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Zvezda 172nd scale Su-25 Frogfoot, 378 OShAP, VVS, USSR, Bagram, Afghanistan, 1986...


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This particular Frogfoot was attached to the 40th Army, Bagram AB, 1986.  I quote heavily from the Linden Hill Su-25, part 2, decal sheet...which I will save for another Frogfoot...

 

The 378th OShAP (Independent Attack Aviation Regiment) comprised three squadrons who led a nomadic existence, crews being deployed wherever and whenever the need arose.  From the fall of 1985, two squadrons were based at Bagram and one at Kandahar.  "Rooks" were used exhaustively by the 40th Army.  Most Su-25 flew at least 300 sorties per year.  Some aircraft were logged as having tripled that count.  The paint job is a VVS 1980s three-tone tactical scheme--Dark Green; Dark Brown; Light Brown.  Light Blue Grey underneath.

 

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Note that almost an entire sprue is all weapons...10 hard points on this one...Ooof!

 

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OOB decals look alright.  No stencils.

 

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Another box of specialized Vallejo Air paints...

 

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--John

 

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A great choice (again) John, who doesn't like a Frogfoot?

As you say, with 10 hardpoints you get a serious amount of whizz-bangs to play with, more than enough to spoil even the happiest (do they do happy?) Mujahideen's day.

The paint set looks good too, might have to look into getting one of them myself.

Looking forward to this one!

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6 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

A great choice (again) John, who doesn't like a Frogfoot?

As you say, with 10 hardpoints you get a serious amount of whizz-bangs to play with, more than enough to spoil even the happiest (do they do happy?) Mujahideen's day.

The paint set looks good too, might have to look into getting one of them myself.

Looking forward to this one!

Concur that it's a great choice for a project (since it's a kit I've looked at getting for myself, naturally....:whistle:).

Will be following with great interest. I always enjoy your builds!

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Just now, modelling minion said:

Feel free to join in Greg, you don't have to just watch from the sidelines, there's plenty of room for all :) .

I greatly appreciate the invitation, Craig, but my plate is full at the moment. Will have to be a 'gawker,' at present! :popcorn:

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I will be tagging along on this build as im considering buying one of these for a future build. Hard part being not many zvezda kits make it to the USA. I'll have to order it from Hannants if they have it. 

Edited by Corsairfoxfouruncle
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25 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

I will be tagging along on this build as im considering buying one of these for a future build. Hard part being not many zvezda kits make it to the USA. I'll have to order it from Hannants if they have it. 

I'm fairly certain that the Zvezda kit was also boxed by Italeri if that makes searching for it any easier Dennis.

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39 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Hard part being not many zvezda kits make it to the USA. I'll have to order it from Hannants if they have it.

ScaleHobbyist is also showing it in stock, Dennis:

Here

They're my go-to for pretty much everything.

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25 minutes ago, thorfinn said:

ScaleHobbyist is also showing it in stock, Dennis:

Here

They're my go-to for pretty much everything.

:ditto:  

 

I just hope my wife never sees my order history from that place!  :poo:

 

Edited by uncletommy
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In we go...

 

The cockpit is not particularly detailed.  There is some, and it will look decent when highlights, shaded, etc...but I think I will give it some added scratchy bits, especially the K-36 ejection seat which looks pretty bare bones so far.  The fuselage interior is similarly 'detail lite'...I am not sure what I can do there to improve it.

 

The instrument panel receives a decal...

 

The tub is alright.  At this point I have primed them dark grey and will hand-paint the turquoise blue-grey interior parts.  I feel that once I have been at it a bit it'll look just fine.

 

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--John

 

Edited by John D.C. Masters
not turquoise!
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Nice start John, I shouldn't worry too much about extra detail in the cockpit as very little will be seen when it's completed other than perhaps the band seat, especially if the lid is down.

If I were you I would trim off those "Odd Rods" IFF aerials as they will no doubt get lost when you clean up any joints, they are way over scale anyway and would look much better replaced by some small lengths of brass rod.

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1 hour ago, modelling minion said:

much better replaced

That was my thinking too.  I'll cut them off  when the fuselage is together and drill the holes immediately so as not to lose the placement.

 

The seat/cockpit/tub is assembled, painted and augmented.  All I did was recreate the pull handle for the ejection seat out of brass wire and the harness from masking tape.  I had seen somewhere that the harness was green, so I painted it green.

Sorry about the out of focus instrument panel.  That is a decal, btw.

 

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The interior of the fuselage...

 

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I have assembled some of the whizzbangs and the rear tires.  They all needed some cleaning up and will need a bit of filler and sanding.  This is problematic with this kit, I think.  The seat needed some sanding and trimming to get it to sit properly in the tub.

 

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The wing halves went together well except for the trailing edges.  These will require some filling and careful sanding so as not to remove the panel line detail which is quite good.

 

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Note to other modellers:  What I think is a radio antennae is moulded in two halves along with the fuselage.  These pieces are easily bent and/or broken.  I think once the fuselage is together it will be more strong, but I have had to bend them back carefully twice already, so take care!

 

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So far it is a good kit and I recommend it.  There are some aspects that could use better attention than I am paying, but I will fix my errors...

 

--John

 

 

 

Edited by John D.C. Masters
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With most of us having barely made a dent in our plastic here you are  nearly half way through build 2! Glad you're off to Ireland soon to give the rest of us a chance to catch up :) .

Looks like it will build into a nice model John, I'm sure you will get the trailing edges of the wings sorted out.

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Thank you Martin and I commiserate with you regarding your stash.  I have been wanting to reduce too but Hannants keeps sending me these blasted emails about New Arrivals...Argh!

 

In any case, here is what I have planned, my little scheme, the old  I-will-build -this-up-as-much-as-I-can-before-the-paint-and-then-leave-it-until-September ploy...  😉

 

The trailing edges have been repaired.  The third image are the air brakes in deployment.  For display purposes, I will leave them open.

 

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The engine nacelles received a bit of black primer inside and then the fore and aft fans.  I am  bit disappointed in these nacelles.  Yes, they will look the part, but there is nothing inside.  I think I would like to build one of these birds with a lot more detail.

 

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Regarding the nacelles and parts...these things, that sit atop the nacelles on the rear...I do not know what is wrong.  The instructions are not clear and regardless of which way I sit them they did not sit evenly, or logically.  I am very worried.  As they are, I will have to fill them a lot.  If anyone has any suggestions or a really good detailed photo of what they are supposed to look like, please show me.  I can always take them off and re-seat them if I am wrong.  Unfortunately, I think I am right and they are just poorly moulded.

 

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And as we discussed, I have replaced the poorly moulded radio doo-hickeys with brass rod.  I have also seen the Su-25 with two fin-shaped pieces on the nose and tail, but I kept with the model in the box and used the rod.  I'll take a file to them and clean them up once the CA has set properly.

 

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--John

 

 

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Really coming together John.

Those nacelles really are crying out for some detail in them aren't they as they are just a gaping hole. Good work with the "Odd Rods" IFF antennae, they look much better.

Unfortunately I think you are right that the chaff/flare dispensers (thats what they are) are just poorly moulded.

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Hit and miss unfortunately  with zvezda,  your naking good head way though, nice job on the doo hickys, i think we're crying out for a modern 48th one of these  , should be a nice camo job in store john

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24 minutes ago, Hewy said:

a modern 48th

That's the devil's work!

 

...nothing but the Gentleman's Scale for me...😉

 

Thanks Hewy and Craig!

 

1 hour ago, modelling minion said:

just poorly moulded

😥

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29 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

backside

I think that is for a different type of forum Craig...

 

My dark side wants an A-10 flown by someone other than the US.  Many good What Ifs imho...

 

 

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Arrggghh...I imagine my unhappy surprise when I went to upload my new images of assembling the fuselage and engine nacelles, the wings, the stabilizers, rudder...and they were not there!  In my enthusiasm I just have reformatted them into the ether...My deepest apologies.  I had a whole post about gap filling and so forth.  In any case this is where I leave the build for a while.

 

Those above-mentioned parts fit very well with very little gaps. You can see a little filler in the starboard stabilizer wing root.   In the case of the nacelles and wings there is no gap at all and the visible line is more of a panel line.   I might mask the glass this afternoon and if I do, I will document that.  

 

If I didn't know this aircraft was such a mean SOB, I would say, at this point, that this is a very smart and sporty looking bird!

 

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--John

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