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Cold War (1950-1974)
Discuss the aircraft modeling subjects during the Cold War period.
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Pimp my SU-7 BKL - Need for speed
SGTJKJ
#041
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Kobenhavn, Denmark
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Posted: Monday, December 22, 2008 - 01:05 AM UTC
Hi all

I now want to take my aircraft building to yet another level. I have used a lot of PE and resin on AFVs before, but not on aircraft. Should be basically the same thing, but that is what I also thought when I started making aircraft after making AFVs for many years.

Anyway, the Kopro 1/48 SU-7 BKL will be my trial kit for pimp'ing it up with lots of PE, resin seat and resin air scoops.
The kit is a good candidate for some AM updates as the kit is basic with quite soft details. However, there are some very good looking markings and colour schemes included in the kit.

It is also my entry for the Need for speed campaign.

Here are the kit and the AM stuff.

















VonCuda
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North Carolina, United States
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Posted: Tuesday, December 23, 2008 - 08:37 AM UTC
When I read the title to this thread I was envisioning big wheels and pink fur carpet in the cockpit.

Seriously Jesper, that's a lot of PE. Don't wont to work on that one if it's lightening outside! Can't wait to see all those details come together. She'll be a knockout.

Hermon
SGTJKJ
#041
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Kobenhavn, Denmark
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Posted: Sunday, December 28, 2008 - 10:36 AM UTC
Thanks for the comments, Hermon.

Work is progressing on this build. However, my computer has crashed so pictures will be coming as soon as it has been fixed.
Bigrip74
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Texas, United States
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Posted: Monday, December 29, 2008 - 05:25 PM UTC
Hello Jesper:
I agree with Hermon, I had other thoughts when I read the heading. Great looking set of items that you have for this build, which nation is this kit and color scheme going to be for?


Robert
vanize
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Texas, United States
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Posted: Monday, December 29, 2008 - 06:06 PM UTC
looks ambitious!

welcome to the realm of modeling insanity.
SGTJKJ
#041
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Kobenhavn, Denmark
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Posted: Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - 05:53 AM UTC
Thanks for the comments, guys. The work on this one is progressing quite good due to the holiday. I have put quite a lot of time into it already, but only just put the wings to the fuselage. I will post more pictures as soon as I get my own PC up and running.

Robert, I am considering a Czech three colour camouflage scheme or a two colour Soviet camouflage.
SGTJKJ
#041
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Kobenhavn, Denmark
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Posted: Monday, January 05, 2009 - 03:13 AM UTC
Work is progressing slowly, but steadily on my SU-7BKL. First the the exhaust is improved greatly by the additional PE parts although most of it will be invisible. Here the PE parts really adds detail to the model. Compare the new exhaust nozzle with the kit supplied nozzle below.

Comments welcome





Emeritus
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Uusimaa, Finland
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Posted: Monday, January 05, 2009 - 07:25 AM UTC
That's gonna looks sweet when finished. Quite a lot of metal you got going into it.

But that exhaust nozzle, I don't know, man. You know, both the plastic and PE parts seem to have their strengths and weaknesses...

VonCuda
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North Carolina, United States
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Posted: Monday, January 05, 2009 - 11:02 AM UTC
Jesper, are those nozzles all one piece that you bent into shape or did you have to glue all the pieces seperately? Either way, that's a big difference in the kit offering. Nice job so far. Lets see some more.

Hermon
SGTJKJ
#041
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Kobenhavn, Denmark
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Posted: Monday, January 05, 2009 - 09:12 PM UTC
Thanks for the comments, guys.

Hermon, the nozzle is a two part thing where you bent all the individual blades into position. Quite easy if you use a big pen as a guide. Otherwise it is quite difficult to get the opening round.

More to follow shortly....
SGTJKJ
#041
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Kobenhavn, Denmark
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Posted: Monday, January 05, 2009 - 09:42 PM UTC
Next is the new PE speed brakes. The PE parts really adds some detail to these parts of the SU-7. Especially since the SU is equipped with 4 speed brakes to ensure they can be seen from all sides

Major surgery is necessary to the fuselage and I had to bring out my Dremel tool to cut through the 3-4 mm think fuselage! Had to cut from both sides of the fuselage to get through. However, the effort is really worth it in my opinion.

Comments welcome









VonCuda
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North Carolina, United States
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Posted: Tuesday, January 06, 2009 - 12:07 PM UTC
So far the detail I've seen is really making a drastic improvement over the OOB kit. The PE on the inside of the fuselage (air brake) would scare me. I can't seem to ever get the bond between plastic and PE to work for very long in any place that recieves even minimal stress even though I use very strong CA glue.
Keep building She's starting to take shape.

Hermon
SGTJKJ
#041
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Kobenhavn, Denmark
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Posted: Tuesday, January 06, 2009 - 07:58 PM UTC
Thanks for the comments, Hermon.

What I did was to use Tamiya PE glue of the strong instant bonds and Gator glue for the small fittings you need to fiddle around a bit. Actually when to use the different types of glue is a major learning from this build for me.

For the detail inside the fuselage I taped a glue bottle on the inside to press the PE into shape until the glue set. I even managed not to glue the bottle into place as well. However, I have a fear that they will suddenly spring loose after the fuselage is glued together
SGTJKJ
#041
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Kobenhavn, Denmark
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Posted: Wednesday, January 07, 2009 - 12:22 AM UTC
Here is an update on the cockpit. The cockpit is build up in typical Eduard standard, but I was still a little disappointed about the level of detail. The Eduard PE cockpit set is not that fantastic after all, but it gives a really nice front instrument panel, so it is worth it. If you do not get an ejection seat like me the Eduard set is a must as the kit seat is terrible.

The resin ejection seat really added a high level of detail to the cockpit. However, dry fitting of the fuselage revealed it is much too big, so a little surgery is necessary on the sides of the seat.

Painting is almost finished as can be seen from the last pictures. More to follow...

Comments welcome











SGTJKJ
#041
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Kobenhavn, Denmark
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Posted: Friday, January 09, 2009 - 01:23 AM UTC
Next up is the weapons load. The Kopro kit includes various options for the SU-7.
Two large bombs - 500 kg?
Two rocket pods.
Two drop tanks.
Two free flight rockets.
Two take off boosters for heavy loads.

The kit items are showing their age - especially the rocket pods. The Eduard pieces really helps add some correct scale to the fins etc.
However, I am not too happy about PE parts that needs to be folded round. That is a tough job, but looks good when finished.

The wheels are improved enormously by the new PE disks and a little sanding to simulate weight.

Comment welcome









CMOT70
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Victoria, Australia
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Posted: Friday, January 09, 2009 - 02:34 AM UTC
This one is looking really good Jesper.

Make sure you test fit the canopy early on, if you plan to have it closed. Resin seats have an annoying habit of being way to high and fouling the clear parts! If the canopy is to be open you can often get away with it.

Andrew
TuomasH
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Turku ja Pori, Finland
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Posted: Friday, January 09, 2009 - 03:47 AM UTC
Convincing job Jesper. That is alot of metal, how many PE parts exactly?


Quoted Text

If the canopy is to be open you can often get away with it.

But still, make sure it doesn't come out of cockpit (What a funny vision that makes )
SGTJKJ
#041
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Kobenhavn, Denmark
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Posted: Friday, January 09, 2009 - 10:28 AM UTC

Quoted Text

This one is looking really good Jesper.

Make sure you test fit the canopy early on, if you plan to have it closed. Resin seats have an annoying habit of being way to high and fouling the clear parts! If the canopy is to be open you can often get away with it.

Andrew


Thanks for the comments and the warning.

I just test fitted the cockpit and you are perfectly right. The resin seat is too high to have a closed cockpit. I was planning to have an open cockpit to show of the PE/resin cockpit - now it seems like I have no choice.
It turns out the seat is both too wide and too high.
Anyway, I hope I can pull it of without the too large seat will be obvious...
SGTJKJ
#041
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Kobenhavn, Denmark
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Posted: Friday, January 09, 2009 - 10:30 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Convincing job Jesper. That is alot of metal, how many PE parts exactly?


Thanks for the comment, Tuomas. I do not know how many PE parts in total, but must be more than a hundred and I have not used all parts.
SGTJKJ
#041
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Kobenhavn, Denmark
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Posted: Monday, January 19, 2009 - 01:57 AM UTC
Work is progressing steadily on my SU-7BKL. The fit between the fuselage halves is a disaster especially on the front of the aircraft. This is very difficult to fix without having to rescribe half the fuselage. Nothing I want to do

Other than that all the PE has really added some nice details to a kit that surely looks like a Su-7BKL.

I have now changed my mind completely on the camouflage and I am going for an overall Aluminium aircraft. I want to try out some new washes and some sprayed on Tamiya smoke.

More to follow soon.....







alpha_tango
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Germany
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Posted: Monday, January 19, 2009 - 02:09 AM UTC
Cool Jesper!!!

It is pretty huge, isn't it?! ...

cheers

Steffen
jaypee
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Scotland, United Kingdom
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Posted: Monday, January 19, 2009 - 02:54 AM UTC
Nothing like PE to up the part count. Having spent last night building
smoke dispensers and mud guards for my tiny tiger that must be 40 parts
just for that.
All that detail must be about twice the cost of the kit!
Really like all the areas you've targeted. All stuff that is easily seen.
I think the rocket pods are my favourite.
Shame about the fit is it the additions you've made or is it just
a rubbish fit?
SGTJKJ
#041
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Kobenhavn, Denmark
Joined: July 20, 2006
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Posted: Monday, January 19, 2009 - 03:08 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Cool Jesper!!!

It is pretty huge, isn't it?! ...

cheers

Steffen


It is a monster. I had to buy a new display cabinet for it - seriously
Then I will also have a place for the 1/48 SU-17 and 1/48 Chinook. These have been in storage so far due to lack of display space.
SGTJKJ
#041
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Kobenhavn, Denmark
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Posted: Monday, January 19, 2009 - 03:13 AM UTC

Quoted Text

All that detail must be about twice the cost of the kit!
Really like all the areas you've targeted. All stuff that is easily seen.
I think the rocket pods are my favourite.
Shame about the fit is it the additions you've made or is it just
a rubbish fit?


The kit cost me around 20 Euros and the detail sets, resin seat, resin air intakes another 40 Euros, but I feel it is worth it. Even if the canopy cannot be closed due to the large resin seat

The fit of the fuselage is simply because the kit is bad. It is not that difficult to sand into shape, but rescribing all the small hatches, rivets etc is way to much for me. That job would take the fun out of the hobby for me, so I will have to live with a prominent seam line
Automaton
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United States
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Posted: Monday, January 19, 2009 - 03:18 AM UTC
[quote

I have now changed my mind completely on the camouflage and I am going for an overall Aluminium aircraft. I want to try out some new washes and some sprayed on Tamiya smoke.

quote]

You're a brave one deciding to do a NMF on a kit that requires that level of seamwork!
It's looking really good (and like a lot of work). I'm not normally into jets, but this is one I've always thought kinda cool looking.

Regards

Automaton
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