Su-7BKL "Fitter-A" - 1:48 MisterCraft

[Julien]

Su-7BKL "Fitter-A"
1:48 MisterCraft

The Su-7 was a swept wing supersonic aircraft developed by the Sukhoi design bureau in the 1950's. Originally designed as a fighter it was not a great success, but would later find its role in bombing and ground attack. The Su-7BKL added a rough field capability to the BM which was itself an upgrade for the B model featuring an upgraded engine. In addition wet hard points under the wings were added, and the airframe made nuclear capable. The BKL also featured provision for JATO rockets. 267 were built and many were supplied to Soviet satellite states.

The Kit
The plastic in this kit is from OEZ in 1989, and has been reboxed over the years by many different companies. Even though the pastic can be a little thick this is still the best Su-7 kit produced to date. Construction starts off not in the cockpit but with the underwing thanks, ordinance, and the JATO rockets; though I suspect many modellers will leave this until later and move straight onto the cockpit. A basic 4 part ejection seat is made up, this fits into the cockpit which is built up on top of the front wheel well. Attached to the front of the cockpit is the nose radar bullet assembly. 10 grams of weight is recommended here, but it looks like as much as you can cram in would be advisable! The exhaust nozzle is also completed at this stage.

The next stage of assembly is the landing gear which is fairly complex. Each main gear has 6 parts and the wheel, then the gear doors which need to be cut if doing a wheels down aircraft need attaching to the legs. The nose gear has a two part leg trapping the wheel, then two struts. Once these are made up the two part vertical tail and rudder assembly is put together. This is then followed by assembling both wings. These are of standard upper/lower construction.

Now that a lot of the sub assemblies are complete construction can move to the main task. The cockpit/nose radar units along with the exhaust are enclosed in the main fuselage, then the wings are attached along with the vertical tail, and tail planes. Two prominent cable ducts are added along with the under wing hard points. The rear airbrakes can be open or closed. The landing gear is added along with the JATO bottles if you wish, and armament of your choice. Rocket pods and large single rockets are provided along with fuel tanks. Lastly the canopy is added, and a boarding ladder is provided if the modeller wishes to use it.

Markings
As well as having Bort numbers for nine different aircraft assigned to the Polish Air Force all in NMF, four other decal options are provided.

• Red 25 Soviet Air Force 1960's (NMF).
• White 25, Soviet Air Force in now Ukraine (4 colour Camo) 1960.
• 6427, Czechoslovak Air Force, 1984-89 (4 colour camo).
• 6514, Czechoslovak Air Force, 1984-89 (3 colour camo).

The decals are seem to be well printed, colour dense and have minimal carrier film

Conclusion
This kit is still really the only game in town for a 1/48 Su-7. It is showing its age a bit, but builds upto a good looking model. Recommended.

Review sample courtesy of
UK distributors for

[Antoine]

Thanks Julien.

What about the flags upper left on the boxart?

Not related to other colour options?

[Julien]

I think they relate in a way to the countries these regions became. There is mention in the instructions of ex Soviet aircraft getting Ukrainian roundels following partition, but they are not on the decal sheet. Not sure if the Ukrainian AF ever flew these aircaft though.

The Czechoslovak forces phased these out before partition so not entirely sure why the Slovak symbol.

Julien

[trickyrich]

I know this beast very well!! You also get the bits for the Export BMK version as well.

It's a shame it hasn't been given a bit of an update, but it's a fun model to build, heaps of scope to expand on plus there's some really nice AM stuff available as well.

But I agree with the recommendation...buy it and have some fun!!