Quickboost

1/48 Scale SU-15 Corrected Nose and Pitot Tube For the Trumpeters 1/48 Su-15TM

Reviewed By  Charles Landrum, IPMS# 26328

Website: www.quickboost.net Two recent releases by Quickboost to enhance Trumpeters 1/48 Su-15TM Su-15TM Flagon F Corrected Nose Quickboost QB 48 207 Suggested Retail Price: €6.00 Euro (approx $8.40) One of the big differences between the Flagon A and the Flagon F was the enlarged radome to accommodate the improved radar. The new radome also had pronounced downward angle that Trumpeter did not capture. The radome of the Flagon A was aligned with the longitudinal axis. Trumpeter, trying to maximize the number of common parts in these kits, kept the same fuselage and as a result, the axis of the new more bulbous radome in the Flagon F still falls along the longitudinal axis of the plane rather than angling downward. This new radome is also a bit too long and really not bulbous enough. While achieving the correct downward angle is a relatively easy fix, the shape and length of the radome is not. Fortunately Quickboost has come to the rescue with replacement radome that is the correct shape and mounts with the correct down angle. You can see the difference between the kit radome and the Quickboost radome in comparison to the Zlinek drawing, which is held up by experts on this aircraft as accurate. Quickboost got it right in a beautifully casting, solid piece of resin. You will not need nose weight with this radome, it has heft! The resin is absolutely smooth, free of imperfections, with a centered hole for the pitot tube and a crisply rendered panel line.

Quickboost does not provide any mounting instructions, nor does the radome have indications for top center or bottom center so be careful in alignment. I ran a pencil along the panel line to emphasize it and then rotating the piece in my hand and marked what I thought was the farthest forward point (top center) and the closest point (bottom center). This proved to be a good method. The Trumpeter fuselage halves have locators for the kits hollow radome. You cannot mount the resin to these without a gap and the radome being too far forward. Fortunately Trumpeter provides a forward bulkhead to display the radar (which is incorrect for the TM, it is a Flagon A radar dish) which provides stiffness and a potential mounting point for the new radome. After taping the fuselage halves together, I cut the locators away with a razor saw and sanded the area smooth. I decided not to remove the pour stub from the Quickboost radome in order to use it as a mating surface. So I reduced the pour stub profile by sanding it on 150 wet/dry grit sandpaper laid flat on my workbench, test fitting it to the fuselage halves as I went. I also filed the pour stub to reduce it diameter. The result is a radome that will tightly fit into the recess of the fuselage and provide a strong bonding surface. It also helps ensure proper alignment.

This Quickboost casting fully corrects the biggest flaw of the Trumpeter kit. For the price you get a quality part that will save a lot of work. Well worth the investment! Su-15TM Flagon F Pitot Tube Quickboost QB 48 215 Suggested Retail Price: 3.30 Euro (approx $4.60)

A prominent feature of the Su-15TM Flagon F is the large pitot tube at the front end of the radome with all of its sensor vanes. This is a complex assembly with 12 vanes protruding from the tube. The pitot tube provided by Trumpeter is not bad looking, but is limited in detail by injection molding process. Quickboost provides a replacement which consists of a resin tube and full fret of PE; there is also a sheet of pre-cut low tack adhesive strips. The resin pitot tube is beautifully cast with an opening at the tip. The PE is double-relief etched with small attachment points. It is up to the modeler to turn these components into the complex pitot assembly. Quickboost is known for its very detailed yet easy to install components. This is not one of those sets; experience with small PE parts is a must. Fortunately there is a clear set of instructions provided. To install the vanes in their proper location and in alignment, Quickboost provides a set of guides that interlock to make the job easier; they are even double-relief etched with locating information. The assembly process starts by removing the guides from the fret and laying them on a smooth flat surface. Next you remove the vanes and in place them in the respective location in the guide. The low-tack tape is used to temporarily hold each vane in place; there are lots of strips and the adhesive works. You need to ensure that the base of each vane is flush with the inner edge of the guide (the part that goes against the tube). Once all four longitudinal guides are made up, you interlock these assemblies with the radial guides. These slide down the pitot tube and are not glued in place. The etch sides face outward. The tabs of the longitudinal guides fold over into recesses of the radial guides and then you glue these in place with CA. To do this you need four hands! I instead folded over the tabs and then assembled the guides. This worked well and CA held them in place. I then slid the whole assembly over the tube. Your first application of CA to a vane will keep the assembly from turning. Despite great care I managed to rack the assembly so that the forward vanes were not aligned with the aft ones. I carefully applied CA to the lower vanes and when this was done imparted a little twist to fix the twist and applied CA to the forward vanes. I let this assembly thoroughly cure. Now was the moment of truth, it was time to remove the guides. I carefully removed the tape and in the process removed a vane. I used scissors to cut the guides apart at the designed location on the radial guides. These came apart easily, but more vanes popped off when the longitudinal guides were pried off (thanks to errant CA). With all of the guides removed I also was missing 1/3 of the vanes, some permanently. Fortunately, Quickboost provided spares and I reattached the missing vanes. The end result is a much more detailed and prototypical pitot tube, but it took a lot of effort and the guides were more of a hindrance, even being careful. I am very comfortable working with small PE, so if I did it again, I would use the guides to mark an index card and use it to mark the resin; I would apply the vanes by hand. If you need the guides work slowly and use the CA very sparingly. I can only recommend this set for very experienced modelers. You might consider the kit pitot tube good enough…