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1/48 Hobbyboss Su-34 Fullback. Finished 09/09.


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Hello all,

 

Here is my next project, to be started once a couple of my group build entries are further along - 1/48 Hobbyboss Su-34 Fullback. Took me a good while to decide which kit out of this lot to choose:

 

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For those interested, the Mig-29 will be a Polish machine, the Mig-21 will be converted to a Romanian Lancer C, the Mig-23 will be Bulgarian, with the Mig-31, Tu-22 and Su-35 all being Russian.

 

There really is a great selection of Russian/Soviet jets for us modellers now, along with the upcoming ICM Mig-25PD which i've on pre-order from Black Mike Models. The GWH Su-35 nearly pipped the Su-34 but I've been looking forward to getting this kit started, all I was waiting on was the Cold War Studios nose correction, which duly turned up yesterday! (More great news from CWS is that they are making a 1/48 Su-30SM/MKI conversion for the Hobbyboss Su-30 kits! Hooray!) Enough rambling, onto the pictures:

 

Kit:

 

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Rather large box! Plenty of plastic in the box too:

 

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Weapons sprue - more plastic here than some kits!

 

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Extras:

 

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I'll be using the Cold War Studios nose correction, tail boom/APU set, etch grilles, Eduard mask, Pavla seats, Master brass pitot tube, Quickboost FOD covers (for an F-14 but modified to fit, although I've seen some jets with fabric covers so I might go down this route using foil) and TwoBobs decals.

 

I'll be going for the light blue/eggplant scheme. As for armament, I'd originally planned to model it around an Operational load in Syria, however given the amount of ordnance provided, it would be a shame to leave most of it off so at the minute i'm planning to add, from wingtips inward:

 

ECM pod, R73, FAB-500 x2 (on dual launcher), KAB-500T, FAB-250 (intake pylon) and KAB-1500L on the forward centre -line pylon. Quite bomb heavy, so I may adjust it slightly. On my previous Su-30 builds, i've loaded them all with KH-31s so wanted something a bit different for this. The KH-58 appears to be being phased out and the KH-59, from what I can tell, is only employed on Su-24s.

 

Any input is most welcome, looking forward to getting started.

 

Dave

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3 minutes ago, DaveJL said:

Thanks chaps. 

 

It was, though I was able to get 20% off with an ebay coupon a few months back.

Always nice to get a little back! Looking forward to the build.

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Oh... I think you simply went to the biggest box....

Great choice!!

Where did you buy the kit? 

I am still reluctant to buy one.... first for pricem and second for aftermarket needed.... fortunately this is available now!! :)

 

Regarding your other projects... O'd go with a weekend edition kit for the Lancer C.... as hardly anything of the PE can be used ...

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24 minutes ago, exdraken said:

Oh... I think you simply went to the biggest box....

Great choice!!

Where did you buy the kit? 

I am still reluctant to buy one.... first for pricem and second for aftermarket needed.... fortunately this is available now!! :)

 

Regarding your other projects... O'd go with a weekend edition kit for the Lancer C.... as hardly anything of the PE can be used ...

Thanks mate. Kit was off a seller on ebay.

 

It looks a great kit, will be a challenge with the aftermarket and some surgery but i think it will be worth it in the end! I've a Lancer C conversion set in resin and etch for the Mig-21 so won't be using any of the Eduard etch.

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2 hours ago, DaveJL said:

Any input is most welcome, looking forward to getting started.

 

I'm building the Trumpeter 1/72 scale Fullback (which I think is a scaled-down HB kit (or maybe the HB kit is a scaled up Trumpeter?)).

 

Anyway, one thing I had to do is scratch the very prominent blinds that pull down on a curved track inside the side windows...... they are very visible......

 

su-34_015.jpg

 

Even when folded open - note also the front blind - it folds down onto the top of the coaming ......

 

su-34_016.jpg

 

More photos - plus my build and the 'fix' are here :- http://www.flankers-site.co.uk/model_su-34_trumpeter.html

 

Also, if you fit the ESM pods on the wingtips, there is a small radiussed fillet on the wing leading edge next to the pod.....

 

su-34_062.jpg

 

It is missing on the Trumpeter kit (and I assume on the HB version??)

 

Happy Modelling

 

Ken

 

 

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43 minutes ago, Flankerman said:

 

I'm building the Trumpeter 1/72 scale Fullback (which I think is a scaled-down HB kit (or maybe the HB kit is a scaled up Trumpeter?)).

 

Anyway, one thing I had to do is scratch the very prominent blinds that pull down on a curved track inside the side windows...... they are very visible......

 

 

 

Even when folded open - note also the front blind - it folds down onto the top of the coaming ......

 

 

 

More photos - plus my build and the 'fix' are here :- http://www.flankers-site.co.uk/model_su-34_trumpeter.html

 

Also, if you fit the ESM pods on the wingtips, there is a small radiussed fillet on the wing leading edge next to the pod.....

 

 

 

It is missing on the Trumpeter kit (and I assume on the HB version??)

 

Happy Modelling

 

Ken

 

 

Thanks Ken. Any tips for making the blinds?

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On my Italeri Su-34, I made the internal structure from hoops of thin plastic card - and the blinds from very thin (almost paper thin) plastic card - overlapped to try to make them look like folded canvas..

 

Photo%20021.JPG

 

On my current Trumpeter Su-34, I made the blinds from white paper, folded up concertina fashion....

 

su-34_068.jpg

 

They are probably a little too big - or rather too deployed, not retracted enough (less exposed).

 

I also didn't make the front ones - as they don't appear to be as visible in the many reference photos.

 

Have fun....

 

Ken

 

 

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13 hours ago, Flankerman said:

On my Italeri Su-34, I made the internal structure from hoops of thin plastic card - and the blinds from very thin (almost paper thin) plastic card - overlapped to try to make them look like folded canvas..

 

 

 

On my current Trumpeter Su-34, I made the blinds from white paper, folded up concertina fashion....

 

 

 

They are probably a little too big - or rather too deployed, not retracted enough (less exposed).

 

I also didn't make the front ones - as they don't appear to be as visible in the many reference photos.

 

Have fun....

 

Ken

 

 

Thanks Ken. Is the framing that holds the blinds on overly visible or would I get away with adding the blinds to the inside of the canopy? On that, what is the colour of the interior canopy framing?

 

Cheers

 

Dave

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Grab some lead or pewter foil and fold it in little ripples.  That way it'll actually look like the cloth.  That top pic looks like they're having a weekend away camping! :lol:

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On 09/04/2018 at 1:42 PM, Mike said:

Grab some lead or pewter foil and fold it in little ripples.  That way it'll actually look like the cloth.  That top pic looks like they're having a weekend away camping! :lol:

Might try that, thinking I might just add them to the inside of the canopy itself, might save having to scratch the entire frame; the latter doesn't appear to be overly visible from what I can see.

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6 hours ago, Robert said:

How about using cigarette paper, folded and either paint with PVA or spray with varnish to harden.

 

Robert

That's not a bad idea either! Whatever is easier i'll do :lol:

 

On another note, set of Akan paints arrived today:

 

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Itching to start but must clear the bench first!

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Finally made a start, albeit a brief one, on this. Ordnance has been assembled:

 

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Going for a bomb heavy load of 2x R73, 4x FAB-500 (2 per wing on dual launchers), 2x KAB1500L, 2x FAB-250 and 1x KAB1500T.

 

Next up is the cockpit.

 

More soon.

 

Dave

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Nice looking kit, and nice start with the ordnance! :)

 

Hasegawa should learn from them, regarding load provided! :)

 

Håkan

 

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4 minutes ago, Azgaron said:

Nice looking kit, and nice start with the ordnance! :)

 

Hasegawa should learn from them, regarding load provided! :)

 

Håkan

 

Thanks mate. You're right about the ordnance, once all that was built, i've removed about 8 sprues to the spaces! The kit looks much less intimidating now :lol: 

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Couple of hours at this today. Firstly, I built up the cockpit:

 

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Pavla K-36 seats:

 

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Then the landing gear bays were built up:

 

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Now to the main issue with this kit, the nose. I'll not go into the argument that has raged over this kit for a good while, but from my non-expert, non rivet counting eye, the nose is just too 'curved.' Enter the Cold War Studio replacement:

 

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A lovely piece of resin and the set includes some etch and canopy masks:

 

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Now to the comparisons:

 

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The areas to be cut off:

 

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Now I was nervous about hacking off the front of a £70+ kit, but in the end I just went for it, no point in beating around the proverbial bush. Dry fitted to see how it is:

 

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Quite a good fit, though some filler will be needed to blend it all in. Thankfully the surgery was fairly straightforward and the CWS piece had no ridiculous casting block to remove.

 

Next job is to paint and fit the cockpit.

 

More soon.

 

Dave

 

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Nice work so far! That cut turned out well, and good fit on the nose! :)

 

Håkan

 

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34 minutes ago, Azgaron said:

Nice work so far! That cut turned out well, and good fit on the nose! :)

 

Håkan

 

Thanks mate. Yes it wasn't as bad as i'd feared. Should only be a small bit of filler required to clean it up nicely.

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Small bit of work done this morning before work. I was looking online and noticed that the front fins of the KAB-1500 series of bombs appear to be folded when fitted to the aircraft:

 

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All net images.

 

So I revised the fins on the bombs i'd assembled. An easy fix. I also noted the seeker head on the laser variant is drooped quite a bit so that was fixed too.

 

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A small detail but every little helps. Note the bombs are side on here to show a bit of the droop on the seeker head.

 

Dave

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More done this morning. Landing gear bays given a light wash:

 

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Then installed:

 

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Moved on to another area that I have aftermarket for and that's the grille area around the cannon. I picked up the Cold War Studio etch set:

 

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The area to be treated:

 

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And all fitted:

 

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The glue set and I noticed the piece was slightly to the right but nothing major, will look fine under paint. Next up, the cockpit was painted and seats added. I used the kit decal for the IP as it was pretty good for detail:

 

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Fitted:

 

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Next up will be to close the fuselage and add the resin nose cone.

 

More soon.

 

Dave

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Hit the bench today and thought i'd have an easy job of attaching the fuselage halves. Easy? No chance. The fit is awful around the front landing gear bay. Of course, I glued the fuselage from the rear first, so when i got to the front, the misalignment was somewhat of a head scratcher. Basically the cockpit bulkhead interferes with the alignment of the front landing gear well. I used some force to try and press it together and snap, part of the lower fuselage cracked and the gear bay came loose. Unfortunately I had a bit of a frayed temper at this stage so didn't take any pictures of the fit as it was!

 

So I had to pull the thing apart and try and find what was causing the problem. I deducted that parts E15, E16 & E17 are useless and can't be seen when the fuselage is buttoned up so they came off. I tried a dry fit again and it still wouldn't set. So I had to trim about 0.5mm off the front edge of the landing gear bay and similar to the lower part of the cockpit bulkhead. A dry fit has shown that, well, it still doesn't align properly, but better than before. Looks like it's going to take some work.

 

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You can see the where the plastic cracked just in front of the tape which is re-securing the landing gear bay after the surgery. It's a bit of a mess, but the landing gear doors and the gear itself should hide the blemishes. Will need a bit of a paint touch up.

 

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Super glue all round to try and get a solid seal. Really, really bad bit of engineering I feel. At least the cockpit fitted into it's notches ok. Here's the instructions, labelled for the surgery:

 

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To be honest, after that debacle, i've lost interest in this kit already. For a £70+ kit tooled in 2016/17, the fit around the front is shocking. This one may end up back in the cupboard. 

 

Dave

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19 hours ago, DaveJL said:

 

28386440797_040affe015_b.jpg

To be honest, after that debacle, i've lost interest in this kit already. For a £70+ kit tooled in 2016/17, the fit around the front is shocking. This one will probably end up back in the cupboard. 

 

Dave

Hope its fixable...

If not, you know KH released one just recently as well!!!

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