GWH's new 1/48 Su-35 'Flanker-E' – The Russian Beasty
This is my (somewhat late due to box and kit complexity intimidation) attempt at GWH's new and monstrous Sukhoi Su-35S 'Flanker-E' in 1/48th Scale. With the characteristic metal heat staining, subtle three tone camo scheme and huge armament this was one I'd been excited to try and I feel it came out really well in the end.
The detail on the kit is excellent and the fit (which is often a nightmare with Flanker kits) is absolutely flawless - amazing engineering! However, the instructions are badly presented and the decals are almost un-usably thick despite being nicely printed. As a result of the latter I bought aftermarket decals from Begemot which were beautiful and thin, albeit fragile. I also bought a Russian Air Force acrylic paint set from AKAN which sprayed very oddly with a gritty texture and tendency to pool badly, but actually dries nice and thin with decent coverage.
Build video here:
https://youtu.be/dPuY3GGOv7U
11 additional images. Click to enlarge.
Impressive, in both size and quality
You're too kind Pedro, thank you!
beautiful piece of work
Thanks Bob!
Good-lookin' build...I like it.
Haha, I’m glad you do! Thanks
A beautiful build! I've picked up a set of those AKAN paints to do the Aegean Ghost scheme on a Phantom - if you have an tips, PM me what you learned using that paint. Thanks!
Hi Greg, basically don’t bother trying to thin them - they spray acceptably from the bottle provided you shake v well first, and don’t react well to Mr or Tamiya thinners... I found relatively high pressure from ~20cm works ok. Be careful of pooling, if it forms ripples they stay after drying but otherwise it dries to hug surface detail quite well. Needs primer first. Coverage is good even though when wet it sometimes doesn’t look ideal at first. Mask shapes, it doesn’t do fine lines even with a good airbrush. ?
Nice build mate, everyone loves a flanker!
Cool colours and a great job on the exhausts.
Thank you mate! Really chuffed you like the engines as they took a whole day on their own ?
Agree it’s Richard, the exhausts are beautifully done and the general painting shows a subltle and light touch that nails a lovely tonal variation.
‘Liked’.
That’s really very kind David, you’ve made my day! ?
Extraordinary!. Beautiful work in a gorgeous plane!