DBMiller's Testors Su-27B

[DBMiller]

I was going to build a different plane but found this tucked out of the way since it didn't have a box. I bought it years ago at a model show for only $6! You can see from the dust that I haven't looked at this thing in a while! I did, however, buy a new set of decals at the same time, also forgotten about.

Yucky!



The inner (original) bag. All the parts in one bag. Just the way we all like them!



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The new markings:

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Next to the kit markings:

[Nige201980]

Best of luck with the build DB

[DBMiller]

Paint came in today!

[DBMiller]

Well, it took a while to find my original post! It was the second to last entry of the entire build thread! While I wait to gather the energy to decal my F-16 I guess I'll get going on the Su-27!

There are very few parts to this kit, only 2 sprues, so it should go together pretty quickly. The cockpit is quite a bit better (relatively speaking) than my F-16's. At least there are molded controls and not lame decals. The biggest issue is that, being such an old kit, the color call outs are in FS codes, not Russian! The decal set I have tells the exterior colors but not interior so I've had some trips to Google to try and sort it out. It will be good enough for me.

The cockpit and interior all primed up!

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Painted with Akan interior color for the Su-27. Very nice paints! the interior of the gear wells and intakes is just a light gray from Ammo. It looks darker in the photo than on my desk but I may still use an even lighter gray over that. The photos online show it almost white.

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The intakes fit the fuselage pretty well (they are glued on but I haven't taken pictures yet) but not very good otherwise. I know these covers are supposed to flip down to avoid sucking junk into the intakes, but, these are some nasty gaps! And, I didn't even bother with the ejector marks.

[Sturm]

So far so good. Those Akan paints, are they acrylic or enamels and do they do well brush painted?.thanks!

[usetherudders]

Looking good got this kit as the Italeri box.
Box art shows the aircraft in light grey and the blue but instructions call for Grey's.

[Homerlovesbeer]

Ha! $6! Fun stuff

[DBMiller]

Looking good got this kit as the Italeri box.
Box art shows the aircraft in light grey and the blue but instructions call for Grey's.

I thought this was an Italeri kit but wasn't sure! It's really not that bad a kit. The fit is pretty good and it is a fast build. The big issue is the raised panel lines. They disappear so fast while cleaning up seams!

[DBMiller]

So far so good. Those Akan paints, are they acrylic or enamels and do they do well brush painted?.thanks!

Here is a quickie brush paint demo of the Akan paint. The card is painted with Vallejo black primer, the spare parts are bare plastic. I used a round brush for all of it although a flat would have been better on the card. So ,not too bad, and much better than Tamiya for brushing.


Now, to the drama. I don't like drama in my builds. This is an inexpensive kit with very few parts, a nice set of decals, and new paints to try out. It was supposed to be a quick, get it off my shelf, build with very few posts while I concentrate on making my F-16 more interesting.
I fully expected to have some re-scribing. I hate it but expected it - especially around these seams at the nose. There were sprue gates on each side and I sanded off a lot of the raised panel lines trying to clean that up. Aside from that things were going well. The intakes fit almost perfectly and just needed some clamping so I would not shift them while handling the model. The blue tape and toothpick bit at the engine is protecting a blade antenna that was bent over when I started the build.

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Here are the seams that needed cleaning.

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Even the wings glued on nicely! I love the look of this monster!

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This is NOT a good sign.



'This monster' is a bit (a lot) tail heavy. I think "Su-27" is Russian for "Tail Sitter." Guess what is missing from the nose. Luckily, I thought, the nose cone is part of the fuselage and not a separate piece. I could drill a hole in the front of the nose gear bay, dump in some shot, seal up the hole and good to go! I thought.

The drill went through too fast and snagged on the plastic. A very nice, inch and a half CRACK popped across the nose!

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Did I Hulk Smash the kit? No. Deep breath and glue up the crack in anticipation of more sanding and re-scribing and move on.

[DBMiller]

The F-16 is finally done so I can concentrate on this one!

More work gluing bits in prep for priming. Also sealed up the hole I had to drill (dynamite, by the look of the mess!) with thin sheet.

[DBMiller]

Last few small bits added.



Primed! I should just get some red stars and call it Top Gun - 2016!

[Avgas]

Looking good. Good save on the nose.

[DBMiller]

Short update today. First pass at color with the Akan paints. Sorry about the white balance shift; I changed bulbs in my light and forgot to adjust for it. The first 2 photos are more accurate (on my monitor). I've since added more color and fixed the error on the right wing.

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[Always48]

I like that camo alot. Your build is coming on great mate

[DBMiller]

Whew! I thought this build ended March 31! I may still finish on time!

[Always48]

Haha yep still a month to go.

really impressed with how you overcame the nose issue. the paintwork looks great

edit: just realised im getting old as ive repeated myself lol

[DBMiller]

I've been catching up on the painting. I only have the nose cone, antenna, and gear bays to mask and paint as well as the weapons, and, of course, the engines. So, rather a lot really.

[rwsmith14]

She looks Good DB,

[Schoof]

Just under 2 weeks left..... hope you'll be able to make it

[DBMiller]

Got a little done today! And messed up a bit of the masking on the right vertical stabilizer radar (the white bit). Oh well.

You can see where I missed the panel line. I can fix that easy enough.



And a few more. The nose needs another coat too.

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Damn, these close ups really show off my crummy work!

[DBMiller]

Getting iffy here...but, just maybe I'll get it done.

Finally got to the metal work. I used Testors Model Master Steel as the base. It's a bit grainier than I would like but not too bad. I don't really have any idea how I missed a spot of camo right below the gun port.

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[DBMiller]

I gave it a light coat of Aqua Gloss to protect the stainless steel paint then added some Testors Metalizer Burnt Metal to the engines, painted the anti glare panel, and touched up a bit of trouble elsewhere. Glued in the nose gear and attached the main gear wheels.

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[DBMiller]

Just a bit of an edit to my last post. I've masked the canopy parts, gave them a coat of Aqua Gloss to act as a clear primer then painted the interior color. I will paint the exterior color when this dries. I've also pretty much finished the weapons. This must be the worst job on missiles that anyone has ever done; I hate to even show a photo.
I don't know what it was about them but I just could not get a decent paint job.

[DBMiller]

I don't think I will make the deadline. I have 2 decals left and one is the most difficult! Working with beautiful decals looses something when they weren't made for the kit you have. There are two that need to be cut to fit the way I built the kit. The shark tail had to be cut along the stabilizer (because I glued it on already) and the shark body has to be cut around the landing gear (since I installed that already). The shark body is the decal that will give me some trouble and I don't think I can tackle it tonight. Not only do I have to cut it, correctly, but I have to make sure the front edge lines up so the shark mouth will fit into the space on the decal and on the engine intake. Then I still have to finish and install the missiles, seal the decals, and give it a bit of a wash. NO WAY TONIGHT!

Here is the shark started.
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Here is the complex decal and where I has to go.
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Here is the tail done (the other side is done too) and the right side shark mouth in place. You can see the number markings, 08 came out pretty good for being my first 2-part decals; white under, red over.
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[DBMiller]

Still plugging away! The shark decal turned out to be more of a problem than I thought it would be. So, while I geared myself up for that task I put on some of the kit decals for texture: warning labels, etc.



Here is the problem; it isn't long enough! I put the tail on first so it lined up correctly. Then I put on the torso up against the mouth so that would line up. Wait. Wait. There is a gap! There is a gap? Why?

Look! The two ends of the decal in the (I think) correct place but there is a gap! And that piece of decal I cut off the head is supposed to go above the mouth but that looks wrong too!



So, here it is in place, sort of. But how does that other piece I cut off go on? I think I'll just use it to fill in the gap and call it a bad job done. Shame. A beautiful decal set wasted on the wrong kit.

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[JudgeDredd]

That looks great. I can honestly say I can't "envisage" the problem you mention, 'cos it looks fine.

[Schoof]

I'll move your thread to the aircraft section because the gb has ended already.
To bad you didn't make it, it's a beautiful plane