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A tale of four Flankers...


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Ladeeez and Gentlemen, for your delight and entertainment, I shall now attempt to build, not one, not two, not three, but FOUR Flankers all in one go - and all without the use of a safety net......

Seriously though, I haven't built a Flanker for a while and I'm getting withdrawal symptoms.

I'm fed up waiting for the long promised Trumpeter Flankers, so with the arrival of the Hasegawa Su-33, I thought I'd get back to my first modelling love....

I'm doing....

The Airfix Su-27 in Kazakhstan markings

The Hasegawa Su-27 in Uzbekistan markings

The Hasegawa Su-33 in Russian Navy Markings

The Heller Su-27UB as a Venezuelan Su-30MKV

First off some comparisons.... I'm using the excellent drawings from the Ukrainian magazine Aviatsiya i Vremya (Aviation and Time)... downloadable from here (Su-27)and here (Su-33)

The Airfix Su-27 fin compared to the drawings....

Flankers%20001.JPG

As you can see it isn't too bad.....

The Hasegawa Su-33 fin compared to the drawings...

Flankers%20002.JPG

Again, almost spot-on.

Fins compared....

Flankers%20003.JPG

The Hasegawa Su-27 fin is way too big - the Zvezda Su-35 fin will be used on the Su-30MKV.

The Hasegawa Su-33 radome is almost spot on....

Flankers%20004.JPG

The Airfix radome is slightly too narrow (by .5mm), the Hasegawa radomes are slightly too wide (by .5mm)....

Flankers%20005.JPG

... but the Hasegawa Su-27 radome is totally the wrong shape (I shall be using a Quickboost resin replacement)...

Flankers%20006.JPG

The Airfix jetpipe is too narrow (by 1mm), the Su-33 is spot on, the Hasegawa Su-27 is too wide (by 1mm)

Flankers%20007.JPG

The Airfix jetpipe is in the closed, full throttle mode....

Flankers%20008.JPG

None of the kit ejection seats are correct - the Su-33 is the least bad. The NeOmega resin K-36 is the benchmark...

Flankers%20009.JPG

More to follow....

Ken

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I have a couple of Hasegawa Su-27's - and the Revell re-box - in my stash, but I had never used them because of their accuracy problems.

These are the oddly-shaped radome and the way too wide rear end - by about 4mm overall.

The Su-33 is on the left, the Su-27 on the right....

Flankers%20015.JPG

The Su-33 on top of the Su-27....

Flankers%20016.JPG

The Quickboost resin radome solves the front-end problem, so I thought I'd have a go at fixing it rear......

The top fuselage half isn't too bad - it's just a matter of cutting out the nacelles and removing a 2mm section.....

Flankers%20010.JPG

The bottom nacelle is moved inwards - Su-27 (left), Su-33 (right)

Flankers%20011.JPG

Upper fuselaged narrowed......

Flankers%20012.JPG

The bottom fuselage is more difficult - as well as being too wide, the nacelle is too deep where it meets the nozzle - which is why the nozzle is too big !!

You need to keep the front of the nacelle the same size - in order to attach the intakes, so I removed the outer sections and removed plastic at their front end and cut a vee-shaped slot in the nacelle....

Flankers%20013.JPG

Once the nacelle is glued back together it makes it narrower....

Flankers%20014.JPG

.... but it is still too deep - and no longer circular - so I'm going to have to fix that as well...

I'm making all this up as I go along...... :woot.gif: ... but it should work :pray:

Ken

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As all four Flankers will be 'buttoned up' - with the canopies closed, I didn't spend a lot of time on detailing the cockpits.....

From left to right, Hasegawa Su-33, Hasegawa Su-27, Airfix Su-27, Heller Su-27UB.

Flankers%20017.JPG

The Heller Su-27UB cockpit on the right has been 'converted' into a Su-30MKV by scraping off the raised detail and adding four squres of black decal film to represent the MFD screens on this variant.

The Hasegawa Su-27 has etched-steel side consoles and front panel - but the raised detail isn't very prominent.

Both it and the Su-33 also include instrument decals - but I haven't used them on this build.

The Su-33 has a throttle lever on the left - but it doesn't really represent the sliding throttles of the Flanker.

Flankers%20018.JPG

Modellers with better eysight and skills than me (Haneto etc) would make a better job of it, but in this scale with the canopies closed, I reckon they'll do........ :whistle:

Ken

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This is a very interesting thread... What about a (very) quick comparison with the Italeri Su-27? I'm working on it and want to make some modifications to make it look better (It's not like I'm cutting the fuselage like you're doing with the Hasegawa though). I want to build a Su-27UBK and and an early Su-27 (Ukrainian markings), I'm still gatehring info. I'll follow this thread very closely :thumbsup: Best regards.

José.

P.S. I already have the plans you recommended, how to print them? Should I resize them or something? When I change the plans view to "actual size" they appear to be really big.

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Explain please!?

We met over the internet. I live in Missouri and she lives in New York. Back in July I flew up there and spent a week with her. She knows about my model building, but doesn't really have an opinion of it. I figured I'd build her the SU-33 cause it's one of my favorite fighters, as a 'thanks for putting up with me for a week' gift. Not as romantic as flowers and the like, but it's from the heart.

Tim

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We met over the internet. I live in Missouri and she lives in New York. Back in July I flew up there and spent a week with her. She knows about my model building, but doesn't really have an opinion of it. I figured I'd build her the SU-33 cause it's one of my favorite fighters, as a 'thanks for putting up with me for a week' gift. Not as romantic as flowers and the like, but it's from the heart.

Tim

Since it's for a girl, then may I suggest the Idolmaster version?

http://www.amiami.jp/images/product/main/111/TOY-SCL2-01450.jpg

But since these creatures like flowers, a better choice would be the Cherry Blossom F-14D:

http://peterpan03.wordpress.com/2011/05/09/the-review-of-sp29-f-14d-cherry-blossom-172-ace-combat-5-zipang/

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10142319

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/image/10142319a/20/1

*****************************

Sorry to sidetrack, Ken :D

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Since it's for a girl, then may I suggest the Idolmaster version?

http://www.amiami.jp/images/product/main/111/TOY-SCL2-01450.jpg

But since these creatures like flowers, a better choice would be the Cherry Blossom F-14D:

http://peterpan03.wordpress.com/2011/05/09/the-review-of-sp29-f-14d-cherry-blossom-172-ace-combat-5-zipang/

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10142319

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/image/10142319a/20/1

*****************************

Sorry to sidetrack, Ken :D

Hahahaha. :D Maybe, we'll see if she really likes this one. Although I do have a feeling I'll be building another one for her. Knowing her she'd want the black F-14 with the playboy bunny on the vertical stabs. ;) Yeah, sorry about the thread drift Ken.

Tim

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