My Su-15 now has a finished nose gear well, engine air ducts and exhausts, and (as of tonight) wings. The nose gear well was a really poor fit. I suppose moulding it in four pieces let them put more detail on the sides, but it took filler to close the gaps. The wing halves, in contrast, fit together really nicely. The wingtips and trailing edges are very thin, and there were some reinforcing tabs that had to be sanded off, which was a challenge. The left wingtip didn't come out unscathed.
I've held off doing the cockpit so far because I'm trying to work up the nerve to do something ambitious. The instrument panel is a flat piece with a decal, and I've seen FSM articles about adding depth by sandwiching the decal between layers of acetate and thin styrene with holes for the instruments. The instructions include a picture of the decal I can use as a guide for punching the holes. It sounds simple, but I've never attempted this before.
For those who have built aircraft before, how can I protect the cockpit and gear well paint jobs when I airbrush the model? I figure I can put cotton balls in the engines and intakes, but I don't think that would work on the gear wells. For the cockpit, I suppose I can temporarily glue the canopy closed...
EDIT: one other qurstion: from the reviews I've read, the Trumpeter kit's decals are terrible, and the only aftermarket sheet I've been able to find so far (the Begemot one, #48001) is for aircraft from 1990 or later. Does anyone know of some aftermarket decals for the Su-15TM in 1/48 that fit in the group build's pre-1989 timeframe?
M.