BIG Russian Jet Groupie GB

That burner can is a kit unto itself PB!

MAN!! How long has it been since I checked in here?? My locker has cobwebs on it!

Thanks! For some reason, the dark gray/flat black seems to do the trick. Or maybe it's just the crappy lighting on my workbench. :-)

THAT folks, is some fabulous Flanker fiddlin'...

Wow that's impressive I really thought it was the rubber tyres.

Thanks, Dean! Not the kit tires (which are molded in plastic), but Eduard's set of resin wheels (purchased extra, even though the kit is their repop, kind of annoying), which have just a wee bit more detail. Painted them with flat black mixed with dark gray.

Looks great, is that the rubber tyres you get with the Academy kit? I say as they look good, I personally prefer Rubber tyres as I am terrible at painting wheels. Plus to me nothing looks more like rubber than rubber, it's like when you see a foil covered kit next to a nmf paint job, there's just no comparison.

Nose gear done! Took only about a week and a half. :-)

Hope everyone is well. 

PB

So agree, Dre! The whole airframe is a work of art.

Thanks, Dean. No resin wells, just what comes with the Academy kit, and Eduard added some PE bits. I did get Eduard's wheel set, though.  

Looks great PB, can't wait to see the rest, does it have resin wheel wells?

I don't care what anyone says, that's still the most graceful line from the canopy back through the tail spike...

Shiny!

Some of the PE for the flame holders was just too small and fiddly, so for the sake of my sanity (and moving on with the build), I punted and did the minimum to get the cans finished. Now, on to the flaps and nose gear. Hope everyone is well!

PB

Well, there's the main resin can, a narrow PE sleeve which goes around the inside (which I left off because it was a pain), then four layers of turkey feathers/actuators, and then the sleeve (?) which goes around the upper half of the outside of the resin can.

And that's not even counting the flame holder, which itself is resin and has a die-cast ring, and about four PE rings. And also a resin turbine (?) at the other end. The detail is ridiculous considering you won't be able to see any of it without a flashlight. I'm tackling that next.

How many parts per can are there?   I may have to look into these for my 1/32 fleet someday...

Hmmm, never thought of that, Dean. Could work? Since I have a couple of failed attempts lying around, I I could test it out first. :-)

Yeah, painting them is going to be a whole other challenge. Can't even think about that now or my brain will hurt.

Finished the other can, and turned out pretty well, too, I think:

And here's a closeup of some of the PE that Eduard included in the kit:

That trick might work better if the PE were that bright and shiny nickel-clad PE from Trumpeter... but it is a damn good thought.

Painting those cans will be an exercise of its own.

If you have alclad II paints they work well, on the other hand I would say even heat the photoetch sprue with a lighter and see what happens, might look better than paint?

Thanks, Dre! Glad you guys think it was worth all the agony I went through.

I'll probably be done with this build sometime in the spring. No joke. :-)

The other trick will be painting the exhausts--I've never tried the blued and burnt metal look before, so I'll probably need some advice when I reach that point, too.

Eh, I'm following along but not saying much (until now...)

That PE looks fantastic, PB.  I agree with Dean- the resin does look weak compared to the PE.

It sounds like your slow and steady method is the only way to complete those cans- I can't see speeding that up without adding errors.  I look forward to seeing this bird finished.

Haha yes it's the Hobbyboss 1/48 kit, I should be starting in in Feb after my night school course ends. You know I never thought I would say this, but by comparison the resin parts look shabby and lacking detail. The North Star option was worth the effort definitely.

Thanks! In the end, the trick was nothing more than perseverance and patience. :-) I just took things slowly, attaching a small segment of the feathers at a time, letting the CA dry, then moving on.

Now that I know what I have to do, I'm hoping the second can will be easier to complete and will be a little more symmetrical.

Aires cans look like this:

In any event, glad at least one of you guys is following along. I need the moral support. :-)

F-105….would love to see that.

I'm good thanks, I have to say I had a look at the close up photos and I can't find fault they look great. Anyway, it's not a race take your time they always turn out better that way, this GB started in 2012 so I think it's no rush now, as soon as I get my a**e in gear I will get my SU-27 or Mig-21 started, though my next build may well be a F-105. However I look forward to seeing more.

YES! Now those are good looking engines, how did you do it in the end? I have no idea how the Resin exhausts would look, but I imagine the photo etch is definitely better for thinness for scale.

Phew! Survived the holidays over here, and finally got back to the bench after a few weeks.

Dean, thanks for the encouragement…I ordered another set (or two) of the NS cans and gave it another shot. See below for the results. Not perfect, but I think looks better than the kit or Aires cans…? Hopefully I can get the second one built without too many problems.

Hope all is well! This build is going to take months, I think…..

Hmm, well if the photoetch is too thick to wrap could you push it so it over laps itself so it would essentially be too small, I imagine you would have to use a lot of pressure, then test fit it when it is too small around the ridge and it should ( in theory) sit around the resin part. if it does leave it and apply the glue where it is liberally in the gaps? Perhaps that is a way to get it to adhere. Worth a try if you're gonna throw them away or not use them. I saw it's a product of Latvia, where I was in the summer! Amazing country. I found a Backfire Bomber near RIX!

Man, if you can get them to look like the photos, they are awesome, but….I think the biggest problem is that the photoetch is made out of really thick brass that doesn't bend readily or adhere easily to the CA I have (I'm used to working with Eduard's PE, which is very thin and malleable, almost to a fault). Makes it really difficult to attach the PE to the resin parts (ie, the burner can bases).That's a problem when you have to wrap the PE in a full circle around the burner can ends. :-( You get one end of the PE down and BOING! the other end pops up. Not to mention that the turkey feathers have to be aligned perfectly, or the layering effect of the subsequent feathers is all mis-matched.

And not to mention the instructions aren't entirely clear. Sometimes the illustrations don't jive with what I'm seeing on the PE, so I made a couple of minor mistakes that caused a cascading series of issues which ended in a mess.

Any suggestions?

After seeing the North Star SU-27 engines, I would say, don't give up! If you can save them do! Those look like a project of weeks alone true, but I would say clean them with nail polish remover to get the glue off, flatten them and start again! Man those things look awesome!

Abort! Abort!

Well, this afternoon I tried to assemble one of the burners and made a mess of it. Luckily, I was smart enough to know this might happen so also bought the Aires set, which I'll use instead. They're not as detailed as the NS set, but better than the Academy cans, so will do fine.

In any event, kudos to anyone the skill get everything in the NS set lined up properly. There are about four layers of turkey feathers for each burner….!

And I blunder forward…..

I have the Academy /48 Flanker, I wouldn't mind seeing those.

The construction footage looks like my basement! ;-) Love the gray camo.

Awesome vid, thanks for posting.

Done with the intakes, which were a pain (as all intakes are, regardless of kit). Next--tackle the North Star burner cans. Those are entire build themselves. Yikes.