That's coming together quite nicely. The camo looks really good- great fading and weathering. I started one of these and things were going well until a ton of c**p fell on it from the loft area above it and smashed it to pieces. I'm trying to salvage it, but it may be DOA. Keep uo the great work. Can't wait to see it completed.

Richard,

After having a wild weekend and having to use blue tack ...(how apropos given the subject matter and Russians with Vodka)... I would hate to see what you can do with out a wild weekend. Really, some out standing work on the Eduard PE and the painting . Some really strong work that is deserving of being voted into"Model of the Month" Keep up the good work. Looking forward to seeing more of your builds.

Wonerful job so far! I am at the moment waiting for Zvezda to release UB in the near future and I'll build it in the markings of the aircraft, with which president Putin flew to Grozni, Chechneya during the second Checen war. I was fortunate enough to see the aircraft in person during my first visit to MAKS in 2007.

One small critique if I may. I noticed this with a lot of modellers - the auxiliary intake doors on the bottom of the intake are actually closed most of the time and always when the aircraft is on the ground. They are spring loaded and open only when the aircraft exceeds a certain angle-of-attack which disturbes the airflow over the intake lip and "opens" this additional intake - one of the designs that enables the aircraft to perform Cobra and similar high AoA manuevers.

Really loving this build. Just looks fantastic. Love your paint work and pre-shading especially - I'm gonna have to learn that once I start using an airbrush!

Cheers for the compliments Greg. I honestly thought you already used one mate going off the models you post... the finish is always spot on!

I tried to close the intake slats Sebastijan, but they need to be closed from the inside and I couldn't manage it. For the final model I'm going to go with the bold claim that the old springs have gone a bit rusty, have been taken out and are currently being replaced... 🙂 You never know, I might get away with it!

The rest of the build now is a series of sub assemblies. I'm going to post the pictures of these steps now and keep the actual model a surprise for the final article!

I used the aftermarket Eduard resin set for the wheels, plus the extra detail wiring already present in the limited addition kit. The pitot tube is aftermarket also. This is the second take at the pitot tube, as I managed to knock the plane over at one point and snap the first one. Oh well, only a fiver off eBay i suppose...

The intake covers and exhaust covers are done and attached onto the final model now, as are the missile rails.

Next are the missiles themselves, but I haven't got round to that yet! Then it's just the canopy, tow bar and ladders and we are done. However the photo etch ladders look like they may be my biggest modelling challenge to date, so we will see how that one goes...

Really love this small stuff, that gives the the final look of the model so much character! Love all the covers!

Just waiting for the reveal...!

That's the missiles completed and up onto the plane. I used the weapon set straight out of the box.
When I said that the article might be ready last weekend, I was way off... probably the most ridiculous thing I've ever said!