Progress has been pretty slow so far with doing research and getting tooled up for building my first Eastern aircraft. Cockpit is almost done, but the leg restraints on the Aires seat sat so low at the front, they would have snapped the pilots feet off at the ankles in an ejection. Working on modifying those to get them to a more realistic height, and getting some softer wire for the leg restraint cords. I was using motor winding wire, which is a much harder wire than I thought it would be. Also have some lead sheet coming, to hopefully make a decent seat cover with. Got all the M1 modifications done on the right side of the instrument panel. Made the new, Ukrainian avionics and annunciators with Tamiya masking sheet, clear acetate, and a few homemade decals.
Thanks Paul! Its MRP195 Sukhoi Cockpit Blue Grey. The details are a combo of brushable MRP, Vallejo Model Color, and Tamiya. Tamiya still makes the best colors for the bare metal fixtures in an Eastern aircraft. Their Titanium Gold and Titanium Silver are almost perfect matches for the real deal. I work on a lot of 1:1 Aero Vodochody L-39s in real life, and some of the colors in the cockpit just stick with you. Tried that Tamiya Titanium silver and said “YES! That’s exactly the color I need!”
Finally got a good result with the leg restraints on the seat and their lanyards. Its been an incredibly aggravating process of trial and error, along with some 28 gauge dead-soft copper wire to finally get some good lanyards that I was able to bend into their proper “integration” with the cockpit. Next, on to making the seat cover and attaching the rest of the Quinta Studio “fiddly bits” like the various handles and levers, and the seatbelts.
Thanks Keavdog! Always thought the Frogfoot was cool, but the more I’m learning about it in my research, I’m becoming a huge fan. The ejection system alone is something our own scientists at Wright-Patterson are absolutely in awe of for its protection of the pilot in flight conditions they didn’t think were possible to protect a pilot in.
Seat finally completed and installed in the cockpit. I had to look again at a photo I took earlier today because the ejection handles were bugging me. Turns out they weren’t quite compatible with the Aires seat, so they stuck out way too far and were too far apart. Cut them down and got them corrected.
Got the nose gear done. Used very little of the aftermarket stuff that I bought for this. Had trouble with the Aires photo etch parts for their nose gear well, and in the end, all the extra detail I would have to figure out a way to paint wouldn’t be seen anyway. When the real-world subject sits on the ground, there’s only 1 door open for the nose gear so almost all of the interior is hidden from view. So, almost the entire nose gear assembly is straight out of the box. Also got the wheel set from ResKit, but the nose gear wheel (which looked great when all painted up) was just slightly too large in diameter and wouldn’t fit inside the fender assembly. I did make use of the Eduard photo etch mud flap though which was in their exterior kit for this plane, along with a couple of tiny details added to the strut assembly. Snapped part of the metal axle off when test-fitting, so I drilled it out and glued a short piece of 3/64" brass tubing into the center. I think it came out stronger than the original cast metal piece. Here are a few pics.
Started working on the last of the internal details for the fuselage on the Frog. Got the avionics bays all painted up and mostly finished…just have a couple of equipment panels that need to get painted and installed. Then its on to making a little styrene box to put behind the holes for the foot steps. I’m going to fill the box with Milliput, which I’ll then carve out to simulate the canvas “bags” that line the insides of the steps.
and got a solution figured out for the canvas “bags” inside the foot steps. I wanted the box that will contain the putty to be made out of styrene so I could use Tamiya Extra Thin to attach it to the inside of the fuselage and not have to worry about it ever coming loose and being hopelessly trapped inside, laying in the bottom of the fuselage for all eternity. Had one prototype that didn’t quite work, but the second attempt was a keeper. Just waiting for the putty (this time I used Apoxie Clay) to harden completely, then I’ll prime and paint it. Used a dental excavator to dig out the holes in the putty after scribing their outlines with a toothpick.
The styrene box has a nice, tight fit around the sunken area where the steps are, and doesn’t interfere with installation of the nose gear well. It should permanently cement into place nicely.
Finally got my photo-etch parts from Belgium to finish the foot steps with the metal reinforcement straps that the real deal has inside. I ended up cutting up a couple of the pieces in a 1:48 scale Su-2 photo-etch kit to make them. Glued them in and then applied Mr. Metal Primer, followed by painting with Tamiya Metallic Grey.
Also attached the Aires main gear wells to the fuselage halves. Had to do a quick, complete mockup of both engine nacelles to see what sequence things had to go together when the Aires wells were permanently attached. Once I was sure of assembly sequence, alignment, and fit, I used Apoxie Clay to permanently attach the gear wells and then took the engine nacelles back apart after everything cured. Now I’m working on all of the details inside the gear wells.
Finally got all the detailing done inside the gear wells, so I’m working on closing them up inside the engine nacelles. Figured it would be better to attach the inboard halves of the nacelles to the fuselage to try to ensure a more solid bond. Seems like a pretty critical stress point on the model that I want to be as strong as possible. I’ll probably drill some holes through the contact points on the fuselage so I can get Tamiya Extra Thin to disperse over a wider area after being dropped into those holes.
Final test fit to make sure everything comes together the way I was planning it, and to give me a mockup to study so I can determine the best sequence to put things together as I close up the fuselage. CG is currently far enough forward of where the main gear will be, so I think this one will manage to not be a tail-sitter without any extra weight up front. Still might add a few tungsten weights just behind the cockpit though, since closing up the fuselage is a one-way street…not gonna hurt having a little too much weight up front. The gaps that are visible in the pics all come together with light pressure, so the fit is actually going to be pretty good.
Been slowly closing up the fuselage and ended up having to wait for tooling to help me flex and twist it to get all the panel lines to align properly. So, while waiting, I started getting the engines done. Still have tons of engine accessories to tack onto the outside of them, but I’m pretty happy with how they’re looking so far.
Very nice work. I went back and read this thread from the beginning and you certainly are patient with this one. Tons of added detail. Do you just work one model at a time?
I recently bought 3 Quinta cockpit sets. How do you like working with them?
Thanks Paul. I usually do only work one model at a time, but this time around I couldn’t resist participating in another group build, so I’m also building an F/A-16B CAS Viper. Really close to being finished with the Viper.
I just bought 3 more Quinta Studio sets myself, directly from Russia this time so I could get their latest stuff. Bought their new 1/48 F-4B and 1/32 A-10C sets, along with their old 1/32 A-10A set. Took less than 2 weeks to get here from Russia, so they ship fast. They’re extremely easy to work with, but I found out the hard way that you want to wait until right before you close the cockpit up in the fuselage to attach the little levers and handles. Those are really delicate and break off easily, so you’ll want to wait until just before everything gets protected inside the plane. Amazingly detailed too. I found that if you use enough magnification, you can actually read the placards on the panels and ejection handles. The resolution of their 3D printer is that good.
Oh…and for attaching those levers and handles, if you don’t have some already, pick up some Bondic UV curing glue. It has a bond like CA, but doesn’t turn cloudy when you cure it with the UV light that comes with it. Even if you get a tiny drop of it on something you didn’t intend to get it on, nobody but you will know…its that clear.
