GWH SU27 Finished

[paddy]

Great wall Hobbies ( better known as GWH)

SU27 UBM limited edition Ukrainian Digital camouflage. 1:48


Pretty topical for the beginning of 2023 is the Ukrainian SU27 Flanker.

Ukraine inherited 74 then-new Su-27s when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. Twenty-three years later, as few as 24 were in active service. After the invasion of the Ukraine, it was thought that approx. 35 unflyable airframes had been restored and currently Ukraine has about 50 flying examples.

Ukraine was the only country outside the Russia to use the SU27 after the breakup of the USSR so there is no ready supply of airframes or parts available to Ukraine from allies, so these aircraft are very much prized by Ukraine and targeted by Russia,

Its impossible to know for sure how many are currently active as most have had their identification numbers removed from their nose and tail to confuse but it is possible to ID some aircraft by their Camouflage.

GWH is a new make to me so I am very interested to see how this goes together. This Flanker UB 2 seat version seems to be a new version launched at the end of 2022 by GWH.

Detail is razor sharp and the plastic ultra-smooth, It comes very well boxed with sprues in bags and the clear parts in their own box for protection, a 24 page A4 instruction booklet and 5 sheets of decals (remember the digital camo is represented by decals) and some PE that’s not needed for this variant..

Detail from instrument cowl

I intend to build this OTB , I have no doubt it would be possible to double the expense of the build with after market “upgrades” ? but I have had my fingers burnt to many times by Mr Eduard Aires of Black box road. Linden Hill.

This is a large model as can be seen by comparison with a similar scale harrier which is just about the size of a SU27 wing.

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Work will start as soon as i have worked out where to start

 

[moon puppy]

 

[Sharkmouth]

Blue 71 has a lot of photos and the perfect subject for the kit decals.

 

[paddy]

Ukrainian SU27 pictures are plentiful given they regularly attended all the European air shows usually flown by Col. Oleksandr Oksanchenko—a famous air-show pilot who died in action over Kyiv. If he was flying his usual jet, No. 58, then Ukraine also lost arguably its most famous individual warplane. Its not known if he was taken out by a Russian missile or mistaken as an aggressor by Kyiv air defence.. I remember seeing him at Biggin Hill airshow doing the Cobra manoeuvre where he would fly straight and level, flip up vertical on to his tail and almost come to a stop, then drop the nose and carry on.

 

[Sharkmouth]

Ukrainian SU27 pictures are plentiful given they regularly attended all the European air shows usually flown by Col. Oleksandr Oksanchenko—a famous air-show pilot who died in action over Kyiv.

Yes, there are plenty. However, the decal sheet is specific to bort number Blue 71 and covered from all angles.

Do you plan to get an aftermarket masking set for Oksanchenko's plane?

 

[paddy]

No the kit aircraft is a 2 seat and they were early always the spare ship at displays.

 

[Sharkmouth]

He also flew a 2-seater but I don't know the Bort Number. I thought you had considered dedicating the build.

So, you are sticking to the decals for now?

 

[paddy]

I just picked up on this guy because he did the airshows where we got to see the SU27 put through its paces. Decals ? Yes i think they will be more of a challenge than paint and masks I thought i would start with the cockpit but i soon realised i have nothing close to Ukrainian cockpit green...so i ordered some of that and some primer for MRP which i forgot last time. Bloody expensive cockpit already

 

[helios]

Looking forward to watching you work through this. I just picked up GWH's Su-30SM on sale after constant prodding from a mate in Australia. He was really impressed with the Flanker he built a little while ago. It will likely be some time before I get to it myself, but am always keen to take advantage of a sale.

Fumbling through the box a bit last night, it does look like a pretty impressive kit.

 

[paddy]

First job is paint the buttons on the joy stick top and then stick it on the joy stick

her its is

easy you say ? We are goig to need a smaller brush.........

And now its stuck on the end of my Bic biro.....
But you get my earlier point about detail with this kit

 

[moon puppy]

that is a separate part??

 

[paddy]

Yea, i had trouble finding it on the sprue and even then i have chopped half a button off

I have spent the day on this build and have nothing to show for it....i painted various parts and then washed them off again, made some seat belts and threw them away....but i did spray some MRP paint and it looks very promising. I think i might have met my match, this is no Kinetic/Harrier...lol

 

[jeaton01]

That's just nuts!

 

[Sharkmouth]

I have spent the day on this build and have nothing to show for it....

If it keeps you busy but you are enjoying it, then it is worth the price!

 

[paddy]

the instructions are rather like Kinetic's in so much as some phases of the build are completely missed out. This is the first time i have used decals for the instrument panels, despite the uneven surface they actually worked quite well with Micro sol..

these parts are just tacked together here because...the fuselage splits top/bottom rather than the usual left/right and i need to work out what goes inside before i join the halves. Obviously the two cockpits but anything else ? the instructions dont show this part at all.

 

[Heavens Eagle]

To handle small parts and not loose them I use a small ball (10mm) of a blue tac equivalent and roll it to a egg shape with a point on the narrow end. Then pick up the part with the blue tac. I also use it to hold small parts for painting. This is something that I do with small watch parts when they are hard to hold with tweezers.

 

[paddy]

I had a successful play with my new paint today, Very nice finish, very smooth, even tried some Tamiya matt coat over it and it took to it very well.
The key to this kit is forward planning, it would be difficult to fully assemble then mask and paint so i am painting some parts before assembly.
firstly though i tidied up the cockpits and fitted them after i had painted the area sky blue.

White Primer MRP

Ukrainian underside blue

the blue varies a bit as its under Florissant light but this is pretty well spot on taken inn daylight

As i mentioned the kit splits top and bottom, not left right as usual and this is the under wing. the kit has no ordnance, not even auxiliary tanks so its going to be pretty plain underneath. I think GWH do an ordinance kit for the SU33 which would probably work but its near £65.00 or another $77usd and in any case this is a OTB build.
My guess is this is modelled on the airshow aircraft and all the pictures show it clean so thats what they went with.

 

[jknaus]

Looking good. That paint does look like it sprayed nicely. Watching with interest.
James

 

[paddy]

This build is 75% paint and decals, parts count is quite low. I'm still finding my way with order of assembly and in particular order of painting .

if i was given this model in a plain box i would say Chineese. There is a trend now in a lot of Chinese's made goods to be pretty high quality and highly presented but they just cant do English translation and its like the concept of needing to supply instructions is completely alien. Its a minor complaint but how hard would it be for GWH or Kinetics to actually get someone from the west to proof read thinks before they go off to the printer ?
I have some hard point pylons, shown as used in the sprue pictures but not shown in the instructions ? and i have PE parts shown as not used/shaded in the sprue pictures which are needed in the instructions and again a few steps that you need to fill in yourself

Working on the under side and engines at the moment

 

[Sharkmouth]

GWH (Great Wall Hobby) is a product of the Chinese company LionRoar. They only produced aftermarket (1/35th scale tools, Barrels, PE, stands, and bases) and then started releasing limited run kits (nebelwerfers) followed by their first full kits of the sWS series.