Shorty84 Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 Hi all, here's my current project I want to share with you. Being a huge fan of Soviet/Russian aviation the Flanker family is my particular favourite. Having hoarded multiple boxings of Academy’s Flanker I thought it’s finally time to build one. The real deal This is the aircraft I want to build (profile done by me): When I saw the unusual stripy camo I was immediately hooked. I had to build this machine. This bird was photographed during the exercise "Ladoga-2014". This exercise took place in the Western Military District and involved aircrafts using live weapons on the ranges of the banks of Lake Ladoga. This particular machine was recently overhauled at the 20th APZ (Aircraft Overhaul Plant) in Pushkin where it received its unusual camo. It seems that many overhauled birds there get an non-standard camo. Whereas Red 52/RF-90754 has a quite similar paintjob, Red 10/RF-92431 was painted dark grey overall. The kit The Su-30M2 (#12301) is Academy’s latest reboxing of the venerable Su-27UB kit. Although marketed as a Su-30 the kit still contains all parts to build a standard doubleseater. If you want to build a "Sparka" I would recommend this boxing as it contains some improved parts (e.g. weapon pylons). The challenge For this build I want to refrain from the use of any aftermarket enhancements (there will be one exception though). The reason is quite simple. I have 7 more Flanker kits (2 single and 5 double seaters) and for some of them I've already bought a lot of resin sets (Nozzles, nose cone, wheel wells, cockpit…). Therefore I want to show the (well known) weak points of the kit and how they can be improved without resorting to resin upgrades (which are not always as accurate as we often think). This will also give me the chance to hone my scratchbuilding skills a bit. Let's start with the nose cone. That’s it for the moment. I hope I won’t bore you with yet another Flanker WIP. With modelling time mostly limited to the weekends this won’t be a fast build so I hope you bear with me. Till next update… Markus Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nicholassagan Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 Wow this is a great start. Really looking forward to your process and will be taking notes!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rom Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 Halo Markus! there is never enough Flanker! Your start let think that your build is going to be epic. Your radome correction is very smart. But I thought the nose was also too short in length. isn't it? Count me on for watching you progress!! Grüssen! Romain Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Moche Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 Looks good! I'll be following this since i have a 1/48 flanker in my stash as well :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Shorty84 Posted April 6, 2015 Author Share Posted April 6, 2015 Thanks for the replies, so no pressure then... :D But I thought the nose was also too short in length. isn't it? Salut Rom, well, the lenght error (16mm) is evenly distributed across the whole airframe. If one wants to correct this you would need to add material on several places across the whole lenght. I think this build illustates it nicely. I will not try to correct it as it doesn't impact the final apperance unless you put it next to an accurate Flanker (Hobby Boss, can you hear me ). Cheers, Markus Quote Link to post Share on other sites
janman Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 Bored by your build? No way,dude! Will be following closely - with a hope that I finally would find the motivation for building my precious (though now possibly outdated in some respect) Heller UB. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crazy Snap Captain Posted April 7, 2015 Share Posted April 7, 2015 Really nice start Markus! Awesome work on the nose cone and pitot tube. Can't wait to see more! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rom Posted April 7, 2015 Share Posted April 7, 2015 Danke markus! I got mixed up with the 1/32 trumpeter inacuracy. I think they included the pitot inthe total lenght, making the nose shorter. Anyway, thanks for sharing! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
taggor Posted April 8, 2015 Share Posted April 8, 2015 Truly a very informative tutorial. Like most, I love Russian aircraft too and have the kits as well. This is such a great documentation that I am going to have to save this thread. Thanks for sharing the information and what a detailed build this will be! I am already looking forward to more progress! -Mark Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joel_W Posted April 8, 2015 Share Posted April 8, 2015 Will be following along with great interest. So far your build is quite exceptional, as well as your presentation style., Joel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Shorty84 Posted April 9, 2015 Author Share Posted April 9, 2015 Thank you all for your encouragements. In fact I put quite a lot of thought into the presentation of my build, involving countless hours of "research" by looking at other WIP’s (quite a hard job, but someone has to do it... :D ) In the end I adopted a style inspired by the WIP’s of the fellow members chukw and ZAgocs. Thanks for inspiration guys. Now seeing the amount of work necessary for creating and updating a WIP I appreciate it even more that you all try to share your efforts with us. Later that day I will post an update on my Flanker build so stay tuned... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Der Grüne Punkt Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 Thanks for sharing, your explanation on how to correct the nose is great, I'll use it as reference to fix mine. Cheers Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Shorty84 Posted April 9, 2015 Author Share Posted April 9, 2015 Next update incoming... I've been working on the canopy or to be more precise, the windshield. As provided the clear parts are way too narrow. Unfortunately Academy didn't take the chance to retool the entire clear sprue for the Su-30 boxing. There is a replacement in the form of the wonderful Fairy Hobby vac canopy but I decided to go my own way as you will see: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Shorty84 Posted April 9, 2015 Author Share Posted April 9, 2015 That's it for a while. I'm off to a business trip to Shanghai for the whole next week so see you in 2 weeks… Cheers Markus Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joel_W Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 Markus, I'm most impressed on your crash molding procedure, as well as making the mold. Like you said, with the canopy open, no one will ever know that there is a size difference. Joel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nicholassagan Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 Wow! Incredible work!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rom Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 Very instructive! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuso25 Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 congrats for your work and explanations, awesome Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crazy Snap Captain Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 What the...!!! This is some seriously impressive stuff Markus! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
taggor Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 What the...!!! :jaw-dropping:/> This is some seriously impressive stuff Markus! I couldn't have said it better any other way!! Extremely detailed and informative not to mention..... top notch building!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
zark Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 ... !!!...???... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Shorty84 Posted April 21, 2015 Author Share Posted April 21, 2015 Hi guys, being safely back from China I finally had some time to work on my Flanker again. Slats One component I rarely see corrected on the Academy Flanker are the slats. They are missing some subtile shapes and (in case of the double seater) some panel lines. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Shorty84 Posted April 21, 2015 Author Share Posted April 21, 2015 Cheers Markus Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nicholassagan Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 So informative! I'll be utilizing this mod for sure!!! Also, if you like, I just completed as complete of a rivet diagram as I could and will share it as a PDF. Interested? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crazy Snap Captain Posted April 22, 2015 Share Posted April 22, 2015 I want to burn my Su-27 build now... This is such awesome work! Well done Markus Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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