1/48 GWH Su-35S Flanker

[Gisbod]

Hi all,

 

Not my usual subject matter - jets or Russian, but I stumbled across a photo of a ‘bare’ Flanker in Russian lemon green primer and thought how cool it could look in model form. This combined with the fairly new Great Wall Hobby Su-35S Flanker in 1/48 tipped me over the edge 🙃.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I ordered one from Hannants and on opening the box I was gobsmacked at the quality - literally the best looking kit in the box I think I’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing. It’s stuffed with very finely moulded parts and the small details are super impressive. I don’t know how it would build but a great start!  In fact, on the back of this I picked up a GWH Fw189 and that looks equally good. I’m a convert. The kit is huge for this scale. It’s a beast of an aircraft.

 

I started with the cockpit as per usual and the detail level is exceptional. Raised switches and details in abundance. There are decals for each of the areas but you’d have to file off all the raised detail, so these seem a little superfluous. I did use elements of them though for the screens (yes, I know they probably should be powered down and blank, but I couldn’t resist).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next up were the wheel wells and again are packed with detail - all the plumbing and wires are separate parts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Its cleverly engineered too, there are no join lines on the top surfaces at all and I’ve just fitted the top half to the bottom half and so far so good.

 

I'm planning to make this totally out of the box as I can’t see what you’d need to add. There is a Photo Etch sheet - just for added surface detail. The only slight quibble is the decal sheet - it’s not bad, just doesn’t look quite up to the standard of the rest of the kit, but I’m not planning on using them anyway as it’s bare primer.

 

There seems to an excellent weapon load and these are all one piece mouldings - so no tricky seam lines to remove.

 

Here was my inspiration:

 

 

 

Thanks for looking in 😊

 

 

Guy

 

 

 

 

 

[Alan P]

I'm in 🍿

 

Looks like a really nice kit.

Alan

[Maxwellphillips]

Looks like it's going to be awesome, always loved this jet. 

[paulsbrown]

That scheme, go for it!

 

[Duckwizard]

Sitting here and waiting for the result. I am very curious!

[neil5208]

An excellent oppertunity to show off your masking skills with all that primer variation

Edited April 5, 2019 by neil5208

[FortyEighter]

Love the detail in what you've done so far ☺️

[Rogue.]

Looking good so far.

 

I have the GWH F-15E in 1/48 and that is superb in the box also. Looks like this kit is going to be added to the ‘to buy’ list.

 

Watching with great interest 👍

[Gisbod]

Yes, thanks 😋

 

I'm just quite blown away by the detail and quality. Definitely a great ‘out of the box’ model if there ever was one.

 

Little bit further on..

 

 

 

 

The fit so far is great. 

 

 

Guy

Edited April 6, 2019 by Gisbod

[Harry Callahan]

Really great work so far, nice to hear thats a good fitting kit, i am excited for the next steps

[exdraken]

Nice progress,

Some photos:

http://asian-defence-news.blogspot.com/2015/07/russian-su-35-production-line-2.html?m=1

 

[Hook]

Very nice work so far! Looks like a great kit.

 

I don't know if you are already covered as far as that lurid primer is concerned - AKAN features this shade as #73015 Russian AF Lemon-Gray AK-40 primer (faded).

 

https://intscalemodeller.com/viewtopic.php?t=333

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

[Rogue.]

17 hours ago, Rogue. said:

 

Looks like this kit is going to be added to the ‘to buy’ list.

 

 

14 hours ago, Gisbod said:

Yes, thanks 😋

 

I'm just quite blown away by the detail and quality. Definitely a great ‘out of the box’ model if there ever was one.

 

 

Just returned from Cosford Model Show, had to get one. At only £55 it was a right bargain 😁

[Gisbod]

11 hours ago, exdraken said:

Nice progress,

Some photos:

http://asian-defence-news.blogspot.com/2015/07/russian-su-35-production-line-2.html?m=1

 

 

Lovely.. thanks for posting that 😊

 

 

11 hours ago, Hook said:

Very nice work so far! Looks like a great kit.

 

I don't know if you are already covered as far as that lurid primer is concerned - AKAN features this shade as #73015 Russian AF Lemon-Gray AK-40 primer (faded).

 

https://intscalemodeller.com/viewtopic.php?t=333

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

 

 

Thanks Andre, but I’m using MRP’s Russian Primer - Lemon Grey...

 

 

 

5 hours ago, Rogue. said:

 

 

Just returned from Cosford Model Show, had to get one. At only £55 it was a right bargain 😁

 

 

Great buy... looks incredible in the box don’t you think?

 

 

So, I’ve started the paint work. As I’m using MRP paints (these are fairly translucent), I’m basically going for a fully formed pre shade, with a top coat to blend it in with the Lemon Grey, leaving the pre shade/ panelling to show through.

 

 

Here’s one of the (many) rounds of masking:

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s the under coat complete:

 

 

 

 

 

This is after a coat of Lemon Grey...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There’s still a fair bit to tweak and a lot of detail painting to come, but I’m hoping it’s going to end up looking like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for looking in. More to follow!

 

 

Guy

[Rogue.]

2 minutes ago, Gisbod said:

 

Great buy... looks incredible in the box don’t you think?

 

Absolutely, hasn't failed to impress.

3 minutes ago, Gisbod said:

 

So, I’ve started the paint work. As I’m using MRP paints (these are fairly translucent), I’m basically going for a fully formed pre shade, with a top coat to blend it in with the Lemon Grey, leaving the pre shade/ panelling to show through.

 

Looking forward to the end result 👍

[Duckwizard]

Your work looks extremely good already!