaps, elevators and such - and I've cleaned the inside of the intakes, removing ejector pin marks, alignment tabs, and other protrusions.

If I got it right, with the engines shut the anti-FOD grid would be lying flat on the bottom of the intake, covering the auxiliary intakes on the belly.

That left me with a problem, I didn't like the way Academy handles the intake trunk. There's an ugly step halfway down that oughtn't be there.

Milliput could be a solution, but I tried another approach, from 0.10" plastic card.

3388749223_cfec77e5a0.jpg

3388749225_c20c499f41.jpg

Another sheet goes around the fan. I sanded the edge with a curve, so the the plastic card would flare outward. On the left is the start, on the right the finished item, shaped with trial-and-error:

3388753777_cab2abeb80.jpg

Once glued and sanded flush, it should give the impression of a smooth transition from square to round. It's not perfect though, as can be seen looking down the intake - I took away too much material in some places, need to see if it can be fixed.

3388753779_7463c391e5.jpg

Bear in mind that it still has to be glued, puttied and generally smoothed out. The fuchsia line marks the leading edge of the sheet.

3388753783_f7de8a93cd.jpg

3388753785_ee849ff606.jpg

Moar intake adjustments. The port one is more or less good to go, but the starboard one is too narrow. Perhaps it's my mistake. Sanding the inside of the 'cones' ahead of the undercarriage fairings helps the intakes stay where they should stay. Scraping the outside wall of the engine trunking helps, too, with no loss of detail since there isn't any to start with:

3388749237_eaf753d90c.jpg

You can barely make out one of the plastic strips I've glued to the bottom of the fuselage, to act as spreaders for the port intake.

Because the intakes tapered a bit too much towards the front end, I've added a millimetre on each side of their upper lip:

3388749233_ab58e83387.jpg

Detail in progress on the main u/c legs:

3388753775_b81366d15a.jpg

The NeOmega cockpit depicts a first generation UB with all the clocks, but the instrument panels of the Su-30MKK are dominated by two huge MFDs each. The front panel is my current nemesis (we're now to three attempts and counting...):

3388749227_bd4b5f8572.jpg

...picture limit exceeded...

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....whereas the rear panel came out good on the first try - well, as good as I could make it, anyway:

3388749231_d0f13a3a4c.jpg

The panels aren't of the same height because the upper part is integrated with the shroud in the NeOmega set - a Dremeling session will take care of that.

That's all for now, wish you good and steady progress on your current projects.

Bone,

over...

Edited by Bonehammer73
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I am very impressed with the detail work you have done so far. On the instrument panel, did you drill out the holes?

Yes... I drilled more or less to the right size, then finished with a rat-tail file - not a round one as it would take forever; a triangular one.

There's a bonus to it, the plastic 'rises' around the hole, giving the impression of an instrument frame. I took advantage of this and 'reinforced' the rised detail with a dab of cyano from the inside of the hole before sandwiching the layers of plastic together. I don't know how it will look after painting.

Unfortunately, all pics were terrible. I think there's not enough contrast for the autofocus to engage. I'll try again with daylight.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was thinking of taking another day off, but springtime did it for me. I'm currently home, mouthbreathing. Head colds are the pit.

However, I had enough time free from blowing my nose to produce the following:

Battery:

3427152792_61a4ba260e.jpg

Battery niche:

3427152804_833fec3ea5.jpg

Battery in place (the autofocus is not my friend today):

3427152806_3c16c639de.jpg

Aaand the front undercarriage leg with its new, Su-35-like wheel axle. It's my fourth attempt and the only one that came out looking good enough to be actually glued:

3427152812_f3acd699d5.jpg

Until next time...

Happy Easter,

Bone

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Erm, did you all miss the joke underneath my avatar? I'm a lady - but I think gender is irrelevant on the 'Net.

BTW is it correct to call my child a "kid" if she's a girl?

The goldfish is an actual Carassius auratus named Pesce, although the Flanker would qualify as 'golden'.

Tomorrow is my other day off and I'll take some step-by-step pictures while I dress up the port gear bay.

Ta for now,

Bone

Whoopsie! :salute:

Sorry about the mix up Bone... and your absolutely right, Gender is irrelevant in our hobby.

I saw the step by step tutorial you posted on building harnesses...many thanks for sharing your amazing work. :salute:

I wll study your technique and will try to do it justice.

keep up the great work.

Thanks,

Ernie A

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I saw the step by step tutorial you posted on building harnesses...many thanks for sharing your amazing work.

Says the guy with that Yak-28 in the signature... I know that kit and your work is :tease: :tease:

Anyhoo, progress report. The Sukhoi trademark 'egg-slicer' mudguard has proven exceptionally elusive. For those unfamiliar with the real item:

Su-30MKI_nosewheel.jpeg

Here's a panorama of my attempts to recreate the fins: from left to right, plastic, tin foil, ruled paper soaked in superglue (works better than you'd think). Then I realised that the mudguard has rounded contours, not square, and the inside of the fins had to be shaped accordingly - hence the penultimate attempt, with plastic again, on the far right.

3449852164_292b62648b.jpg

The definitive form, because I'm fed up with the $%£&@ thing already:

3449076925_e42d3e4903.jpg

For a perfect result, what I would really need is a way to make a photoetched fret. Each fin would then look more or less like an H, and fold over itself, also providing the attachment plates:

3449889348_426f00be0e.jpg

But I'm not submitting this to a contest and I have:

1) an inbound deadline,

2) enough unfinished models as it is.

Hence my contentment with suboptimal techniques:

3449893422_45de2cb07d.jpg

Yes, those are chopsticks. Nothing beats a nice puttanesca with a glass of Merlot but a nasi goreng once in a while adds variety. Furthermore, you can't wrap Flanker mudguards around a fork.

3449898960_482d8effc8.jpg

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Now was the time for a loud "Uh-oh." I was lenghtening the fin tips - they look too triangular and might still need some surface at their trailing edge - when I noticed something odd. theYou are required to pay special attention to the rudder:

3449907066_927938eb1d.jpg

Now take a long hard look at this picture, showing our beloved 503's southwest...

KnAAPO-Su-30MKK-1.jpg

Notice anything in particular?

Head, meet desk. Deask, meet head. :whistle:

It's not hard to fix, but it'll play hell with the surface finish and it would have been much easier if I had spotted it before gluing the rudder halves together.

And I'm tired of finding things 'not hard to fix' on this build... wish I'd done the Test Pilots UB... Double damn.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I thought I'd get rid of the fin problem first thing first, before ataraxia set in and made me skip it...

First, the rudder is taller, so the part below it is cut - and kept:

3492956244_b45bcb5b0e.jpg

Second, the rudder chord is shorter, so I had to cut a slice from the already assembled rudders and reattach it to the fins:

3492956250_79acbf4619.jpg

Because I didn't trust a butt joint to take all the sanding in stride, I sawed a slot in the middle of the rudder:

3492956254_31e2df9ca8.jpg

and glued a scrap of plastic card to add as a longitudinal reinforcement:

3492956256_3d3e1d9851.jpg

After glueing: pieces have been shaped, but returning the surface finish to a level comparable with the original will require more work. By looking at the pictures, I think the fin tip trailing edge needs to be more vertical, and the flat, horizontal reinforcement strip/antenna shouldn't be there. Let me know what you think.

3492151039_0842210f6f.jpg

Static discharge weeks added to the elevons with bristles from a retired toothbrush: once I made them from wire, with 'meh' results. Nylon filaments survive handling better:

3492151035_54b10994e3.jpg

Despite the forewarning and additional experience, I've made a dog's meal with glueing the slats, exactly as I did with my first Flanker, more than ten years ago...

3492956260_9d137e6175.jpg

Does it ever fail? I lost a main tyre. :jaw-dropping: After days of searching, it turned up safe and sound, but not before I had sourced and richly paid for Cutting edge's resin wheels. :worship:

Oh well. I'll finish that Zhengdefu Su-35, and they'll look good on it.

Someday.

Yeah.

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