1/48 Su-27SM1, '45 Blue' Ukrainian Air Force. Finished 01/12.

[DaveJL]

Hello all,

 

Here's one I've had planned for a while and after seeing two at RIAT for a second time, I just had to break it out of the stash; Hobbyboss 1/48 Su-27 Flanker B, marked as an updated SM1 of the Ukrainian Air Force.

 

Kit:

 

 

Aftermarket:

 

 

I'll be using a Quickboost K-36 ejection seat, Master brass pitot tube, Foxbot decals & paint mask, New Ware mask for canopy etc and will be adding some FOD guards. The patch was purchased from the Ukrainian team at RIAT this year. 

 

Decals and paint scheme:

 

 

I haven't used Foxbot products before but both look to be good quality. Hopefully the digital masking won't be as difficult as I fear! Model will be fully loaded for air to air with 4x R-73 and 6x R-27. The jet and load out can be seen in the link below:

 

Blue 45

 

I managed to get a few good pictures of the two seater at RIAT for reference. Here's one:

 

 

My favourite scheme of one of my favourite jets! Built the Hobbyboss Su-30 a while back and was an easy enough build.

 

Dave

[airbus320]

I was there and fell in love with this beast too! Now I’m off to order all the same bits off the internet! 😂 I will be watching this build closely!!!

 

Chris

[DaveJL]

On 7/23/2019 at 9:25 PM, airbus320 said:

I was there and fell in love with this beast too! Now I’m off to order all the same bits off the internet! 😂 I will be watching this build closely!!!

 

Chris

Thanks Chris.

 

Made a start today. Ordnance first:

 

 

Cockpit parts ready for paint, along with the nice Quickboost K-36 seat:

 

 

Airbrake added to the upper fuselage. A bit of sanding needed to get it to sit flush:

 

 

One of the areas that needs a bit of attention is the extensions that come from the base of the tail fins and attach to the horizontal stabilisers. These are fixed in position on the kit, which would only allow the stabilisers to be displayed in the straight and level position. The majority of images that I have seen online (and having seen the real thing), show the stabilisers dipped slightly. So a bit of surgery is needed. Here are the fins from the box. Circled in red is the bit in question:

 

 

And with the parts removed:

 

 

I popped in a small sliver of styrene into the gap and tidied up with filler. The one on the right still needs the filler sanded smooth!

 

 

Finally, the necessary paints were ordered:

 

 

Hoping to get the cockpit painted before I head stateside at the weekend.

 

Dave

[f111guru]

Appears to be a very nice kit. Your progressing along quite nicely. Nothing wrong with a little surgery in the early stages. Keen eye for the little details.

May have to get one in the future.

 

Ron VanDerwarker

[DaveJL]

1 hour ago, f111guru said:

Appears to be a very nice kit. Your progressing along quite nicely. Nothing wrong with a little surgery in the early stages. Keen eye for the little details.

May have to get one in the future.

 

Ron VanDerwarker

Thanks Ron, it is a pretty good kit.

[DaveJL]

Back on the wagon with this one after a few weeks in the states.

 

Cockpit sprayed with Akan 'Sukhoi interior blue'. Details picked out with a cocktail stick, a light wash give and the kit decal used for the IP:

 

 

Installed into fuselage:

 

 

Once that had set, the rest of the fuselage and other parts fell together with little to no effort needed. The deployed slats almost just popped into place. A few small areas of filling required but nothing major:

 

 

Intakes also built up. I'm adding FOD covers but have sprayed the inside of these Gunship Grey as there appears to be an area of this colour on the intake ramp aside from the light blue, seen  here on Blue 30:

 

 

Will be tricky masking it off as there are no lines whatsoever on the HB parts to act as a guide but I'll work on that before fitting the intakes to the fuselage:

 

 

More soon.

 

Dave

[DaveJL]

Most of the airframe is now complete. The intakes needed a bit of filling and sanding, but again, nothing major.

 

 

Intake masking, hope it it's not wonky!

 

 

Cannon muzzle and cockpit detail:

 

 

Coaming needs sprayed black then the framing needs another coat of interior blue. Once that's done I'll be able to mask up and prime.

 

I like this kit, goes together well and is nicely detailed. I'm not the biggest fan of Hobbyboss, especially after the nightmare I had with their Su-34 (which was finished but prompted me to buy a Kittyhawk example) but this kit is good. That being said, I'm looking forward to seeing the GWH and Kittyhawk range of Flankers when they are released. I've several schemes I'd like to do. Fingers crossed for an Su-30 SM/MKI/MKA/MKM boxing!

 

 

More soon.

 

Dave

[DaveJL]

Long overdue update. Airframe was finished, cleaned up, primed and various areas sprayed before being masked up. It's ready now for the main paint job:

 

]

 

Stabilisers and pylons - note the areas masked have been sprayed grey - the exposed pylon adapters are blue:

 

 

Missiles painted and given a panel wash:

 

 

(Camera flash makes them look shinier than they are!) 

 

Exhausts, landing gear, FOD covers and ejection seat:

 

 

That's all the sub assemblies finished so hoping to get the painting done on the model itself next week.

 

More soon.

 

Dave

[f111guru]

Coming along quite nicely. All the best on your venture with the fuselage paint.

 

Ron VanDerwarker

[DaveJL]

3 minutes ago, f111guru said:

Coming along quite nicely. All the best on your venture with the fuselage paint.

 

Ron VanDerwarker

Thanks Ron. It does look pretty daunting but hopefully with the Mr Paint and the masks looking decent, it should be ok (said somewhat nervously!)

[horrido109]

Very nice build Dave. I recently also built this kit and enjoy following your posts.

With a little effort this kit builds into a very impressive model

 

Looking forward to seeing more of your work on this.

 

Regards

Victor

[DaveJL]

On 11/4/2019 at 8:04 PM, horrido109 said:

Very nice build Dave. I recently also built this kit and enjoy following your posts.

With a little effort this kit builds into a very impressive model

 

Looking forward to seeing more of your work on this.

 

Regards

Victor

Thanks Victor.

 

Managed to get a bit more done. The upper fuselage colours have been sprayed:

 

 

All paints are MRP and sprayed in the following order:

 

Grey

Dark Blue

Blue

 

As always, they went on beautifully. I had to touch up an area with dark blue after the masks were removed but for some reason this has gone on a different shade than the rest! Gloss, weathering and a flat coat should sort it out all being well. I'm fairly pleased with the result despite this mishap.

 

The Foxbot masks were generally very good, would have preferred if they were a bit 'stickier' in certain areas as some parts tended to pop up, but this was worked around by holding the mask down with a cocktail stick as I sprayed. I would also recommend for the larger masks cutting them up into parts, particularly in areas where the fuselage curves. You'll get a better adhesion and any gaps can be sorted with masking tape.

 

Will mask everything up then spray the light blue on the undersides over the weekend.

 

More soon.

 

Dave

[exdraken]

wow!

 

very impressive painting!

for some reason I always have a hard time to imagine doing such a scheme!

[DaveJL]

1 hour ago, exdraken said:

wow!

 

very impressive painting!

for some reason I always have a hard time to imagine doing such a scheme!

Thanks Werner. I had thought it would have been more difficult but with the MRP colours and the mask, it’s not as much of a chore as one would imagine!

 

As with all masking, ensuring that it’s applied properly will save you a lot of heartache down the line!

[Christer A]

Ah, you had pre-cut masks for that. That makes a lot of sense...

 

It turned out beautifully in the end though!

[DaveJL]

4 hours ago, Christer A said:

Ah, you had pre-cut masks for that. That makes a lot of sense...

 

It turned out beautifully in the end though!

Wouldn’t like to tackle that without pre cut masks

[redcap]

Cracking paint job Dave!

Gary

[DaveJL]

Cheers Gary!

[DaveJL]

More done. All the painting completed:

 

Undersides

Gun vents/Muzzle area

Landing gear bays

 

All the masking removed and we have this:

 

 

There's a bit more work to be done around the metallic engine areas to make them look more 'burnt' but this will be done post decals.

 

I have also picked up these:

 

 

I have never used Klear before, either in its original form or the newer stuff, but I'm led to believe it goes on better with a brush? (The small instruction page that came with the small bottle also states this.)

 

Finally, I bought this great book:

 

 

Half the RRP on Amazon. The 500 odd pages are packed with pictures, details and an index of nearly every Flanker that has been built with serial number etc. The section on Ukrainian jets is very good for this build and I discovered that Blue 45 was stored up until 2009 when it was refurbished. It really is a must for Flanker fans and will be invaluable with my planned future builds. (Another Su-35 & 34,  Su-33 several Su 27s and a number of Su-30s- pending GWHs and Kittyhawks releases!)

 

Once I sort out the klear, I'll get the decals on.

 

More soon.

 

Dave

 

[DaveJL]

Two coats of Klear (with brush), decals on, sealed in with another coat of Klear:

 

 

No issues with the decals. Will leave everything to cure fully for a few days (mainly because of work  ) before adding the panel wash. The Ukrainian jets all seem to be very clean with minimal weathering, so this won't take long either. A bit more metallic work around the engines then it will just be a case of popping on all the sub assemblies.

 

More soon.

 

Dave

[exdraken]

I am in love!

😍

 

[DaveJL]

21 hours ago, exdraken said:

I am in love!

😍

 

Thanks Werner, I'm a big fan of the scheme myself

 

More done over the last few days. Panel wash went on - I had to add some more washing up liquid to the Flory wash to get it to stick to the panel lines - it is quite faint in some areas but didn't want to overdo it. The excess was cleaned off then I added the pylons, FOD inserts, stabilisers and a few of the antennae.

 

 

Hoping to get the flat varnish on tomorrow, add the landing gear and possibly get the exhaust areas finished.

 

More soon.

 

Dave

[exdraken]

simply great!

 

[DaveJL]

6 minutes ago, exdraken said:

simply great!

 

Thanks Werner!

[Col.]

A lot of work on the paintjob but heading for a stunning result