Flanker Frenzy 2012

And camo is done.  MM enamel Flanker colors mixed 75:25 with Gloss White.

Tomorrow I'll begin masking and painting things white and shiny.

Look at all that Flanker-y goodness!! Looking good Dre, and making me miss MM enamels a little bit!

I decided to, uhhhhh, "allow my paint to fully cure before handling again" over the weekend. Spent some time with a petite French model (MS.406), and had multiple batches of family over at various times. Will try to finish off my touch-ups this evening though.

I got a few decals put on last night before I quit for the day- 9 hours of masking, painting and touching up were enough for me...   I'll finish the decals tonight and begin the remaining detail painting.

and now it wears all the decals that I care to put on it....

Dre

and now it wears all the decals that I care to put on it....

...

Nice!! I keep looking at that "Sukhoi bird" on the tail & thinking it's upside-down. I'll really have to watch myself as I start decalling, I don't want to be "that guy" ...

Although the instructions showed the Archer on both tail fins, it only goes on one side and I didn't ref my books so I might have this on the wrong fin!   Oh well, it's going to hang from a classroom ceiling so accurate details aren't too critical.  LOL, 'that guy'...  been him, done that.

Some last minute detail paint is drying right now and I'll throw on a dull coat/haze layer later tonight.  I'll add the breakables, missiles and attach the burner cans tomorrow and then call it FINISHED.

Had the Flanker out last night for some touchups in areas where the masking pulled up etc. Not really obvious from the pic, but the Inspector approved.

I keep looking at it wondering if my colours are too deep, but many of the Ukrainian Flankers (when new, of course) seem to have that good deep colour. Will decide tonight if I'll be over-spraying the thing tonight or not. At this point I think I'm leaving it as-is, I do like the colours so far.

yep.. great and good progress guys !!

I like those colors as they are, Vance.   If anything, use a little grey in the dullcoat for that blended look.

Sharp camo work...  I may have to try one someday.

To give an idea of just how large this thing is...

Last night consisted of a little bit of highlighting raised panel lines with a pencil, followed by a couple of rounds of brushing on Future + buffing. Still need another coat  I think. Happy that there was very little colour shifting. Progress, just nothing worth taking a picture of! Sooooo go back to my last photos and imagine them slightly shinier, and you're ll caught up.

Tonight's a write-off so expect to see decals on the Flanker this weekend.

I'm imagining your shiny Flanker...  finished.

After I dropped off my gift Flanker and talked to the the classes, I stopped by the LHS/dive shop that is around the corner from the school and got some more MM enamel Flanker Medium Blue as I'm going to need a lot more of this stuff before this GB is over...

Does MM sell in pints, or gallons???

I wish....  

Returned to the Su-27UB C last night, finished painting the wheel wells and nacelles.   I'll try to get those mounted onto the lower fuselage body tonight and possibly get the fuselage closed up as well.

I believe I may, possibly, probably, HOPEFULLY be starting decals this evening.

Knock on wood.

Hopefully it won't take 8 1/2 hours like mine did...

Hmm, problems getting photos up, but.... decals have been started on the Flanker.

Man, The Authentic decals sheet is really comprehensive, all stenciling etc. BUT... these things are touchy. Really fragile, had several break on trying to move them of the sheet. I also broke my own rule of "try a stencil first" and went right to one of the Ukrainian roundels, which tore a little bit. Colour density seems really good on everything except the roundels of all things. May need to touch them up, trying to decide if that may just make it worse than it is now.

May not take 8.5 hours, but it'll be time-consuming.

Tearing a decal sucks, I usually make that a chipped spot...   if they're touchy, would warmer water help them be a little more pliable?  Sometimes it helps, sometimes it don't..

I think I've got the magic combo now, although they still have issues. 12 seconds in lukewarm water, 20 seconds sitting, them move into a puddle of water using a Q-tip.

BUT... I've got another problem that I didn't really see until looking at the pictures. (Friggin' poor lighting where I was working last night.) Decal film has yellowed.

Alright, all those stencils would make the machine look showroom-fresh, right? Starting to re-think that as well, have yet to see ANY pics of Ukrainian Flankers with stencils visible?? Considering scrubbing the smaller stencils off, or mostly-overpainting them - thoughts?


Rudders turned out well...


The carrier film seems to be yellowing a little.


Some more slight yellowing here. Roundel looks alright here, where it is laying over one colour.


Not as happy here, where there are multiple colours.


The black access point decals... kinda wishing they were gray,

Hard call to make...  it does seem that less is more accurate.   I guess that once they get sold and repainted they just cover up the factory markings.

Thinking I may stop where I am and do some over-spraying.

Reminds me I haven't started mine yet. Its a bummer about the roundels Vance, but the rest looks good to me.

Cheers

Tony

Taxtp- no worries on the time frame as I've extended it into next year.

Awesome Dre, love your work !

Cheers

Tony

Great and good updates guys  

Hope some progress soon.. actually scratchin the ejection seats rows  i see it in some picture but it's hard to build and fit in the cockpit

I don't see how you can fit anything into a 1/72 cockpit, let alone scratch the interior...  but keep it up!

i have some secret 

What's about your flanker? finished and only a picture??

Well...   I've returned to the two-seater that started all this.   I got too wrapped up in other things and let it stall.   There will be more pics to come.

Alright, deep breathing exercises completed, progress can be reported.

So, the bad news - the Ukrainian bird I picked had a false canopy painted on the underside. Dropped the decal in warm water for 12 seconds, just like all the others and... DISASTER!



Didn't just crack, it disintegrated. So, taking a deep breath, I masked & painted with my topside dark blue.




Now that I'm looking at the decal pics again, it's not quite the same shape, but it'll do.

Got decent results on the heat-staining effect - a couple different silvers & gunmetals, tried a couple of washes which helped some, then finished of with Tamiya weathering pastels...


Also used the "rust" weathering pastels on the gunmetal area around the cannon. Looks a little grainy in the picture, but has the right effect "in person"...


Almost time to unmask the canopy.


Rudders dry-fitted in place. Looking like a clean joint. Easier to store on the workbench this way, will be the last thing I attach before my overall clear coats.

As you may or may not be able to tell above, I left all the stencil decals in place, overcoated them to give the appearance of faded-out stencils. I've also picked out some of the small access panels with lightened or darkened versions of the surrounding paint. Will be hitting the (raised) panel lines with a dark pencil next.

Pretty good looking aircraft Vance. It's an interesting scheme, isn't it.  Good save on the false canopy too, if you hadn't  said so,  I wouldn't have realised about the shape difference.

Cheers

Tony