BIG Russian Jet Groupie GB

LOL, I've got two of the 1/32 Flankers sitting behind me right now in various states of unfinished...

The nose cone fit on the B has had me stymied for months as I just can't think up a fix for it- either I reshape the cone with heat (scary thought) or I pack it full of milliput and start grinding and sanding it down to match the fuselage contours.  Otherwise, that bird is ready for painting.   The C got sidetracked by some other GB entries (Frogfoot and MiG-21).   I've got several Linden Hill and Begemot decal packages for each if I ever get back to them.

If you haven't tried one, look into Trumpeter's 1/32 Su-25UB as it's a fantastic kit with excellent details all the around and there's a kick-ass resin cockpit set for it as well as PE.  I've spent as much time on painting the Frogfoot's cockpit as I have spent on the entire MiG-21 project.

This is my main contest entry and has been getting all my love for a couple of months now... two weeks to finish it.

Lol yeah the flanker is really massive! Looking at your mig 21 I would like to see you make the Flanker as you did a really good job of that kit, and if I were you I'd enter the competition!

Thanks, guys.   She's far from perfect- up close examination reveals all sorts of ugly stuff- I had thought to enter it in an upcoming local contest, but now not so much.

Dean-  I had wondered how the 1/32 MiG-29 compared in size to a 1/32 Flanker, now I know!

Yeah Dre that looks great.

Wow, Dre----that looks a LOT better since you've marked her and done some toning down!!!!!!  I'd give it one more treatment of "toning-down" before calling it done....

So, here is this weekend's work thus far.... panel line shadowed with thinned Tamiya clear smoke, a wash with W&N Payne's Grey acrylic watercolor for some details and then overall flat coated with MM acrylic flat mixed with 3 drops of Sand for some panel highlighting and dusty appearance.   I may still add some pastels for a dustier look.

Once I add the gear, doors, ordnance and probe, she's done.

direct sun..

and in shade..

I have made Tamiya's 1/32 F-16 (don't have it anymore) but the Mig 29 and F-16 were roughly the same size. Although the Mig 29 was until the new Eurofighter came out the most maneuverable jet fighter ever made. F-16 sustains 9G turns, Mig29 sustains 12G turns, new generation Typhoon 12G, so even though it's not new it's still awesome.

Yep, the 29 was actually fairly small when compared to other 3rd generation fighters----from all countries....although it shared a very similar shape to the Flanker...

...yes...

Fermis, I'm going to use a #11 blade to help them lay down into the panel lines...

Manny,  a little weekend fun?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSpctmf7uuk&feature=related

Dre

This being the decal work of which I spoke of yesterday...

I'm going to touch-up some of the decals with paint as some had minor tears and a little creeping shrinkage from the SolvaSet...  hairline white lines appeared between the black and red rings.   I'll get the final green rings put on tonight and possibly the two aircraft numbers on the nose, but they might require a little surgery to fit around the two instrument probes in that area.  

Get all that done I can begin weathering this turd...

Dre

This being the decal work of which I spoke of yesterday...

I'm going to touch-up some of the decals with paint as some had minor tears and a little creeping shrinkage from the SolvaSet...  hairline white lines appeared between the black and red rings.   I'll get the final green rings put on tonight and possibly the two aircraft numbers on the nose, but they might require a little surgery to fit around the two instrument probes in that area.  

Get all that done I can begin weathering this turd...

MAN!!!...good luck getting all them layers to snuggle down into the panel lines!!!

yehbo Bwana.

Enough with the whining already...decal that mug and move on, trooper...

I haven't tried to do that yet...  sounds like putting the FU back in "fun".

At least you aren't layering dry transfers!

This being the decal work of which I spoke of yesterday...

I'm going to touch-up some of the decals with paint as some had minor tears and a little creeping shrinkage from the SolvaSet...  hairline white lines appeared between the black and red rings.   I'll get the final green rings put on tonight and possibly the two aircraft numbers on the nose, but they might require a little surgery to fit around the two instrument probes in that area.  

Get all that done I can begin weathering this turd...

True dat, but it allows me to make them out of register or distort them in the process as they're really thin. I'm just grumbling because the design isn't complicated- red star on a white field surrounded by green, red and black rings and I could be finished with them and moving onto the next stage by tonight.

The white layer could be a little thicker as a base color, there's just a hint of bleed-through...  but it probably won't be as noticeable once I get the rest of the design laid on.

The primary reason some companies "break-up" a complicated marking into several decals that you have to "build" by layer is because of registration problems in the printing process...allowing you to build them eliminates off-register decals but can be a PITA to apply...

Speaking of decals..  I started to put the Afghani national insignia on the MiG last night.. 6 white paint decals, followed tonight by the 6 red stars and ring and then 6 more green ring decals.   Why not print them as one decal?   Sheesh...  8 markings = 20 decals.

That N. Korean scheme looks ..  challenging.

Wasn't somebody in here asking about North Korean MiG29s??

The North Korean Mig-29 featured on the sheet is "553". This sheet only became possible after good quality photos of the aircraft became public after the new North Korean leader Kim Jong-Eun's visit to the air base housing a Mig-29 unit. The Korean inscription near the cockpit gives the dates that this particular aircraft was inspected by late North Korean leaders Kim Jong-Il and Kim-Il Sung. We believe these are the first and only accurate decals for an operational North Korean Mig-29.

The Iranian examples are Mig-29 no. 3-6133 and Mig-29UB no.6305; both of which were photographed with a large eagle's head tail art during 2011.

The decals are designed to fit the 1/48 Academy Mig-29 kit. Full color painting instructions with color code suggestions are included. This decal sheet is professionally silk screen printed in the Czech Republic.

Hi Dre no I did not have many problems with the nose, I did remove it and lengthen it by 1cm approximately but the hardest part was reshaping the whole front fuselage it took about 4 weeks of sanding and using filler it became a damn nightmare but I believe it worked out well. I used plastic card and filler only for the whole conversion. To be honest the model for the most part has no real fit issues, nothing more than you would expect from a kit.

I, for one, do not sneak my kits into the house- I walk tall and proud with them in my arms like a beloved child.

Manstein's revenge

What's with all this sneakin' kits into houses???

Sneaking kits into houses, well, uhhhhhhhh look - a nickel!!! ------------->

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What's with all this sneakin' kits into houses???

It's apparently one of a few defector AC that we borrowed from Israel back in the day.  Squadron has the 1/32 Trumpy MiG-17 kits for 20 bucks and change right now... good price point for a relatively plain kit that needs some AM loving.

No, there's no way to sneak that box into the house unseen- the Su-30MKK box is even larger than the Su-27 boxes but the bulk of what's inside is the endless sprues of Russian weapons.   In that regard those are value-added kits just because you get more weapons than you'll ever need- I have about 3 cubic feet of Trumpeter weapons sprues now.