Wow that’s brilliant Peter! I never would have thought to use chrome aluminum. I’ve only been using MC211 for gun barrels and oleos. I did check with the Gunze website, and they confirm that MC218 has been discontinued. Best to snag some if you can, being in Malaysia I’m pretty sure I was one of the last to grab them up. So, a new paint that will deliver a similar result is definitely needed. I’ll be giving this a try soon! Thanks again.
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Hi Everyone,
Work on the Aries exhaust cans for the F-15 was shall we say, exhausting. I had a great deal when I purchased them, however they were damaged during transit. Specifically, there were chips along the edges of the outer can, and many of the teeny tiny actuator arms were broken beyond repair. Fortunately, the F-15C from Hasegawa that I purchased was the “high end” kit and happened to include parts to do the open exhausts, and did include PE actuator arms, 15 per can. I felt that the chips could be delt with when things got further along, so I set about getting the arms in place using superglue and white glue to place and hold them. These turned out to be quite fiddly and didn’t want to be part of the project. With great perseverance and many an outburst made to the modeler ancestor’s, they did finally get done!
Pre work, one can see the chips on the outside of the cans.
Got them done, with the loss of only one arm that is somewhere…
The cans were then cloistered away where even gravity won’t be able damage them, as they await placement onto the airframe.
Work then focused on the ordinance and landing gear. Surprisingly, after all of the issues in this build, this went just as the instructions indicated. I painted up the missiles and decaled them, then completed the landing gear and attached them to the airframe, and then the missiles went on the runners and onto the airframe. No issues with the exception of the front landing gear which needs a little tweaking to straighten up and fly right!
Everything lined up nicely.
With the underside looking good, my focus went to the cockpit. Add the seat and stick and position the canopy in the open position, smooth sailing!
Pulling the canopy off is relatively easy, just a little water applied with a cotton bud, wait and it lifts off clean.
Before I closed up the cockpit for painting, I thought that the canopy should be tinted. A few shots of Tamiya smoke has always worked in the past…
I have no clue what happened here, but the paint crazed bad. Argh! It seems to never end.
Using the Novus three step method of polishing out a canopy, I was able to clear both the canopy and windscreen to better than their original. Of course, despite using extreme care I managed to break off the canopy attachment tabs. The canopy and windscreen were then remasked for the flat coat (should have done before hand).
Next was to attach the tabs, using white glue and super glue, which went ok,
With everything in place, I can repaint the canopy and windscreen. A little research showed that my bird didn’t have tinted glass, so that is a plus! Then flatten everything down.
Onward and upward! Hope you all are making some progress on your builds!
Till next time, be safe, wash your hands with soap and water and above all have fun!
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I’ve stopped this build last year around June, Zvezda Su-2 1/48th scale.
Picked it up today, spend an hour getting the canopy in place.. glued & primed.
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Always wanted a model of this. What is it like? How well does it go together? From what I can see, beautiful blending of the fuselage and wings at the root.
Looking forward to the rest of it!
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I got the Quinta Studios Cockpit set and some masking AM for the canopy too.
It has some nice detail on the surfaces, the fitting is very good.
My only issue is building that spherical canopy around the rear machine gun seat. That’s why I stopped this build for months..besides that…it’s a nice build. I recommend it
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@Nito74 , that’s an awesome looking Sukhoi. Looks like a cross between a Tora Tora Tora-modified BT-13 and an Avenger.
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Thanks , I’m glad I got it back on the bench.
The Quinta set helped as well as the Montex Masking set.
I recommend it, details are good and fitting is perfect
Nito,
Excellent work! It’s wonderful to see another Queen graduate! I too started this kit for the Built in the USSR campaign, and I agree the details are quite good, and the fit is indeed perfect. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get mine complete this year, though will make sure I don’t use the same tail number as you. Thanks so much for joining this campaign and completing it.
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Thank you !!!
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