SMER 1/48 Sukhoi su 22m4 in polish service

[Jim R]

Well done Tony. Time and patience but worth it.

[Mark1]

It was only 500 of em, what took you so long :smiling5:
Looking forward to seeing the end result.

[Mickc1440]

Nice one Tony

[yak face]

Well after recovering from a bad case of Stencilitis , im now moving on a bit quicker with this one :smiling5:. The whole airframe and associated bits ( wings, elevators , stores etc.) have been coated with Klear to seal all the billions of decals in . A final satin coat is to be applied later. Several very vulnerable bits that would definitely have got knocked off if I had fitted them earlier in the build have now been added , namely the two nose probes and the ventral fin , the probes are yet to be painted.

[Tim Marlow]

Must feel good now you are past those pesky stickers Tony. Looks pretty good as well.

[yak face]

Panel line washes - not something im a massive fan of , personally I think they tend to get overdone, and the model ends up looking like a technical drawing or blueprint. That said I usually emphasise at least the control surfaces and have done full washes where the subject would definitely benefit from it , this build being one of those. So off we went with the oil wash . Next up is the tricky job of cleaning up without wiping it all off again !

[Mark1]

Looking good Tony, thats why i stopped bothering with enamel washes, just kept wiping it all back out and was only left with a model that was sticky for about three weeks!

[yak face]

Got the oil wash cleaned up today , still not sure about the effect though , might have to tone it down a bit somehow .

[yak face]

Well it looks a lot less in your face now its had a final coat of semi matt. Been getting on with the undercarriage , wheels on including the new axle for the nosewheel and the tricky 3 part main gear door assembly. Next up fitting the stores which cones with its own dilemma ,

[Steven000]

Lovely work Tony :thumb2:

[Tim Marlow]

Top class stuff Tony. Very impressive!

[yak face]

Into the final furlong now with this build. The final stage always seems to take forever as theres so many tiny little details to add . Referring back to the dilemma mentioned earlier , the KKR1 reconnaissance pod on the centreline is the problem. The kit one was very sparsely detailed , ive already added the camera covers at the front but after finding better references realised theres a massive detail underneath missing. The pod has a raft of flare chutes for night time photography ( 152 in all , in rows of seven and eight)
Not being able to find any decal for this meant i had to improvise and the only way i could attempt it was to add the dots freehand with a pen . After about ten attempts ive ended up with this , a bit rubbish but im not messing about any more , its close enough and no ones going to see it underneath anyway.

[Guest]

You’re braver than I am, and clearly have a steadier hand, adding those flare holders with a pen

[yak face]

Took off the temporarily fixed rear canopy today and demasked it . The seat can now be fitted ( remember the treading on it episode!)
The canopy is one of those areas where virtually all makers dont try hard enough , apart from making a canopy true to scale thickness and the odd mirror most kits neglect this sometimes very detailed area . This is no exception , the kit providing nothing but the glass parts and a periscope mirror for the outside . The AM photo etch provides a few bits ( mirrors , latches, area round the hinge ) but theres still loads to add ( see the photos )
I started making the demister pipework and the long panels at each side using plastic card and 30amp fuse wire, the latch pieces were off the pe fret . Theres a few more cables / pipes to add yet plus the prominent instrument training hood (?) ( the crumpled up thing hanging on the left had side )

[JR]

That's some brilliant work there Tony precise and clean.