Global Scale Modeller

OK, my "hope I can finish this one quickly before the beast arrives" build!

There are currently three kits available of the T-50, all in 1/72. Zvezda also reboxed by Revell and others, a Russian resin kit and this HobbyBoss kit.
They are all more or less "best guess" kits, as in this is a new and secret gen 5 stealth fighter, ok more and more data is getting public, but no plans etc are available.
As such I think HobbyBoss has done a fairly good job of re-creating this beautiful aircraft in styrene.
It is a big kit for 1/72 (about the size of a 1/48 F-16 or Gripen)
Hopefully we will see a good 1/48 kit in the future, that would be a huge lump indeed!

The T-50 PAK-FA (Perspektivny Aviatsionny Kompleks Frontovoy Aviatsii = Prospective Airborne Complex of Frontline Aviation

[youtube]1WHtiNXFfqs[/youtube]

[youtube]D0oNyYAtIoQ[/youtube]

Beautiful shot, look at those engines...Metal paints here I come!


Perfect paint guide shot!




The aircraft half and half included in the box, Blue 51, inspected by Mr Putin...


The kit









Had to take some parts off that were fully or partly broken off in the box...like the fuse halves.
As You can see not much to actually build...Cockpit, put fuse/wing halves together and attach the external parts. The perfect quick build!


This is how they have solved the wing halves joint.


As I said this is a big lump for 1/72!


Clear parts, as usual with Trumpeter/HobbyBoss superb quality!




Decals, looks ok




A small PE fret is included w cockpit detail and some external details.


Instructions










Paint/Marking guide, I think HB has done a good job on recreating the camo scheme, only one or two misses. (printed colours are off though)




Plan is to use the original factory colours from AKAN


The camo colours


Cockpit

Wowwee!
Where did you get your Akan from Pat? Hobby Color never seem to be stocked

Joesdad wrote:Wowwee!
Where did you get your Akan from Pat? Hobby Color never seem to be stocked

Here:
http://www.hpns.eu/
Very nice Finnish guy!

patrickroos wrote:

Joesdad wrote:Wowwee!
Where did you get your Akan from Pat? Hobby Color never seem to be stocked

Here:
http://www.hpns.eu/
Very nice Finnish guy!

Ah yes! Of course! I follow him on Facebook as well

Wow!

That's gonna be an epic build, good luck!!!

Cheers

Tommy

Good luck with this build, looks interesting and is a good candidate to sit next to an F22 in my Son cabinet...

TommyKillander wrote:Wow!

That's gonna be an epic build, good luck!!!

Cheers

Tommy

Thanks Tommy!
Well epic in terms of speed anyway!!
I'm not exactly the fastest builder so need to pull off something epic to have this done in a week before I start to work again and (hopefully) the big Mig-31 beast arrives...You could say that Chief is in one end of the spectrum and I'm in the other in terms of speed...
AND...I guess the new Pilot Replicas J29F Tunnan will also arrive any day and mess with my attention...
(I saw that Jon already picked one up at Rebell, lucky bas...)

Hope that You also enter this?

qeialto wrote:Good luck with this build, looks interesting and is a good candidate to sit next to an F22 in my Son cabinet...

Thanks mate!
Yes, the F22 will be the only thing that can match this baby so its nemesis no doubt!

Joesdad wrote:

patrickroos wrote:

Joesdad wrote:Wowwee!
Where did you get your Akan from Pat? Hobby Color never seem to be stocked

Here:
http://www.hpns.eu/
Very nice Finnish guy!

Ah yes! Of course! I follow him on Facebook as well

RFLMAO...

WOW she's a big bird best of luck with the build mate.

It looks like a XF-23 and a Flanker had a baby
but you can still see some features from the Flanker in this design
i think it looks pretty intresting so i will be watching this build
good luck

MarkVerploeg wrote:It looks like a XF-23 and a Flanker had a baby
but you can still see some features from the Flanker in this design
i think it looks pretty intresting so i will be watching this build
good luck

And what a beautiful child it is...

patrickroos wrote:

TommyKillander wrote:Wow!

That's gonna be an epic build, good luck!!!

Cheers

Tommy

Thanks Tommy!
Well epic in terms of speed anyway!!
I'm not exactly the fastest builder so need to pull off something epic to have this done in a week before I start to work again and (hopefully) the big Mig-31 beast arrives...You could say that Chief is in one end of the spectrum and I'm in the other in terms of speed...
AND...I guess the new Pilot Replicas J29F Tunnan will also arrive any day and mess with my attention...
(I saw that Jon already picked one up at Rebell, lucky bas...)

Hope that You also enter this?

Oh yes, I will enter this GB with a KV-2 Heavy Tank...


Tommy

Nige201980 wrote:WOW she's a big bird best of luck with the build mate.

Yes big for 1/72 = lots to paint!
Thanks Nige!

Update 1

As usual it starts with the cockpit, here are the parts...


Ok so built the seat...and went Hang on!
Looks HUGE!
Ok, so took out another K-36 seat from a Trumpy 1/72 Flanker, and
Then took out a 1/48 resin seat and
Oh well guess the HobbyBoss dudes got the translation mixed up instead of "the best pilots" it became "the biggest pilots"
You be the judge...T-50 seat in the middle




Ok done, must say that the fit of both plastic and PE was surprisingly good! (and fit of tub in fuse also)
Some plastic, PE, Paint and decals...quick and simple, me like!


Mockup




Next of to paint, using Black Stynylrez primer




Next up, how to paint it all!?
New and kind of secret still...did some quick research just to get a feel for it and have something to go on.
Looks like its using the same cockpit layout as the SU-35 and same colours.

Seat is all black w some details, cushions in green or beige, belts in silvery blue/grey.


Cockpit is blue, front part dusty grey/black, back part black. HUD is NOT greenish tint, just transparent.




In this mockup the stick is black and looks "thin"


Looks like its blue in the real aircraft...


Ok, off to paint...

Update 2

OK, so just sprayed up the Cockpit in the AKAN "Grey Dark Blue" interior cockpit colour. Not a 100% match to the decals but its ok.
(I mix AKAN about 50/50 w X20A, 20psi, 0.2 needle, sprays beautifully)



Painted up the seat and also gave it a bit of dry brushing to liven it up a bit, also dry brushed the front panel with some grey.
Also gave the green a wash to bring out the detail after the pic was taken.



Finally I mixed some blue and silver and painted some belts that I cut from Tamiya curve tape.

Been building and feels like spending countless hours of masking...
No time to post, sorry for that.
Anyhow, am here now...Tomorrow I will post a lot of pics explaining how I got here...

Nice work on building the paint scheme, very good result!

Damn that camouflage looks good

Thanks guys!

Ok, so made a very long post with lots of text and pics, took quite some time, and...my browser crashed and had not saved.


So, lost my mojo to post, but now a week later I have decided to get at it again and catch up.
(Will copy and save the contents into a .txt file at intervals, lesson learned! )

So, here we go!

You could use the draft feature of the forum
it is next to the preview button
it saves your post so you can get it back when you go to the Profile button and then there is a option that has your drafts in it
i use it sometimes when i am making a update and i run out of time
that way i can continue the update at a later point

Will do it in shorter post this time...as I wrote, lesson learned!

First, this kit is...hmm don't know really how to rate it.
Its not good, and its definitely not bad either.
OK, it requires a bit of work but nothing major, as in You loose interest in it.
Its quite crude, it has lots of faults, some very strange, but it also has tons of potential for those who wants to improve it.
I have chosen to really build it out of the box and just try to do the best of what's given to You.
Also this aircraft is still in testing, I believe only three exist and are flying so far.
So my ambition is a nice "model" that represents this (I think) very cool aircraft. So no weathering...nice and clean. ( )

Enough waffle
The HUD is to big, even if You skip the included PE frame for it, its just to big and wont fit under the front canopy.





Made my own to fix it.



This is how the canopy turned out, as I applied the decals I learned that they are thick, very very thick!
I tried both Micro Sol and Mr Softer. It felt like trying to handling small stiff pieces of plasticard.
After about 10-15 rounds of softener they finally succumbed and conformed...

The "wall" on the turtle-deck is a combo of plastic and PE. Its way to high, and prevents the back canopy to sit on the fuse.
I had to file it down a good bit. You can see the grey plastic coming through in the pic.





There are openings front and back in the canopy and in to the fuse, tip: always plug them!
The risk is that paint and dust will be blown in there otherwise...
Made some plasticard patches, painted them black on the inside and sealed it.





The fuse and wings are in one big piece, removed all EP marks to get best fit possible.



The tunnels are quite flimsy and the halves very hard to line up, fortunately You cant see much in there.
Some EPs but they are the type that can be sanded out.





The intakes are one piece. Fit is...naa so and so. This is the result after sanding, test fitting, lots of glue and pushed into place when softened up.
You are left with some sanding and filling to do.





Filled and sanded flush.



Polished and done



Wheel wells are three pieces, all had a good fit!



"Engines" are very simple, intake fans, exhaust fans, exhaust nozzles.



Intake fans painted



Then given a wash and installed.



As I said, cant see much in there...



Cockpit touched up, cleaned and done. Canopy masked.



Glued...I opted to install the IR seeker at the front first, to be able to line everything up since the front canopy is formed to the IR piece.
This took some patience...
The gaps will be taken care of with Vallejo putty later.



Time to put the two lumps together, almost run out of pegs!!
Must be the two biggest pieces I have ever glued in one go, worked my way around with the glue so I could adjust along the way.



Prepping the other pieces...



Canards, fins and elevators on. Starting to look like a T-50



Underside parts on...



Yupp quite a big lump for 1/72, Airfix T.10 Vamp for ref.



Nose part could have been a smart solution, but the fit was poor. Also took of the front bit (don't think its a pitot tube actually) since I will only break it of anyway...



After some melted styrene filler and sanding I was happy.





I had an idea of an in flight bird...one hatch had a nice fit.



But the other did not, it wasn't even moulded in the right shape...



Nose gear is pretty nice and detailed.



Small stuff primed (Badger STYNYLREZ, love it)



Different Vallejo Metal on different pieces.



Then painted



Main gear



Ok, phew, will post the rest (painting) tomorrow!

MarkVerploeg wrote:You could use the draft feature of the forum
it is next to the preview button
it saves your post so you can get it back when you go to the Profile button and then there is a option that has your drafts in it
i use it sometimes when i am making a update and i run out of time
that way i can continue the update at a later point

I know, I usually use it and save in intervals and also in a .txt file just to be sure.
But forgot last time...
Well well wont do that mistake again!!

Thanks mate!!

Great job with the office and the fuselage sofar!

You handled those fitting issues like a (Hobby)Boss!

I'm looking forward to "Part 2", the cammo painting


Tommy

Paint! (the part I love)

Nozzles primed in black Stynylrez



Then painted in Jet Exhaust, and shaded with magnesium for a burnt blueish "hot" look.



The magnesium hue shows differently in different lights and angles





Bird ready for paint!



Starting with the cockpit colour on the "inside" of the framing.





Then primer!





By the way, I looked at the grey blue camo colour and though hmm pulled out the Vallejo RLM 65.
And yes, a very good match. The red brush is pointing to the Vallejo, the rest is AKAN.



After some thinking about how to tackle this splinter camo I decided to start with the grey blue.
Tip: Think it through before You start, can save You lots of trouble. Its not only the colours (start with the lightest..) its also the model, as in what possibilities You have to mask it. This bird has lots and lots of crazy angles which makes masking a challenge.

BTW, its all AKAN paint on this one except for one colour Vallejo light grey. (gear, wells, fin tips) AKAN is very nice, I'm mixing X20A/AKAN 50/50, 0.2 needle, ~20Psi.
Just like Vallejo You get a slight tip build up and have to clean the tip now and then. Sprays beautifully.





OK, that was the easy part, from here on its MASKING MANIA!!

The HobbyBoss paint instruction is pretty good but not correct so am using pics for ref. (always use pics for ref!)











Topside the light grey on the nose points center.



Under side its slightly offset...



This concludes the light grey part



Finally the most complex part, the dark grey areas, did it in two parts, upper side and nose section then under side.









Then back to the tape frenzy...





Done, I was quite happy with the result





Buuut its not over yet!
Now for the intakes, wells, and fin tips.









Then...more masking! The engines.















Then the blue areas this bird has on its exhausts (don't know why, extra hot areas?)



A wash on the exhaust fans to simulate some heat. Then installed them to the nozzles.



Discovered that the AK Metal paint only really cleans with their own formula cleaner, Alclad cleaner also works but AKs best.



OK, this is where I am right now...

Excellent camo job Pat, presumably you're going for a clean finish? How much tape have you got left mate
I've found that Mr Hobby lacquer thinner is good for Extreme Metal...

Amazing work!

WOW !

That masking job...

But the work pays off - the result is gorgeous


Tommy

Joesdad wrote:Excellent camo job Pat, presumably you're going for a clean finish? How much tape have you got left mate
I've found that Mr Hobby lacquer thinner is good for Extreme Metal...

Thanks Tim!!

Yes, new, crisp and clean look...must not weather, must not weather, must not..

Hehe well its been masking tape mania, but I love it, removing the tape is like opening Christmas presents -What will it look like!?

P51dplt wrote:Amazing work!

Thanks mate!

TommyKillander wrote:WOW !

That masking job...

But the work pays off - the result is gorgeous


Tommy

Many thanks Tommy!!

Excellent paint work

OliveDrab wrote:Excellent paint work

Many thanks mate!

Very nice masking work.. Camo looks supberb !! well Done !!

rwsmith14 wrote:Very nice masking work.. Camo looks supberb !! well Done !!

Sorry missed You comment mate!
Many thanks!!

Pretty awesome all round, excellent work.

you really doing a great work on this model and I am really impress with your masking and the details you are putting on the engine and the exhausts.

Lovely work.

Cannot wait to see it all done up.

Thanks guys!

Well its been more masking...



And then some masking...



And...eh yeah masking!



BUT! now the detailed painting is done!



Next up...

Looks awesome I love the camo

hukosh wrote:Looks awesome I love the camo

So does the tape manufacturer!
Thanks mate!