Aigore

Friday is upon us....the Icehockey World Cup is also upon us and me being me means I will be watching lots of hockey which might impact negatively on me builing stuff Go Team Finland!!!! but I have an update for you. Closing the pit... Hmmm...I need to make the nose cone fit better...thst means a weee bit of putty. Then a bit of drybrushing. Next it was time for the HUD, you get to choose between a PE and a plastic HUD the PE always loos best but is a tad tricky. After a bit of wrestling and having small pieces of acetate fly off in to the infinity I finally had the glass put in and the HUD painted. Interesting that there is a piece of acetate covering the lens. To make life easier I cut of the tab in the windshield And glued it into place. A nasty seam to the nose cone 😕 And the canopy got put in place temporarely for the paintjob. Painting draws closer.... Cheers!

I thank you Sir

Thanks Serkan one always have projects ongoing when the ideas for the next pops up LoL, following the instructions?? Are you mad ?? Of course you are right

Thanks Duncan a wee bit of surgery sorted wind shield, no worries

And here is the Sunday update Yet more masking. And time for the outside of the canopy. First I masked for the frame sealant.... No probs on the windshield... And the forward part of the canopy went well... Then it was time for the rear part where I don't have any masks well I made my own but still annoying that I ordered the wrong one! The sealant is pink in this case...there are black sealant too on sukhoijs but aparently this had pink acording to refs. and then I masked off the pink... On with gray primer. Then on with some Citadel Nulnoil as a wash. That's all for today Cheers!

Thanks John Each to his own, there are no right answer only preferences

The Friday update is ready to rollout! Canopy woes Finally my paint masks arrived for the canopy....BUT, yeah you'll see soon. First I have to point out the special feature of this model.... it comes with two different canopies. One clear part molded in one piece and one with a frame in ordinary gray plastic and the clear parts separate. I start wondering if there is some benefit of this. The clear parts are molded the same way as the one piece canopy, that is with a middle seam...so you don't get rid of that. The pieces fit quite well.... BUT when looking closely at the frame where the clear and gray plastic meet it is quite rough. As a modeller I don't really like this but I asume it makes painting the frame easier without masking...but I prefer the old fashion masking method. The fit of the windshield is so so...I think I will have to do something about that. At least I can use the extra canopy as a paint mask when painting the fuselage. Talking about masking, time to mask the inside of the canopy and wind shield. No problems with the windshield... When I started masking the canopy I noticed something odd though.....that can't be right. Well of course I had got the canopy masks for the single seater! SIGH! So the rear part I had to mask myself.... I used the corners from the mask set...because I'm lazy. Added thin strips of kabuki tape.... And masked... First a black primer... Then I painted the cockpit colour. And off with the mask.... I will continue on the canopy in the next update. Cheers!

The Sunday update is a wee bit special.. You see I forgot to make one update and only recently found it in my camera. I made and update on Patreon following this update...so I will make one big update with the both updates as one. The exhausting work continues The insides of the landing bay doors got a thin dark wash to bring out the details THen it was the tedious masking of the exhausts first with small squares... The burners got a wash.... Followed by City Dark Dust pigments... Then soot streaks with black pigment. Then further masking on the turkey feathers.... And painted them in Alclad steel Here is a new thing I decided to test on the exhausts. As you remember I clear coated the exhausts last in my previous post....Now I painted them with Alclad Stainless Steel and I DID NOT seal the color with a clear coat! That means that when I put down the wash it partly disolved the Stainless steel coat. You see how the Steel is rubbed off at places and it gives the exhaust the splotchy uneven shines from heat staining. NOW however I seal it with a clear coat. Whilte the clear coat dried I painted the outside of the wheelbay doors in MRP Ukrainian Air Force Light Blue...note no preshade on them! The Digi cammo is rather new and I have yet to see a dirty and weathered jet...as a matter of fact it seems theat the Ukrainians keep their jets in better condition than the russians. An entirely unprofessional observation and I have nothing really to substansiate it on than the pictures I've found online. Back to the exhausts... I used Sakura pens with blue and orange to create heatstain discoloration. I simply paint a spot... And smear it out with my finger...sorry for the bad picture but you get the geist of it. Nice effects but they need more shine to blend them in I use SnJ's aluminium powder with a cotton swab. I dip one end in the powder and then dot around the exhaust and smear it out or dab it with the other end of the cotton swab. LIke so, this also helped with the cracking of the first clear coat layer I noticed here and there. At this stage I glued the exhausts together, really nice fit but you do have to align them for a while to get that perfect fit. I can tell you straight out that this model does not need after market exhausts. The details are absurdly fine on these! Now for the last stage....black pigment to give them that sooty feel and uneven finish. Cheers!

Thanks John actually not bad at all with multipart exhausts

The Friday update. Exhausting.... The stinger tip attached. Stuff ready for primer. I primed the insides of the wheel bay doors in gray Primer and then painted them red with Akan And the fins were primed in Gray and then polished with a 2000 grit pad. While the primer cured I cleaned the exhaust parts and readied them for primer. I primed the outer exhaust parts in gloss black. and the exhaust tunnel in gray. Then I painted the exhausts in Airframe aluminium as a base for the weathering. Next I painted the inner parts in Tamyia XF-73 And then I finished todays session with clear coating everything so I can start playing with washes tomorrow or so. Cheers!

Thanks Rob

Thanks Daniel I admit that the yellow tint is mostly noticeable in weathered Flankers and I have not seen them on serviced Ukrainian Flankers, but it is a feature that is very appealing to the eye so I call artistic licence on this for this particular build. The yellow tint is caused by the degradation of the windscreen due to exposure to ultraviolet light. https://images.app.goo.gl/L2sQUomwei4UHEkA9 https://images.app.goo.gl/9oChzs4bvsDE28x9A

Thanks John GWH follows the real opening of the nose to reveal the radar. https://images.app.goo.gl/5SvhUx6FWqeVdnaj7

And it's Sunday and time for another update. A bit of this and that. Mostly just adding stuff, this is more like assembly than building to be frank. The fuselage seam isn't Tamiya perfect but no real issue. Added some protruding bumps to the nacelles. Cleaned the seam on the vertical stabs a bit...just scraping lightly. Put a bit of ballast in the nosecone. Readied these small tubes to go into the wheel wells. Added the HUD projector lens. Added the outer parts of the wheelwells...they fit with a satisfying POP. Put the leading edge slats together and glued them into place. And the flaps.. And lastly I put the nosecone into place... next I will do some minute filling and sanding to get those perfect seams. That's all for today folks Cheers!

BTW, I've also started a twin MiG-29 build on Patreon, it's a comission build of Ghost of Kyiv and it is a Patreon exclusive. If you feel so inclined you are most welcome to support and follow me on Patreon. Cheers

Thanks John Happy to inspire!

Friday is upon us and here is the update! The Dip OK where were we? Right I glued the intakes to the lower fuselage half. in fact there was a small gap along the inside so I puttied it up real quick with acrylic putty and pulled off the excess with cotton swab. Then I glued in these small things into the upper fuselage..suppose they have something to do with the horizontal stabs. Then it was time to close the fuselage. The fit is good but I have to pull the fuselage to shape and fix them in position with clamps and tape. Then the stinger, important to use the right part here since it differes between Russian and Ukrainian flankers. After that I glued the vertical stabs together. Right, next for the windshield. There is a seamline across the center, I first scraped off the line with a knife. Then I sanded with 1000 grit pads... 2000 grit.... And 4000 grit. Then wet polishing with a 6000 cloth......duh put the wrong one in the picture 8000.... And finally 12000 grit. Next Tamiya Polishing Compound.... And a dip in Future.... Now I want the wind shield tinted. I mix 1 part Tamiya Clear Yellow and one part Tamiya Smoke.... Then I carefully shoot dry coats until I'm happy with the tint. Now a bit of polishing with Tamyia compund to bring back the shine... And a final dip i n future to get that crystal clearity Oh I did the canopy too but no tinting. Cheers!

THanks Duncan Yeah, it's been hard to come by any good refs really...I guess I fell back on Yufei's build and general pictures instead of specific refs However I feel I can focus my energy on things that actually will be seen

The Sunday update is here. The intakes.... Oh...became a wee bit bigger update than anticipated...I guess I was in the hot zone! First off I glued in the airbrake shut...afterwards I discovered there should have been an insert in the air brake but it fit anyways Then I glued the air ducts... I'm going for a open intake this time and thus the gills are shut. And they fit gloriously... The Airducts needed a bit of putty on the inside though. Painted the fan front in Alclad Stainless Steel and put down a little wash and glued them together. I painted the big door in the intake with Alclad Stainless Steel as well. Now it was timne to sand the air ducts... And primed with Alclad Gray Primer The colour on the inside of the air intakes and airducts are a wee bit tricky. Mostley they are aluminium treated with a yellowish-tanish varnish. I tried to make a mix that seemed plausible with one part vietnam tan, one part Light Stone and one part light gray. Put the fanfronts in place...I doubt they'll ever see the light of day in there Now for some masking, I thought it would be easier to paint the intakes before assembly...since I didn't do that on my last Flanker and paid the price. Aparently the Ukraine AF had their own colors...luckily I had them First some gray primer and a bit of my usual squiggles with Tamyia XF-63. And put down the light blue. Then more masking and some gloss black on the lower intake lip... Followed by Alclad Polished Aluminium Looking good Glued in the intake doors. Since a part of the outside of the air ducts will show through the wheel bays I painted them in the pale primer colour I mixed earlier. And glued in the airduct into the nacelle. Somewhere in there the fan fronts should be Primed and painted the area around the intakes on the lowert fuselage....a bit easier to do now rather than later. Then I added a thin gray wash on the intakes trying to bring out those details. Then it was time to glue the intake nacelles into the lower fuselage. A decent fit, a little gap att the forward section but that's all. And there the both intakes are in place and this session is done. Next time there will be fuselage closing Cheers!

Better late than never Thanks John

Thanks coneheadff Please do...lovely kit! Thanks jackroadkill

The Friday update is here! The Wheel-welling Continues Moving on to the outer parts of the main wheel wells. I begin by glueing in the roof of the airintakes, they have an itty bitty wheel well part. The fit was pleasently perfect. Next I cleaned the small stuff and detail painted them With the small stuff painted I started glueing them into place, first to the engine nacelles. And into the fuselage part too. Then a gloss coat and and a light wash. I finished off by wiping off excessive wash and flat coated. I finnished today session with dry fitteing the intake and engine nacelle....looks delightfully busy! Cheers!

Thanks James they are exquisite....and unfortunately russian.

Thanks alfisti Best praise there is is to inspire

Thanks CJP Yup, they are