Happy Holidays folks!
Here’s an update of a bunch of odds and ins. Let’s start with the carrier based Su-34. Like her Su-33 sister, she has a shorten tail. I cut 42 mm out of her tail and glued it back together.
On to her intakes, the hobbyboss kit has these two panel on the inboard side of the intake that you are suppose of fill with two kit parts. Parts like this never fit properly. And since I’m going make some intake covers so you can not see the next step. I added some styrene backing on the inside of the intakes where the panels go. And filled them with my favorite putty, super glue and baby powder. Once cured, they can be sanded flush and smooth leaving no unsightly seams.
On to my two seat Su-33. The cockpit that came with the Su-27 UB, which was grafted on to the Kinetics Su-33, was not as detail as I would like. So, in its place I got Wolfpack Designs Su-30 cockpit. To ensure the instrument panel of the front cockpit fit into the Su-33, I cut the top portion of the Su-33s instrument panel and glued it to the resin one of the Su-30.
I wanted to paint the cockpit of both my two seat Su-33 and her forward swept wing sister that Russian interior blue. At first, I painted them blue and tried to paint the buttons and nobs with a tooth pick and I was not happy with the results. So, I stripped the paint and started over. But how could paint it blue and still the buttons and nobs clearly painted? Here’s what I did! First, I painted the tubs flat black and sealed it with a heavy coat of Future and let it dry overnight. The next day, I then sprayed the interior blue. I then cut a piece of 1/8 dowel rod and super glued a piece a 400-grit sand paper to the circle end of it. (not wrapped around it) Once the blue was good and dry, I run the dowel rod over the buttons and nobs, lightly sanding off the blue and revealing the black underneath. Once I was happy, I gave it another coat of Future. Painted a few buttons red and a light grey to add some visual interest. And gave the tubs a wash in black watercolors. The instrument panels were paint blue first and the dials and screens painted after.
The wheels, the wheel, OMG the wheels! So, the Su-33 kit wheels looks amazing but when you glue them together, there is no way I know of to sand them and not lose any of the surface detail. And the Su-34 wheels are that fake rubber and don’t want to use them for its main wheels. I wanted a single piece wheel with some type of tread that I could use for all the main wheels for all my Girls. So, I added a styrene disk to the Su-33 wheels to make them wider. Sanded them smooth, cut some super thin strips of vinyl tape and added it for new tread detail. Added a casting block, mixed up and pour some RTV and molded the wheels. I then casted resin copies for each of my Sea Flankers. I did the same for the nose wheels too.
Back to my two seat Su-33. With the resin tubs painted and finished, its time to put them into place. Fitting them into the Su-27 UB area was not a problem. It was the nose gear bay of the Su-33. The nose gear bay is deep, and the resin tubs are tall. It took a lot of careful grinding with the Dremel before it all came together. The top of the nose gear bay and the bottom of front cockpit tub are paper thin!
Thanks for stopping by and until next post!
Steven 
