Hi All!

I was a bit late in signing up for this, and now I'm in with this. Once my B-24 is complete, it'll get more attention.

MiniHobbyModels 1/48 SU-30MK.



I picked this up via China on eBay. 10.00 USD plus shipping (8USD), so a great value! I've come to find out these models are from a knock off company that uses the molds from Trumpeter, and Hobbyboss. On my subject, the top wing/fuselage part was very crudely done, very mottled plastic, and thick in coarse surfaces. So far I've spent 12 hours using coarse to fine steel wool, followed by sanding from 600 - 1500 grit, just to get it to look like something worth doing.

Now it looks ready to start building. I will say that I reserve the right to drop from this campaign at any time. Mainly due to the poor molding finish on the top of the bird.

This indeed qualifies as a big kit. So, at the least I'm keeping with my big kit theme, (one big kit on the bench, till more room is made) I will move forward!

Wising you all a happy New Year!!

John

Here are a few progress pictures of the Su-9:





There will be a seam inside the intake tract where the fuselage halves join. I had in mind pre-painting the interiors and just forgetting about the seam. Any ideas on a better way to handle this?


However did the air get from the nose to the tail of this beast?




I have spent a fair bit of time making sure all the interior bits fit without holding the fuselage halves apart. This is to be a NM finish & I'm doing my best to avoid gaps.

The cockpit has been a disappointment. It is both too narrow & too short to allow the resin seat to fit. I thought about surgery to the seat & tub but have decided to save the seat for a future build and just use what Trumpeter has provided. I'll busy it up some and add a set of AM seatbelts and call it good . . .

Great to see another Sukhoi under construction. I have found very little info on the Su-9, I hope the Su-30 is better off?

I have a set of the Montex masks for the canopy & wheels of the Su-9. They came with no instructions. It looks like the tires are painted first and the masked and the wheels center is painted?

How are the canopy masks used? I imagine one set is for the inside, the other for the outside. If so, they are not marked. I imagine the inside should be flat black, the outside NM. Is there a sequence that works well?

Hey Paul,

For what it's worth, I've used Montex masks, and they perform well. For the wheels, I'd paint the wheels first, then mask and then have at the tires with something like NATO black. Or flat black and a dark grey wash.

The canopy masks, when viewed will have some writing on them, in my cases it's been the plane name. So look for something like "SU-9". The set on the left is for the outside, the set on the right is the interior. I'm not a big fan of interior masking on 1/48 (lot of work, little return). If it were me I'd mask the outside, paint the interior color, then the exterior color.

I'm also betting if you look online, or contact Montex via email, you can find the instructions.

Hope this helps,

John

Thanks John, that was a help. I like the idea of just painting the outside with both the inside & outside colors. I was concerned that the thickness of the plastic would leave a clear gap that would not look good.

Hi mates,
I just decided to join this campaign with an Italeri SU-34 Fullback.
Tried to upload the starting picture, but got the message "server busy"...
So I'll try this tomorrow. Anyway I hope I can finish in time, keep my fingers crossed. You guys have some interesting kits in the making, good luck
Cheers Peter

Hi everyone,

Since I started with this hobby, Russian jets have been always my favourite topic. Great selection of Sukhoi so far.

I am going for a SU-33 in 1/72, Zvezda. I am using Eduard interior set and a Master pilot tube.

So far I love the model. A lot of small parts to bring detail but the fit is perfect so far. It is my first Zvezda model but it won't be the last one.



I started the Saturday and I have almost finished the interior.

Well, at last here is my entry, did some painting and will start the cockpit next.

Some progress over the weekend...

See you
Peter

Hi All,

Well I'm sad to say that I'm going to drop out of this one. Getting a decent test fit has been a chore, though once cleaned it does look to build into a respectable representation.

Also, my desire to do this as a Malaysian bird means that I've got to add the canards up front. Since there are no after market ones out there, I'll have scratch them. I'm sure that there will be plenty of opportunities to continue this one later.

John

Peter, that is really good progress over the weekend. How is the fit of the model?

John, sorry to hear about a troublesome build. It's a pity, I really like following complex projects. I am not brave enough and I tend to buy only models that are easy to build.


Speaking of which, I have completed now most of the assembly of mine and I should start the main paint job soon. Great fit. This is my first Zvezda model but it won't be the last.

I decided to paint the exhausts and mask them first. Sorry my phone is not very good for photos, I will try the camera for the next steps.

Great progress on the Sukhois! Those modern ones are very slick looking.

I made a bit of progress on my old dinosaur Su-9 Fishpot. The Trumpeter kit was bare behind the cockpit and forward of the instrument panel. On top of that, there was a nasty seam that needed to be dealt with. Here is the kit:



I made a floor out of plastic card stock and added some bibs & bobs out of the spare parts box. The only reference material I could find was some 3-D images posted by one of the Red Star resin folks prior to releasing their cockpit. Too bad they appear to be gone, it would have made this model much nicer.

These bits are out of scale and partially imaginary but no worse than the rest of the cockpit.









I have NOTHING to go on for the area in front of the instrument panel. No pictures at all. Any ideas? If not, I'll just make it "typical" of the era.

Any suggestions on decals? I understand that the kit red stars are wrong, they should have a white border. Should the bang seat be cockpit color or black?

The last two pictures show how little of the area behind the seat is visible once the canopy is closed. Its just as well . . .

Making slow but steady progress.

Getting the intake seams smoothed took quite a bit of time.


A little scratch built cockpit detailing. Unfortunately the cockpit does not have the correct glass cockpit screens.



Base colors applied. After reading up on Hakata paints multiple people mentioned this paint needs primer before application. Used Mr. Surfacer 1000 to prine the whole model. I had some trouble with the paint getting gummy and clogging the airbrush while using water and isopropyl alcohol to thin. Using Testors Model Master Acryl thinner worked well, however I still had to stop and periodically clean out the airbrush.

Nice progress on your SU-34, Brian

I'm going on with my own version



There are still a lot of little parts and the payload...
I hope to start with the (few) decals soon.
Cheers
Peter

Paul, I really like the work you are doing in the cockpit. I am sorry but I don't have any extra references about the cockpit. (I am assuming that you have Google it already.)

Brian, Peter, Great looking SU-34s.

I have been painting my SU-33. I have done 2 out of 3 blues. I may have overdone the pre-shading but somehow I really like it.

Thanks Carlos, I have indeed spent a lot of time on the internet looking for info. For whatever reason, the Su-9 is poorly documented. There are a number of walk-arounds but almost nothing on the cockpit.

Here is a bit more work done on the Su-9. The details forward of the instrument panel are pure fastasy, I had no pictures at all and only sought to busy the area up. The bits used came from the spare parts box and a bit of lead foil was used to make a shroud over the top. I made it small so that the bits would be visible peeking out on the sides.

Paul, fantasy or not, it looks really good.

I had a day off with a cold yesterday. I spent the whole day in my pj's painting the su-33... Great!

I have almost finished the painting. Lot's of mistakes here and there but I am really happy with the result so far.

- Carlos, having fun and being happy with your result is the main thing! I like your painting, too!
...and of course, get well soon

- Paul Incredible job, your improvised cockpit! Very nice, even if nobody seems to know what the real thing really looks like...

Great thread for someone just getting into aircraft modeling! {Can't see my dining room table right now for the five aircraft I have in process.} This is making me want to buy something Russian!

Watching with much interest!

Hi everyone,
Some pics about my build of Su-33UB in 1/72 scale.




Painting the main camo:




Cheers,
K.

Good progress, Mr. K

I'm nearing the finish line, but still some details to go..(the red stars will be overpainted as on the wings)

and another photo, nearly complete and now armed....