Marcel111 Posted December 27, 2011 Author Share Posted December 27, 2011 Wow, Wow, Wow! EXCELLENT work as always Marcel- and thanks for sharing all these progress pics. I need to give this kit a try some day and you've given us the road map on how to attack it. Beautiful work there Marcel! Thanks Chuck, Blunce... always very encouraging and motivating to get feedback. 1. How come parts of your model are (or look like) painted with the final color as opposed to just a primer? I assume you're not using that coating for a final finish, so what's the benefit to using it at this point in the game? I use Modelmaster paints and generally do not have any adhesion issues, so I don't use primer, I just go straight to the base color of the model. The benefits of using that blue in this case are: - Coverage: This is a really big model and if I'd try to paint the entire model in one or two shots I'd probably accidentally leave out a few areas. - Checking of mistakes: I try to cover as much of the airplane fairly early on so that I see all the mistakes. - In this case, I have been trying to find the right blue mix and the best way to get a feel for that is to check it on the actual model. 2. How did you go about making all those vents? They're all so symmetrical and look amazing! Ha, you got me! I was going to mention this in the post but forgot... I have a cannibalization Flanker since I managed to mess up my first attempt with the Zacto intakes. So I just cut vents from the cannibalized kit and sunk them into the kit. That's why the vents all look consistent with the kit's gun area vents (which is the case on the real thing). Marcel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ya-gabor Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Dear Marcel111, Hope this is of help in your work. Best regards Gabor Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ya-gabor Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Here is part two of Number 56. Gabor Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brown Bear Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Blue 56 is beat to hell. Didn't realize they got that dirty Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted January 5, 2012 Author Share Posted January 5, 2012 Gabor, thanks so much for posting these pics!! Definitely made my evening! The pics I have of 56 are the ones on airliners.net, which are taken fairly recently after it was painted--what a change those pics show! Maybe we can get a Chuck/Scott kind of thing going here Blue 56 is beat to hell. Didn't realize they got that dirty Yeah, I thought only Russian Flankers looked like that :) Marcel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted January 6, 2012 Author Share Posted January 6, 2012 I thought I'd show how I generally go about making pitot tubes and what I sepcifically did on the Flanker. Old news to most, I'm sure, but here goes anyway. I'll be doing all of the various pitot tubes on the Flanker this way. I used various size syringes and cut and taper them with a Dremel tool. The beauty of using syringes is that they are made from very high grade stainless steel so they are incredibly strong. Also, the various sizes can be used to telescope into one another. Last, they are very cheap. The base tube, mounted and finished into the nose cone: The other, smaller tubes telescoped into the larger diameter tube. The beauty of this is that the smaller tubes can be slid into the base tube at the end of the build and doesn't need to be glued. It can thus be taken off for transport of the model, thus reducing the risk of pitot tube breakage or bending. The hardest part on this particular assemby is getting that very slight bulge in the thin section of the tube. I tried to make a litte blob that slides over the thin section. Note the small hoe at the end of the pitot tube, which is also there on the real thing. So, should I keep the blob on or leave it? Let me know what you guys think. The increase in diameter on the real thing really is very slight, so I am inclined to leave it off. Thanks for looking, Marcel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 So, should I keep the blob on or leave it? Let me know what you guys think. The increase in diameter on the real thing really is very slight, so I am inclined to leave it off. Marcel Excellent work Man! The guy who built my Cubic ACMI pod on my last build used syringes too and that made me a firm believer in using them again. The only negative, which isn't really a negative, is that you cannot bend them later, so you better get them straight to begin with. Keep the bump/blob! If it's on the real deal it needs to stay. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 (edited) Double post. Sorry! Edited January 6, 2012 by chuck540z3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tonal Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 Double post. Sorry! Omg, your detail is amazing to say the least, and yes, I and others are following your build with much respect and awe. Considering that their at least four or so others that are in the build mode, which got my attention as well. This is great to see along with all the other references posted. Keep up the great work. Tonal P.S. At least I know where to look whenever I start to build for guidance. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brown Bear Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 Seriously great work. Resisting tE urge to start mine Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted January 7, 2012 Author Share Posted January 7, 2012 (edited) Thanks Tonal, Brown Bear!! Keep the bump/blob! If it's on the real deal it needs to stay. Thanks Chuck... thing is just that the diameter increase is so slight so as to almost not be visible... most models of the Flanker have it way too big, as is mine, it's really impossibe do get it right unless you have some nice CNC lathe standing around. Funny, I'm in the medical device industry and we have rows upon rows of those standing around... but no chance. Have a look at that bump yourself: pitot tube link Marcel Edited January 7, 2012 by Marcel111 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted January 8, 2012 Author Share Posted January 8, 2012 (edited) Happy Sunday, guys! I snapped some shots of the instrument panel and coaming before glueing on the windscreen. Some work still to be done, so this is provisional. I had initially used the Eduard color PE set and then decided it wasn't good enough. This is the Aires cockpit. I masked off the clear instrument panel dials with Kristal Klear, sprayed blue, removed the Kristal Klear and then applied the photo film behind the panel. Marcel Edited January 8, 2012 by Marcel111 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
EagleAviation Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 Superb work on that cockpit Marcel! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rogier77 Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Very nice detail Flanker build. Good luck with the rest of it. Gr Rogiér Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rdrunner Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 (edited) Loving the SU-27 Marcel, great detailing :thumbsup: Ken Edited January 15, 2012 by Rdrunner Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted January 21, 2012 Author Share Posted January 21, 2012 Ken, Rogier, EagleAviation, thanks for the support! Here are some quick updates: I went back and redid that little exhaust. The oval tube was made from 6mm diameter brass tube, squashed in a vice. Note that on early Flankers, e.g. Ukraine "08", this exhaust stands very proud of the fuselarge, whereas on later Flankers like my Ukrainian "56", the exhaust is more flush (although still not totally flush). Here's another view of the exhaust... you can also see some of the work I have done on the port wheel well. A step with appropriate bracing was scratchbuilt for the rear-most part of the wheel well. HUGE thanks to Wasserfall for sharing some pics he had of this area . The pics I found online of this area where always of the starboard side, which has all the bright-colored tubes. FYI both port and starboard sides of the rear wheel well have that step that needs to be scratchbuilt. Here's a view of the starboard well. Far from finished but it's starting to look suitably busy. You may also notice some plate sections added to the outside of the wheel well. Antennas etc: The Trumpeter kit is deficient here. There are TWO odd-rod type three-bladed antennas around the nose area of Su-27's, one is centerline, the other is just off centerline. There are also three smaller sets of two-bladed odd-rod type antennas. I scratch built these using plastic card. And here is a pitot tube update. The large sensors either side of the cockpit will have syringe tubes slid into them at the end of the build. Thanks for looking, Marcel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wardog Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 Outstanding work Marcel, I love the attention to detail. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 (edited) Nice, nice, nice and nice work Buddy! The details are amazing. Edited January 22, 2012 by chuck540z3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tonal Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Nice to see such skill applied in your work, its awesome to say the least! Tonal Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted February 1, 2012 Author Share Posted February 1, 2012 (edited) Here's what's been going down with my Flanker. Static dischargers: I cut and sanded all of the kit's static dischargers off during assembly--they don't look so great anyway and I'm not sure how to assemble wings etc with those guys on. I have spent a considerable amount of time thinking about how to scratch these, this is what I eventually did: The actual dischargers are made from thin plastic rod, I thinned the profile in the middle by using a small-diamter grinding tool on my Dremel. I made 16x of these (made some spares while I was at it) and it took under 30 mins. The bits that extend onto the flying surfaces are made from that same plastic rod, however, sliced lengthwise. It's ony possible to do this with a brand new blade but again, pretty easy to do. I then glued the half-cyinder parts onto the respective flying surface, and then gued the actual dischargers onto those. Since I was able to use plastic cement, those litte guys are on there pretty strong. The result... and notice the ridiculousy beautiful Zacto wingtip launcher: Next up were those aerials on the port vertical stabilizer: Summary: And here is where I am now, ready to get paint and the crazy camo on I already coated the major metal areas with a coat of gloss black, in preparation for Alclad, and then masked these off. Marcel Edited February 1, 2012 by Marcel111 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rogier77 Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 Marcel, Your Flanker looks very good so far. Nice detail work to the static dischargers and the atennes. The weelbays looks good to. Good luck with the paint job. Greetings Rogiér van den Berg Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted February 5, 2012 Author Share Posted February 5, 2012 Thanks Rogier. I thought I'd show how I went about mixing my Urkainian colors. I looked closely at all the pics of "56" available on the net and finally selected a pic that I though was captured with well-balanced lighting and colors. This is the pic I used as a base color reference. I copied a box of the various colors from the front of the aircraft, since Flnkers are generally less faded there (more on that below). I then pasted the colors over large areas to create my master color reference below. I printed that with a high quality printer. For the light blue, which seems to be unique to "56" and maybe a handful of other Ukrainian Flankers, I mixed a very small amount of MM2032 (Bright Blue) into MM2131 (Flanker Medium Blue). To my eye, the match is spot-on. The top side is a little more complex. The light blue seems to fade pretty quickly, have a look at these two links another link. Note that the paint towards the nose of the Flanker is less faded, this is also usually the case with Russian Flankers and if memory serves me right, this is due to the noses being covered by canvass when parked, whereas the rest of the aircraft is pretty exposed to the elements when on the ground. Anyways, that means that I added some white to the above described mix and applied lighted shades on the top surfaces (apart from the front). So, now off to masking the splinters Thx for looking, Marcel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
geedubelyer Posted February 5, 2012 Share Posted February 5, 2012 This is becoming even more exciting now Marcel. I agree with you, the light blue looks to be an excellent match. Good job Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Nemsy_29 Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Awesome building!! This is one of best flankers that i ever saw, i'm building too this "blue 56" but in 1/72 ICM model and this will be my reference definitely. I don't know what is better on this one, but exhausts are my favorite :blink: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted February 19, 2012 Author Share Posted February 19, 2012 Guy, Nemsey, thanks for the support! Awesome building!! This is one of best flankers that i ever saw, i'm building too this "blue 56" but in 1/72 ICM model and this will be my reference definitely. I don't know what is better on this one, but exhausts are my favorite Music to my ears Well, I have been getting some of this in: So not all that much modelling. However, I have found the time to mask the splinter camo: Yeah, doing that masking job is as tedious as it looks. But as you'll see in my next post, the results are really cool, if I have to say so myself... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.