1/48 SU-30SM Flanker H in process
![Album image #1 Album image #1](/albums/img/4/2/0/927420-83484-88-720.jpg)
Had about half an hour to start the kit, the seats had a nice amount of detail and went together nicely. I should hopefully be able to paint the seats and construct the cockpit tomorrow.
![Album image #2 Album image #2](/albums/img/4/2/1/927421-83484-18-720.jpg)
Had about half an hour to start the kit, the seats had a nice amount of detail and went together nicely. I should hopefully be able to paint the seats and construct the cockpit tomorrow.
![Album image #3 Album image #3](/albums/img/1/4/0/928140-83484-20-720.jpg)
Managed to finish the seats and start the rest of the cockpit. The PE that came in the kit was nice but I messed it up a bit by placing them in the wrong place. Luckily it turned out OK and I am pleased with it. Hopefully tomorrow I should be able to finish the cockpit and start the engine.
![Album image #4 Album image #4](/albums/img/1/4/1/928141-83484-45-720.jpg)
Managed to finish the seats and start the rest of the cockpit. The PE that came in the kit was nice but I messed it up a bit by placing them in the wrong place. Luckily it turned out OK and I am pleased with it. Hopefully tomorrow I should be able to finish the cockpit and start the engine.
![Album image #5 Album image #5](/albums/img/9/4/0/928940-83484-58-720.jpg)
Had enough time tonight to finish the cockpit and engines, decided to use the decals provided for the instrument panels as they where well detailed. The decals conformed nicely to all the gauges and screens without a problem.
![Album image #6 Album image #6](/albums/img/9/4/1/928941-83484-70-720.jpg)
Test fit of the seats, I will leave the out until near completion.
![Album image #7 Album image #7](/albums/img/9/4/2/928942-83484-60-720.jpg)
Didn't spend too long on the engines as they will be hidden away in the fuselage. They had nice detail, especially the fan and interior of the afterburner area (I have no idea what it is called). Tomorrow I should hopefully be able to fit everything into the fuselage and start assembling the air intakes.
![Album image #8 Album image #8](/albums/img/5/8/7/929587-83484-25-720.jpg)
Everything is now in the fuselage, it was a squeeze to fit everything and there are still a few gaps that I will fill later on. I put some weights behind the cockpit just in case it ends up tail heavy. I should be able to start the air intakes later.
![Album image #9 Album image #9](/albums/img/8/0/6/929806-83484-15-720.jpg)
The air intakes had nice detail and fit but unfortunately had ejector pin marks which had to be filled and sanded. I also had to cut away some of the area where the intake connects to the engine as it was leaving a large gap. There is still a small gap on both intakes but should be easy to fill. Tomorrow, I should be able to start the landing gear.
![Album image #10 Album image #10](/albums/img/3/5/1/930351-83484-53-720.jpg)
Landing gear have been assembled and had the main colour applied. They were well detailed and Fairly easy to assemble, Kitty Hawk has also fixed the main landing gear axels which had been missing in the previous kits. Tomorrow, I should be able to finish the landing gear and start on the wings.
![Album image #11 Album image #11](/albums/img/0/7/4/931074-83484-26-720.jpg)
Landing gear are now finished. I also started the wheels which had nice detail, I still need to apply a wash to make these details stand out.
![Album image #12 Album image #12](/albums/img/0/7/5/931075-83484-20-720.jpg)
I also had time today to attach the wings and resin exhausts that were supplied with the kit. The wings had a good fit and had no gaps were it joined fuselage. The resin exhausts had a large gap which required a lot of filling and sanding. I also filled in some gaps around the air brake and near the nose. Tomorrow I should hopefully finish filling all the gaps and attach all the small parts.
![Album image #13 Album image #13](/albums/img/8/0/8/931808-83484-79-720.jpg)
All the gaps have now been filled, the main ones being near the air intake and between the resin nozzles and fuselage. I have now apllied primer and will hopefully start the metal areas around the engines. I haven't got much experience using metal paints but it should turn out ok.
![Album image #14 Album image #14](/albums/img/3/8/1/933381-83484-19-720.jpg)
I have now painted the metallic engine areas. I think it turned out ok, I had to mix a few paints to make some of the colours which worked fairly well. I will improve the look of these areas with oil paint later on. I will probably start the camouflage on the underside in the next few days.
![Album image #15 Album image #15](/albums/img/2/9/0/936290-83484-40-720.jpg)
I have now painted the camouflage on the underside of the su-30. It took a while to get the pattern close to the real thing but I think it turned out great. I had to use the painting guide from the 1/72 zvezda kit as the kitty hawk guide only showed the underside as being one solid colour. I should hopefully paint the eggplant grey tonight or in the couple of days.
![Album image #16 Album image #16](/albums/img/5/4/3/937543-83484-47-720.jpg)
The eggplant has now been applied, I also had time to do the metallic areas near the cannon and on the horizontal stabiliser. I also applied the white on the nose cone and on the vertical stabilizers. Fitting the landing gear was a bit difficult and had to be angled so the wheels where parallel to the body. The front landing let had an axel on one side that was too big for the wheel to fit on so I carefully increased the size of the hole on the wheel so it would fit. I should be starting the decals soon as I have applied the gloss varnish.
![Album image #17 Album image #17](/albums/img/5/4/4/937544-83484-20-720.jpg)
![Album image #18 Album image #18](/albums/img/4/8/4/943484-83484-92-720.jpg)
I have now applied all the decals; it took longer than expected as they did not conform to the details that well and required a lot of micro sol to be applied. Some of the decals that were meant to be yellow were also very thin and transparent so when applied to the model they looked very dull and hard to see. The rest of the yellow decals appeared to be more of a mix of orange and yellow when on the actual plane, they appear to be just yellow. A bit of weathering should hopefully make these orange/yellow ones a bit darker. I should hopefully start weathering in the next few days.
![Album image #19 Album image #19](/albums/img/4/8/5/943485-83484-91-720.jpg)
![Album image #20 Album image #20](/albums/img/6/3/1/949631-83484-74-720.jpg)
The SU-30 is now finished, I only used black and white oil paints for the weathering and I think the results turned out great. I also attached some of the smaller parts like lights and the small glass bit near the front. I will take better pictures tonight.
![Album image #21 Album image #21](/albums/img/6/3/2/949632-83484-86-720.jpg)
Hozzászólások
18 1 February 2021, 22:34
![](/profiles/img/23842-243-s.jpg)
Following. I may have to pick up one of these after watching your build 🙂
2 February 2021, 01:52
![](/profiles/img/48665-446-s.jpg)
That's a nice pair of K-36's 👍 Watching, the SM is a pretty cool and badass version!
2 February 2021, 22:33
![](/profiles/img/48987-587-s.jpg)
very nice progress andrew, the cockpit looks esp. awesome! Always a good thing if decals fit perfectly to a well detailed cockpit and also lay down that well. The result is like the new 3d-printed cockpit aftermarket decals - but its all in the box! 👍
4 February 2021, 21:03
![](/profiles/img/18282-389-s.png)
Watching! Excellent cockpit Andrew 👍
Does this one also has the axle missing on the main gear? I have this issue in my Su-30MK version, but I heard that Kitty hawk has fixed this in their later productions.
4 February 2021, 23:27
![](/profiles/img/83484-706-s.jpg)
Thanks Ali
This doesn't have the missing axels so I think they fixed it.
5 February 2021, 00:22
![](/profiles/img/18282-389-s.png)
Great! Thanks Andrew. I'll contact KH and see if I can get the new parts as a replacement.
5 February 2021, 00:52
![](/profiles/img/83484-706-s.jpg)
Thanks Jansen
I love the paint scheme of the Indonesian version, can't wait to see it!
5 February 2021, 13:56
![](/profiles/img/74389-420-s.jpg)
Great work so far around the cockpit and engines! Looking forward for future progress. 👍
6 February 2021, 23:57
![](/profiles/img/72020-938-s.jpg)
Great work, fast start! Overall it looks like Kitty Hawk does a nice job here.
7 February 2021, 21:40
![](/profiles/img/48665-446-s.jpg)
Entering the most interesting phase - hope you'll enjoy - I had excellent fun with MRP metal range, what are you going to use?
In any case, nicely put together so far - confirms my plans to try some of the newer KH kits some day! 👍
7 February 2021, 23:38
![](/profiles/img/83484-706-s.jpg)
Thanks Slavo
The only metal paints I have are some Ak and Mig ones which are what I'm going to use. I've heard about the MRP metal range, I'll probably look into getting some in the future when.
7 February 2021, 23:53
![](/profiles/img/48665-446-s.jpg)
I guess Alclads & AK extreme metals may have the edge especially on large NMF surfaces, on engines, I was really happy with MRP due to excellent usability and perfect harmony with subsequent oil treatment. Looking forward to the show!😉
8 February 2021, 00:15
![](/profiles/img/48987-587-s.jpg)
Done already? What a beauty, awesome shading work on the gray! Very convincing and interesting to look at 👍
7 March 2021, 10:15
Album info
The beginning of the kitty hawk su-30sm project. I decided to try document the process as I go along, hopefully it goes well. I will be doing the blue 45 paint scheme.