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Why are some Su-35 tailplanes painted, and some not?


lesthegringo

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I presume you mean the horizontal stabilisers ???

 

I can't say that I have noticed any differences between (production) airframes - can you point us to some evidence?

 

I know that the Su-27 did not have the heat-shielded stabs - it came in when air-to-ground ordinance was deployed on the inner pylons of the Flanker - with only the outer portion of the stab being done.

 

On the Su-35S, the whole front half of the stab - both top and bottom - had the heat shields........

 

flank_106.jpg

 

But I don't recall seeing a production Su-35S without the shields.

 

A few examples.....

 

Su-34 with a partial shield......

 

day3_013.JPG

 

Su-30SM with a smaller shield.....

 

day5_004.JPG

 

Su-27 with no shield...

 

day5_018.JPG

 

Su-35S with full shield......

 

day1_022.JPG

 

Prototype Su-35S with small shield...

 

day1_066.JPG

 

Ken

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Thanks, Ken

 

I have the KittyHawk offering, and it shows some of the Russian and Chines schemes with unpainted fronts on the underside, and some with fully painted stabilisers, although with in some cases with (what appears to be) a grey front half on the upper.

 

It also references the unpainted metal engine covers on the underside going all the way to the main gear bays as in your photos of the Su-30's above, but no metallic engine covers on the upper side, just the nozzle assembly. Not sure what's correct, as now I come to look at this and the KittyHawk diagrams, they are pretty unhelpful!

 

Cheers

 

Les

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All Flankers have - more-or-less - the same titanium/burnt metal engine nacelles - both top and bottom.

 

The only exception is the Su-34 - which has the upper nacelles painted in the camo colour - and the undersides painted silver (see my pic above).

 

... and these two....

 

http://wallpapers-best.com/uploads/posts/2015-11/18_sukhoi_su-34.jpg

 

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DBGDNxvG1SA/Tk33VdIfN-I/AAAAAAAAANo/YMfgabPSqTY/s1600/Russian_Su-34_Fighter_Bomber_4.jpg

 

Maybe KH are getting confused between the Su-34 and Su-35S ???

 

Ken

 

PS I just found these after a search for 'Su-35S' - the underside shows a combination of titanium and painted silver on the undersides......

 

http://nationalinterest.org/files/styles/main_image_on_posts/public/main_images/aviamix2015-08.jpg?itok=v2s19DMx

 

.... the topside is bare metal/titanium....

 

https://www.planephotos.net/photos/11350_Sukhoi-Su-35S_RF-95475.jpg

 

PPS - Note that these are operational machines - the prototype Su-35S may be slightly different

Edited by Flankerman
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Hi Les, the schemes in the Kitty Hawk boxing which don't have the protective area are prototype airframes (grey splinter scheme for example) and as such didn't have them. It appears it was a mod introduced on production aircraft.

 

https://goo.gl/images/J8Gc6M

 

Muzz

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The two splinter-camouflaged prototypes (Borts 901 and 902) only had a small heat shield on the undersides of the stabs - see my photo of 901 above.

 

I'm not sure if any other prototypes had this arrangement - but the 'full production' Su-35S has the full top-and-bottom heat shields - plus the chaff/flare boxes moved from facing upwards on the prototypes to facing downwards on the production machines.

 

I haven't got the KH Su-35S but IIRC, that was one of the complaints about it - you can only make a model of the prototypes 'cos of those upward-facing dispensers.

 

Ken

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Thanks for all this info chaps. By the way I am doing the second prototype 902 and have found that there are four colours on her. Upper surface dark blue,  medium sea grey and a off white. However underside is in dark blue, light gull gray 16640 and the off white. 

Just for info as the KH instructions are wrong and with slightly incorrect patterns you must check the available pictures online to get them correct.

 

 

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