Fabster Posted October 17, 2010 Share Posted October 17, 2010 (edited) Hello guys, I had the original release of the Monogram Su-25 kit (the one in tan-colored plastic which I hated) and somewhere in the stash an old set of decals from SuperScale with option for Russian, Czech, Irani and Iraqi Frogfoots. Well, I always wanted to do the Iraqi version because of the unique desert camouflage so things were falling into place. Long time ago I also found this neat 3-way color drawings showing the scheme for this particular version and saved it for future reference. Somehow, my Su-25 kit disappeared from sight for the longest time so the project stalled until recently when my local shop stocked the recent re-release of this same kit, now molded in glorious Gray plastic. I grabbed one copy and decided to attack it before I lost interest (or the kit) again. From the start I decided this would be a "quick" OOB job. No aftermarket stuff and no scratchbuily add ons. Wrong! First thing I came across was the ugly seat of the kit. Fortunately I has some spare aftermarket K-36 ejection seats from Verlinden and I thought adding it wouldnt hurt. According to some reviews, the cockpit detail is not only sparse but also completely fictitious at best. Since I didnt have a "spare" resin cockpit for it I just added some painted detail here and there trying to make it look a little busy. The cockpit as well as control panel, wheel wells and landing great legs received a coat of bluish gray paint as seen on some of the reference picts I found online. A dark was was later added to bring the details out. From here, assembly of the fuselage and wings went on without a problem. This kit's fit is really good. Monogram did, as usual, a good job when engineered these kits back in the 80s. Minimum putty was needed for some minor seams, mostly because of my bad. After some minor sanding, the model was ready for some primer..... OR SO I THOUGHT!! Next: Surprises a little research time may throw at you. Thanks for looking! FAB Edited October 30, 2010 by Fabster Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sebastijan Posted October 17, 2010 Share Posted October 17, 2010 Nice start! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jinxter13 Posted October 17, 2010 Share Posted October 17, 2010 (edited) Cool I'm thinking about pulling mine out, it's the original in that pukey tan plastic. I can see you're off to a dazzling start, I'm following this one close. so some grey primer is in order to get things flowing on an even keel. I'll just do it OOB since it's not a true production "Frogfoot" and let it go at that. the AM stuff is just to much to spend on a kit that's not gonna go any where or do anything. It'll look good on the shelf next to an American line up for conversation. Since I don't know, would you say that the weapons are reasonable facsimiles of real Russian ordnance? . Edited October 17, 2010 by Angels49 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Antoine Posted October 17, 2010 Share Posted October 17, 2010 Very nicely done, really. But wasn't the monogram 25 based on the prototype, which is a bit different from the 25K? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rom Posted October 17, 2010 Share Posted October 17, 2010 hi! nice "oob" cockpit! bye Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dragan_mig31 Posted October 17, 2010 Share Posted October 17, 2010 nice work.The only thing I would like to point out is that the wheel wells are differnet color and the cockpit too. here you are some photos. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dahut Posted October 17, 2010 Share Posted October 17, 2010 I have the Revell issue of this kit, but the nose on both fuselage halves is completely knackered. A previous owner filled the nose halves with lead shot and epoxy - which heated up and warped the whole front end! If you ever find the missing kit, Id like to talk with you about getting 'hold of it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fabster Posted October 18, 2010 Author Share Posted October 18, 2010 (edited) Cool I'm thinking about pulling mine out, it's the original in that pukey tan plastic. I can see you're off to a dazzling start, I'm following this one close. so some grey primer is in order to get things flowing on an even keel. I'll just do it OOB since it's not a true production "Frogfoot" and let it go at that. the AM stuff is just to much to spend on a kit that's not gonna go any where or do anything. It'll look good on the shelf next to an American line up for conversation. Since I don't know, would you say that the weapons are reasonable facsimiles of real Russian ordnance? . You quoted my thoughts almost exactly, Angels!! Knowing this kit was modeled after the prototype I didnt want to spend months of painful reconstruction of the airframe to correct misshapes or details trying to make it into a perfect production "K" model. Just wanted to have some fun with the kit "as is" well, more or less anyway! In regards of the weapons, the rocket launchers seem to be not very accurate and the fins at the front of the drop tanks seem to be way too large when comparing them to pictures of the actual things but what the heck, i just left them as they are trying to maintain the OOB philosophy for this build. If I ever get to build the two-seater OEZ Su-25UB kit I have in the stash, then I will attempt to fix, modify, scratchbuild and the such of every area I may find suitable for it ...but not for this guy here! Now, going back to the russian weapons. The /48 Trumpeter Su-24 kit has what I would compare to the russian version of all 3 sets of Hasegawa weapons. and since you wont use more than 15 or 20% of them in the Fencer, man do you have spares for all the rest of soviet planes in your unbuilt pile!!! If you want to put some more accurate artillery in your Frogfoot I would recommend you investing in the Su-24 kit. Otherwise those provided in the Monogram kit will do just fine for a nice looking addition to your shelf. Fab Edited October 18, 2010 by Fabster Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fabster Posted October 18, 2010 Author Share Posted October 18, 2010 Thanks for your replies and comments, guys! especially to Dragan for pointing out the different in shade of gray for the wheel wells and cockpit. Unfortunately it is kind of late not to try to fix it so I will have to leave with it. In my defense I'll add that the actual paint job doesnt look that off from the pictures you kindly shared with us here, by the way! Anyway, to make this one look more like an actual production plane I decided to scratchbuild that noticeable air scoop at the base of the fin which they say is one of the main differences between the prototype and production aircraft. I cut off a notch and inserted a rectangular piece of plastic rod. I carved the intake with a drill bit and sanded it to a more rounded shape. After some filled and more sanding the piece ended looking like this. By the way, there is a vertical divider at the mouth of this intake. I added this at a later stage using a little square piece of PE frame from a spare set. Finally I added all the extra air scoops around the airframe as per the instruction sheet which I also drilled open with a handy drill bit. And to finish with this little but important session of work, a good coat of Floquil primer was applied to the whole model in preparation for the camo painting. Thanks again for stopping by and take a look at these images. Best wishes, FAB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jester292 Posted October 18, 2010 Share Posted October 18, 2010 Looking great! Aaron Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jinxter13 Posted October 18, 2010 Share Posted October 18, 2010 FAB THANK YOU!!!...Fab...You have just brought me close to the production variant. If you don't mind I'll use your little technique for the intake near the vert stab, and I just may go out on that limb a bit farther if I see some obvious features that are in need of scratchbuilding. I've got lots of cut up sprues and about half a plasticard left. Not to mention my ever handy pin vise . Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dragan_mig31 Posted October 18, 2010 Share Posted October 18, 2010 Wonderfull work.My friend the wheel wells are not a shade of grey but flat aluminium color nevermind just keep up the good work.I love the airscoop. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dahut Posted October 18, 2010 Share Posted October 18, 2010 Nice job of it so far. But this leads me to wonder - what if a person just built a pre production model, kind of generic Soviet markings and so on? If that is what is in the kit, why not? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ST0RM Posted October 18, 2010 Share Posted October 18, 2010 Excellent start on your Frogfoot. Good to see you add details as necessary to make up for those that were lacking, while still staying close to OOB. -Jeff Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fabster Posted October 19, 2010 Author Share Posted October 19, 2010 Nice job of it so far.But this leads me to wonder - what if a person just built a pre production model, kind of generic Soviet markings and so on? If that is what is in the kit, why not? You are absolutely right, Dahut... The kit "as is" should be a perfect project if you want to build one of those T-8 or preproduction Frogfoots. I understand that the very early aircraft from the first batch were actually sent over to Afghanistan to be tested in war operations and many lessons learned "the hard way" by the soviets were later applied to the production models. You've given me an idea and I might just do that with the brown-plastic kit I still have! FAB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dahut Posted October 19, 2010 Share Posted October 19, 2010 You are absolutely right, Dahut... The kit "as is" should be a perfect project if you want to build one of those T-8 or preproduction Frogfoots. I understand that the very early aircraft from the first batch were actually sent over to Afghanistan to be tested in war operations and many lessons learned "the hard way" by the soviets were later applied to the production models.You've given me an idea and I might just do that with the brown-plastic kit I still have! FAB That is cool. I hope I can find some fuselage halves myself. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fabster Posted October 20, 2010 Author Share Posted October 20, 2010 Hey, guys Thanks a lot for your kind words and comments! Dragan, i promise I will keep your notes in mind for when I build another Su-25. Like I mentioned before I still have the OEZ 2-seater in my to-do list and who knows? maybe I'll even grab a copy of Trumpeter's 1/32 Frogfoot when released!! Clif, by all means you can try what I did here with mine. It is not perfect but I'll be most happy if it works for you too. Well, here I have another round of pictures here to show you guys, now in regards to the camo painting. I started with a coat of light blue for the bottom side. I used ModelMaster Russian Underside Blue (which in fact is a little too dark for what I wanted) but that was fine because after it and went over inside every panel with a very thin mix of this same color but lightened by about 50% with Flanker Pale Blue, also from ModelMaster. The results is a sort of shading around the panels and areas which is what I was looking for. Next I used ModelMaster Tan FS-20400 for the sand color. I airbrushed the demarcation line freehand and from there up I painted the topside of the model in this color. Aagain, it looked a bit too dark but it was meant as a basecoat for next step, just as I did with the light blue. So far so good and the camouflage started to take shape. Hope you like it! FAB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sebastijan Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 Hope you like it! I certainly do! Keep up the good work! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dragan_mig31 Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 wonderfull painting.What do you plan to use for the other camo colors? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dahut Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 Nice work with the airbrush. Tight lines done freehand - that takes some experience. And a bit of bravery! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fabster Posted October 21, 2010 Author Share Posted October 21, 2010 Hello, guys Thanks for hanging around and for cheering me up! I really appreciate it! Here are some more pictures of the sand color, now kind of faded with a very thin mix of the same Tan color FS20400 and some White in an attempt to make it look a bit worn out by the Iraqi desert weather. I hope it looks ok to your eyes! Next to come, some brown and green to complete the camouflage! Take care buds, FAB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fabster Posted October 21, 2010 Author Share Posted October 21, 2010 wonderfull painting.What do you plan to use for the other camo colors? Thanks, Dragan! I'm glad to know you liked my painting so far. For the 3 camo colors I tested different shades of tan, brown and green on an old Academy Hunter that was never finished by a friend of mine... The poor thing! it served well for the purpose. i think I should t get to actually finish it and give it a more honorable ending than just as a color-testing airframe, huh? Anyway, in the end I selected the combination of FS-20400 Tan, FS-30140 US Special Brown and FS-34086 Green Drab as shown inside the red box in the picture below. To all these 3 colors I planed on fading them down a little bit as they seemed a little to dark to me. Darnit! just by looking at these pictures I feel sad about that poor Hunter! Cheers! FAB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HOLMES Posted October 21, 2010 Share Posted October 21, 2010 FAB Looks SUPERB...Nice work MY friend... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dragan_mig31 Posted October 21, 2010 Share Posted October 21, 2010 great job.I love those colors. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TaiidanTomcat Posted October 21, 2010 Share Posted October 21, 2010 Nice work on the faded paint. Looks real Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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