Phantome

For acrylics I have typically used Gunze for the Ghost Gray scheme. Looks the part. My only attempt at Mod Eagle has been with Lifecolor which also looked great. However, I have issues with those paints. At the time Vallejo had not come out with Mod Eagle colors but now they do so am probably going that route with the Bitburg Eagle I've just started. My only concern is that Vallejo is not great for freehand spraying. Will do some tests first, and might also try Tamiya XF-83 (RAF Ocean Grey) as a substitute for 36251 As for 36118, Tamiya XF-24 is a great match, even though it could use some lightening. Gunze H305 is terrible. Vallejo's 36118 also looks good in the bottle.

A few things to consider: 1) Japanese decals are thicker because of the glue. You need to put them in hot water (not boiling hot but definitely more than just warm) so the glue melts. This makes them thinner AND makes them naturally conform to panel lines. I learned this from a post in this forum and since then it has been a life changer! 2) The Mr Mark "Neo" line is the only one sold here in the UK and in Europe and is much milder than the original Japanese formulas which you can only get from Japanese seller. Get the Japanese ones! Even if you have to wait 2-3 weeks for delivery, the Neo line seems to me even weaker than Micro Set/Sol and therefore pretty useless. 3) Mr Mark softer is VERY strong. Be careful if it accumulates as that can burn off acrylic paint easily, even with a Klear coat. Make sure any droplets are brushed off evenly. Also, personally I've never liked Mr Mark Setter as it has a cloudy composition (like matt coat) that has left marks. Micro Set/Mr Mark Softer is my default combo for Japanese decals.

What Roman said. Most modellers use Klear (or a variant thereof) which is an acrylic gloss varnish. It can be sprayed or brushed. It's no longer for sale but I believe there are alternatives. After that, use Micro Set where you want to place the decals, and when that's dry, use Micro Sol, to have the decals "melt" nicely into the panel lines and rivets. Do note as well that bad quality or old decals may silver regardless of the above! Indeed if you used Academy's decals, they are a hit and miss and can be terrible to apply In the longer run, consider an airbrush! It's worth the expense.

Amazing work! Nice touch in the dirt weathering on drop tanks, most of us don't bother (that's going to change after seeing this)

A tad bit different but you can probably wing it with instructions from any of Hasegawa legacy Hornet kits http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10114624 Sadly I did not see an F/A-18D (the closet equivalent)

All forum software can host images. It's the cost of a server that can store it all which is why some forums like BM opt to not allow uploading images (especially since a modelling forum will be image-heavy by nature). Imagine how many pics are posted per day here, then consider that these images all pop up in google searches which takes up bandwidth. Though most forums are the labor of love of their respective admins, it's unreasonable for them to have to foot the bill for all of this so that everyone else enjoys it for free. And contrary, having a paid site will make it much less attractive. It's not an easy trade-off.

That was an anti-monopoly case. Completely different context I don't know what the old T&C said, but if they did say that 3rd party hosting was not allowed (even if this was not enforced), then there's not much grounds for a case. It also means they'd be forced to continue offering a free service... at their expense. Don't get me wrong, would be great if they got sued, just don't see how. We all know the risk of using free internet services.

The problem is that threads with PB hosted pics are effectively dead now. Had PB given a couple of months warning about this change in policy, it is likely that utilities to save 3rd party images and be re-uploaded locally would have been created for each type of forum software. This is why what PB did is so deplorable. They've single-handedly mutilated forums that have existed since the beginning of internet time.

How exactly are you going to be able to sue them for changing the terms of a free service?

I am NO fan of trench-like panel lines but trust me, the ones on this kit could have been a bit deeper. The panel lines on their new Fulcrums are far better... at least the wash goes through. I think the reason deep and wide panel lines might appear to be popular lately is because nobody on this forum dares criticize Airfix which any unbiased observer will agree are still too wide and toy-like. Cognitive dissonance at its finest expression

Which leads to things like the Hasegawa vs Fujimi "Battle for the Fulcrum" in the late 80s... the end result being two terrible kits and no decent alternatives for nearly **three** decades!

1/72 Zvezda Su-27SM in the super cool bright blue camo. Thanks for looking

Finished! Despite the issues mentioned above (and re-stated below), looks awesome when completed. Highly recommended kit although I would suggest getting the Revell boxing. The hooded cobra appearance is perfectly captured. Lots of stencils and camo pattern hides the fact that the panels are thin and makes the wash less visible. Somewhat visible here is the angle on the landing gear which shouldn't be. The underside is the most disappointing bit. Hardly any stencils, hardly any detailing on the wings. Undercarriage bays have almost zero detail. And no missile decals.

Here it is with an enamel panel wash. My fear that the panel lines would be quite thin proved true: there were parts where the wash was barely visible or just didn't stick. :/

I actually started it a week before I posted the first pair of pics, just hadn't had time to upload them! I'm fast but not THAT fast. Although despite the kit's size, it's been a breeze to build and the camo scheme is very uncomplicated too.

Awesome conversion work! Had never heard of an ultrasonic cutter... then searched on eBay and realized they're insanely expensive

I believe they are as well. For some reason I've found the ones on their aftermarket decals to be less thin and much easier to handle. That said I don't want to sound like the Zvezda decals are unusable, far from it! Just be... careful with curling. If you have the time and patience to slide them all into the model you'll be fine. I do like the fact that they snuggle perfectly, look painted on after drying, and have leave no silvering at all. My main gripe was the lack of missile and wing pylon decals, I do think this was inexcusable for a kitmaker renowned for their attention to detail. Thankfully we have the Revell option

New Zvezda MiG-29SMT ordered... ... I am £20 poorer... ... but my soul is happy

The other thing that I added was the landing gear which were rather iffy. The front landing gear is incredibly delicate, since the wheel guard is a separate piece and it's all that holds the wheel in place. You need to glue it and leave it overnight or else the landing gear will buckle under. I also could not get the rear landing gear to attach straight. Flanker landing gears are at a 90° angle but Zvezda added a stub to the hole where the landing gear fits which ends up slanting it a bit. Perhaps I did not do it correctly but I had the problem on both sides. Not sure why Zvezda didn't just keep it simple. On the plus side, Zvezda definitely go the right Flanker nose down "hooded cobra" profile. Every other Flanker manufacturer in 1/72 seems to have had trouble with this.

Decalling sesh finished. Ok, I have real issues with Zvezda decals. They are unbearably annoying to apply: super thin and curl easy. If one of them bunches up it's well near impossible to straighten it back again even if putting it in water. You basically need to slide them off the paper directly on the model to be sure that there won't be a disaster although this is not always easy depending on what part of the aircraft it is. On the positive side, register is great and they snuggle into panel lines without any solution (I still give it a brush of Microsol to be sure). Also, zero silvering. But my main gripe with these decals is... Zvezda did not add missile markings to this kit Not only that, they did not add decals for the wing pylons; only pylons under the intakes and the fuselage have decals and in the latter case, you won't even see them. The red star on the fins look a bit too big, as is the BBC POCCNN marking. There is a pair of smaller stars on the sheet but no corresponding blue star outlines. My suggestion: get the Revell rebox while it's out there. Has easier decals to apply and has full missile and pylon markings.

For those that might be starting a MiG-29SMT in the 3-tone gray scheme a word of warning: the Akan paint set is totally inaccurate and only the dark gray matches well. The medium gray can be reproduced by mixing the dark gray with white or a lighter gray, while the light gray can be matched with FS 36495 (Vallejo appearing to be a better match than Gunze). A rare case of an Akan fail but don't say you weren't warned!

I concur. Akan's Fulcrum Gray/Green is the only accurate representation of this difficult-to-reproduce color in acrylic and which I assume a lot of you will be using for this GB

After building 3 Fulcrums this year, this GB appears? You people WANT me to go bankrupt?!?

Thanks Valkyrie! Anything that inspires more Russian kits is a plus I will definitely get the Zvezda MiG-29SMT in the near future. It has a ton of armament that the Trumpeter lacks and is way cheaper. I suspect the nose up issue is correctable whereas the Trumpeter's inaccuracies aren't.

Is the Trumpeter vanilla/early that much better than the old Hasegawa? Which wasn't too shabby... Just curious.