twhite80 Posted December 17, 2012 Author Share Posted December 17, 2012 Thanks for the comments! Building has slowed a bit since we brought the baby home, but I slip away every now and then to get some work done. Here are the Aries exhaust nozzles. I know that most big Flanker folks like the metal PE exhausts but I settled on the resin because it was familiar. I like how they turned out. I used Alclad, some Tamiya clear blue and red, and some Flory wash. I put together the afterburner flameholders that came with the Aires set and when I went to insert them into the exhaust tunnel they fell apart. Very frustrating. They look nice but they were fraile. I figured I wasn't going to wave my flag on this detail so I just used the kit pieces and added what photo etch I could from the Aires set. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twhite80 Posted December 24, 2012 Author Share Posted December 24, 2012 More big parts attached. The tail fins are glued on. Now I need to blend them, touch up, and finish the camouflage on them. You might notice little pieces of tape everywhere. Those are little places that need to be touched up. The burner cans are also attached. I like the outcome there. I fought with the Alclad a bit but after the third try I have decided to leave it! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tonal Posted December 25, 2012 Share Posted December 25, 2012 Truly an awesome looking bird, I can never get enough Flanker builds, thanks for sharing your work and have a great Christmas TW.! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twhite80 Posted January 9, 2013 Author Share Posted January 9, 2013 Having a one-month old can really put a cramp into your building time. No pictures right now but maybe a request? I am working on the landing gear and I have some touch ups to do on the jet itself but after that I need to refocus on the canopy. I can't seem to find the instructions for the Aires cockpit. Does anyone have a pdf or a web page that they could direct me to? Thanks! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twhite80 Posted January 28, 2013 Author Share Posted January 28, 2013 Finally finished (well mostly) the landing gear! It works too. I made every effort to make sure that those little springs go up and down. That meant adding hinges to all of the supports and running metal rod through all of the holes. I bought this kit at a model show and while it was an awesome value ($100 including the Aires pit) it did come with a wheel that its previous owner mysteriously filled with silicone. To get it out I have to remove a big part of it and rebuild. I had plans of doing some breaks but after doing my research I decided that Trumpeter could have done a much better job in getting the landing gear right. The hinges are all wrong and so are the wheels. So I decided that I would simulate the real thing and add some break lines etc, in the places they are on the real thing. Not perfect but those things are done! Its amazing how when you start a model you say it is going to be perfect all the way around, and this build has been close to my best all the way around, but the landing gear out of the box leaves so much to be desired that I am okay with moving on. I still need to install one of the main hydraulic lines on the front landing gear but I will get around to that soon. I have also decided to finish the Zacto canopy. I was a bit weary because all of the riveting on the rest of the model seemed to make the smooth canopy stand out. I was so worried that I built a frame around the windscreen, a decision I will likely regret, but in the end the detail inside the canopy is hard to beat. I painted the kit canopy first and i have the Aires pieces but they don't fit well and there is no canopy framing for the inside as there is with the Zacto canopy. In the end I think the Zacto canopy is just better than the Aires canopy. More updates on that when I get there. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 This is coming along very nicely! Quick note: Note that on the real 56 the shape of that white panel on the inside of the right vertical tail is atypical and doesn't follow the panel lines of the Trumpeter kit. Marcel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twhite80 Posted January 30, 2013 Author Share Posted January 30, 2013 Thanks for the tip on the panel. Its hard to find really good references. I will see what I can do. Does it just go straight down? In some pics there appears to be black squares that outline panels on the top of the aircraft but again I can't find any references good enough to be sure. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twhite80 Posted February 22, 2013 Author Share Posted February 22, 2013 Sorry for the bad lighting. I will update with more shots very soon. I am in the process of getting the decals on. Most of this work is stencils. I bought a Begemot decal sheet off eBay and started decaling. They yellowed and cracked and I went to remove them and the only way to get them off was to use some ELO and take it all the way down to the plastic. It was a disaster! Luckily I took the wait and see approach and only applied a couple of decals. I re-masked and re-painted. I can tell that there is a little demarcation but most will probably not catch it. I grabbed the other sheet in the Begemot packet and decided that those decals looked a little better. They have worked out okay so I am pressing on with the project. I ordered a Master pitot tube so I hope it gets here soon. I am getting closer! I will update once the decals are finished. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 Tyler, the decals are making here really come to life, nice! On the stencils, note that 56 has hardly any stencils on the top surfaces but has most standard stencils on lower surfaces. I guess nobody wanted to climb on the plane and apply them after they did the splinter camo <_< Marcel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twhite80 Posted February 23, 2013 Author Share Posted February 23, 2013 Thanks Marcel. I have been using your reference photos quite a bit. You have ben a great help. I kept the stenciling on the top to a minimum. Its hard to tell what is up there and what is not. The scale effect makes it tough too. In some pics the stencils are there but so faded that from afar they don't look like they were ever applied. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ken Middleton Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 great work! My favorite camo pattern on a Flanker Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twhite80 Posted February 23, 2013 Author Share Posted February 23, 2013 (edited) Here is a bigger update. At this stage I have all of the decals on and then I used the finest grade sandpaper and went over the fuselage again before I put another coat of Future of the whole thing. I have begun to do the ProModeler Flory Dark Dirt Wash on the flanker. The 1/32 scale affords you deeper panel lines and rivets. Once the wash is done I have to do some oil stains. That will leave me with all of the silver pitot tubes and air sensors. So its getting there. Never imagined getting this far! I originally intended to not put any missiles on the jet but my thinking may be evolving on that. Every pic or almost every pic of Blue 56 shows it without but it might be kind of cool... Edited February 28, 2013 by twhite80 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sharkey Posted February 24, 2013 Share Posted February 24, 2013 This is looking awesome. The finish is getting closer! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aggressor01 Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 This flanker could be my next build. I've been putting off buying it for some time. But I have to finish my tomcat first. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twhite80 Posted February 27, 2013 Author Share Posted February 27, 2013 I spent some time trying to get all of the wash out of all the flat surfaces and the nooks and crannies where it shouldn't be. The Flory wash is awesome unless your finish is a little rough. In places mine was so I really had to work hard to remove it. Note to self: make sure the whole model is slick before washing in the future! I am working on some of the hot gas streaking. Using Tamiya weathering and a ruler. Good tip Marcel! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tonal Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 Your work is spot on and the attention you've paid shows nicely I might add!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aggressor Supporter Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 Wow, I really like how this Flanker is looking! Like Ken, I also like that particular camo scheme. Keep it up. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twhite80 Posted April 12, 2013 Author Share Posted April 12, 2013 So after many, many months I have finally finished! I started in May of 2012 and so just shy of a year I got the first big build done. It has been a hectic year too! So I see this build as therapeutic. Now I have to move the damn thing to a new house! Oh well. The most difficult part of the build was the seat belts on the Aires ejection seat. I didn't do them 100% correct but I hear that no one has yet. I am happy enough with the outcome. I have 2 sets of Zacto missiles that I will be using. Two Archers and to Alamos. Once those are done and on the Flanker I will post in the 'Display Case.' Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Madhatter Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 man that's nicely done (and by that I mean ALL of it). That's the same scheme I have in mind for mine whenever I get around to doing it. I love the way you have done your engines - it's an effect I just can't seem to emulate properly. Maybe you could do a separate tutorial on how you did it? I for one would read and take benefit from it Look forward to seeing some nice shots in the Display Case. This build is worth taking the time to photograph nicely!! Thanks for sharing MH Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kwstasb Posted April 14, 2013 Share Posted April 14, 2013 Superb work on the enormous Flanker! Very clean construction and beautiful paintwork. And one question: What color did you use for the wheel wells? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twhite80 Posted April 14, 2013 Author Share Posted April 14, 2013 (edited) Thanks for the comments. For the exhausts I did a combination of Alclad and then Tamiya Clear Blue and a little red and yellow. Then I used some of Phil Flory's wash which dulled it down. I liked the effect although most of the other Flanker builds probably nail the engines a little better than I did. For the landing gear bays I used Tamiya Dark Sea Gray. I saw just a few walk around photos of Ukrainian Flankers with the dark gray landing gear bays. Up close it looks like they sprayed everything that dark gray color. I went ahead and tried to paint most of the hoses and fluid lines etc. I had the Zacto canopy for this and I think that is is far superior to the kit canopy but I screwed us the Zacto canopy and while I could have taken all of the paint off and redone it, I ran out of the custom mixed light blue. So I went with the kit part. The kit part also has some of the riveting and although the shape is wrong it keeps with the general 'riveted' aesthetic. I also had all of the canopy locks done but since I did not do them correctly and install the tongues before I attached them to the fuselage, they kept coming off. I just pulled all of them. Oh well. Next time! I also pulled the front landing gear off and glued it so that the spring mechanism no longer works. I originally did all of the landing gear struts so that they worked. Never again! They are too wobbly and uneven. In the end I committed a bunch of extra work to something that did not work out. While hardly noticable I think I am most proud of the FOD guards. I modified the Eduard parts to fit inside the Zacto intakes. You can see the compressor fan if you look in with a flashlight. At least I know its there! I would love it is someone came up with some FOD covers for these Flankers. Most of them have them installed when parked. I know that it might take away from that awesome interior detail on the Zacto intakes however. I can nit pick my own work all day and night but it is done and I am relatively happy with it. Here are a few more pics: Edited April 15, 2013 by twhite80 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dsahling Posted April 15, 2013 Share Posted April 15, 2013 Really impressive work, possibly one of the best flankers I've seen!!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted April 15, 2013 Share Posted April 15, 2013 Tyler, your Flanker looks beautiful! Marcel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
twhite80 Posted April 16, 2013 Author Share Posted April 16, 2013 Tyler, your Flanker looks beautiful! :cheers:/> Marcel Thanks Marcel! Your build was my main inspiration and all of your help was so appreciated! Thanks Again! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tonal Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 Your work on this Flanker is truly beautiful it's really a great way to share your process and I appreciate that. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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