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1/48 Academy Su-30 Flanker - Complete


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After my error of judgement, this arrived today from MJW Models (nice quick service)..........

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And here are the three nose cones compared to each other, kit on the left, L&M Resin centre and Quickboost on the right.....

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There's a very subtle difference in shape between the Quickboost and the kit part, the Qb nose slightly thinner, more pointed and a drop in replacement which is nice!

Edited by Muzz
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Great progress and nice line up of the noses, I've always wondered about those L&M ones and now we know!

Cheers Phil, yes we know alright! Have to say, the Quickboost one is top drawer, it's on now and just getting the masking done ready for paint.

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There's a very subtle difference in shape between the Quickboost and the kit part, the Qb nose slightly thinner, more pointed and a drop in replacement which is nice!

:hmmm: Y'meant there's a very subtle difference in shape between the Quickboost 'n' the L&M part, didn't ya, Muzz...??? 'Cause if not, me'd say there's a very H*U*G*E difference in shape between the Quickboost 'n' the kit part...

Also, don't the L&M bring their brass pitot tubes? Heard L&M packs two examples in each set; to me the L&M cones look more the part than the Quickboost's.

Cheers,

Yeh...

Unc²

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This is excellent. How are you finding the fit of the kit?

I have to say that your Alclad work is fantastic.

Cheers,

Tom.

Thanks Tom, no problems at all with the kit so far, fits not bad at all with only small amounts of filler needed. I'm sure I'd heard bad things about the intakes but I'm maybe confusing this kit with Academy's Mig-29 which I know does have issues with the intake fit. I joined the intakes t the bottom section of fuselage before joining the fuselage half's together which may have helped as the bottom half of the fuselage was still flexible.

Thanks for the photo's Ken, I enjoyed browsing through your Lipetsk photo's.

On with the build. The resin nose is on, small amount of Mr Surfacer 500 required to blend it in. Masked off the metal areas last night and have got the white area's painted ready to be masked off too. Can't decide if I should glue the fin's in place before painting but can't help but feel that life will be a lot easier i I leave them off until all the paining and decals is done.

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Y'might want to check that radome nose, Muzz. To me, it's pointin' way too straight; tip should point a lil' bit downward, shouldn't it?

Just a comment, my mate.

Cheers,

Unc²

If you look at Ken's photo's above, the radome follows the same lines as the forward fuselage continuing to a point straight ahead. It's the forward fuselage as a whole which points downwards when the aircraft is on its undercarriage. Thats how I interpret it anyway, the kit should have this stance when it's on it's legs.

Muzz

Edited by Muzz
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I've cracked on with the camo scheme, using Akan's paints which are very quick drying which has helped a lot. The colours are all from their Su-30 set and are of the pre-shaded variety. The pale blue overall colour is a strange one, when it first went on it looked perfect, but once the other colours were on and in certain light it doesn't look blue enough, looking almost white next to the other colours. The dark blue was a bit too bright and I've toned it down a bit and the middle blue has faded to an almost grey colour in the photo's I've seen of the aircraft so I've played about with this colour too.

Let me know what you think of the colours................

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Great thread this love the Exhausts. Great build. The colours I am not informed on, but I would suggest you photo it in natural light before comparing to the photo. As light bulbs make paints appear odd shades.

Sunlight is the way to go for a good match I think.

Cheers Rob

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Back at work after some leave which has slowed the build slightly! These Begemot decals arrived the other day, I'm still doing the same scheme as provided in the box but I noticed the box decals are incorrect, Academy have cut costs and provided one colour (black) for the Multirole Su-30MK decal which appears on the front fuselage the "501" decals and the banding on the fins, the other demo aircraft, 502 has these in black and Academy have taken a one colour fits all approach!. These should be blue so I decided to buy the Begemont set which has the correct blue option.

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Kit decals can be seen next to the Begemot decals but the colour difference isn't that clear in the photo.

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The full set in all it's gory...

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And this is where I'm at, camo is done and I've applied a few coats of Klear, decals started tonight perhaps.........

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So, bit of a U turn today, after close inspection of the Begemot decals and then the kit decals and back and fourth and after much chin scratching I've decided to go with the kit decals. The reason being on close inspection I'm not that impressed with the Begemot one's, the kit decals are sharper and far more accurate shape wise IMHO. I also decided the kit decals that I thought were black are indeed blue, albeit a dark blue and not 100% accurate as per the real aircraft. Luckily I decided all this before making a cut in the AM decals so they can go back to the big H.

Eventually after all this I did get some decalling done;

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The undercarriage is ready to go on, made a construction error with the nose gear leg which I'm gutted about but unless you know your Flankers you probably won't notice! I've also started painting the underwing stores, the beast's going to be 'fully loaded'!

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Last photo's of the kit before final assembly.............

All the decals are on, but need a satin varnish finish.

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Cheers Caretaker, the paints are Akans Acrylic paint range , I got the specific Su-30 paint set which is good but think the overall Pale Blue colour is a bit too pale! Just bought their Mig-29 colour set today too!

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very nice !

the weapons are from the kit? or from Hobbyboss Su-24 or else?

thanks!

There's a couple of Kh-58 (I think they are!) missiles with the kit and a new set of wing pylons and the rest are air to air missiles. Your quite correct, the weapons are from the Trumpeter Su-24 Fencer kit, one of the reasons I justified the cost of the kit!

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