1:48 Su-27UB Ukrainian Splinter Camouflage Paint Mask set

A two-seater in Ukrainian colors

After the break-up of the Soviet Union Ukraine inherited one of the largest fleets of heavy fighters in the world, and with it the two-seat Su-27UB, which serves for training and at the same time has kept the combat capabilities of the single-seat version. The doubled cockpit under one elongated canopy gave the aircraft a characteristic spine, by which it can be told even at a distance. The original gray-blue finishes of the 1980s were gradually replaced by a strongly broken-up scheme of straight fields, which splits the machine into facets and makes it less legible over terrain. It is this later form that the content covers.

The extent of the work

The stencils follow the course of the fields across the elongated forward section, the spine behind the cockpit and both vertical surfaces. What matters is the continuity: a break that starts on the fuselage has to carry on onto the wing at the same angle, otherwise the whole impression falls apart. Cutting by hand meets that requirement only by chance, and even then differently on the left and the right side.

Where time is lost

Do not shift the film back and forth. The modeler lays it down, judges it by eye, lifts it off, moves it a millimeter, presses it down again, and so on several times over. Each time the adhesive carries off a little dust and grease from the surface, and after the fourth attempt it no longer holds at all. In the middle of the spraying a corner lifts and the paint runs underneath. So plan the placing in advance from a drawing, seat the piece in a single attempt and make any correction by turning it around the corner already laid down, rather than by lifting it off completely.