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Sukhoi Su-17/Cy-17M4P Ukrainian Air Force (72058) 1:72 Modelsvit The Su-17 was an upgrade to the earlier Su-7 Fitter-A, adding variable geometry/swing wings in the late 1960s with an exceptionally long production run of successive variants that continued until the 1990s. An export variant with less advanced equipment fits ran concurrently with the designation Su-22, trailing the Su-17 as it was improved. It began as a modernisation programme that was aimed at improving handling during take-off and landing, and to update the avionics to a more modern level, but it became a more complex and detailed project as time progressed. At the end of WWII, the concept of variable geometry wings had been studied by the Germans, their data and pre-production work being spirited away by the competing Allied countries, the Soviets racing to acquire technology that had been developed in the East, while the other Allies were more heavily involved in the West. A prototype still under the Su-7 banner was flown in the mid-60s, with a fixed inner wing and outer panels that could swing between 22° and 68°, the more swept wing configuration better suited to faster speed, while slow-speed handling was vastly improved by spreading the wings wide. A by-product of the variable sweep improved fuel consumption that itself improved range and endurance of the aircraft, and after more changes that included weight reduction measures, it was put into production in 1969 under the designation Su-17, the breadth of sweep now changed slightly to between 30° and 63°. The first enhancement to the basic airframe after entering service was the Su-17M, which was fitted with an upgraded engine and avionics, followed by the M2 with a longer nose with an improvement in pilot vision that was achieved by lowering the nose slightly. A 2-seat trainer followed, as did the Su-17M3 that was intended for export, production of which reaching 1,000 airframes before it too was replaced by the M4, which was an incremental improvement over previous variants, and was capable of carrying a greater variety of weapons. A sub-variant designated M4R was a tactical reconnaissance airframe that carried a combined recon pod on the centreline pylon under the belly. The M4 was known as the Fitter-K under NATO coding, and its intended fixed-wing successor the M5 was proposed but didn’t reach production. Ukraine’s fleet of around 50 airframes of various types were inherited during the break-up of the Soviet Union, and remained in service until 2004, their fates varying between storage, scrapping and reselling to other operators after a thorough refurbishment. The Kit This boxing of the kit is based upon Modelsvit’s 2014 initial release of the Su-17M, although many new parts have been tooled for this and other variants in the interim. The kit arrives in a top-opening box with a painting of the subject matter landing under a blue sky with broken cloud overhead, and inside are ten sprues of various sizes in grey styrene, a clear sprue in a Ziploc bag, two small frets of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, pre-cut vinyl masks and pre-cut acetate sheet in another Ziploc bag with a card protector, plus the decal sheet that is slipped inside the instruction booklet, printed on glossy white paper in colour, with painting and decaling profiles on the rearmost pages. Detail is excellent for the scale, with finely engraved panel lines and rivets on the exterior, and detail in the cockpit, gear bays and around the engine interior, although a little mould damage has occurred on the initial compressor stage of the engine around the bullet fairing, but as it will be buried deeply in the fuselage, it’s unlikely to be seen. Construction begins with the K-36KD ejection seat that is a model in itself, consisting of fourteen styrene parts, plus a full set of PE seatbelts, ejection handle between the pilot’s knees, and the pilot’s leg restraints that project from the seat base. The cockpit’s rear bulkhead is extremely well-rendered, and has a highly-detailed painting guide along with an additional hose that is added to complete the assembly. The nose cone is also built at this stage from two exterior parts and an internal block that attaches to the lower half, all in preparation for mating the fuselage later. Before putting the cockpit together, the nose gear bay is first built from eight parts, and again it is highly detailed and has a comprehensive painting guide included. Inverting this assembly shows the cockpit floor and bases of the side consoles, onto which the detail is affixed, starting with the side console panels that are found on the PE sheet, which is designated Z on the sprue diagram, but is referred to as P in the instructions. Decals and detail parts from PE and styrene are applied, and the instrument panel is built in a similar manner, with a choice of two layouts that start with different backing parts, but utilise the same PE parts and decals, while one option has a screen and shroud in the top right of the panel. A scrap diagram shows the correct location of all the decals that are applied to the side consoles for clarity, after which the seat is installed with two decals applied to the headbox sides, and a two-part control column with two more PE parts is inserted in a recess in front of the seat. A pair of rudder pedals are fitted in the front of the cockpit space, adding a choice of two types of coaming and a rear deck during installation of the cockpit later. The exhaust trunk has been moulded from three sections to achieve maximum detail, closing them around the afterburner ring and fitting the rear face of the engine at the forward end, which has pegs moulded into it for easy location within the fuselage in the next step, which also sees the cockpit installed after putting at least 9g of nose weight into the intake radome bullet fairing, then capping it off with the tapered tip, closing the fuselage around the two main assemblies and adding an intake lip to the front of the fuselage, then the port half of the tail fin to the starboard side that is moulded into the fuselage half. The inner wing panels have three-part bay wall inserts added around the edges, mating the upper and lower halves that trap the two-part outer panels in place, leaving them unglued so that they can pivot. A single wing fence is slipped over the outer wing and slid up to the edge of the inner panel, adding two more fences to the inner panels, a pair of pylons in front of the bay and under one of the fence parts, mating the two wings on either side of the fuselage using slots and tabs to align them neatly. The elevators are attached to the tail on pins, which gives you the opportunity to pose them deflected if you wish, inserting two PE mesh panels in recesses on the fuselage spine, then if you are depicting decal option three, the upper fuselage has four chaff and flare dispenser racks fitted after adding PE inserts to depict the contents, using a pair of scrap diagrams to align them correctly with each other and the fuselage, as the port installation is slightly offset from the starboard. Four optional belly pylons are installed in slots moulded into the fuselage, although none of the decal options show them fitted. The wheels are all two parts each, using one for the nose gear leg, which has separate yoke halves added to trap the wheel in place, plus a detail part and retraction jack that are installed when inserting the leg into its bay, adding doors to the sides, which have a pair of actuators fitted, then festooning the surrounding area with various antennae from styrene and PE parts, plus a couple of lenses that have masks on the accompanying vinyl sheet. The main gear struts form an L-shape, and have three retraction jacks installed during fitting, mounting the wheel on the axle on the inner face, then fixing additional parts and three bay doors around the perimeter, taking note of the scrap diagram nearby for correct orientation. The model can be set on its own wheels at this stage of the build if you have followed the instruction steps verbatim, and you now decide whether to pose the canopy open or closed. First however, the HUD is made from two PE supports and a small pre-cut part of the acetate sheet plus a small detail part on the coaming, either fitting the separate windscreen and the canopy braced open on a short strut, or installing the single combined canopy/windscreen part, using the same masks for either option from the vinyl sheet. Several auxiliary intakes are mounted on the centre fuselage behind the wings, plus the two probes on the nose, one of which has twelve small PE vanes glued to it carefully before installation, then adding an angle-of-attack probe on the side of the nose to complete main construction. A pair of PTB-800 drop-tanks are made from two halves, the fins moulded into one part, while the Combined Reconnaissance Pod (KKR-1) is built from two halves plus a flat detail part underneath that depicts the visible aspects of the equipment, adding a small intake on one side near the integral pylon. Two R-60 Aphid A2A missiles are moulded with integrated opposing fins, adding the others from separate parts, and mounting them on a launch rail adapter, with the option of replacing one with a B8M1 rocket pack that is moulded in two halves plus cone and rear bulkhead, both with individual tube detail moulded-in. A suggested load-out is shown in the last step of the instructions, but it’s always worth checking your references for real-world examples if accuracy concerns you. Markings There are three decal options on the included sheet, but the first page shows a generic airframe with green/blue camouflage to detail all the many stencils that are applied to this aircraft. The three pages of profiles for the decal options omit these to avoid overly cluttered drawings. From the box you can build one of the following: Yellow 12, 827th Separate Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment, Mokra, Zaporizhzhia, 2003 Yellow 49, 48th Separate Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment, Kolomyia, Ivano-Frankivsk Region Yellow 50, 48th Separate Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment, Kolomyia, Ivano-Frankivsk Region Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Pre-cut vinyl masks are included for the inside and outside of the canopy and windscreen panels, and for the wheels that should allow you to cut the demarcation with ease, plus masks for various sensors under and around the nose of the aircraft. Conclusion This boxing of the kit allows you to build three legacy airframes in Ukrainian service in the early aughts, with a huge amount of detail in styrene and PE that wouldn’t look out of place in a larger scaled kit. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Kit - Airfix 1:48. Paint - All Tamiya acrylics. Decals - FCM, CAM Decal, Aeromaster, Kit. Extras - Eduard etch seatbelts. Junkers Ju87R-2 2 /St.2 Balkans Theatre Spring 1941 Other than the Eduard belts and scrounged decals this is an entirely from the box build - easily as nice & fuss-free as the 1:72 Tempest I finished a few weeks back. Paint isn't straight from the Tamiya jar(s), I mixed all of them using the trusted Mk.1 eyeball method, and I and VERY pleased with how they look. Please feel free to make any comments/criticisms or ask any questions. Cheers from NZ. Ian.

Red Wind Over The Balkans The Soviet Offensive South of the Danube Sept-Oct 1944 ISBN : 9781910777800 Helion & Company via Casemate UK There is a feeling that the whole Balkan Campaign is slightly overshadowed in the west as it began fairly badly for us and was left out of the limelight of the Italian and Normandy campaigns, and even the battle for Germany. The book looks at two major Soviet offensives conducted during September and October of 1944. The first of these was the occupation of Bulgaria following the Soviet declaration of war with Bulgaria on 4th September 1944. The Invasion began on the 8th. Due to the Bulgarian Army overthrowing the government and joining the Allies this operation was a fairly simple and bloodless one. The second operation which was linked to the first one was the Belgrade offensive. This operation was to liberate Belgrade and try and encircle the German Forces in the Southern Balkans. The book describes the heavy battles in this operation which caused the German forces to withdraw from not only this area but Greece and Albania as well. The book is slightly smaller than A4 (245 x 170mm) and an impressive 694 pages long. There are over 400 B&W photos, 197 tables, 16 pages of colour vehicle profiles; and 24 colour maps. The author has gone to great lengths to obtain original documents from The Russian and Bulgarian archives. As well as the details of the battles attention is paid to units involved, their markings, unit insignia and even camouflage used. Conclusion As well as complete details for the operations and their battles attention is paid to units involved, equipment, their markings, unit insignia and even camouflage used. This is a truly detailed study of these operations for which the author should be commended. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Here is 'Balthasar' An M36 that was supplied to the JNA (Yugoslav National Army) after WW2. Apparently all they had ever received since then was a change of radio and a coat of paint. Many were taken out of the barracks and used by the various militia during the Homeland War in the 90's. The markings are from the Bison sheet. The paint is Lifecolour 4BO. All added detail was made from Plasticard and wire. Can you work out what the donor kit was? The model was made from the 1/72 Armourfast clip together range as seen here. I hope you like it.