One bottle of paint gone...

This is the basic pale blue.
Thanks for stopping by!

Gray applied...

...and the micro (or not so micro) corrective actions will be commenced.
Thanks for stopping by!

Thanks my friend @coling!

The second to last pic was taken outside at midday with bright sun, the last was taken inside.

Also, in the last pic, the "medium gray" has also been applied.

It is true that Su-27 colors have given me a lot of concern during the last 20 (yes! 20!) years, since I started building my first Su-27: there's the "base" pale blue, then a darker blue and then a medium gray. Though a lot of credible research has been commenced by modelers and can be found at the Net, I have to say that I have witnessed quite serious variations at those colors not only through the years, but also between aircraft of the same time period.

Such observations led me to adopt the idea that standardization of Su-27 camo was not very strict, let alone that the shades quickly faded to a uniform bluish grayish coloring.

So, yes, I follow general Su-27 camo rules, but use shades that look "right to my eye" (whatever that means).

Thanks my friend @tcinla!

Decisions, decisions...

By netting I discovered that no clear conclusion can also be drawn, regarding "standard" colors of wheel bays, landing gear and intakes. Many pics show that those areas were seeming to exhibit more or less the same underfuselage light blue, whereas bluish gray or grayish blue shades could be at cases so interpreted. In order to preserve my sanity, I did not dive into painting adventures with various shades so close to each other that no one could easilly tell the difference, let alone the fact that no solid standardization seemed evident.

What I did, was painting all above items with the same underside blue, hoping to "shade" themselves with some judicious wash...

Here she is:

Sorry purists!

Thanks my friend @holzhamer!
One good bottle of light blue so far!
Here are the exhausts painted, awaiting buffing:

As you might have noticed, I have added two "extensions", in order to give them more depth; the turbine and spray rings looked too close, kit-provided wise...
Thanks for stopping by!

Thanks again my friend @holzhamer!
"Good" thing that early Su-27s, such as mine, did not have the white-ish ceramic coating found at many modern engines nozzle innards. So, I'll have to deal with the usual (?) nozzle weathering...