CasualModel98 Posted August 15, 2017 Share Posted August 15, 2017 Starting another build this time a 1999 kit from Tamiya in 1/72 scale. The SU-34 Fullback. Here is the box picture and the main sprue. I will not do a review of the kit as this has been done before. I will instead focus on the build and the issues I encountered as I haven't seen someone else do this. The kit is a bit rough and the details not as fine and crisp as I would have liked. The panel lines seems a bit soft to me and I see a lot of pin marks that needed to be sanded over and leftover trims on the edges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CasualModel98 Posted August 15, 2017 Author Share Posted August 15, 2017 In terms of fit, some preliminary looks... The nose area seems to fit well. No gaps but the edges are uneven and a thin. May need some delicate sanding to hide the joints. The rear sides is a strange fit which quite a substantial gap. Hopefully the glue ooze can fill it and sanded down smooth. At least it is not near any panel lines that needed rescribing. I am bad at scribing panel lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CasualModel98 Posted August 15, 2017 Author Share Posted August 15, 2017 The cockpit is basic. Here I am scribing the rear cockpit door to make it stand out more. Like I said, I am bad at scribing. ha ha No cockpit decals provided. Will have to handpaint the instrument panel details. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CasualModel98 Posted August 15, 2017 Author Share Posted August 15, 2017 The air intakes, see the right intake has some excess trim. See what I mean when I say the molding is not crisp. The problem is in many other parts as well. I noticed it around the wheel wells, the wing edges, etc. Will need to check and trim/sand all these parts down. The design of the kit is not thought through properly. See how the intakes fit the wheel wells? Its an awkward fit. Why can't they have molded the wheel well alcove into the intake instead of as part of the bottom half. This will need careful glue-ing and fitting to achieve a smooth join. Will need some fillers and careful sanding as well. Note the excess trim problem that needed to be sanded down for a close fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CasualModel98 Posted August 15, 2017 Author Share Posted August 15, 2017 (edited) Wheel well has a gap that shows through to the cockpit. I guess the cockpit will block it. But again this shows that the designer did not think this through very well. I may need to rig something to block the gap. The intakes does not have any cover and there are no engine parts inside. Its just some ugly walls. Will need to rig my own intake cover using plastic cards. Again not a well designed nor thought through model kit. Perhaps Tamiya does not care too much about its 1/72 models. Note the inside of the wheel well wall and the gap due to the odd fit as shown earlier. Will have to cover these with some scratch fit parts. Like these below from splinter's post. I don't have his skill and won't be putting so much effort into scratch building my model like he does. He is way more advanced. However I will just show my humble efforts here. The image above is from splinter's post. I will try to scratch build and copy the intake cover. I strongly suggest visiting his tread as he does a fantastic job of making it as accurate as possible. Me? I am just trying to see what I can achieve with OOTB. Edited August 15, 2017 by CasualModel98 Add additional comments Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S5 modeller Posted August 15, 2017 Share Posted August 15, 2017 Hmmm, not the best fitting kit, certainly not tamiya standards. I noticed it's from the warbird series, I think you'll find if you check the box carefully, you will see it states somewhere on it " box and instructions printed in japan, plastic produced in italy" These are usually just reboxings of italleri kits. I have a few in the stash. I felt slightly cheated when I found out about mine, thought I was getting tamiya quality. Looks like you've got your work cut out for you. Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CasualModel98 Posted August 15, 2017 Author Share Posted August 15, 2017 Yes you are right. The parts are very similar to the Italeri kit and I was disappointed at the fit too. I got it as it was competitively priced. I had the same experience of a lousy kit with the MIG-29 warbird series as well. I think Tamiya does not care about its 1/72 series and puts more effort into its 1/48 series. However having said that I posted a build for its 1/48 A-10 Thunderbolt. The quality and fit was terrible too with many gaps. Maybe Tamiya just sucks at planes. Anyway step by step, bit by bit, seam by seam, after all thats what this hobby is about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CasualModel98 Posted October 19, 2017 Author Share Posted October 19, 2017 Sorry its been a while since I updated this thread. I have been busy and working on the model on and off. I took some photographs throughout and thought I wait till its done before posting all of it. Here is the rest of the work. I used some PE plastic. This is leftover PE casing from my iPhone box. You will notice a white plastic casing holding the phone. So I used this and cut it to make the intake covers. Cut out the small pieces, kept losing the small pieces but finally got it all together and stuck it on. Not as refined as if from a PE set but hey, its free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CasualModel98 Posted October 19, 2017 Author Share Posted October 19, 2017 Stuck it onto the fuselage and this is how it looked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CasualModel98 Posted October 19, 2017 Author Share Posted October 19, 2017 Here is how it looked like painted with light blue. Yeah it looked a bit greenish. I swear its the light blue XF-23 as per the instructions. It just came out a strange greenish hue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CasualModel98 Posted October 19, 2017 Author Share Posted October 19, 2017 Working on the tail boom and found another annoying problem. The panel lines don't align! Underneath the tail boom, the parts don't align as well. Will need some rescribing or just leave it. Decided to let it be as after glueing the pylons, its not that obvious. Anyway I won;t be entering this into any competition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CasualModel98 Posted October 19, 2017 Author Share Posted October 19, 2017 Here is a bigger problem, the jet exhaust does not fit the fuselage. The fuselage is too wide. Only solution is to clamp down the fuselage so it bulges out the side and not the top, to make it less obvious. Finished result, not great but it will have to do... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CasualModel98 Posted October 19, 2017 Author Share Posted October 19, 2017 Glued in the air intakes, this one will need quite a bit of filling and sanding... I filled with putty and sanded a few times. Not quite perfect, probably lack of skills. Anyway it will have to do too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CasualModel98 Posted October 19, 2017 Author Share Posted October 19, 2017 Another area where the panel lines do not align and this time under the wings. Filled and rscribed the lines. Here is the painted result. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CasualModel98 Posted October 19, 2017 Author Share Posted October 19, 2017 Lots of pin-marks on the armaments like the ones below. Filled and sanded the armaments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CasualModel98 Posted October 19, 2017 Author Share Posted October 19, 2017 Started to paint. Here is the cockpit. I do like them colorful, perhaps not realistic but this is to please my daughter. Ha ha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CasualModel98 Posted October 19, 2017 Author Share Posted October 19, 2017 Finally managed to complete the plane. Here it is compared to an F-16 side by side. Quite a big plane. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CasualModel98 Posted October 19, 2017 Author Share Posted October 19, 2017 Purple missiles as per my daughter's wish. Is this why they called it the FULLBACK? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CasualModel98 Posted October 19, 2017 Author Share Posted October 19, 2017 In a nutshell, it is not a well made kit with fit issues, alignment issues and lots of artifacts on the parts that needed sanding and filling. Get this kit if you (1) are not particular about the final output and just want a cheap SU-34 kit, or (2) relish the challenge to build a kit and fix all the issues to demonstrate your sanding, filling and scratch-building skills, or (3) just want a frame to hang your PE parts on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Bunker Posted October 19, 2017 Share Posted October 19, 2017 I'm sorry I missed this thread earlier. The Italeri kit (for that is what this Tamiya kit is) can be easily fixed as shown here by Ken Duffey. I am just finishing one and I also encountered the nozzle problem. I overcame it by clamping the rear fuselage onto the nozzle's flange, cementing it and leaving it overnight which solved the problem. The obvious things wrong with this kit are the tail boom is too long (by 6mm) and the tailfins are too tall (they should be the same size as a single seater). Fortunately both easily remedied. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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