James G Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 Hi All, Its been a while.....PhD is done now (apart from the viva) and as I have no job currently, there's some time for some modelling. In my grand vision, I will eventually own a collection of detailed and accurate fleet of modern Soviet jets. First up is the Su-27 'Flanker B', and I am using the venerable 1/72 Airfix kit. I felt I owed this kit another go, as I had made a gluey mess of it when I was a kid! I also had the PART photo-etch set, a Pavla resin seat and a Pavla vac-form canopy (the Airfix one is too short). When I get some cash I might get some Aires nozzles for it too. The scale plans that I have from www.airwar.ru show that the Airfix kit is very good in terms of accuracy. It has engraved panel lines, but most of them are wrong so what I am doing at the moment is laboriously rescribing correct lines and adding rivet detail, using photos of Masa Narita's 1/32 Flanker online and photos in Model Airplane International. I have rescribed the main upper fuselage and am part-way through the vertical stablisers. I have also started to detail up the nose gear and the front cockpit coaming, and will get going on the main gear soon. Yes, I am a masochist, but I'm actually enjoying this stage! Here are some pics, not too exciting yet I'm afraid but it hopefully gives a flavour of what I'm up to. Any questions/comments welcome. Cheers James 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flankerman Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 Good luck with the Su-27. I'll be following your build with interest - having made a few Flankers in my time..... Note that the nosewheel on the Airfix kit depicts the early style with three holes - later production Su-27's have a one-hole mudguard. Ken 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RNoAF Aerobatic Team Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 Impressive collection you have there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James G Posted September 13, 2012 Author Share Posted September 13, 2012 (edited) Good luck with the Su-27. I'll be following your build with interest - having made a few Flankers in my time..... Note that the nosewheel on the Airfix kit depicts the early style with three holes - later production Su-27's have a one-hole mudguard. Ken Hi Ken, Thanks for the info - I've modified the front mud guard to have one hole - I'm basically modifying all the parts of the kit to reflect the 1/32 Trumpeter kit - without thier mistakes! (I saw your 1/32 Trumpeter build article and I'm working to scale plans as well). Thanks for posting your awesome Flanker collection - good inspiration!I hope to add an Su-33 and an Su-34 at some point.... Cheers James Edited September 13, 2012 by James G Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smiffy Posted September 13, 2012 Share Posted September 13, 2012 Got one of these myself. I think it's a nice (and cheap) option if you wanna build a half decent looking Flanker. I also picked up a resin set from Ebay, which includes a new cockpit tub and some corrected vertical stabs. I believe the kit ones are a little undersized. Can't remember the maker at the mo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James G Posted September 16, 2012 Author Share Posted September 16, 2012 Got one of these myself. I think it's a nice (and cheap) option if you wanna build a half decent looking Flanker. I also picked up a resin set from Ebay, which includes a new cockpit tub and some corrected vertical stabs. I believe the kit ones are a little undersized. Can't remember the maker at the mo. Hi Smiffy. Yes its a good kit shape-wise and readily available. According to my plans the vertical stabs look pretty good in terms of size, I'm too far down the road adding rivet detail to them anyway, there are hundreds of the things! Look forward to seeing your build take shape and comparing notes. Cheers James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James G Posted September 29, 2014 Author Share Posted September 29, 2014 It's been a long time but I've been tinkering with this build again...attached are a couple of progress photos: I've completed the nose gear leg, the cockpit tub and a pilot! Aside from this I have been rescribing and riveting the whole kit because I am a glutton for punishment! Any constructive comments welcome, hopefully everything is the right colour, etc. so far! Cheers James 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan P Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 Nice work James! if you get a couple of spare hours, watch this video, superb. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZvMljUNCeU I'm working on the 1/32 version, will start a WIP on it soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rom1 Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 Nice work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James G Posted January 19, 2015 Author Share Posted January 19, 2015 This build slowly trundles on..... I've still got quite a bit of rivet detail to add to the main parts, the forward/top fuselage is nearly done and I've just started to add cockpit sidewall detail, and to detail the area just behind the ejection seat. I did this with my new Waldron sub-miniature punch-and-die set, which is a great little tool. But even the smallest punch size was too big for the tiny rivets, so I added them with beads of PVA. Not much of this area will be seen anyway as there is another curved cowl piece which is attached to the canopy which will cover it when the canopy is down (as I intend to build it). Again, sorry the photos aren't the best, will try to improve my set-up for next time. Until painting/weathering not much of the surface detail that I added can be seen, so you will have to use your imaginations! I have stag-do/wedding/honeymoon coming up so the next update might be a while.... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James G Posted June 12, 2015 Author Share Posted June 12, 2015 Bit of an update, albeit (still) not very exciting....after 3 years of on/off work on this kit I have finally glued my first parts together! Hopefully the photos show that I haven't been wasting my time on all this rivet detail! I've only got the second intake and most of the upper right wing to finish detailing before the kit starts going together in earnest. I've also made a start on my base, just put a coat of varnish on my new purchase from Just Bases: This will eventually be a diorama set on a northerly Russian airbase. Slowly but surely.... Any comments welcome. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattBlack33 Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 Hi James, looks like a productive couple of years! Looking forward to seeing more from this build. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James G Posted June 12, 2015 Author Share Posted June 12, 2015 Thanks David, yeah not much that looks very interesting so far, but soon things will start to happen! I'll put up a pic of all the accessories I hope to throw a this diorama, to give you an idea of what I am aiming for. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattBlack33 Posted June 12, 2015 Share Posted June 12, 2015 I've got a Fulcrum in the stash that I want to do in a snowy setting with. Where are you getting the accessories from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James G Posted June 14, 2015 Author Share Posted June 14, 2015 As promised, here is the list of accessories I have for this 1/72 Su-27 diorama: We have - 'Old Concrete' display base from Uschi van den Rosten - ICM Soviet air-to-air missile set (the kit ones are quite poor) - PE details for the Su-27 from PART and Eduard - Flightpath PE Soviet wheel chocks - Neomega resin exhaust nozzles for the Su-27 - Aires resin wheels - Dream Model Su-27 PE boarding ladder - Master metal pitot tube - SAC metal undercarriage - Linden Hill 'Guardians of the North' decals, plus complete Su-27 airframe stencils - Pavla vacform canopy (one of the few innaccurate areas of the Airfix kit) - Brengun PE bicycle set I also plan to scratchbuild things like a towbar and other ancillary items. Below is a plan of the diorama layout. The Su-27 paper cut-out is from a scale plan: Also for fun here is my stash, mostly 1/72 Soviet/Russian, I have more dioramas planned in future! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattBlack33 Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 Woah, it's a decent size then! Really looking forward to this! Are you adding any figures? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James G Posted June 14, 2015 Author Share Posted June 14, 2015 Woah, it's a decent size then! Really looking forward to this! Are you adding any figures? Yes I think probably about 6 figures total. I saw a photo in a book of some Russian air force personnel saluting a raised flag on a frontline base with a fully armed alert Flanker in the background, I'm going to try to replicate that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattBlack33 Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 Nice! Any idea whose figures you're going to use? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James G Posted June 14, 2015 Author Share Posted June 14, 2015 Nice! Any idea whose figures you're going to use? I've got some Preiser figures as they are nicely moulded, plus a few random ones I picked up at the Telford show that looked vaguely Russian. I got the one below, wished I had picked up a few more as the face detail is good and he has a fur hat on! I'm going to kitbash them with other figures so they look right and have the right poses, I'll use Milliput white (fine) and dental tools to sculpt some detail. You don't happen to know who makes the figure above do you? I could do with a few more! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattBlack33 Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 I wanted to say Italeri, but I could be wrong. They do have a 1/72 winter infantry set which I think is WW2, but might have a few figures that can be adapted for what you want. https://www.wonderlandmodels.com/products/italeri-172-russian-infantry/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOUSTON Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 James. AWESOME start to your FLANKER .. Good work ... keep us posted... And Ken I LOVE your collection of FLANKERS.. BEAUTIFUL ,, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James G Posted June 14, 2015 Author Share Posted June 14, 2015 Thanks David (MattBlack 33)...I will investigate. And thanks for your kind words Houston! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James G Posted July 9, 2015 Author Share Posted July 9, 2015 Boring update time! I have been working on the metal landing gear from Scale Aircraft conversions, and added piping and details to the nose gear. Also show are the intakes which now have complete and more or less correct panel line and rivet detail. I scratchbuilt replacements for the kit parts for the intake fairings (ringed in photo below), as the ones in the Airfix kit are totally the wrong shape. The bit at the bottom is the inside of the nose gear door, with the small white tank either an oxygen or nitrogen tank. The hoses coming out of the tank look a bit crazy but their positions are more or less correct according to my photos. The photos show both sides, hope you like. I'm pretty close to actually assembling/painting this now so the updates should get more interesting... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattBlack33 Posted July 9, 2015 Share Posted July 9, 2015 That's not boring at all! I love the attention to detail and effort you're putting in. Did you manage to find those figures? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James G Posted July 10, 2015 Author Share Posted July 10, 2015 That's not boring at all! I love the attention to detail and effort you're putting in. Did you manage to find those figures? No, I haven't bought any more yet. I think the Italeri ones that you found will do the job. Just wish I'd picked up some more for a quid at the Shropshire show! I'm trying to be disciplined and get the aircraft finished but I'm itching to get on with the diorama base....! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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