Hobby Boss Su-27 Flanker Early 1:48

[Mike]

Su-27 Flanker Early

1:48 Hobby Boss

 

 

The Su-27 and sibling Mig-29 were developed as a complementary pair of heavy and lighter fighters to combat the F-15 that was in development as the F-X at the time.  It first flew in 1977, but encountered serious problems that resulted in some fairly spectacular crashes, some of which were fatal, but with persistence and successive rounds of improvements it came on strength with the Russian air force in 1985, but was still plagued with problems that prevented it from being seen in operational service for a further five years, and it is known as the Su-27S or Flanker B by the NATO countries, and it is this early version that is the subject of the model

 

It proved to be a capable fighter, and after the fall of the Berlin wall, Russia continued its development, with other variants incorporating improvements, and wholesale conversions leading to other marks entirely, such as the SU-30, Su-33 and Su-34 with side-by-side pilot seating.  The Flanker continues to impress the crowds at airshows with the controversial (for some reason) and contagious Cobra manoeuver that caused quite a stir when first seen.  Sukhoi had a number of export successes, and China also manufactured Flankers under license as the Shengyang J-11 after an initial delivery of Russian built airframes.

 

 

The Kit

We reviewed the first edition of this kit almost a year ago (at time of writing), and you can see that here, as the box content is almost identical at first glance.  The box is a standard top-opener with a Flanker flying "danger close" to a P-3 Orion that has presumably strayed a little too close to Soviet/Russian airspace.  Inside is a card insert with the two fuselage halves and their blended wings secured to it by plastic coated wire, twisted around the nose, tail and wings.  The nose and tail are further protected by a wrapping of thin foam, while the delicate parts of the wingtips are surrounded by a detachable sprue for safety.  Under the insert are fifteen more sprues of various sizes in the same grey styrene, two clear sprues, a small fret of what looks to be Photo-Etch (PE) stainless steel, or something similar.  There are also three black "rubber" tyres, and two decal sheets plus of course the instruction booklet and two separate glossy pages detailing the painting and decaling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The main differences between this and the earlier (later model) kit are to the rear of the fuselage halves, with the streamlined stinger between the engines making an appearance.  Also, there is a probe atop each vertical tail, which is not seen in the later marks.  Otherwise, it's a big sense of déjà vu until you get to the decal sheet, which is only 50% déjà vu.  As the photos of the original boxing were decent and on a similar (if darker) background, I have included those with the old logo, and you can tell the new content by the lighter backdrop and freshly minted logo on those sprues.  There's no sense in wasting server space with functionally identical photos, afterall.

 

The weapons provided in the box are generous as normal with Hobby Boss, and the detail is pretty good throughout, although I do wonder how many of those moulded-in aerials and sensors will last at the hands of anyone with big clumsy hands like mine.  My feelings regarding the rubber tyres are well known, and even though the detail on the hubs is very nice, I would still probably replace them with resin aftermarket to take away the risk of them melting over time, as was seen many-a-time with the older models.  Whether they changed the recipe in light of that is anyone's guess, so from my point of view it's better safe than sorry.

 

Markings

The larger decal sheet is a straight-forward reprint of the earlier kit, with only the kit's code changed.  The sheet with the more interesting markings is slightly smaller, and contains decals for two options, both of which are in the pale grey, pale blue/grey, and pale blue tri-colour scheme, and from the box you can build one of the following:

 

• Red 83 with a green radome and dielectric panels on the tail
• Red 36 with a grey radome and dielectric panels on the tail

 

 

The decals are the usual fare from HB, are in decent register, lightfast and reasonably sharp into the bargain.  You get a set of decals for the cockpit instruments, as well as a reasonable complement of stencils, but if you want to get it exactly right, you will need to consider some aftermarket stencils, such as those from Begemot.

 

 

Conclusion

Like its stablemate, it is a new tool moulding of an early Flanker, so what's not to like?  It will doubtless have some foibles that will irritate the perfectionists, but what kit doesn't?  Grab some AKAN paints on your way to the (probably virtual) checkout, and add one to your collection.

 

Highly recommended.

 

 

Review sample courtesy of