Czechoslovakia: 1/72 KP Su-7BKL ++++DONE!++++

[-Neu-]

Hey everybody.

So my entry for the Czechslovak/Czech Republic build will be a Su-7BKL... the old KP kit that many of you have seen sitting on the shelf.

This wasn't an easy choice. The Czechs have had a very long and storied aviation history for a small nation. I could have easily picked an Avia BH.534, S-99 or a BH,35, a Mig-15, or an Aero L-159. I spent some time at the fantastic Kbely Aircraft Museum earlier this year,...

For some reason, I love the look of the S-199, so I was torn between the new KP/AZ kit and the Su-7BKL. For some it wouldn't be a question to build the S-199. The Su-7 is just... so, pedestrian. Its not even a Czech-built aircraft, and even in the museum the aircraft sits a bit dilapidated.

But I guess I want a challenge. I also have a bit of a personal reason to build this kit. I'm part Czech, and as I was growing up my mother would bring me back kits from the Czech Republic to build. My first kits were 1/72 Mig-21,Mig-15, Mig-17, Letov S.21, CS-199 and... the Su-7BKM. I remember I did a really good job on it for the time... and it inspired me to build more. Perhaps I can recreate some of the magic of my youth. I might try to sneak in the S-199 in here as I go along too.

So I'm going to put a bit of effort into this kit... and give it some love. The panel lines will be rescribed and that will take some time. I'm also going to add some details sets.

The first two are the now Defunct Resin Art Detail sets. I am also going to get a Pavla cockpit set for the modelsevit kit. Probably won't be accurate or fit properly... but at least it will be something that looks right. And all of the contents will have come from the Czech Republic... which I think is kinda cool too.

I started the rescribing process tonight... nothing much to report or photos. Maybe I'll take one tomorrow of the tools I use. This should take me a couple of weeks given my upcoming schedule and the kits I need to finish for some deadlines.

Edited May 14, 2015 by -Neu-

[Col.]

Ooh cool choice! The Su-7 is one of those machines that is the very definition of Cold War in my opinion and I wasn't aware KP did a kit of it in 72nd scale.

Do I see another baby 'Fitter' in the box as well?

[Giorgio N]

Looking forward to seeing this good old friend being built ! It's a kit that's been around for ages, yet it's been the only decent 1/72 Su-7 on the market until the recent Modelsvit kit hit the shelves

[CliffB]

Hi -Neu-

Any tips on rescribing would be greatfully received!

Cliff

[-Neu-]

So a bit of an update.

I actually have been working quite a bit on the Su-7... just that scribing is monotonous, somewhat boring work. The White plastic really makes it difficult to show progress in an interesting way.I put a quick black wash in the parts above to show some of the work.

So to answer cliff's question, these are all of the tools I use.

From the top left to right: Rosie the Riveter 1/72 tools, JLC Razor saw (with a CMK replacement saw), MDCE rivet Tool set (I actually use it more as a scriber), and a Hasegawa Tritool metal stencil set. I got all but the hasegawa set and replacement saw at Westcoasthobbys, if you were interested in them.

For this model, I do a couple of things. For long straight lines I used the raised panel line as a guide for the JLC razor saw. 9 times out of 10 it works perfectly. The biggest problem is with ending a line: you very often get over. You can see that with the air brakes that I rescribed below, near the tail. Thankfully its easily remedied by some putty. The other technique is to use the template and the MDCE scriber to trace out the appropriate shape. You can see that below, with all of the little oval and circular access panels.

So I've hit a bit of a hiccup though. Basically I ordered a Pavla Su-7 cockpit set and discovered that I got the U rather than the BLK version... or Twin seater one. I've decided to use it in a Italeri Su-22UM kit I've procured (I think the canopy will work there too), and I've ordered the proper cockpit set off of an Ebay seller in the UK I seem to get a lot of stuff from. Its going to be here any day now, so I'm just finishing up most of the scribing, before I move onto assembly. In the meantime I've started work on my Slovakian project, so keep tuned.

Thanks for looking.

Edited February 14, 2015 by -Neu-

[caszerino]

Really looking forward to seeing this one come together! I've been bitten by the MiG-21 bug recently, so I've been reading up on them. A Su-7 is only a natural extension here for me, since NATO and Jane's thought the MiG-21 was a Su-7 when it was first spotted. Good to know that Pavla makes upgrade parts for it.

Do I see another baby 'Fitter' in the box as well?

I noticed that, too! We'll never know until Neu reveals the secret of the baby plane to us!

[CliffB]

Thanks for the tips on the rescribing -Neu-. Some more bits for me to buy, I think!

Cliff

[WARDOG]

Looking good, Neu!

I have this kit too and will buy the Pavla cockpit for it. Haven't decided which country to represent yet. I've had it for a number of years so I'll eventually get around to building it with the new cockpit and better weapons and fuel tanks. The kit does come with a smaller (1:200?) scale Su-7, minè long lost to the kid's old toy chest years ago!

Looking forward to seeing more of your work on the old girl!

Cheers,

WARDOG

[-Neu-]

Hey Wardog...

Thanks for the support! And I'm sorry for the lack of updates for everyone, work has been crazy, leaving me with little free time. So what's been going on? Well to start I finally got the right cockpit for my Su-7 from Oxonian Model shop on Ebay:

Now it looks so nice in the box. Unfortunately its the last time I'll be saying that. Now I have no doubt that the cockpit set fits great in a Modelsevit kit. I put a fair bit of effort detailing the cockpit...

Problem is, this ain't the Modelsevit kit... its the KP one. Thus started two evenings of fitting, sanding, carving, fitting, sanding, followed by fitting, and more carving. This is where I think I got it to, in order to fit.

And here it is in the fuselage.

So while test fitting the fuselage sides together, I realized its a straight shot down the sides of the cockpit into the interior of the kit. In the original KP kit the interior is blocked off by a blanking plate far in the interior of the kit... its not that noticeable. However the Pavla set basically gives it proper intake trunkings, and I can't fit the KP nose anymore because it replicates part of it in the front. So I decided to go back to my modelling roots: I got an old brush, took some black primer and broadly coated the insides of the kit.

That did the trick. So this is basically where I am now.

I'm clearing away all of the raised panel lines, filling in gaps and getting it ready for painting. I cut the vacuform canopy out last night, but that seems to have fit issues, so it will take some time to get right.

I'll try to have an update in the next couple of days. It will probably be down to the wire to finish before the end of the GB, but its looking good.

Thanks for looking.

[CliffB]

Quite a challenge, I can see. Looking very good so far though.

Roll on the paint!

Cliff

[Col.]

Those plastic parts are starting to look very much like a big lump of classic Soviet metal.

[-Neu-]

Thanks... here's a small update.

As I mentioned earlier, the nosecone needs to be cut down in order to fit into the recessed position.

I finally got the vacuform canopy on. There was a significant gap, which I initially filled with gatorglue... but its not flush. I'll prime it black next, then use a different filler to get it flush. I also added a bunch of exterior details, like the two external conduits on the top, and eight small intakes that needed to be drilled out.

Finally the underside. The Resin Art undercarriage set has two resin intakes that replace the mediocre kit versions. I still need to add two more, but its almost done. You'd think the Su-7 is a pretty clean aircraft, but its nothing of the sort... there are intakes, bumps and exhaust all over the thing.

Just need to put the horizontal stabs, clean out some raised panel lines, and then I'll be ready to paint.

[Jabba]

A lot of work gone on here to make a simple kit that much better. Keep it up.

On a side note I have been to Prague several times, even landing at Kbely, but I have still not been to the museum. I must do one day.

[-Neu-]

A lot of work gone on here to make a simple kit that much better. Keep it up.

On a side note I have been to Prague several times, even landing at Kbely, but I have still not been to the museum. I must do one day.

Thanks Jabba. This kit brings back a lot of memories: I recall that it one of the first that I actually tried to get the right coloured paint in the right places. I'm pretty sure my mother brought it back from one of the first times she visited the Czechoslovakia after the fall of communism, so it could have been sometime from around 1990~1994. I remember it wasn't perfect, but it really was a cool looking aircraft. Maybe I'll try building or fixing up one of my KP Mig-21s... which I really loved flying around as a kid (with modified ARM Standard missiles on the underside, of course.)

The Museum is pretty cool. I went there in the early 1990s and just recently with my significant other. Its got a lot of unique types essential in Czech history. Looking through the photos, I kinda wish I had more time to build more Czech aircraft, like the S-199 and Mig-15.

Anyway, I actually put in a few hours last night cleaning up the model, getting most of the last fittings on, sanding them down, and fixing it up any issues. I used Gunze finishing black to cover the canopy, then cleaned up all of the access glue, which is why the black is scored up around the canopy. I also did some preshading, which should be only slightly apparent when I actually put the paint down.

Still needs a bit of work. I need to find brass replacement barrels for the guns, which is tough because of its unusual shape.I'll probably drill out the place for the barrels, and leave them empty until I source something that looks vaguely similar. If anybody reading this has a suggestion, please, please, please give me a heads up.

I'll also add a raised plate for the blast deflectors at the leading edge wing root (you can see the photo of it at Kbely). Should be an easy addition: cut out the shape from some thin plasticard and glue it on with ultra thin Tamiya cement. I also got the paints yesterday for the aircraft, according to the eduard kit instructions for their 1/48 version.

Really I took that photo because Its kinda lame having a one photo post of the same white aircraft.

Anyway, thanks for looking.

[-Neu-]

Well its still going... I think I can have it done over the weekend, so basically only a week late.

So the first thing I did before painting was to add a raised blast plate at the wing root leading edge, which I saw on several Czech aircraft in Kbely. I traced out a shape on plasticard and cut it out by hand. You can see them below the model.

I also discovered a cannon muzzle for the wings; its from an AZ BF-109G underwing gun pod. I'll put it on tonight.

Next I started painting. Due to my poor/rushed photography skills, you can't really see the blast plate on the wings. Started with the blue on the bottom, then the lighter green, then the Mahogany on top.

And here is where I am at.

The Paint surface is pretty smooth... so I think I'll dispense with a gloss coat and start decalling tonight... hopefully I'll be able to get a clear coat on it tomorrow afternoon.

Thanks for looking!

[CliffB]

Hi -Neu-,

It's nice to see that you are almost there with this one. I'm looking forward to seeing those markings in place!

Cheers

Cliff

[-Neu-]

Thanks Cliff...

I'm so achingly close its not funny. I added the decals from the Eduard Mig-15 set, but I had to use the bort numbers from the KP decal set.

So at this point I ran into trouble. The landing gears were a bit problematic, especially the nose. Basically the gear leg is from the Resin Art Set for a regular KP landing gear bay, while the bay is part of the Pavla set, which is actually for the modelsevit kit. So I needed to add a shim inside the bay, which the leg sits on top of. Problem is I couldn't get the two parts to stick, so I had to pin it. I should have taken more photos of it, because it actually was pretty interesting. It took about 30 minutes to do. Anyways, this is where I ended up last night:

I'll need to add the landing gear doors, guns, and some stores. I've got the resin art tanks to add:

Surprisingly for a CMR casted products, it had a fair few bubbles which caused some problems. I also need more stores; the bombs are so-so. I'll add some details: paint the pitot tubes and some lights. Fingers crossed I'll have it done tonight!

Thanks for looking.

[-Neu-]

And She's done!

I took some quick photos this morning... hopefully you guys like.

Many thanks for all your help and encouragement. She was a bear to build, but I'm reasonably pleased with how it turned out. It really was quite a fun group build, one that I hope we do again in the future.