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Sukhoi T10 Flanker Prototype from Modelsvit


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Look what Santa brought.... the latest 1/72 scale kit from Ukrainian manufacturer Modelsvit... the Sukhoi T10 Flanker prototype.

 

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Excellent box art showing Bort 'Yellow 10' - one of two options in the box.

 

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Top and bottom fuselage halves - with delicate engraved detail..

 

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Ogival shaped wing parts - totally different to the production T10S 'Flanker-B'. Plus fins and tailplanes.

 

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Engine nacelles for the Al-21F engine fitted to the prototypes.

 

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Nose gear, mainwheel bays and cockpit parts. The sprues now have part numbers moulded on next to the part - a useful development.

 

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Main undercarriage parts and wheels.

 

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Jetpipes, compressor faces and afterburner flameholders - all neatly moulded.

 

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2 X R-27ET plus 2 X R-27ER missiles - as fitted to these prototypes.

 

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Crystal clear canopies - both open and closed options.

 

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Early K-36 ejection seat - made up from 26 parts !!!!

 

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Decal sheet - note the two instrument panels - one for the plastic panel, one for the etched brass option.

 

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Etched parts - plus the plastic IRST ball. The clear perspex is for the etched HUD !!!!

 

I didn't photograph the self-adhesive masks - which contains masks for the wheel hubs as well as masks for both inside and outside of the canopy !!

 

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Back page of the 12-page construction booklet.

 

This is a fantastic kit from Modelsvit - crisply moulded with delicate engraved panel detail, plus etched brass parts and canopy masks - a truly comprehensive package.

 

Ken

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I'm so excited by this and I'm sure you are too!! Mine is on it's way to me, can't wait to get it and I can't wait to see yours either! Modelsvit have come on leaps and bounds in the last year or so, brilliant stuff. 

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To those of us who know nothing of the Flanker development process, that looks fascinating - but deeply odd; as though someone has bolted a set of BAe Hawk wings on to a (fairly) normal Su-27 fuselage!  Kit looks great, too.

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It was a totally different machine - with ogival wings, fins mounted on top of the engine nacelles, a slimmer forward fuselage with aft-retracting noewheel mounted further forward.

 

It also had an aft-sliding canopy and the main gear doors acted as airbrakes.

 

The first few flights showed it to be a lemon that didn't out-perform the USAF F-15 Eagle as intended - it fell short in many areas.

 

They could have tweeked it to make it slightly better, but newly appointed Chief Designer Mikhail Simonov took the very bold (and possibly career-damaging) decision to go for a complete re-design.

 

The wings were fitted with a straight L/E incorporating slats - with wingtip launch rails that doubled as anti-flutter weights - the fuselage nose section was made bigger - and the spine was extended into aft into a tailboom.

 

The nosegear was moved aft and retracted forwards, the main gear door airbrakes were replaced with a dorsal barn-door airbrake, the fins were moved outboard and mounted on raised extensions of the horizontal stabiliser mounts.

 

Oh! - and the rear-sliding cockpit canopy was replaced with a clamshell design.

 

The designation changed to T10S (for 'Series' (ie Production')) and it became the Flanker we know and love today.

 

Ken

 

PS - The T10 was given the ASCC name of 'Flanker' - it only became 'Flanker-A' when the T10S was named 'Flanker-B'

 

PPS - Here's my pic of T10-10 in the museum at Lugansk, Ukraine taken in 2006......

 

http://www.gpaerotours.com/Ukraine_2006/Ukrain2006_30.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...

Getting started.........

 

T10_014.jpg

 

Components of the combined cockpit and nose wheel bay - note the two-part control column and the rudder pedals plus the raised pipework.

 

T10_015.jpg

 

The jetpipes are constructed from three radial segments plus a flameholder and a rear turbine face.

 

I found it easiest to glue one segment to the rear face, then add the flameholder - followed by the remaining two segments.

 

The parts are numbered - and keyed - so they only fit one way. As long as care is taken there should be no problems....

 

T10_016.jpg

 

Assembled jetpipe on the left - with the components on the right.

 

More later.....

Ken

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More.....

 

T10_017.jpg

 

Modelsvit include a fully detailed interior for the intake and engine nacelle to cater for the transition between the 'square' intake and circular compressor.

 

T10_018.jpg

 

The intake partly assembled......

 

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Fully assembled intake/nacelle (the jetpipe assembly is dropped in later).

 

T10_020.jpg

 

It is a complicated assembly - but it captures the shape perfectly.

 

Ken

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More ........

 

T10_021.jpg

 

Even without the superb 26-part K-36 ejection seat in place, the cockpit detail is stunning.
I used the kit decals for the instrument panels (totally acceptable in this scale)......

 

T10_022.jpg

 

...... although for the super-detailer, alternate etched brass panels are provided.

 

Ken

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More today....

 

T10_023.jpg

 

All versions of the Flanker have a distinct shallow-vee shaped lower fuselage section - correctly captured in this kit by means of a rectangular insert.....
 

T10_024.jpg

 

Very few Flanker kits get this area correct - so well done Modelsvit!!  Note the raised detail in the wheel bays and engraved panel detail - this is a quality kit. :thumbsup:

 

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The cockpit/nosewheel bay sub-assembly and port side rear exhaust is in place - with the stbd one still to be added. The main wheel bays are built up from three vertical 'walls'

 

T10_026.jpg

 

The complex contours of the engine nacelles fit perfectly onto the lower fuselage. The only smear of filler needed was on the lower joint line (overdone in my case).

 

Ken

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If you are going to build this kit - there are a few things to watch out for (as I discovered the hard way  :bandhead2:  )  These are number 2 & 3.

 

T10_027.jpg

 

1. This is the first time I have ever added noseweight to a Flanker kit - Modelsvit recommend 2g.
2. Make sure the cockpit sub-assembly is seated well down in its recess - or it will foul the upper fuselage.
3. Do not glue these side booms in place until after the upper fuselage is in place.            
4. Plastic tabs added to make sure the jetpipe sits centrally in the rear nacelle.  

 

Point 1 is not really an issue - just an observation

Point 2 caused me problems when I test fitted the upper fuselage - the cockpit sub-assembly was too high so the upper fuselage left a gap at the sides. I had to remove it and make it sit lower - so do plenty of test fitting.

 

Same with Point 3 - I had glued them in place - but when fitting the upper fuselage, one side had a gap - so it had to be fixed. Again, test fitting first would have solved it. :doh:

 

Point 4 is just a tip to make sure the jetpipes are central inside the nacelle.

 

None of the above is a fault of the kit - just my ham-fisted lack of test fitting - you have been warned!

 

Ken

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Great info, Ken! This thread will be very useful for me.

 

About the cockpit seating - the problem could also have been the other way around, i.e. tub being seated too low. I recall this happened to me with some old kit which left a huge gap between the cockpit tub and upper fuselage half. I am a bit surprised Modelsvit chose to attach the tub to the bottom fuselage half unlike pretty much every other Flanker kit.

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The upper and lower fuselage halves are joined - after a bit of trimming........

 

T10_028.jpg

 

Underside view......

 

T10_029.jpg

 

The wings are tempoarily attached - just to show how different it is the the production T10S Flanker......

 

T10_030.jpg

 

Ken

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Unfortunately no......... (although nothing is impossible!)

 

The T10-10 has splayed fins (T10-1 are vertical like later T10S) it has a bigger radome and an IRST ball on the windscreen.

 

The fins are easy - but removing the fairing of the IRST ball from the windscreen might prove difficult without scratching said windscreen.

 

As for the radome, I can't find any numbers for how much bigger(fatter) is was - it just looks more like a T10S radome than the skinny T10-1 example.

 

The T10-1 and T10-10 had the same AL-21F engines - so the complex nacelle shapes should be the same - it would be interesting to hear what others think of the various shapes etc.

 

It is a pity that Modelsvit chose the the T10-10 - but perfectly understandable as they had the real thing to crawl over at Lugansk.

 

The T10-1 would have been the one that had the most visible differences to a production T10S.

 

I'm just grateful that they have kitted it - and it is their best kit yet, IMHO.

 

Ken

 

 

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To answer roadrunners question regarding the T10-1, I found these drawings in the Ukrainian magazine Aviatsiya i Vremya......

 

I have cut-and-pasted them to show the differences in the nosecone - T10-1 at top and T10-5 at bottom.......

 

T10_031.jpg

 

T10-10 and T10-11 (as kitted by Modelsvit) were the radar and optronics testbeds and had longer radomes plus the IRST ball - although I have been unable to determine if the radomes were 'fatter' (ie increased in diameter).

 

Another difference (as well as the vertical vs canted fins) is that, as first flown, the T10-1 had four wing fences (later reduced to two).

 

Ken

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Just found this in Yefim Gordon's Su-27 Flanker book....... where he is writing about the pre-production batch of five aircraft - T10-5/6/9/10/11...

 

"The shape of the dielectric radome varied from aircraft to aircraft; for instance, the T10-5 and the T10-10 had sharply tapered noses a la T10-1, while the T10-9 and the T10-11 featured fatter ogival radomes quite similar to that of the definitive Su-27"

 

There must be a misprint here - because the radomes on both T10-10 and T10-11 are the same - Su-27 style!!!

 

My head now hurts...

 

Ken

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Now in a coat of grey primer.....

 

T10_032.jpg

 

It's very different to the redesigned T10S Flanker.

 

T10_034.jpg

 

Note the canted fins - first T10-1 had perfectly vertical fins - as did the production T10S (but mounted outboard on the side booms).

 

T10_035.jpg

 

Anti-flutter weights on all flying services - plus wing fences. Note the excellent panel detail - nice one Modelsvit :thumbsup:  :worship:

 

Ken

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