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A little plastic surgery on the Academy 1:48 Su-27.


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Alot of you guys are familiar with this kit, and I'm sure you agree when I say it's a beauty. Especially when it comes to the fitting of the parts, the nice engraved panel lines and so on. So far so good?

IMO it just didn't look right in the end. The canopy/windshield is too low in profile, and adds alot to distorting the look of the kit. Same goes for the radome, it's just wrong. I bought a Flanker special edition from World Air Power Journal, and it featured beautiful drawings of the Flanker family. Comparing thhese drawings to the kit revealed that the mainwing didn't have enough sweep, also the kit is too short. Since I didn't have anything better to do I decided to do some modifcations to the kit. There's some more things I plan on fixing, but here's the current fixes/results.

Don't hate me.

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Edited by robban75
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Alot of you guys are familiar with this kit, and I'm sure you agree when I say it's a beauty. Especially when it comes to the fitting of the parts, the nice engraved panel lines and so on. So far so good?

IMO it just didn't look right in the end. The canopy/windshield is too low in profile, and adds alot to distorting the look of the kit. Same goes for the radome, it's just wrong. I bought a Flanker special edition from World Air Power Journal, and it featured beautiful drawings of the Flanker family. Comparing thhese drawings to the kit revealed that the mainwing didn't have enough sweep, also the kit is too short. Since I didn't have anything better to do I decided to do some modifcations to the kit. There's some more things I plan on fixing, but here's the current fixes/results.

Don't hate me.

Flanker.jpg

Excellent work robban75 - that fuselage extension certainly makes the Su-27 look a whole lot better.

This is from my Flanker Kits Survey - that I wrote about 5 years ago........

Re the Academy 1:48 scale Su-27 :-

Span is absolutely correct and the overall wing shape is very good with separate flaps and slats. The length is 16mm too short - which is exactly the length of the nose probe. The quoted length of a Su-27 WITHOUT NOSE PROBE is 456.9mm in 1:48 scale, but Academy’s kit is that length exactly INCLUDING the probe - an error that crops up in a lot of the models reviewed here. Nonetheless, the overall shape of the fuselage is correct and it captures the curved-down look very well.

The same length error is present on Trumpeter's 1:32 scale kit (along with loads of outline shape errors!)

If only someone would make an ACCURATE Su-27!! ;)

If you and I can work it out - why can't the kit makers ???

Ken

Edited by Flankerman
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Excellent work robban75 - that fuselage extension certainly makes the Su-27 look a whole lot better.

If only someone would make an ACCURATE Su-27!! :pray:

If you and I can work it out - why can't the kit makers ???

Ken

Thanks Ken! Glad you like it. And yeah, how come the kit makers can't come up with an accurate Flanker kit? Is the Su-27 more difficult to do than other planes? I've noticed that there's no accurate MiG-29 kits either(the 1:32 Trumpeter MiG-29 looks ok though, but I haven't built it myself). In 1:48 scale the Academy kit is the best one, but it's far from accurate.

Too bad.

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what are you plannig to do with it furhter?what markings will it carry?

Hi dragan!

I'm gonna modify the shape of the LERX's, Re-position the wheel well in the wings, and may drop the leading edge slats. I'm not sure which markings it will carry though. I've always liked the look of 388, the Flanker that was the first to visit Farnborough. But I don't know. The radome must be white though! :pray:

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Given that the Academy Su-27 is 16 mm shorter than it should be, what I really would like to understand is if the overall proportions of the kit are correct.

I mean, the length of the engine fairings, airbrakes, wings, canopy & windshield, nose, are in proportion the one with the other, like if the kit was scaled not in 1/48 but in 1/50 or so? Because if they are in proportion, plugging in another 16 mm somewhere in the fuselage does not really help to get a more accurate model.

And what do you think of all these aftermarket Su-27 noses (Pisco, Miniarm, Quickboost)? Why? What are they for? Too short nose?

Finally, when I can get some very accurate 1/48 scale drawings?

Thank you,

Galfa

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Academy kit is in 1/50 scale. It is absolutly clear from the size of cockpit - its way too small for 1/48

Miniarm aswell as Pisco correct the shape of the nose cone perfectly. I would also recommend Miniarm missiles in 1/48

Couple of years back Miniarm mentioned that they are working on a Su-35 and Su-33 Seaflanker conversions for Academy kit. Much more accurate and detailed then old Sol sets. Here is the link to a model parts of which became prototypes for Miniarm future conversion... I am defenitly saving up for this one!

http://dishmodels.ru/gshow.htm?p=585

Andy

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Given that the Academy Su-27 is 16 mm shorter than it should be, what I really would like to understand is if the overall proportions of the kit are correct.

I mean, the length of the engine fairings, airbrakes, wings, canopy & windshield, nose, are in proportion the one with the other, like if the kit was scaled not in 1/48 but in 1/50 or so? Because if they are in proportion, plugging in another 16 mm somewhere in the fuselage does not really help to get a more accurate model.

And what do you think of all these aftermarket Su-27 noses (Pisco, Miniarm, Quickboost)? Why? What are they for? Too short nose?

Finally, when I can get some very accurate 1/48 scale drawings?

Thank you,

Galfa

I lay the model on top of the drawings and came to the conclusion that the best place to make the cut was almost at the bottom end of the airbrake. Lengthening the kit here also gives room to increase the inner chord of the main wing, which will give it the right leading edge angle.

Remember, alot of fiddling is needed to get the right slope for the spine. Which unfortunatelly involves alot of cutting, filling and sanding.

I lengthened the kit about 1cm. The other 6mm can be fixed by adding a few mm to the (front of the)nose and tail cone.

The shape of the radome is wrong, and the resin noses helps remedy this. They also add the extra milimeters. The length of the canopy and windshield are correct, but it is too low in profile. It might also be a little too narrow. The height can be fixed(as shown above). I hate cutting and sanding canopies, but the results are worth it.

I'll see if I can scan some of the drawings and send them to you. :)

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  • 11 months later...

Wow! what an impressive job you've done!

i'de really like to see what it looks like... by now! nearly one year later...

i hope that you'll post some pics... or some links to your pics...

(or any kind of news related to your flanker project!)

your topic was a real source of inspiration for me!

now i know what i'm gonna do for the forthcoming year!!!

I'll Flankering!!!

(i have 4 1/48 flankers in my shelf, waiting...)

Cheers,

Simon

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  • 1 month later...

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