Flanker Frenzy 2012

I actually found profiles people did of "what if" Flankers: gettin' blasphemous!

Blasphemous?  I'd call those awesome.   

Thanks for the finds Owl,- they only add fuel to the fires of fevered imagination.

mini Flankers are being re-deployed!! Need to start my Flanker soon!!!

Yes you do, slacker!

I've been wondering how to effectively mask the missile bodies so I can paint the fins a steel color, this after I've already painted the tubes white...  i need to get a better game plan.

Dre

Yes you do, slacker!

I've been wondering how to effectively mask the missile bodies so I can paint the fins a steel color, this after I've already painted the tubes white...  i need to get a better game plan.

I'm a slacker on the outside, but on the inside, I've got half my stash already built....

Masking the missile bodies.... could you use a sticky note, drop it in against the missile body + up against the fin joint, hand-brush the fin colour right up to the sticky note.... rinse & repeat all the way 'round? Sounds like an evening session to me, but it should work.

jolly rogers flanker !! could be blasphemous but i really like!!

bsyamato

jolly rogers flanker !! could be blasphemous but i really like!!

I do remember someone in the US Dept of Defence suggesting Sukhoi products as replacements for the F14. Don't think it went very far though!

VanceCrozier

 

 

 

I'm a slacker on the outside, but on the inside, I've got half my stash already built....

That's a fantastic way of looking at it, thanks for the laugh.

I wound up using a roll of narrow (3mm) vinyl draftsman's tape to mask in between the fins and around the small details- it worked out great as it is low-tack and kind of stretchable, so I was able to get better results than cutting Tamiya tape. Then, I wound strips of 3M blue painters tape over the tubular body areas to leave only the fins showing.  Masking the 4 missiles took about 4 long hours last night.  This morning I shot a couple of covering coats of MM acrylic Gun Metal on the fins followed on by a slight tonal modulation on the edges made with a lightened mix of the paint that was left in my AB.

So far so good, I have minimal cleanup and spotting to do and am really surprised that doing it backwards worked out so well.   I hope to have the detail painting done this afternoon and possibly get a coat of Future on them before sleepytime tonight.

I'll post pics of the closer-to-finished product later.

Had the Flanker sprues out last night to get my brain going on assembly.

The Flanker vs Sea Flanker sprues & instructions are basically identical, except for the forward canards, and they are just tack-ons. I think I'll be building one of my Sea Flankers as a "regular" Flanker to take advantage of the decal sheet I had ordered.

There are actually not that many parts to deal with in the Italeri kit. I've started assembly on the cockpit/ejection seat, hoping for paint in the next few days. I'll start cleaning up some of the smaller sub assemblies & other items I can do prior to completing my He177.

Vance, there's not much to that Italeri kit, is there?   I can see why you went for AM decals as there's not much option in the box.  Are you going to keep the raised lines, or sand-n-rescribe?

I got one to use as a paint mule, so who knows what it will end up looking like once this GB is complete...

Despite the riskiness of 2nd hand, already-open boxes, the decals actually look to be in good shape & useable, even if there isn't much variety. I'll probably do a little mix'n'match & use kit decals for the Sea Flanker when I get to it, but yes, very glad I found those AM decals. Lots of good options including a couple of Ukranian birds

You know what, I hadn't even really though of re-scribing. May try that with the next one & just build this first one straight-up. (subject to change depending on seam-filling & sanding damage of course!)

After the dust settled last night I realized I had about an hour to play with, grabbed the "collection of Soviet cockpits" and applied the interior green-blue. Now that it's dry, my mix needed a little more blue. So I'll probably adjust my mix from last night, do one more thin coat to blue it up a little...

Uh.....  you might want to check that cockpit color.  In all my research I haven't found the typical Russian bright blue/green paint inside a Flanker cockpit, only a light blue.  RLM 76 is pretty close.

Given how prominent that fuselage seam is going to be (and it looks like a lot of filling too), I'll probably just shave off all the raised lines on mine...

Really??? I'd found a bunch of pictures with the infamous blue-green... (although, I can do RLM 76!...)

Hmmmm - "infamous blue-green"...

Or "stolen from the Luftwaffe" RLM 76...

This could be worse than Manny's Caramel Controversy...

OK, I have confused your blue/green with my blue/green...  I was thinking of that much greener interior color found in MiG's...   sorry.

Still though, everything I've found on Flanker interiors shows a color that ranges between the two tones seen in those pics, making color matching a PITA.  Add the Eduard preprinted PE and increase the fun!

colour matching a PITA?... or liberating, because now we're all right!?!?! 

I have an old book about early flankers (brought in early 90' ??) need to found and will check about the old cockpit colour , but remember me too early flankers was painted with a light blue tone

When it's a WAG, color matching is fun.  When it's Eduard's preprinted PE, then it's a PITA...

It's enough to make a person want to black-out the cockpit and smoke the canopy to hide these things.

bsyamato

I have an old book about early flankers (brought in early 90' ??) need to found and will check about the old cockpit colour , but remember me too early flankers was painted with a light blue tone

Early Flanker vs later Flanker... could be the reason for seeing both options online.

Could be, could be...  I've found nothing that documents a cockpit color change during the production runs, but that doesn't prove that it didn't happen.   If you get into export/rebuilt for export airframes, then all bets are off.

it's great to see and read about all the progress.  i have been forced to be away for several weeks now, but am makingit back to my workbench this weekend.  should be able to get some pics posted in the next few days.  

happy modeling all...

Dre

Could be, could be...  I've found nothing that documents a cockpit color change during the production runs, but that doesn't prove that it didn't happen.   If you get into export/rebuilt for export airframes, then all bets are off.

Hmmm - how about this pic, from the Sukhoi corporate website, definitely a blue-gray, with a bit of green. I wonder if they simply aren't all that fussy about the tint of the interior paint. Throw in some variations after x years of service....

Man, are there any "mainstream" kits of the two-seat UB version? It has beautiful lines as well, curves in all the right places!

VanceCrozier

 

 

Hmmm - how about this pic, from the Sukhoi corporate website, definitely a blue-gray, with a bit of green. I wonder if they simply aren't all that fussy about the tint of the interior paint. Throw in some variations after x years of service....

Sukhoi does seem to like that baby blue, unlike that acidic bluish green I'm using in the Frogfoot.

Man, are there any "mainstream" kits of the two-seat UB version? It has beautiful lines as well, curves in all the right places!

Yes.... in 1/32!!  There ought to be plenty to chose from in the other scales as well- it's a popular aircraft.  Look for one of the aerobatic Russian Knights kits and use Am decals.  Lots of the kits are listed as "unavailable" though...

The UB's curves are what makes me prefer it over the B..  even if Trumpeter squashed the proportions.

VanceCrozier

Man, are there any "mainstream" kits of the two-seat UB version? It has beautiful lines as well, curves in all the right places!

I just got a box o' paint in from my supply guy and I can get started in earnest on my UB. I plan to do the blue cammo, I have loved it ever since I first laid eyes on it. School lets out June 1 and I will have tons more time to get started, at least until August 15 when I have to go back to work...

Cool, what paints?

After a quick search, it seems that in 1/72 (my preferred scale for modern a/c), my option is a Heller kit for the mainstream gang...

Dre

Cool, what paints?

An assortment of humbrol blues and grays. I find their paints to be the absolute best I have ever used, hands down. For brushing, the brush strokes disappear. I prefer to brush paint unless it is a very large area like the hulls of my ships. 

I love those Humbrol enamels.... hate the bloody little tins they come in though.

I used some Humbrols as a kid and always wondered why they chose to use that stupid little tin...  great paint if thinned right but a total PITA for airbrushing.   After a few years of acrylics, I've been playing with enamels again and love them for their coverage.

Funny, I never had any airbrushing problems with them. Well, nothing that couldn't be chalked up to "pilot error"...

At age 15, it was pouring them out without making a mess that was problematic... still is, too.  Didn't know much about proper thinning then, either...   Amazing what one learns once they read the book....