Kinetic Su-33 Flanker-D - WIP

Michael Phillips
With my Tomcat project now on hold, I have begun this one! Yes, another Flanker LOL. I have put the F-14B project on hold and started this one because the deadline for my IPMS quarterly contest is October and I want to build this and enter it into the "I've Got the Blues" theme, which is to build something that is predominately blue. This one is already started and should have pics up soon!

I think this is my very first Kinetic kit, so let's see how this goes!

Michael Phillips
So I have sneakily gotten a fast start on this one... the race against the clock begins! Deadline for this one to be completed is October 6th for the Theme Contest, after which I will start my yet TBD Aggressor GB entry. 🙂

Holger Kranich
Your first Kinetic kit? Mine was the Alpha Jet and it was desastrous. But i had a resin pit and it wouldnt fit. Maybe that was the issue.

Your pit looks f*cking awesome!

Maciej Bellos
Looking great!

Stephan Ryll
Nice start Michael 👍

Daniel
Great start, watching with interest 👍 this beauty is high on my shopping list...

Michael Phillips
Thanks Holger, Maciej, James, Stephan, and Daniel! So far so good, I should have some updated pics to post soon. I have the pit in and the fuselage halves together. The nose cone fit is not good, however. Odd, because so far the fit of everything has been pretty good.

Michael Phillips
Made some more progress. Most of the fuselage is assembled now, and the intakes are on and painted. I still have some work to do around the nosecone and the intakes, but nothing to be too concerned about.

While the fit of this kit is mostly pretty good, but it is not an easy build. Mostly because, even using the "revised" instructions, it is difficult to decipher how to put parts together. It is just not super clear, but definitely way better than the instructions that came with the kit. Those are just horrible.

Getting excited as I close in on my favorite part of any build, painting! Might be able to start priming this weekend hopefully.

Jos Jansen
I am definitely in Michael...grab a seat here as well!

Steven Van Dyck
It already looks nice, Michael. Is the revised instruction to be found on internet? I have won this kit at IPMS the Netherlands last year, so I will follow this thread for sure.

Soeren R.
Count me in.
Great progress so far! 🙂

Slavo Hazucha
I somehow missed the start of this one...! Great project launch - I was looking at the kit in a store lately, definitely on my "slightly extended" ToDo list (one of my goals being to do the whole Flanker family over time...) The cockpit looks excellent - again an example that pro-work beats PE with plasticity & depth most the time 👍 Looking forward for more!

One Q: I see you have the Begemot decals - did you work with them already & what is your impression - I intend to get one set for a near-future build... thx!

Michael Phillips
Welcome Jos and Roland, and thanks Steven, Soeren, James, and Slavo! I appreciate all the kind words and the follows!

Steven, the revised instructions can be found here:

uk.luckymodel.com/km/e03-095-48062.pdf

Slavo, I have used them before on both my Kitty Hawk Su-35 and a long time ago on my Mini Hobby Su-37 (only my 3rd build ever, so not that great). They perform very well in my opinion, and are usually very accurate. I definitely recommend them!

Michael Phillips
So I got the model primed now. Technically I did not pre-shade as I normally do, but after I primed it black I looked and the mask set I bought said the dark blue should be the first down camo color, so I was worried it was too dark to spray over black so I sprayed some gray primer strategically all around to lighted up the primer as well as give it somewhat of a preshade.

Steven Van Dyck
Thanks for the link, Michael! Also, a cool preshade. It should paint easier without the fins, good choice.

Stephan Ryll
Comming along nicely Michael 👍

Slavo Hazucha
Thx Michael for the BG decals intel!

Progress looks rather good too - from what I have seen, the usage, fading and weathering variety on the carrier Flankers gives you all the options from new to salty beyond recognition - looking forward to see your take on the topic 👍

Clifford Keesler
Very nice.

Nathan Dempsey
That's a great looking pre-shade & a serious amount of masking.

Michael Phillips
Thanks Clifford and Nathan!

OK, something weird is going on with my pics. The default pic is all kinds of distorted and everything uploaded upside down. I rotated them, but now things are just weird... Hmmm, anyone encounter this before?

Nathan Dempsey
OK I JUST looked at these pics and they looked fine. Now they look all stretched out.

Michael Phillips
I am deleting my latest pics and trying again... See if that fixes it...

Nathan Dempsey
OK yeah that's back to normal.

Steven Van Dyck
Thanks for the link, Michael. The paint looks spot on!

John Ballman
Very Cool, great progress. Cockpit looks super, is it OOB?

Spanjaard
looking really good Michael

Holger Kranich
Uhh, what a cool scheme! When i look at it, i am getting groovy... Damn, too much LSD... LOL 😄

Slavo Hazucha
@Holger - imagine this performing Cobra and Kulbit maneuvers in front of you & then hit something... 😄

Michael the progress looks fantastic, the amount & execution of the surface details is top and looks like right out of the mold despite all the color layers allready on it - MRP paint again? 🙂

I hope all kinetic kits are this good...

Stephan Ryll
Very nice Color scheme Michael 👍 like it a lot 🙂

Nigel
I agree with Holger. I'm getting...lava lamps

Chris Greathouse
Great camo!

Bryn Crandell
Superb camo. Looking forward to the end.

Clifford Keesler
Excellent camo work, well done.

Donald Dickson II
Oh wow, groovy dude. That totally hip man.😉 Seriously, I like it!

Michael Phillips
Thanks Steven, John, Spanjaard, Holger, Slavo, Stephan, Nigel, Chris, James, Bryn, Clifford, and Donald!

Moving slowly with this one, but I was able to make some progress over the last week or so. Got most of the metalwork done, other than the nozzles themselves. I will do those later I think. Next up will be the gloss coat then decal time!

Murad ÖZER
that paintjob is simply insane, hat's off to you Michael 👍 tho the satisfaction factor of this build must be off the charts, especially once all the masking is off and all of the lines are finally visible.😎

Michael Phillips
Thanks Murad!

Started the decal process tonight, just the tails and left front fuselage. Looking at the pics I just realized that I forgot to add the Russian tri-color on the left vertical stab. I should be able to finish the decaling in a couple more days. Not a huge number of stencils on this AC.

Stephan Ryll
Very nice progress Michael - this birds looks very good 👍

Holger Kranich
Who is Cicilia?😢

Slavo Hazucha
Excellent paint & decal work Michael - the experimentation in Russian camouflages has brought forth some really interesting patterns, mix in the chaos and changing rules after the fall of the USSR and you get some really unique combinations, this one being among them... Red stars, Russian flag, Andreevsky flag, a Tiger & an Orca + mission stars all on one plane... and it´s not a special like the Bavarian Tiger & other one-off show paint jobs... love it 👍 👍

Michael Phillips
Thanks Stephan and Slavo!

Slavo, I couldn't resist doing a Syrian Campaign bird with the Orca and mission stars. Those came from the Begemot sheet, and the rest so far from the kit. The Cartograph printed kit decals are really nice, and of course the Begemot ones are as well. The paint scheme on this is so cool that I need to really tone it down a bit when I start weathering, it almost looks a bit too toy-like in it's current state. I am not going to go too crazy with weathering, but I think I will try some fading and a little dirt and grime. 🙂

Holger, my wife's name is Cicilia. She was playing around with my airbrush while watching me work a few weeks ago and wrote that. I was actually quite amazed at how quickly she picked up the dual action use of it and was able to spray fine controlled lines like that within minutes. 🙂

Maciej Bellos
Looks like Cicilia will pick up one of your kits soon LOL

Clifford Keesler
What can I say, Beautiful as always.

Jos Jansen
Great progress Michael...👍!

Michael Phillips
Thanks James, Clifford, and Jos!

Maciej, I actually mentioned that to her, but she does not have the patience for this hobby LOL.

Well, decals are almost finished, only have the underside left to do, and there are less than 20 decals for that so I will finish that tomorrow night.

Michael Phillips
Got the wash done on the topside tonight, tomorrow will hit the underside then it will be time for the flat coat. Still have a lot to do though, haven't even started the landing gear or weapons yet. But coming along slowly but surely!

Stephan Ryll
Very nice progress Michael 👍

Slavo Hazucha
The wash brought out all the sharp surface details very nicely, I'm very much looking forward to adding this kit to my planned Flanker family in due time 🙂

Augie
looks fantastic Michael, very fantastic

Don "The Don"
Michael. I appreciate that you have more work to do to finish The Flanker. However, your work to date is simply stunning. Patience and precision. Well done.

Michael Phillips
Thanks Stephan, Slavo, Augie, and Don! I appreciate the kind words.

The goal is to complete this by October 6th for my IPMS meeting quarterly contest "I got the Blues" where the theme is to build anything that is predominately blue. Will be tight, but I think I can get it done in time!

Bryn Crandell
Wash definately made it come to life. We have confidance you will finish in time.

Nathan Dempsey
I've got to pick up one of these kits 🙂

Maciej Bellos
I like your IPMS club. It keeps you busy and creative!

Ah, the kit, she looks gorgeous, though I like the airforce flankers more.

Clifford Keesler
It looks just awesome Michael.

Erik Leijdens
Very nice work there Michael

Michael Phillips
Thanks Bryn, Maciej, Clifford, Roland, and Erik! I appreciate the kind words!

Nathan, you definitely need to pick one of these up! It's an awesome kit.

Tonight I added some fading and grime, but nothing major. Tried not to overdo it, as I wanted this to be a mild to moderately weathered bird. Also attached some other bits. ????

Spanjaard
She looks fantastic

Michael Phillips
Thanks Spanjaard!

Next up is to attach a few more bits and then hit it with the flat coat. After that it is on to the tedious task of landing gear and weapons/pylons. A little more than a week left til the deadline and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel finally!

Holger Kranich
Looks like a easy and flawless build. Can you confirm that, Michael?

Michael Phillips
Holger, the kit does fit pretty well, although it is a bit of a complicated build with many many parts. But the detail is fantastic, and from what I can tell very very accurate. But be warned, even the "revised" downloadable PDF instructions are poor (but a HUGE improvement over the absolutely horrible kit included instructions), and I deviated from the instructions sequence pretty much everywhere. They would have you build this up in a very strange and impractical sequence.

But all in all I would recommend this kit to anyone wanting to build a Sea Flanker!

Stephan Ryll
Looking great Michael 👍

Daniel
This will be a real stunner. Well it already is!

Michael Phillips
Thanks Stephan and Daniel!

I am getting pretty pumped to finish this one up and start the Aggressor Group Build!

Spanjaard
nice and easy Michael, do not rush with this beauty in your hands😉

Clifford Keesler
That is going to be one awesome bird.

Slavo Hazucha
You struck a perfect balance with the weathering, breaking through the "psychedelic painting" appeal just enough to make it look great & realistic. Good work in your best traditions! 👍

Michael Phillips
Thanks Spanjaard, Clifford, and Slavo! I always appreciate your kind words and feedback.

So I made some significant progress tonight. Put the flat coat on, attached the IRST and vertical tails, as well as the exhaust nozzles and some other bits. Really starting to come alive now. I feel confident I will be able to meet the contest deadline now!

Konrad -
Very impressive build👍! Very nice and cool looking Flanker 👍!

Christian Lehmann
Very nice build 👍

Jos Jansen
Can't wait to see the roll-out Michael...🙂

Michael Phillips
Thanks Konrad, Christian, and Jos! This one is really becoming one of my favorites!

Thomas Kolb
Lovely weathering - beautiful!

Clifford Keesler
It is beyond words Michael, your skills always amaze me.

Gerald
👍 nice build

Michael Phillips
Thanks Thomas, Clifford and Gerald!

No picture updates, but I have fully assembled the landing gear, and primed them as well as all 6 missiles I will be using. Tonight I will paint the gears, missiles, and canopy interior assembly, as well as all the pylons.

I am on track to finish on time still!

Michael Phillips
Got 'er up on her feet now and the end is in sight!!! A few more hours of work tomorrow should be enough to complete it in time for the club contest Sunday. Just have to add some doodads and attach all the remaining pieces parts (gear bay doors, pylons, missiles, canopy, pitot, probes, etc.).

Holger Kranich
She looks sexy!🙂

Soeren R.
She dpes indeed.
Fantastic work Michael!

Slavo Hazucha
I hope you make it, it's a big show! 👍 Still re-checking how well the weathering went! Sea flankers age in a different way & you got it spot on! One can really feel the soot & grime from the Admiral Kuznetzov's old rusty funnel in the panel lines😉

Spanjaard
i love Flankers, and this one is certainly fantastic!

Konrad -
Awesome work Michael 👍! Looks like the real one as Slavo mentioned before!

Nathan Dempsey
That's inspiring work for sure. I've gotta get ahold of one of these at some point.

Torben H.
One of the most appealing planes ever made. And you depicted her beautifully. Well done!

Clifford Keesler
Agree with everyone else, excellent work.

Demigod
Great work! And the weathering toned it all down nicely. A joy to behold.