sharkmouth
Promise I won't bite... hard
- Joined
- May 15, 2010
- Messages
- 118
While looking up some aftermarket goodies for my Academy Flanker, I decided to visit some other sites where I knew of some fabulous builds I hope one day to emulate. While there I saw references made to Turbine Modelling Products from "the Baltic States." This state turned out to be Estonia and within ten days, a package had arrived with several items. The one reviewed here is a combination set of earlier items which are no longer available separately. However, the compilations do make sense. This set offers intake and exhaust covers.
Set 48004 includes a pair of intake trunk FOD covers. These prevent Foreign Object Damage protection to the engine's turbine blades. It is a small sheet of photo-etched brass and instructions. The fret includes the covers as well as a painting stencil for BEPX (Cyrillic for Top) to be painted along the top edge of the red covers. The instructions are to be read right to left, not the usual left to right.
The first step is to emboss the details. for this I used a pen on a cutting surface covered with a few sheets of paper. I did not remove the cover from the fret so that the fret helps maintain the part from curling as the cover is embossed. I began with the center circle and then the corner which I embossed from the outer edges inwards. Once happy with the embossing, I cut the part free and flipped it over. I burnished it down with the end of a paintbrush to that it was flat again.
Folding begins with the extensions which will become the rubber lined lips of the cover. I used Hold-n-Fold's The Bug to make the bends needed.
At the top of the photo above, you see the lower edge of the cover has been folded up. also note the etched rectangle in the center which represent a placard found on the actual cover. The concentric etched circles around the four holes, which are vertically aligned into pairs, are representative of the welds for the handles. These are represented in flat PE and are best replaced with wire.
The bottom edge is then folded downwards. On the real cover, this seats and limits the covers entry in the intake.
To complete the cover, bend the sides in and glue or solder. I plan to do the latter. As mentioned, it is best to replace the handles with wire and use the flat PE parts as a template. There are also two locks to add which I will again replace with wire and plastic tube while using the PE parts as a template.
Here is an image, provided by Turbine in an e-mail, to show it on Academy's Flanker:
Here are some images from the Internet to allow you to see the covers:
Note the different design of the handles and locks since these are not the same dimensions as the Su-27.
Set 48005 are the side auxiliary air intake covers. Again, a small fret of PE is provided for four covers (one on each side of the intake trunks).
While the part is still on the fret, I emboss the design which simulates the strengthening stamping. I use a ballpoint pen atop of some cardboard to allow deeper relief of the embossing.
It is then flipped over and the tassels are then bent to shape. Note the recessed squares which help locate the handles which are the only things needed to complete these covers.
Set 48006 are the exhaust covers. As before, we read from right to left and begin with the embossing.
Then we fold over the lip over the cover. I plan to solder them but they can just as well be glued with cyano-acrylate cement.
Note the squares to help locate the handles to be folded and added. Again, there is an etched rectangle to show where a placard , which is not included, would be placed.
It is a very nice set with instructions that leave a bit to be desired, especially if the modeler doesn't have the references for the covers.
Regards,
