Luke Piewalker

When I did my Su27 I looked at a bunch of pictures and found that there was a lot of variation from the very blue to the very green and everywhere in between. I just mixed blue and green until I got something appropriately hideous...

That's positively spectacular!

Managed to get a couple of pictures in natural light today.

I'll see what I can manage in the next couple of days. Unfortunately just my phone camera, and the pictures always seem much better on the phone screen than when I see them on the computer...

I've gone with hanging this one up...

Actually I think my largest impediment was running out of Tamiya primer just before lockdown, so I had to brush on Revell Aqua primer. The paint did stick though, so I guess it all worked out.

I have many shades of 'metal' and I think I used them all. I think it was Tamiya gunmetal, Revell steel, aluminium and silver. I especially like the revell steel and aluminium. Brush painting the Tamiya acrylics can be a bit of a trial, it almost dries too quickly so you end up brushing 'soft' paint and getting brush marks and bad coverage. The painting/decal guide was a bit tricky as some of the panel lines on the model didn't seem to match the ones on the diagram. That and there is a decal that goes underneath the ventral tank but I didn't find out about that until I'd firmly attached the tank. At least you can't actually see it anyway. Also, I may have forgotten the counterweight in the nose, so it is in a constant state of taking off...

Well, it's as done as it's getting. Paints mostly Revell with a few Tamiya thrown in, acrylics all the way. Interior green was mixed from a selection of greens and blues until I ended up with something obnoxious enough. Main gray miced as per the instructions. Made a bit of a mess of the intakes/fuselage which means there are a couple of gaps in there, and a bit sketchy around the wing fuselage junction on the underside. Had to create one of the camera windows 'manually' with some hacking and micro krystal clear. If I'd realised earlier that it needed done I would have frilled it or cut it before I glued it all together. Anyhoo, here she is...

I would prefer something more subtle myself. The fuselage perhaps white/off white with the lightning bolt stripe red, then some kind of flag design on the tailplane seems sufficient. Or just keep the fuselage the same and just do something on the tailplane. Those wingtip upsweeps look ripe for a bit of personalisation too.

Thanks. I looked at AKAN when I was doing my Flanker but had trouble finding a source without it being prohibitively expensive on the postage. With a bit of an assault on the front bulkhead I have managed to get it all together. Not perfect by any stretch, but can't blame anyone but me.

I think I was a bit overzealous gluing the intakes into the bulkhead. I'll keep fettling (and following the order in the instructions...) And I should be able to get it all together...

I could get the intakes on, but then couldn't get the cockpit section correctly located. I'm working my way through it a bit at a time. I now have the cockpit and intakes on, but the top of the fuselage won't sit down on top of the intakes correctly. I'll continue wrangling and I'll get there eventually. I am wholly willing to accept it is probably something I did wrong that would have made it all a bit easier. I did make a tactical mistake putting the nosecone on before I mounted the cockpit section to the front bulkhead, as it would have been easier to manhandle without the big pointy bit.

Having had a go at piecing together the nose, intakes and bottom of the fuselage I can only conclude this model was designed by someone who hates people who make models...

I went for the 50:50 371:374 mix the instructions suggested. Not convinced I got as much as 50% 374 in it, but I made a boat load, so I'll bash on anyway.

Guess I'll need to bite the bullet and get mixing. Hopefully I can mix enough that it ends up at least all the one colour... Ish...

And of course, Humbrol 127 isn't one I have...

Humbrol 127 seems to be a popular choice

Ahoy all. I am currently building the Revell 1:48 Mig 25 RBT. The main colour is flagged as a 50:50 mix of satin grey and satin light grey. I was contemplating trying to find a closeish match then do a final covering of the 50:50 mix. As I'm spectacularly bad at differentiating shades of grey, does anyone have any suggestions for a colour for this base coat. I'm brush painting, acrylics, and given the current situation hoping something in my existing box of paints which is mostly revell, humbrol and a smattering of tamiya. Thanks Ken

The stripes are decals. I am beholden to the twin gods of microset and microsol. I've read every piece of advice on decals but find I end up picking them up on my brush and floating them into position with microset. Once it's in position I normally just leave it on it's own to dry unless it's wet enough that it might float out of position, in which case I dry my brush and use it to soak up the excess without touching the decal so it stays where it's positioned.

Jeez, pictures are cruel sometimes, didn't realise the bit on the inside if the port engine looked that bad.

Trumepeter 1/72 Sukhoi SU-27 Flanker Early Type Fighter Vallejo paints for the main colours, all brush painted, unfortunately to get the lightest shade opaque I ended up with the paint far too thick so it's a bit brush marky. Finished off with Tamiya semi gloss clear. Other colours a mixture of Revell, Humbrol, and Tamiya from my box of everything. All acrylics. Fit around canopy not the best, and I may have created a new test variant with extra inboard missile pylons as I drilled out the wrong blind holes... Seemed to be short a couple if decals, and the diagram in the instructions not entirely clear in some places. Anyhoo, looks OK from a distance...

I see you tackled the handrails! Oustanding work.

Oops, didn't realise there was a railways section further down the forum...

I think there is certainly scope for someone with a bit more skill and adventurousness to cut off the moulded handrails and replace with brass. Certainly there should be enough parts available from the railway modelling side of things for supports and brackets.

Been a while since I posted anything. My parents got me the Revell Big Boy Kit for Christmas. Interesting combination of fairly decent detail combined with handrails moulded as solid plastic fences... Anyhoo. Got here stuck together. Used the decals in the kit for number 4006 but the painting instructions seemed not quite right. If I were guessing, I would say that the painting instructions are based on 4006 as it currently stands, stuffed and mounted in St. Louis Museum of Transportation. Anyhoo, I went freelance on the paint looking at pictures of the running example 4014. Gunmetal for the 'metallic' sections of the boiler and bodywork, steel for the motion, and a variety of gloss, satin, matt blacks and anthracite. I added a bit of ochre to the motion to represent the steam oil/grease and liberally brushed clear smoke around the place. A bit of matt clear and anthracite to dirt up the top of the boiler (didn't work quite as well as I hoped, my usual struggles with milky matt clear). Unfortunately there's a broken handrail at the front, but I think I got it as far as I could. Not quite the full weathered monty of the locomotives in there prime, but more of a working locomotive with a hint of the glossy paint job underneath.