the instructions show locating
aids that aren’t on the parts, one
of them broke when I touched it
and there are two tiny parts that
I frankly have not got a clue as to
the proper position or orientation
of, as the instructions are less
than helpful in this respect. Also,
as I mentioned at the start, the
canopies have that annoying seam,
which I polished out with Micro
Mesh cloths from Albion Alloys
before dipping in Johnson’s Klear.
Next, a problem that is hard to
fix and is quite common to most
Flanker models. In the kit the
vertical tail leading edge intakes
are the same size, but on the real
thing the port one is larger. I left it
as-is, so you may point and laugh
at it if you wish – and in hindsight
I really should have corrected it.
Next we move to the underside,
starting by adding some parts in
the undercarriage area and the
intake fans. I’m a bit unhappy
about the boxes fitted here for
some of the undercarriage bits to
fit into; as they are right in front
of the compressors they would
mess with the airflow. I don’t
know what’s in the wrong place
but something must be. Looking
down the trunking these boxes
will be quite visible and I’m betting
they’re not there on the real thing.
Stage 13 covers the constructionof the intake trunking, with an
upper and lower section (some etch
is provided for the upper area), and
optional open or closed louvers for
the lower section. As these louvers
are spring-loaded and operated
by air pressure, they should be
closed when the air conditioning
is on and the engines off while on
the ground, so I went that route.
I’m unconvinced by the colour
callout of silver for the trunking,
so I went with the same shade of
grey I used in the wheel wells.
It’s hard to find good pictures of
this area, as often on the ground
they have FOD covers in place. One
thing to be aware of is that the
area around the intake lip, which
is painted in the under-fuselage
colour, is far easier to paint
before you assemble the intake.ON TO THE PAINTING
If we stick to the kit decals, and
given the tail stinger KittyHawk
have provided, we have to produce
either Black 902 or Red 05. But I
wanted something different, and
both the prototypes are definitely
different! I had been given the
Begemot decal set 48-039 Cy-35C
New Generation of the ‘Flanker’,
which covers twenty different
aircraft, including both prototypes.
KittyHawk would have you paintthe splinter scheme overall medium
sea grey with dark blue and white
patches which, when you look at
pictures, is clearly wrong. While the
upper surface is primarily a medium
grey, the lower surface is a lighter
grey, and the dark patches are grey,
not blue. But what grey to use?
The Begemot instructions say
the upper grey is “Medium Grey”
and suggest FS25327, the lower grey
is “Light Blue/Grey” (FS25526),
while the dark patches are
“Gunship Grey” (no FS number so
we’ll go with FS16118), and the light
patches are “Light Aircraft Grey”
(FS26173). Problems problems...
FS25327 doesn’t seem to exist;
FS25526 is indeed one of those light
Flanker Blues (but the underside
of 902 is definitely grey; there are
some pictures of 901 and 902 in
formation, and 901 is blue, 902
is grey); the Gunship Grey is the
only one I’m happy with; and
FS26173 is a dark grey, not a lightone (on the Begemot sheet it’s also
referenced as “Dark Gull Grey”
so maybe that’s a typo). Also, in
pictures the light patches really
do look white. So you pays your
money and makes your choice.
I had already decided I wasn’t
going to mix shades as, with no
idea what they actually are, that
just complicates matters. So
my choices were Xtracolor X
FS16251 Aggressor Medium Grey,
X137 FS16440 Light Gull Grey,
X130 FS16118 Gunship Grey, and
whatever gloss white I happened to
have lying around (Humbrol 22).
It’s probably worth mentioning
that the kit and the Begemot
paint guides have significant
detail differences as to the
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