Sukhoi Su27SM Flanker B, Zvezda 1/72

One of the most popular russian fighters is the Sukhoi Su27 Flanker. In this build we used the wonderful Zvezda kit (No. 7295) in 1/72nd scale, which is a new tool and specifically the SM3 version. To improve things and add more detail, we used Master’s upgrade metal pitot tube (72-048) and Eduard's cockpit (SS509 – Flanker B interior).

Assembly & Painting

Beginning with the cockpit, our only additions were Edward's photo-etched parts for the seat belts, side consoles and instrument panel, thus bringing the level of detail to the maximum. During assembly, attention was paid cementing the nose with the main fuselage, but also to the careful fitting of the fuselage with the wings. There we needed to work a little more with filler and sanding with wet & dry paper. We also scribed some more panel lines guided by the relevant PE ruler sets and Dymo hard tape. The rest of the build proceeded without any problems, so we reached pretty fast at the stage of painting.

For this variant and camouflage we used the Akan color set (No 46301), which offers the three basic colors of the pattern, the white of the cone and the dielectric surfaces, the red color for the landing gear covers and the gray color of the cockpit. We chose to paint the camo “free hand”, using a Grapho Tech Kyoto BD-183K 0.35mm airbrush and then a Badger Sotar 2020 0.18mm for minor details. Akan's color set depicts the colors realistically worn, so we did not have to mix lighter shades as usual.

A second tough part of the painting was the metallic surfaces of the exhausts and relevant large areas of burnt metal in the rear fuselage. Various metallic shades of Alcad, Model Master and Humbrol were used to achieve the desired result. Decals placement came next, “washes” on all surfaces of the varnished model and weathering with heavily thinned painting oils. Last actions were the painting and placement of weapons loads, spray with Winsor & Newton's matt lacquer varnish, removing the canopy masking and doing some drybrushing with Agama Smoke dust on -and around- the machine gun.

At the end, we found that this all new tool model from Zvezda has been pleasantly surprising and satisfying and more builds from this company will surely follow in the near future – so please stay tuned!

Useful links:

https://www.pla.gr/27sm%2C-1-72-p-4303.html?sess=50c9de9f0715bac8f7416585d79d5453

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukhoi_Su-27