Academy Su-30MK2 Flanker-G - WIP

Michael Phillips
Well, here is my next project! An Indonesian Su-30MK2 Flanker-G.

Inspired by my wife (who is from Indonesia) and Jos Jansen's recent Indonesian Viper, I have moved this one all the way to the top of my queue! I know, I know, another Flanker by me. Seems like I build one every few months, LOL. But at least it is a unique one!

Lots of aftermarket going into this one, so it should be a cool build. Here we go!

Donald Dickson II
I shall watch this with interest. 🙂

Slavo Hazucha
Another "Flanker by Michael Phillips"? A must-follow topic of course! Your collection of different versions of this pinnacle of 4th gen form & grace (at least as I see it...) is formidable already - very much looking forward to this one 👍 Luck being not needed in your case, I wish you lots of fun on the journey😉

And btw - being a bit of a Flanker-fan myself - do you/anyone know about a way to get a replacement single seat-version canopy? Can't find anything myself & cannibalize a full kit just for a scratch on the canopy/ego does seem to be a bit of an overkill... Thanks in advance!

Jos Jansen
I will definitely follow this Michael ... nice to hear that you were inspired by my Indo Viper (and of course by your Indonesian wife)! I have had many nice comments about my Indonesian F-16. An Indonesian Flanker is definitely on my list too. Because of you I now have a nice reference build mate!

For those who cannot remember this Viper, see the attached picture:
[img1]

Michael Phillips
Welcome Donald, Slavo, and Jos!

Slavo, which kit are you looking for a canopy for? I have the GWH Su-35 release with both the tinted and clear canopies and I have a couple of Fairy Hobby vacuform canopies for the Academy single seater, so I might be able to part with a kit canopy for one of those. But I do remember sending a canopy (maybe even two) to another Scalemate awhile back, so I may not have as many extras as I think. But I am sure I could help out some way.

Jos, it would be hard not to remember that beauty! Hopefully I do this justice and give you a good reference and inspiration as well!

Patrick Hagelstein
Unstoppable....... In again though! 😄

Michael Phillips
Welcome Patrick!

First work done tonight... The Academy Su-30 upper fuselage is the same as the one used in their Su-27UB kits, so to make it accurate for an Su-30, you must cut off the front of the forward fuselage right in between the two seat areas, then attach the supplied forward fuselage for the Su-30MK. Used a dremel to cut and remove plastic close to the cut, then used a coarse sanding stick to get the rest of the way. I am pleased to say that the new part fits very well!

Konrad -
Awesome start Michael 👍! Take seat too😉!

Bart Goesaert
oh boy we're in for a treat... nice cutting and fitting... I have their Sea-flanker conversion...still don't know if I'm up for that kind of surgery...

Daniel
Nice, another flanker beast incoming, in a very cool camo as well - definitely watching! Great start with the replacement nose 👍

Slavo Hazucha
@Jos - that magic green/turqouise you produced on the Viper is nothing to forget quickly! 👍 One of my favourite builds 👍

@Michael/Canopy - sent you a PM - thanks a lot!

I have not worked on an Academy Flanker yet, HB & GWH so far... Good to hear the Academy tree is good quality too!

Michael Phillips
Welcome Konrad, Bart, and Daniel!

Got the cockpit painted and ready to install finally. Been slow going as I have been quite busy and not yet on lockdown here, but if we do this should get more attention. We shall see!

I did do some dry fitting and it seems this Wolfpack set fits really well with almost no extra trimming.

Daniel
Very nice weathered cockpit 👍

Jos Jansen
Nice pit Michael, you're on track my friend!

Michael Phillips
Thanks Daniel and Jos!

I think I weathered the cockpit a little too much, but it won't look quite so overdone once in the fuselage and with the seats in.

Michael Phillips
Well, the resin cockpit is in and the fuselage halves are assembled. I must say, the Wolfpack cockpit for this model is THE best fitting cockpit I have ever used. It was pretty much perfect right off the jump, no trimming at all. the only part that was more work was there was some minor cutting of the plastic, which was quick and easy.

Slavo Hazucha
Cockpit looking really good sitting in there 👍 Once you have time for the hobby, things happen quickly😉

Michael Phillips
Thanks Slavo! Yeah, I am starting to find a little more time to work on this. 🙂

So I have the intakes, nosecone, windscreen, and some other bits attached now. Next up is prime time! Getting close to the fun part of each project for me!

Kerry COX
Am I too late to pull up a comfy seat and watch this event. ?

Michael Phillips
Welcome Kerry! You are not too late, the best part is about to start!

Jos Jansen
Great progress Michael...!

Slavo Hazucha
Slowly growing to full future beauty! 👍

Michael Phillips
Thanks Jos and Slavo! Progresss to report... Got her primed now, next up is pre-shading tonight and then base light gray coat tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Nathan Dempsey
Oooh, looking nice Michael!

Maciej Bellos
Missed it! Looking good!

Michael Phillips
Thanks Nathan and Maciej!

Got the pre-shading and base color down over the last two days. This build is starting to build up steam. Next up is the darker camo color!

Michael Phillips
Camo is basically done now. Need to clean up some areas and will fade the darker camo a bit as well, but pretty happy with how it came out. A lot of masking with Tamiya tape for curves used on this one! Lol

Slavo Hazucha
All just Tamiya-taped? The curves look very nice & clean - particularly the fins & left elevator with the smaller meanders are really cool & sharp 👍

Will be another cool addition to your Flanker world-tour!

Jos Jansen
This is already a stunner...well done Michael, your build is very inspiring 👍!

Michael Phillips
Thanks Slavo and Jos!

Slavo, yep, lots of tamiya tape for curves used. This stuff is really nice for doing hard edge curved camo.

Michael Phillips
Some progress made, got the camo done and the dark gray nose and dielectric panels done, as well as the gloss black and airframe aluminum bases. Managed to get some wet black paint on my fingers somehow and it seems I accidentally transferred it to the upper right wing. I will have to go back in and fix that.

Also, I played around with fading some of the dark camo using the lighter camo on the upper wing surfaces, and I think that turned out pretty nice. I will do the same to the rest of the aircraft, probably after decals.

Augie
looking very cool Michael 🙂

Jos Jansen
Very nice Michael...👍

Slavo Hazucha
Progress looks very good! - I also think that the big Flanker panels simply invite some freehand shading & bleaching! Pity the black smear goes through both camo colors, but should be all well manageable...

The beginning metalwork also looks most promising, the gunshield looks great 👍

It´s good you can work on the engine panels with the fins off - was not exactly the case on the HB Su-34, due to parts layout... Those big tails really limit workable angles for the Airbrush... luckily the Fullback does not have bare metal there as other Flankers do... Will yours fit just fine or do you expect some re-spray along the connections?

Michael Phillips
Thanks Augie, Jos, and Slavo!

Slavo, I did some test fitting and the resin tails seem like they will fit pretty well. I did some test fitting and sanding prior to painting. If I have any gaps I will attend to them once I get them attached.

Michael Phillips
Got most of the metalwork finished tonight, although I do still need to do the nozzles and other random metal bits still. I finished up the fading using the lighter gray on the darker gray camo, but I think I will go back in and tone that down slightly by spraying the darker camo over the fading lightly.

Michael Phillips
Tonight I applied the Indonesia specific markings. These are all from the Caracal sheet, and performed wonderfully. Tomorrow it will be stencil time. Hopefully I can get them all done in one night. We shall see!

Jos Jansen
Poooah...breathtaking Michael, very....very nice... love those exotic schemes!

Daniel
beautiful! I like it with those indonesian space ship markings!

Slavo Hazucha
Michael's threads are a joy to watch... Clean, beautiful-looking methodical progress 👍

Michael Phillips
Thanks Jos, Daniel, and Slavo! I really appreciate all your kind words!

Michael Phillips
Finished the decals last night and small hand painted details today. Tomorrow I think I will apply the wash, which is when she will really come alive. Getting excited for the final steps in this project!

Gerald
👍

Black Baron
Nice

Michael Phillips
Thanks Gerald and Black Baron!

Got the wash on the top side done tonight. No issues there, happy with the result, kept it rather clean since the pics I have seen show Indo Flankers to be relatively clean mostly.

Tomorrow I will do the underside, some more light weathering, and maybe the flat coat.

Donald Dickson II
Flipping marvelous as always!

Michael Phillips
Thanks Roland, I appreciate the kind words!

So I finished the weathering an flat coat... and had a minor disaster and found an issue I must fix after I removed the windscreen masking.

First, as I was spraying the flat coat, holding the model at angles to see the sheen of the gloss disappear as I sprayed the flat, when my grip of the model slipped and I had to quickly grab it and in doing so I spilled the cup of flat coat onto the model just aft of the cockpit on the left side of the model. At first I thought I ruined the model, or at the very least would have to sand and repaint, but after it dried I was able to hide the marks pretty well. Looks kinda like uneven paint and kinda adds to the look.

But, I did encounter another issue. When I removed the masking from the windscreen, I noticed some marring of the inside of the windscreen at the very front, just left of the IRST. I am going to have to remove the windscreen and see if I can fix that by sanding and polishing the inside. I will do that tomorrw. We shall see!

Patrick Hagelstein
Noooooooooh!!!!!! 🙁 I know that feeling... When something like this happens you want to act as quickly as possible to 'limit' the damage. Truth is, the damage has been done already and the smartest thing to do is, just walk away...... After cleaning out your airbrush cup off course! 😄 (Different story with parts before and after a family holiday.... 😉 ) The quick responses are often worse than what happened anyway and coming back after a night sleep and a cup of coffee let you perceive the whole world in a different view. 🙂 Still looks awesome and hopefully you are able to pry that windscreen off without too much damage. I'll keep my 👍 👍 up for you! 🙂

Slavo Hazucha
The Flankers are just so aerodynamically clean and super-manouverable they can unexpectedly slip & commence/resume flight from any position...😉

Toppling bottles and spilling liquids is a skill I´m perfecting all too often as well... And so true what Patrick says, the first impulse after an accident is 99% sure to just add insult to injury - but who is the man to just say "OK, I have an evolving disaster on the table = time for Earl Grey Tea and some thorough airbrush cleaning..." in such a situation?? 😄

Luckily it really seems you absorbed the impact well - the light purple-ish shade effect left behind the cockpit does not even look entirely impossible/un-plausible and almost falls into the "you would not achieve this if you wanted it..." accident category... Hope the windscreen can be saved, this is in all aspects still a really cool build going on here 👍

Spanjaard
almost missed this fantastic beauty.... sorry to hear about the masking error. but i am sure you will be able to fix it 🙂

Spanjaard
or you can use the old trick ... have a ground crew to work on it and have one of them to "clean" the front windscreen... the cloth to do it can be use to hide the defect😉

Michael Phillips
Thanks Patrick, Slavo, and Spanjaard!

Patrick and Slavo, you guys are so right! When it first happened I immediately panicked and looked around me for a rag to try to wipe it off, but as soon as I located one and prepared to try to lightly wipe it up I hesitated just enough to regain my senses and realized that would be the worst possible reaction. So I just let it dry (aided by straight air from my air brush). Even with the restoration after the incident there are still some potential casualties. It melted the upper right corner of the "dashed line box" on the upper fuselage and it also made the carrier film of the "TNI AU" very visible. I am hoping this went away overnight (since that area was ground zero for the spill) but I won't know until I get home how that went.

Haha Spanjaard, I will keep that idea in my back pocket if it is not savable. LOL

Michael Phillips
Well, a bunch of stuff done since my last update, been in incognito mode. LOL. Anyway, she is aaaaaaalmost done, just a few things to add now, probably will finish before the weekend. These will be the last pics to this album before the final reveal! Stay tuned...

Patrick Hagelstein
Oh! The anticipation! Aaaargh!!!!

Nathan Dempsey
Ooooooohhhh! Indeed!

Daniel Klink
Putifull really stunning surfaces...luv it !
👍

Slavo Hazucha
On it´s legs, armed & ready... 👍 the accident & fix only made it look more interesting & real IMHO... The entire surface look is very good & classy indeed.

Cool FOX 1-2-3 combination on the pylons😉

Soeren R.
Thats one fantastic looking Flanker!
Bravo!

Btw what did you use for weathering?

Megan Harris
Yeah, how do you get the awesome faint brown weathering on the surfaces and panels ? Looks incredible

Michael Phillips
Thanks Patick, Nathan, Daniel, Slavo, Soeren, and Megan! I really appreciate all the kind words.

Slavo, yep... I was going for an all out air to air load on this one. Unrealistic, perhaps, but fun to arm to the teeth!

Soeren and Megan, for the weathering I really only used two things. First, I used Mig Ammo Deep Gray wash, which has a bit of a brown cast to it and really gives the model life. My secret weapon, though, is Tamiya Smoke. I spray this, heavily thinned, to give it the brownish dirty areas. I try to be restrained with this, as it is easy to go overboard with it, but it really give a nice affect with little work. Give it a try!

Oh, I almost forgot... I did do one other thing... I sprayed very light coats of the light gray base color onto the darker camo areas to give the paint a bit of a faded appearance. I initially overdid it a bit on my first try, but it was easy to fix by just going back in with the darker gray again to tone it down. I did that before the gloss coat and decal stage, the wash and Tamiya smoke was done after the decals, but before the flat coat. Hope this helps!

Daniel
Fantastic work Michael, your surface treatment is always on point, even including the unintended treatment 😄 Great looking flanker 👍

Michael Phillips
Thanks Daniel, I appreciate the kind words! Hopefully I won't have any unintended weathering in the future. That was a scary moment! LOL

Günther Decock
A very nice job with the flanker, Michael.

Michael Phillips
Thanks Günther! I appreciate the kind words!

Well, this one is done. Final pics can be seen here:

scalemates.com/profi..bums&album=57906

Thanks for being along for the ride on this project, it was great to have you all!

Spanjaard
Simply awesome result