Su-33 Sea Flanker

[Gazzas]

Love the camo!

[johncrow]

The build itself is fantastic, but getting the young ones started building as well must be even more exciting

 

 

 

 

 

Matt 

 

Thanks Matt!

 

Yes, I'm thankful for the time she and I can spend together doing something we both enjoy...beats the heck out of playing with "My Little Pony"!

 

 

 

Love the camo!

 

I appreciate that, Gazzas. I feel it is still a bit over-the-top, but my hope is that the final weathering will tone it down a bit. I hope to get to that point soon!

[johncrow]

Progress has slowed...I had a bit of a run-in with a snowblower in February...and the snowblower came out on top. The good news is I still have 205 of the 206 bones I was born with though. Not so good news is my left hand is mostly out of commission for a while. Long-term prognoses is good, though. A full recovery is expected. No pics of THAT work in progress will be shown to protect the squeamish! Though I have plenty of time for modeling right now, there's not a whole lot I can do. 

 

However....

 

I have gotten a couple small things done. Our own Ilya pointed out my errors in marking the tailhook...and I've more or less corrected them. I printed out the correct decals and put them on...but still got it wrong. They should not be centered, but closer to the bottom edge. But that is where they will stay. This is basically the ends of an F-14 tailhook spliced on to a piece of square styrene, but it's going to be close enough. 

 

 

As always, thanks for stopping by.

 

jp

[johncrow]

OK, I came to the conclusion that this thing has to be finished. I haven't finished anything in 3 years...so I'm pressing on with little regard for warts and inaccuracies. 

 

I managed to knock off one of the vertical stabs (among other things) while manhandling the thing while repeatedly touching up all the problems resulting from my manhandling...I finally said 'enough'. If you can't see it from three...or ten feet away, it ain't there. 

 

Before reattaching the stab, I thought I'd try out some decals. The flag is from a sheet off eBay, the numbers and stencils from the Su-27UB kit, the star from a Linden Hill sheet, and the tiger from my printer. This was all intended as just a test to see how things looked...but I think I'll keep it. I need a shot or two more of Micro Sol, and I'm not completely thrilled with the opacity of the white on the tiger. A keen observer will note the tiger is missing his right side whiskers. I tried to brush paint them in with rotten results, so see paragraph #1 above. There's one more decal to put on...some sort of Sukhoi emblem or something, that I'll do when I scare up some clear decal paper. 

 

Applying decals will continue. I hope to get the weapons, landing gear, canopy, etc. put on the model soon.

 

Thanks for stopping by,

 

jp

 

Edited August 3, 2018 by johncrow

[johncrow]

Still working on this....it's been 3.75 years....tell you what, never to attempt anything this ambitious again!  But have not yet given up. 

 

Missiles and pylons essentially done. All Zacto stuff. Beautiful pieces of resin. I'll put the final missile doo-dads on just before mounting them to the model. 

 

Decals basically done, Begemot, Linden Hill, Trumpeter, and my printer all contributed. I have  spent way too much time repairing self-inflicted damage...broken stabs, lifted paint, a knocked-off radome....the list goes on. The canards are just temporarily attached, and I'll re-attach the missing vertical stab after the flat coat. Easier to lay it down with that stab missing anyhow. That's my story, anyway. 

 

It's difficult getting a good picture of the whole thing, but this will give you an idea of progress. 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by,

 

jp

[Marcel111]

Wow, that looks very impressive!

 

Marcel

[themongoose]

“Things that make you go WOW” . THIS is just plain sweet! Keep the focus on it’s worth it.

[Fvdm]

Wow, that is an impressive bird. Nice paintjob. I hope you keep at it cause it's worth it.

[johncrow]

16 hours ago, Marcel111 said:

Wow, that looks very impressive!

 

Marcel

 

Thank you Marcel, I appreciate it, and it means a lot.

 

9 hours ago, themongoose said:

“Things that make you go WOW” . THIS is just plain sweet! Keep the focus on it’s worth it.

 

Just don't look to close, mongoose!  It has its issues, but I'm happy with the macro view. Thanks for stopping by, and thanks. 

 

5 hours ago, Fvdm said:

Wow, that is an impressive bird. Nice paintjob. I hope you keep at it cause it's worth it.

 

Thanks very much, Fvdm. As frustrated as I sometimes get with it, I'm too close the end to give up. One of my goals was to finish this before the Tan Models Su-33 showed up....looks like I'll do it!

[The Madhatter]

It's great to see your still persevering with this build John. The conversion you've done is astounding - regardless of how basic you've stated it is, it still looks like an SU-33.

You're on the home stretch now, so keep going like you've said. Personally, I think the Tan Model release won't happen - I reckon its the modelling equivalent of Clickbait.

BTW, what happened to those parts you milled for the wing hinge? They seemed to have disappeared. No good?

Thanks for sharing!

Si

[johncrow]

15 hours ago, The Madhatter said:

It's great to see your still persevering with this build John. The conversion you've done is astounding - regardless of how basic you've stated it is, it still looks like an SU-33.

You're on the home stretch now, so keep going like you've said. Personally, I think the Tan Model release won't happen - I reckon its the modelling equivalent of Clickbait.

BTW, what happened to those parts you milled for the wing hinge? They seemed to have disappeared. No good?

Thanks for sharing!

Si

 

I appreciate it, Si. Thanks for stopping by. 

 

The wingfold parts are there- the this little plastic bullet fairings I made with the dremellathe, and the pop can aluminum pieces...maybe they just don't show up in the pictures. If the closeups aren't too horrific, I'll include a close-up. 

 

I'm afraid you might be right regarding the Tan kit...though I really hope is does one day show up. 

 

jp

[johncrow]

Here's a couple shots of the hinge. Very much simplified, but from afar looks OK.

 

 

 

 

Thanks,

 

jp

[scvrobeson]

Man, the Su-33 is just the prettiest airplane.   And your build does it a lot of justice.

 

 

 

 

 

Matt 

[Out2gtcha]

Nice, those hinges look great

[johncrow]

18 hours ago, scvrobeson said:

Man, the Su-33 is just the prettiest airplane.   And your build does it a lot of justice.

 

 

 

 

 

Matt 

 

Thank you, Matt. I really like the look of the whole Flanker family. Early on in this build I had crazy dreams of also building an Su-35. At some point around year two or three in this build, I woke up and picked up a cheap KH 48th Su-35. But I'd really dig a 32nd Su-34 one day....