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Zvezda 1:72 Su-39 Frogfoot +++ FINISHED +++


Jasonb13

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Hi there,

 

This will be my entry for the GB, the 1:72 Su-39 (or Su-25TM, depending on your preference) by Zvezda:

 

 

4fa9b205-ccc9-4002-8d94-d54ba7b265a9.jpg

 

 

I have a very small stash (7 kits) and this is the oldest one in it; I bought it in Jamieson's Models in Glasgow in 2014 and it's been waiting patiently every since. I nearly sold it a few times, especially as I didn't have an airbrush and didn't think I could brush paint the Camo well. But then I got an airbrush a few months ago, and this GB came along and here I am!

 

I doubt I'll be starting this on the 29th as I'm in the middle of another build, but hopefully it won't take too long to get this onto the bench. I'm definitely doing it OOB with nothing added, just keeping it nice and simple. I've already decided the weapons load I'll be doing, not sure if it's real-life accurate, but it leaves out a couple of the lesser quality molded (and more fiddly) ordinance! Apart from potential fit issues, the Camo will be the big test for me and my basic airbrushing skills.

 

Speaking of which, I'm looking for some advice re the two blue colours in the Camo. In the Instructions they're listed as:

 

Model Master 1562 Flat Light Blue

Model Master 1594 Semigloss Blue

 

Any suggestions for these colours in other ranges (like Revell Aqua Colour, Tamiya Acrylic, Vallejo Model Air or Mr. Colour)?

 

Thanks!

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By the way Peter, I've been looking into those Mr. Paints and they look excellent, can't find a bad review about them! Might get myself some, especially as I also have an Su-34 to make later in the year. Thanks for the tip...

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I use the paint and I love them. BUT they are lacquer and need a spay booth to use as they do smell. As they are already thinned for airbrush use, brush painting is a no go. But they are the perfect match with an airbrush as no tip drying happens at all and the pigment size is extremely fine - more like an ink.

 

Another choice with a huge selection of Russian colours is Akan (Russian Web site is down at the moment). I bought some, but haven't used them yet. But read only good things about them. They make Acrylic paint (60000 range code) and a lacquer version - they call it Acrylic enamel (70000 range code).

 

Of interest is that their acrylic paint is made in Finland (I wonder who makes them) and the lacquer is made in Belgium by DuPont (at least that is what is written on the bottle!

 

They are a bit difficult to get. I bought my selection from Hobby Colours in Greece, but they run out of stock very quickly after receiving a re-stock. In the US of A, Lindeh Hill Imports is the place to get them.

 

Cheers, Peter

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Still on about the paint, sorry!

 

Any ideas which of the Mr. Paints colours I should be buying, they have a lot of different blues/greys in their Russian Aircraft range.

 

I sent a message to them asking them for their advice as to which paints to get, but I haven't heard anything back.

 

As I said above, I'm looking for the following:

 

Model Master 1562 Flat Light Blue

Model Master 1594 Semigloss Blue

The light/grey blue lower colour, which the instructions say is 20% 1562 Flat Light Blue and 80% White

The green for the dielectic panels and wheels etc.

 

Thanks!

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Well, in the end I've decided to use Akan Paints for this build, as they've a Naval Su-25 set that will do the job nicely. I'll hopefully try Mr. Paint colours on a Flanker later in the year.

 

I get paid at the end of the week, so I'll order the paint then! :)

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On 4/17/2017 at 10:55 AM, Jasonb13 said:

Hi there,

 

This will be my entry for the GB, the 1:72 Su-39 (or Su-25TM, depending on your preference) by Zvezda:

 

 

01Box_zps46bb36c7.jpg

 

 

I have a very small stash (7 kits) and this is the oldest one in it; I bought it in Jamieson's Models in Glasgow in 2014 and it's been waiting patiently every since. I nearly sold it a few times, especially as I didn't have an airbrush and didn't think I could brush paint the Camo well. But then I got an airbrush a few months ago, and this GB came along and here I am!

 

I doubt I'll be starting this on the 29th as I'm in the middle of another build, but hopefully it won't take too long to get this onto the bench. I'm definitely doing it OOB with nothing added, just keeping it nice and simple. I've already decided the weapons load I'll be doing, not sure if it's real-life accurate, but it leaves out a couple of the lesser quality molded (and more fiddly) ordinance! Apart from potential fit issues, the Camo will be the big test for me and my basic airbrushing skills.

 

Speaking of which, I'm looking for some advice re the two blue colours in the Camo. In the Instructions they're listed as:

 

Model Master 1562 Flat Light Blue

Model Master 1594 Semigloss Blue

 

Any suggestions for these colours in other ranges (like Revell Aqua Colour, Tamiya Acrylic, Vallejo Model Air or Mr. Colour)?

 

Thanks!

This will be good to watch coming together, like the look of this one, deadly. Jamiesons loved that shop....they have moved just down the road a bit one of the guys that used to work their took it on, Scotts models, great store in its own right

good luck with the build

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Ah, delighted to hear that Jamiesons hasn't completely gone away and that there's something still there. Was only there for 20 mins during a flying visit to Glasgow, but it was a great shop.

 

Don't get your hopes up too much for the Su-39, I tend to be a 'looks good from a distance' modeller, and it'll only be my 3rd use of an airbrush, and my first doing camo.

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Well the 29th is finally here and it's great to see so many different builds!

 

Unfortunately I won't get start on mine for a couple of weeks as I'm finishing another build first. But I have ordered my Akan set of paints for the Frogfoot, looking forward to trying them out!

 

j. 

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On 4/25/2017 at 8:43 AM, Jasonb13 said:

Ah, delighted to hear that Jamiesons hasn't completely gone away and that there's something still there. Was only there for 20 mins during a flying visit to Glasgow, but it was a great shop.

 

Don't get your hopes up too much for the Su-39, I tend to be a 'looks good from a distance' modeller, and it'll only be my 3rd use of an airbrush, and my first doing camo.

If it looks good it counts no matter where from

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  • 1 month later...

Wow, six build already finished and I haven't even started this yet!

 

I nearly have my current build done, so I'm getting ready for this one. This will be strictly OOB for me, though I'll try my best to finally build something that doesn't have visible seams on it, and I'll probably do intake/exhaust covers too. I will be trying new things with the painting though, I'm going to try black-basing for the first time, along with free hand camo with an airbrush for the first time. Sure, what could go wrong?

 

Thought I'd take some pics:

 

Firstly, the runners:

 

 

43d2faea-7568-4b0c-9e2a-1bc82b887d15.jpg

 

 

There's a bit of flash and the fit might be interesting, but we'll see how it goes. Most of it is the ordinance.

 

Next is the massive decal sheets and the excellent quality canopy:

 

 

b9ab1fb4-ff45-479e-8095-83b6206b144e.jpg

 

 

Yeah, the canopy isn't great, basically a lump of plastic, but some Klear should help, and there's bugger all to see in the cockpit anyhow, so I'm not too fussed. And at least the decal session won't take too long!

 

Finally, here are the paints I got for this:

 

 

0c4bc974-fda8-4674-92fa-8cee3341ee6f.jpg

 

 

I haven't used Akan paints before, so I'm curious to see how they behave. I'm tempted to do the scheme that came with the paints, it's got an extra upper colour on the Camo, but at least it's actually for White 21 (the Zvezda box shows Blue 21 but the decal is White 21). That said, one of the pics on the Akan instructions definitely isn't a Su-25! :)

 

Anyhow, we'll see how it all goes, hopefully get started on it in the next few days...

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks Peter...

 

To say the cockpit is sparse would be an understatement! Here's the ejection seat and instrument panel, which just a lick of paint on them...

 

8ae2fece-1d89-4dab-a21d-750f8f2336af.jpg

 

I plan to try to get them looking a bit better, I'll fill that hole and I'll paint on some seat belts and a couple of dials, but to be fair, the canopy is so thick you won't see much, and I'm building this strictly OOB so I'm not adding anything! :)

 

Will hopefully have the cockpit finished tonight...

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And here it is now. It's not great at all, but it's still better than it was, and you'll barely be able to see it anyhow, so it's more about showing that something is there! The white part in the HUD should dry clear (hopefully!).

 

 

9096998b-e950-4f87-995b-8daa912881ba.jpg

 

 

Next up is getting the cockpit in place and getting the fuselage halves closed, but not tonight, I'm knackered! :)

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Progress continues slowly!

 

Managed to get the cockpit into the fuselage, and the fuselage closed. Getting the cockpit to fit was awkward, either it was too low but fitted ok, or the right height and didn't fit at all. But, in the end, knowing how little will be seen, I went with too low but fitted ok! The fuselage seams need to be cleaned up, but here's how it looks now:

 

 

ae2a4f6a-dba9-4a27-94e2-f73b2765e63a.jpg

 

 

Did I mention how thick the canopies are? :)

 

 

68e97aa2-bf1c-4a67-b5bb-1e5552f821f8.jpg

 

 

19471975-ddcf-4c6c-9e35-60c294105a90.jpg

 

 

Though thankfully I'm not leaving the canopy open, and it being so thick lets me get away with a poor cockpit!

 

Unfortunately I'm not going to get near my bench much over the next week or so, but hopefully I'll make more progress on this soon.

 

Thanks...

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Interesting choice. I remember seeing one of these at Farnborough in the 90s (I think they were calling it the Su-25TK back then). Funny looking thing with its big fin and the hunchback appearance of the fuselage.

 

I wonder how far off 1/1 scale thickness that canopy is?

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Ha, you're right, it's probably closer to the 1:1 scale than it is to 1:72!

 

I believe the humpback is basically because it's a two seater with the rear cockpit replaced with avionics etc.

 

I tend to try to focus on a particular aspect of a build, and this time I'm focusing on two. Learning new techniques with the airbrush (so I'll be trying black basing later) and also really focusing on getting rid of any visible seams. Which means I'm currently sanding the fuselage down after using some Mr. Dissolved Putty on them. I got myself a new scriber recently so I'm hoping to restore any lost panel lines...

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21 hours ago, Jasonb13 said:

Ha, you're right, it's probably closer to the 1:1 scale than it is to 1:72!

 

I believe the humpback is basically because it's a two seater with the rear cockpit replaced with avionics etc.

 

I tend to try to focus on a particular aspect of a build, and this time I'm focusing on two. Learning new techniques with the airbrush (so I'll be trying black basing later) and also really focusing on getting rid of any visible seams. Which means I'm currently sanding the fuselage down after using some Mr. Dissolved Putty on them. I got myself a new scriber recently so I'm hoping to restore any lost panel lines...

Two techniques I'd like to try, il see how you tackle this and try to copy. Are you going for the blue camo on this one still?

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How about you see how I tackle it and then do the opposite! 😀

 

Yep, still doing the Blue Naval Camo, haven't fully decided yet if I'll do the three colour camo from the box or the four colour camo that comes with the Akan paint set.

 

I had also planned to make intake/exhaust covers as those parts of the kit are rather poor and it would be better to cover then, but I have realised that if I do then the kit will no longer be eligible for Standard Kit (OOB) Competitions. As I start each build with the thought/hope that it might end up good enough for Competitions, I may have to do without the covers and see what I can do with the kit pieces instead!

 

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Sorry for the delay, just a quick update!

 

I was away for a while, so I haven't got near the bench yet. But I came on here to edit the posts to point to new versions of the pictures (thanks Photobucket!) and to say that I hope to get back to this soon, the next step is figuring out how to make the intakes/exhausts look as decent as possible, without scratch-building!

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