My first 2025 completion. Started in October 2024 so it took four months to complete. Usually, my builds take about 2 – 2 ½ months. It was a very satisfying build.
The only aftermarket item was Quinta Studio cockpit set,
This GWH kit is really nice – in features and design. Everything fits, so no drama there. It comes with pre-cut canopy masks (outside and insude) stainless steel nose probe, and more external stores than you can use. All nicely pckaged in individual bags. Decals are printed by GWH with flat finish. No silvering if applied over a glossy finish.
I used kit decals representing “77 Blue” 4th Naval Attack Aviation Regiment Baltic Fleet based in Kaliningrad… Finish is dark grey on upper surfaces and three color camouflage on undersurfaces.
Weapon loadout includes Kh-31 anti-shipping missles under the nacelles and Kh-59 anti-shipping missiles on the inboard pylons. AAMs on center and outboard wing and fuselage centerline stations.
Paints are Mission Models acrylics, including metallics. Final clear coat is Liquitex Satin Varnish thinned to 25% with MM Thinner.
Beautiful model of a beautiful aircraft! The two-seater Flankers look just that much more elegant than their single seat counterparts. The Flanker is already a good looking plane, but the longer, curved forward fuselage and canopy of the two-seaters make good even better!
Before I use my Google, what is the thinking behind the Russian “eggplant” purple color? I have seen it in use on other aircraft as well, and was wondering how they came to adopt this unusual color scheme.
RealG,
I agree that the two-seat Flankers are nicer looking than the single seat versions. The second cockpit and larger canopy give the airplane a “striking cobra” lookj.
As to why “eggplant”, I don’t know. I cheated and used RAF “Extra Dark Sea Grey” since no available paint manufacturer has the Russian “eggplant”. Royal Navy Buccaneers and Phantoms used XDSG for upper surfaces.
Another Flanker question is why go to the trouble of three-color camouflage on the undersurfaces. Seems like a lot of effort for not much gain. I know the three colors made my model a much more complicated painting job.
I wonder if the “eggplant” paint was applied over a standard camouflage during a depot maintenance cycle, thus leaving the undersides in the original finish?
EDSG? It fooled my eyes! I thought I was seeing purple! I’m due to see my optometrist…
@OldRetiredEngineer : That’s four months of true love put into that rascal. An excellent build in every way and it does indeed sound like a good kit to build. Excellent photography helps bring this one to life.
I analyzed why this model took 4 months whereas a ZM Phantom takes me about 6 weeks.
I started with external stores. I thought I might use a rocket pod & laser bomb loadout, I built the kit-supplied pods and bombs. The missiles, however, were intriguing, having really unique configurations. So I also assembled those. And the the AAMS. And the pylons, adapters. I also painted and decaled the stores. All before starting on the aircraft itself. This probably added a month to my typical build.
Painting was another issue. The three-color undersurfaces were a bear. Typically a three color uppersurface ( USAF F-4, for instance) is fairly straightforward. Flat wings flat empennage, a bascally cylindrical fuselage. The SU-30 undersurfaces has fairly small wings, with two comparitavely enormous engine nacelles, which are closely spaced making masking, painting and retouching very time consuming.
Finallly, there are simply a lot of parts. Which means lots of dry fitting. Luckily the parts fit. They don’t fight you.
So it was a slow, but enjoyable build. Not once did I ever think “I just want to get this ***** finished” like I did when I built the Kittyhawk F-101B.
I hear you on that. I build slowly…very slowly. Just for the fact that I don’t enjoy doing things twice and there’s a lot to be said for that when a model is all finished up. Your effort on this was truly worth every minute spent on it. Splendid work bud.
