Jump to content

Su-27FSM - "Flankerstein" (T-10X Series) in 1/72 scale - Revell/Zvezda/Italeri Combination


Recommended Posts

All that work.... smashed to bits. I am really feeling for you at the moment. That would have put me on hiatus from modelling indefinitely! You are an inspiration to us fringe modellers and for that I tip my hat to you. Can't wait to see the finished Flankerstein!

 

Marc

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/9/2019 at 11:00 PM, MarcNewitt said:

You are an inspiration to us fringe modellers and for that I tip my hat to you.

Thanks Marc,

To know there are many  model enthusiasts like you gives me strength to tackle such problems. No pain,  no gain...

Edited by Serkan Sen
  • Like 1
  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The progress continues glueing upper half parts.

695.jpg

 

I have  used plastic inserts to make joint area stiffer.

697.jpg

 

The upper half is completed.

696.jpg

 

The next step is to build lower half. It will be more work than the upper half.

 

Serkan

 

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here are the parts building lower half:

689.jpg

 

Note that the intakes have been already assembled and MLG bay wall is also from Trumpeter. The Italeri MLG bays have been now completely removed from kit:

694.jpg

 

Here are the views from both sides before  and after modification:

693.jpg

 

The lower half is now completed as well:

692.jpg

 

The next step is to assemble all fuselage parts together...

 

Serkan

 

Edited by Serkan Sen
  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Now the primer has been applied:

741.jpg

742.jpg

 

Finally all casted parts with new PU resin seems fine. No "sweating", no "bleeding" anymore...👍

747.jpg

748.jpg

749.jpg

 

Next step is to complete cockpit area, rescribe some missing panel lines and after then apply camouflage colours...

 

Serkan

 

Edited by Serkan Sen
  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
20 hours ago, Neffan said:

Hi Serkan, any news about your Flanker familly ? 

 

Hi Neffan,

Last few days I was busy with my "what if" Su-33UBM paint masks but I  did some progress on this project as well.

 

Here are some pics of painted and masked canopy/cockpit area. Also the clear part have been dipped into Future/Pledge:

761.jpg

762.jpg

763.jpg

 

The next step is to paint nose, fins, doors and panels in white...

 

Serkan

 

 

Edited by Serkan Sen
  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/25/2019 at 2:17 PM, Serkan Sen said:

The nightmare continues...

 

If you build Flankerstein, then having nightmare is not a big surprise... :badmood:

Now the problem is the casted resin parts...

 

It seems that the shelf life of the resin was expired although during casting I had no issue at all. But when the parts were painted they started to "sweat" especially at the edges.

 

 

 

 

When the parts are heated up to 50-60 degrees Celsius with heat gun, it is clearly visible how the resin starts to "sweat":

 

 

I will repeat "heat and wipe" process until the resin stop "sweating"... :phew:

I hope it won't last forever...

Serkan

 

 

From my experience working with PU resin, the sweating could happen even when it's not expired yet, it's when you don't thoroughly shake and mix the Polyol part of the resin (usually the clear liquid part) before mixing both parts together. The polyol part over time separates into an oily liquid at the bottom and a more watery liquid at the top, from a paper thin watery film on top after a couple weeks to 10% of the volume after a few months. Depending on how much they've separated and how much of the watery liquid at the top you've poured out into the resin mix, this messes up the ratio of the chemicals in the Polyol part, from too much to a little it'll either never cure, leave a crumbly mess, sweating right after demolding or sweating time later. OTOH when the clear polyol part has separated too much and for too long (like a year) it's when 'it expires' and no matter how much you shake and mix it back, it'll end with a mess in your resin. That's why the containers advise you to shake and mix well before using and make a habit of shaking it once in a while. Also the isocyanate part (yellow/amber/brown colored liquid) tends to absorb humidity and crystallizes, humidity is the cause of PU resin bubbling and leaving bubbles and pin holes. That's why they recommend you to squirt some can compressed air before you close the container to protect and extend the shelf life of that part. Smooth-on brand sells you their canned air for like $20 for 10 oz, but it's robbery, when the gas is simply tetrafluoroethane the same for a lot of can compressed air used to dust/clean electronics and sell for half the price $10 and twice as much content, 20 oz.

Edited by Inquisitor
  • Like 1
  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, Inquisitor said:

OTOH when the clear polyol part has separated too much and for too long (like a year) it's when 'it expires' and no matter how much you shake and mix it back, it'll end with a mess in your resin.

Thanks lot for your detailed and informative reply. The quoted part was the problem in my case. As a solution I used new resin and all the problems now have been solved. My best practice experience is to order resin in small amount that can be totally consumable before shelf life expires. Here in Germany one can order in 0.5kg or 1.0kg amount which can be consumed within it's shelf life. Although it costs a bit more, this is most cost efficient way for my hobby projects.

 

Serkan

 

Edited by Serkan Sen
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The nose cone, doors and fairings have been painted in white:

766.jpg

767.jpg

 

... and masked for the next coat. Also the clear parts have been placed:

769.jpg

770.jpg

 

The next step is to apply mid blue camouflage colour.

 

Serkan

 

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Serkan, that was a great save from what could have been a disaster. From the picture above you would never know of the problems you had. Looking forward to the splinter camouflage.

 

Robert

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, Robert said:

Serkan, that was a great save from what could have been a disaster. From the picture above you would never know of the problems you had. Looking forward to the splinter camouflage. 

  

Robert

Thanks Robert,

It was really frustrating what I have experienced with old resin. Now I am very close to happy end.

 

Here all masks have been placed for mid blue camo:

776.jpg

777.jpg

 

Next step is to add nose IRS in front of windshield and to apply dark blue as second camouflage color.

 

Serkan

 

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

While I was preparing the aircraft for next coat I have identified that there was again sweating resin issue on vertical fins:

778.jpg

779.jpg

 

Although they were in pin point size they caused peeling off and never drying paint.

 

It seems that I had forgotten to throw into bin all early casted parts with old resin and used them by mistake. My fault...

 

Fortunately I had some spare fins casted with new resin. I have replaced the new ones and applied primer and white coats:

780.jpg

781.jpg

 

The next step is to mask white areas on fins and apply mid blue as done before. This costed me a bit delay in my progress but was a peanut compared to all other issues I had to solve.

 

Serkan

 

Edited by Serkan Sen
  • Like 3
  • Sad 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/7/2019 at 1:28 PM, Neffan said:

Hi Serkan, 👍👍👍 I hope your  Flanker  familly parts will be available for sale very soon 🧐

Hi Neffan,

I hope I will complete the molds and some missing parts soon (especially for Su-27IB) . I will let you know when all parts there.

 

Here are some more progress...

 

After replacing the vertical fins and applying white for fairings/aerials and mid blue (MM1562) and masking I have applied the dark blue (MM2031 -  FS35109):

spacer.png

 

The fins below show the camo patterns after removing all masks applied on spare fins. The actual aircraft will have a third color (light sky blue) to complete camouflage:

spacer.png

 

The next step is to mask dark blue areas and apply the final color to finish camo.

 

Serkan

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finally the last color (MM2131 - Flanker Medium  Blue) has been has been applied and the masking films have been removed:

785.jpg

794.jpg

 

And the result is not too bad!..

786.jpg

793.jpg

 

At some few areas the paint were lifted off with the masking films. This is most probably due to finger fett that I have forgotten to clean with alcohol before paint.

787.jpg

788.jpg

 

 But this is not a drama and can be fixed with small touches. Here are some more pictures:

789.jpg

790.jpg

791.jpg

792.jpg

795.jpg

796.jpg

 

The next step is to coat with Future/Pledge and wash the panel lines with oil paint after repairing lifted off painted areas.

 

It will be a new experience for me to wash panels as I have not done it before...

 

Serkan

 

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Serkan, that scheme has turned out very nice.

 

A quick question about your casting techniques, when you cast something as thin as a tail fin how do you go about it. The reason l am asking is that l am missing a tail plane and see to cast another one.

 

Robert

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 hours ago, Robert said:

... when you cast something as thin as a tail fin how do you go about it.

The master part should be positioned to let to remove original and replica without damaging the details like antennas etc.

 

The 2 component silicon mold should be designed in a way that no air will be trapped during casting.

 

Depending on the complexity of the original part the mold should be prepared as one piece or two  pieces.

 

Two pieces molds are done using middle hard silicone which is stiffer than soft silicone and therefore has less deformation under gravity and casting resin pressure.

 

On the other hand soft silicone is very appropriate to cast complex parts using one piece mold, but also deformed much which leads varying thicknesses of casted thin parts such as fins. This can be avoided using distance holders (the holes in feeding slot between the part and resin reservoir) as shown below (you can see many casting examples in my other progress reports in this forum):

413.jpg

414.jpg

415.jpg

416.jpg

 

For casting resin I use 1:1 PUR with 4 and 9 minutes working time depending on part. The shorter has less flexibility than the longer working time but cures 3-4 times faster. There is also 1.5-2 minutes resin but it is too short to prepare mixture and cast in time.

 

I have not used any separator during casting which extends the mold life by minimising aggressive effects of casting resin.

 

I hope this answers your question.

 

Serkan

 

Edited by Serkan Sen
  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...