Sebastijan Posted September 18, 2017 Share Posted September 18, 2017 (edited) Hi everyone! Here's my new project I wanna share with you, the Sukhoi Su-17M3. But hold on, it's not the infamous Kitty Hawk Fitter and neither is the new HobbyBoss one. We're talking about a Modelsvit one in 1:72 scale. And from what I've seen so far, it is by far the best Fitter in this scale... and quite possibly in any. You might have seen the K-36 seat already from Ken's beautiful M-17 build, but here it is again. Ejection seat consists of, believe it or not, 23 parts! What you see here is 22 parts as I left of the commendably thin ejection seat lever to add at the end. All in all a model inside a model I could say and the level of detail is just great. The only problem are instructions as they are not very clear with the location of some of the tinier parts. Nicely molded exhaust turbine The exhaust pipe is of correct length and made out of 3 parts. It is a bit tricky to assemble, but for some time lost during the assembly, you get some really nice interior details and the dreadful seam lines that usually plague the exhaust halves, won't be seen here. Cockpit and front wheel well details is awesome as well - larger companies should be learning from a small short-run company like Modelsvit. I've bypassed the instructions a bit here - instead of building the cockpit/front wheel well assembly first and then gluing everything into the fuselage halves, I found it easier to just glue the cockpit halves into each respective fuselage half and build on from there. And guess what, the fit is perfect! Just look at the back wall details. Much better than with KittyHawk kit in larger scale. You get two different instrument panels - one with flat surface if you choose decal and one with all the little details if you fancy painting all the little details. I guess I'll go with the later option and if I fail miserably, I still have a back up :) Edited December 7, 2017 by Sebastijan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aigore Posted September 19, 2017 Share Posted September 19, 2017 Neat :D Actually great details in such a small scale! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rom Posted September 19, 2017 Share Posted September 19, 2017 Impressive level of details! Have fun! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sebastijan Posted October 1, 2017 Author Share Posted October 1, 2017 Some more progress in between all the babysitting :D As I suspected adding a few colours and some weathering to the front wheel bay brought out all the details. You even get some decals for this area! Another view of the front wheel well. Combination of decals for the side panels and carefully painted details creates a very convincing cockpit right out of the box. I am really sorry the beautiful details of the back wall will be mostly hidden by the ejection seat. View of the left hand cockpit/wheel well. Modelsvit, unlike so many bigger producers, didn't forget to include throttle lever. 23-piece K-36D ejection seat. I am really sorry that they are painted black with black leather and details get hidden away. Some drybrushing with Gray brought out details without exaggerating the effect. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Peterpools Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 Very nice work on the ejection seat and the front office is coming together nicely. Keep 'em coming Peter Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sebastijan Posted October 4, 2017 Author Share Posted October 4, 2017 Thank you, Peter! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Giovanni Posted October 14, 2017 Share Posted October 14, 2017 Nice and clean. Will follow with much interest. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sebastijan Posted October 16, 2017 Author Share Posted October 16, 2017 (edited) Grazie mille, Giovanni! I wouldn't be me, if I haven't complicated things beyond necessary. After I attached the nose ring, I went on to sand the little seam for the better looks. Not taking into account of how thin the plastic really is, I managed to sand in the bite on the upper side of the ring. Milliput Superfine to the rescue - it's not a perfect solution, but better than nothing :) Some in progress pics to be followed in a few days. Edited October 16, 2017 by Sebastijan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
karl h Posted October 17, 2017 Share Posted October 17, 2017 very nice work, i still havent finished mine in 1:32 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sebastijan Posted November 4, 2017 Author Share Posted November 4, 2017 thank you karl! Hope to see the photos when you do! OK, long time since my last progress post - I was working on her but the pace was slow. Fuselage went together rather fine - I only had some problems on the join line in front of the cockpit. It is possible that was of my own doing though. Main wheel well sidewalls have two functions - apart from the obvious details and the depth of the well, they also serve as spacers for the swing wing. Wings themselves are made of two halves; they are a bit too thick, but easily sanded down to achieve a perfect fit. Unfortunately I experienced a little bit of setback during this build. When sanding the intake ring for a better transition to the fuselage, I accidentally sanded through the rather thin plastic and created a bite on the upper side. I somehow managed to fix this by using Milliput Superfine putty. Using metallic paint dry-brushed over the seams, reveals any seams that still might fixing. Wings completed without any hassle and dryfit to the fuselage shows a perfect fit! The main problem I had during the construction so far is the big wing fence near the wing pivot. It's made of one piece with an aperture to slide the whole wing assembly through. And while the fit is great in the frontal area, there was quite a nasty gap on both top and bottom side along the way towards the trailing edge. Windshield is up, instrument panel with sighting glass and gun camera installed. Finally the wings attached and it looks like a Fitter at last! A bunch of little details added to the airframe. All the little intakes on the sides of the fuselage were drilled out. If you are asking what's with the metallic paint - I drybrush it on to see the state of join lines and puttied areas. Also hats off to Modelsvit to providing the painting masks for canopies (both inner and outer!) and some other details. Although I've only seen Azerbaijani Fitters equipped with drop tanks, I don't see any reason, why they wouldn't carry classic Soviet weapons - I'll be equipping it with two underwing drop tanks, two S-24 rockets and four FAB-500 M62 bombs. The only aftermarket item used on this bird will be a set of Master pitot tubes. Delicate little things that proved a bit challenging (diameters didn't match perfectly) and I still have to fix the longer one a bit, but they look really awesome and 3D printed vanes are so thin yet flexible and a little mishandling won't break them. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Giovanni Posted November 4, 2017 Share Posted November 4, 2017 Wow Sebastijan! You build fast and beautifully. Sorry I read the article but don't understand which nationality this fitter is going to be... And for the dent on air intake...you can try with Ca glue using a drop as a filler. Then you have to sand carefully taking in consideration it becomes harder than the plastic itself. This kit is awesome. I hope they will produce a M4 since it's my favorite version. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sebastijan Posted November 5, 2017 Author Share Posted November 5, 2017 Thanks Giovanni! it's actually a rather slow build... Little kid at home and unfavorable working schedule prevent more work to be done... But at least I've reached the priming and painting stage. She's gonna be carrying Azerbaijani markings. I am quite sure, Modelsvit will include M4 at some point in the future - not a lot of modification compared to the M3... I am also hoping for M2 version. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kurnass77 Posted November 5, 2017 Share Posted November 5, 2017 Beautiful my friend! Look like if finally I can add a good Fitter to my collection,I love this's jet family. Also,I think Modelsvit raised the standard for 1/72 details Gianni Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sebastijan Posted November 5, 2017 Author Share Posted November 5, 2017 Thank you, Gianni! Indeed they have raised the bar quite high... And we're talking about a small short-run producer, not some big name in the modelling industry with big budgets. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChernayaAkula Posted November 6, 2017 Share Posted November 6, 2017 Azeri Fitter? Awesome! It is gonna be that splinter scheme, right? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sebastijan Posted November 7, 2017 Author Share Posted November 7, 2017 On 11/6/2017 at 6:29 AM, ChernayaAkula said: Azeri Fitter? Awesome! It is gonna be that splinter scheme, right? That's correct! ;) Although I love Afghan theater Fitters, I'm gonna do this one in this special scheme... M and M4's are gonna be Afghani ones. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
karl h Posted November 8, 2017 Share Posted November 8, 2017 very nice work! some pics of my fitter here: http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=65641&st=0&p=859108 (you can see the pics if you have thje imbedded photobucket fix) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sebastijan Posted November 11, 2017 Author Share Posted November 11, 2017 On 11/8/2017 at 7:45 AM, karl h said: very nice work! some pics of my fitter here: http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=65641&st=0&p=859108 (you can see the pics if you have thje imbedded photobucket fix) Oh very cool progress on the big Fitter! You don't see many of those built. Here's some painting progress - or at least what I was able to do this week anyway ;) Nice coat of primer makes a whole bunch of difference to the overall looks. Some little touchups were needed but nothing serious. First top colour. I had some problems determining the right paint to use, as all the photos of this rare birds I found have really bad photo reproduction resulting in colours appearing different from one photo to another. And first part of splinter camo pattern is applied. No major problems, apart from some slight overspray, but that will be easy to remedy. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sylphia Posted November 16, 2017 Share Posted November 16, 2017 fascinating work!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sebastijan Posted November 16, 2017 Author Share Posted November 16, 2017 9 hours ago, sylphia said: fascinating work!!! Thank you, sylphia! Green parts of camo added as well Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sebastijan Posted November 20, 2017 Author Share Posted November 20, 2017 aaaand the main camo is done! Now off to paint all the details... masking this SoB is quite challenging due all the things protruding from the surfaces Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChernayaAkula Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 That is gorgeous! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kwstasb Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 (edited) Great work on a beautiful plane and camo. I am planning on starting the same build any time now. Could you share the colors you used for the camo? Edited November 21, 2017 by kwstasb Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sebastijan Posted November 22, 2017 Author Share Posted November 22, 2017 Thanks guys! On 11/20/2017 at 8:18 AM, kwstasb said: Great work on a beautiful plane and camo. I am planning on starting the same build any time now. Could you share the colors you used for the camo? I am using Mr.Paint acrylic lacquers and I went with what I have in my collection, which meant I had to do some mixing. I mixed the colours by feeling so I can't really give you the ratios, unfortunately. Undersides - MRP-197 Su-27 Light Blue Grey Top Tan - a mix of MRP-167 Light Earth, lightened with MRP-214 Yellow Brown RAL8020 Brown - MRP-166 Chestnust Brown Green - MRP-32 Green For Wheels, darkened with MRP-5 Basic Black Grey - MRP-246 Light Arctic Grey FS36628 Hope this helps Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kwstasb Posted November 22, 2017 Share Posted November 22, 2017 Thank you very much for the info. I really helps. This thread will be a very nice reference to my build. I bet the masking process was a handful right? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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