Jim Palassis has finished the wheel wells WOW!! ...

1/32 Trumpeter Su-27UB

by Jim Palassis

The Su-27 (NATO code name Flanker) is a child of the cold war, a soviet answer to the development of U.S. air superiority fighters, such as the F-15 Eagle.

It is believed that the prototype’s (T-10) design had started in the mid 70’s and made its maiden flight on the 20th April 1981. The first production aircraft was delivered in summer 1982.

The first Su-27UB Flanker C prototype had its maiden flight on the 7th March 1985, and the production model, had its first flight in September 1986.
It has a raised rear instructors cockpit for better visibility, the same capacity in fuel, and the same weapon stations ( six for R-27 aka AA-10 Alamo, and four for R-73 aka AA-11 Archer, air to air missiles, as well as a GSh-301 30mm cannon) as the single seat version.

All production models were built at the State Aircraft Factory 39 at Irkutsk.

Trumpeter's Kit

Trumpeteer has released the Su-27UB Flanker C kit, a few months ago in 1/32 scale, without correcting the mistakes from the previous single seat version. I suppose we all have expected from the company for a better molded kit, but unfortunately, a lot of effort is necessary from the modeler, for good an acceptable result.

For that reason I am going to use some aftermarket products, as well as scratch building some sections. I am planning on improving, the following areas:

• Cockpit
• Air Intakes
• Radar Cone
• Exhaust Nozzles
• Access Panels opened and internal detail added

Realistic or not, I would like to dedicate the effort of this construction to a good man a fellow serbian, and a russian aviation lover.

Milan Todorovic

- COCKPIT -

I am not satisfied with what Trumpeter provides at that area, so in absence of a two seater, aftermarket improvement resin kit, I ve decided to use two separate resin cockpit sets from Aires

Here, you can see some steps of the painting.

I applied a coat of light grey, and then I proceeded to preshading.

Cockpits after preshading

Final. I used a mixture of Lifecolors RLM02 Lightblau, RLM 25 Bright Green (UA055) and Azure Blue (UA098)…

Don’t ask me for the mixture!!! You can use Life N Sign colors. There is a great variety for Russian Aircrafts

The rails of the ejection seat were painted with Alclads Bu rnt Iron and White Aluminium.

When painting was finished I applied a thin coat of acrylic satin varnish, and then proceeded to wash with Burnt Sienna and Black oils

- Zvezda K-36DM -

Leather parts of the ejection seat were painted in satin black, body with matt black, harnesses with barley grey and khaki.

Some details at the headrest were painted with clear red and scarlet

After a wash with Burnt Sienna and small touches of Black oils.

- Instrument panels -

For the instructors panel, I ve used the one that Trumpeter provides.

I cut all the instruments piece by piece from the decal sheet, and put it on the panel part using Micro Set/Sol.

Unfortunately photos are not so representative from the real one, because of the cameras light

Cockpits almost done

All the details left are going to be presented when is time for them to be fitted to the upper half of the fuselage

When I came across Trumpeter's wheel wells I realized that they were not very accurate in shape, and had no detail at all. So i have chosen Aires resin set that has an amazing percentage of detail.

First of all I washed all the parts with warm water and soap. When these were dry, I applied a coat of Grey, and proceeded to preshading, with black and white:

Then I applied a coat of a blueish grey (mixture of RLM02, Azzuro, and Bright Green). The outcome of the shade is not quite visible here, but in my opinion its very close to the real thing. After all the differences of coloring between the Sukhoi's is great.

After that I started coloring the details:

The wheel wells are ready after the addition of wiring and tubing, and a ''gentle'' wash of raw umber oil....

To be continued......