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Sukhoi Su-17 M3/M4 Fitter-K 1:48


Mike

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Sukhoi Su-17 M3/M4 Fitter-K

1:48 Kittyhawk

 

boxtop.jpg

 

 

The Su-17, with its NATO reporting name Fitter was derived from the earlier Su-7 as a project to improve its low speed handling, particularly during take-off and landing.  It was Sukhoi's first attempt at variable geometry wings, and when it reached service was the Soviet Union's first swing-wing aircraft in service.  To keep the project costs down, the centre section of the wing remained fixed, with the outer able to swing back for high-speed flight, and forward for slow.  A pronounced spine was also added to the rear of the cockpit to carry additional fuel and avionics that were necessary with the advances in aviation.  The first airframes reached service in the early 70s, and were soon replaced by more advanced models with the designation M3 and M4, designated Fitter-H and –K respectively by the Allies.

 

The M3 was based on a larger fuselage and had additional weapons options, while the M4 was further developed and was considered to be the pinnacle of the Fitter line with a heavily upgraded avionics suite including improved targeting, navigation, and yet more weapons options, as well as improved engines.  A downgraded version of the M4 was marketed as the Su-22M4, and was in production until 1990!  Although the Su-17 was withdrawn from Soviet service in the late 1990s, it remained in service much longer in its export guise, where it was used by both Iran and Iraq, Libya and Angola to name but a few, where it had variable success, which likely had as much to do with pilot skill and training as the merits of the airframe.

 

 

The Kit

A new Su-17 model has been needed for a few years now in 1:48, and this is a new tooling from Kittyhawk that dropped onto our radar relatively recently.  The previous best kit was getting a bit long in the tooth, and needed plenty of TLC to coax a good model out of it.  The box is fairly standard Kittyhawk (KH) fare, with a pair of Su-17s in formation on the lid, and inside, plenty of plastic in their familiar pale grey styrene.   The sprues are large, and it appears that their annoying habit of folding sprues over while still warm is dying out slowly, with detail and crispness on the increase.  Gone also are the large ejector-pin turrets in every intake, although a few are still there in the engine parts, but won't be seen.  The fuselage is split fore-aft, which hopefully means we'll be treated to a two-seat UM in due course, but as always don't hold your breath, just cross your fingers.  The usual generosity in terms of weapons and stores is still present, with almost a third of the sprues devoted to things to hang off your finished model, which is always nice to see.  Inside the box are nine sprues in light grey styrene, one in clear, a small sheet of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, and two decal sheets, one of which is substantially larger than the other.  The instruction booklet completes the package, and first impressions are good – it might even get a build review if I can find the time!

 

sprue1.jpg

 

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Construction begins with the ejection seat, which is nicely detailed with PE belts included, which show a lot more detail than previous efforts from KH, which is good to see.  The cockpit is built from a series of parts, including the control column, rudder pedals, side consoles and the instrument panel, the last two of which have decals provided for the instrument details.  The coaming and HUD are added to the front of the cockpit, with a clear part forming the HUD glazing.  Following this the engine is constructed from quite a number of parts, with only the aft end visible if you left off the aft fuselage section, which is possible although not considered in the instructions.  The exhaust nozzle is built from sections and surrounded by a ring, showing the actuators around its circumference, which when painted should give a good impression of the original.  The engine and exhaust are then sandwiched between the forward part of the aft fuselage, and the aft part of the aft fuselage (confused yet?) is built up with air-brake bays and added around the exhaust.  Jumping around somewhat confusingly, the tail with separate rudder is then made up, followed by the nose gear bay, which is again made from individual panels for extra detail.  The gear leg is fitted at this stage, but with some care could be left off until later if you feel it would be safer to do that.  The cockpit, nose bay and the intake shock-cone (including clear panel) and then trapped between the forward fuselage halves, and this is mated to the aft section, at which point the avionics spine is added  in sections, which overlap the fuselage joints for strength. 

 

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Detailing the fuselage with a host of small, delicate parts seems a little optimistic to this ham-fisted modeller, but if you fancy your chances, go ahead.  There are a number of scabbed-on chaff and flare dispensers down the fuselage sides, which are provided with PE attachment brackets that will require a little bending to put in position, so steel yourself if you're not a big fan of PE.  The twin prongs on the nose are also added, the pitot probe having all the usual vanes added from styrene parts that are VERY small, so take care not to lose them.  The windscreen fits to the sill around the coaming, and the canopy is designed to be posed open, with a styrene fitment to the rear that mates with the notch behind the cockpit.  At this stage of the build your Fitter looks little more than a fancy tube with a wheel at one end and a fin at the other.

 

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The wings are built as assemblies next, although I'd be tempted to leave off the gear again for fear of breakage, but the instruction advise otherwise.  The main gear legs are single parts with three small ancillary struts, one of which stabilises the large captive bay door that hangs down outboard of the leg.  The gear bay roof detail is moulded into the underside of the upper wing, while the walls are added separately, as are the optionally open gun bays in the leading edge of the inner wing section.  The outer wings are made up from a single centre section with separate flaps and slats, which then attach to a pin in the outer edge of the inner wing section, held in place after the addition of the lower half.  A small bay door, actuator jack for the gear and the aforementioned gun bay doors are added underneath, and above the two large strakes fit into their respective slots.  Repeat in a mirror for the other wing, and you're done.  The wing roots fit into their slots in the fuselage, where you will also find an inner main bay wall, so remember to paint that when you're doing the rest of the bay, or you'll end up cursing.  The elevators are both single parts that fit on a pivoting pin, and with the addition of the inner wing flap sections that's the main build done.

 

As already mentioned, there are a substantial quantity of weapons for the many pylons on the inner wings and belly.  The decision to place all the weapons on the static parts of the airframe saved money and weight developing rotating pylon mounts such as those seen on the Panavia Tornado.  In the box you get the following:

 

2 x BETAB-500 iron bombs

2 x OFAB-250-SZN iron bombs

4 x FAB-250-M54 iron bombs

4 x FAB-250-M62 iron bombs

4 x SAB-100 flare

2 x RBK-500-250 cluster bomb

2 x FAB-500-M54 iron bombs

2 x Fuel Tanks

1 x SPS-141 ECM Pod

2 x B-13 122mm rocket pod

4 x F2B-250-TS iron bomb

2 x KH-23 Kerry missile with APU-68 adaptor rail

1 x SPPU-22 23mm gun pod

2 x UBK-23 gun pods

2 x B-8M rocket pods

2 x S-25L rocket

2 x UB-32 rocket pods

BATAB-500-ZD bunker buster bomb

2 x S-24 rocket

2 x R-73 Archer A2A missile

2 x R-60 Aphid short-range A2A missile

1 x KKR-1T Recce pod

 

Quite a list!  The parts are all well-detailed, with separate fins and nosecones where applicable, exhausts and other parts including further adapter rails all supplied.  The decal sheet contains stencils for them all, with a double page giving a complete stencilling and painting guide.

 

 

Markings

There are a generous seven decal options with the kit, all of which is detailed in the centre pages of the instruction booklet, folding out to double size, which although it disrupts the flow of the construction a tad is an improvement on their early kits, as you at least get a full set of profiles from the major angles, and it is all of a reasonable size.  These pages are in colour, and you can pull them out of the booklet if you feel the need, which I did a moment ago.

 

From the box you can build one of the following:

 

  • Su-17M3R 313 ORAP based at Vizavi Bagram, May 1988 – green/earth camouflage over blue undersides wearing red 01.
  • Su-17M4 43rd OMShAE, Black Sea Fleet, Gvardeiskoe Field, Crimea, Jan 1998 - green/earth camouflage over blue undersides, wearing yellow 40.
  • Su-17M4 274th APIB, Afghanistan 1988 - green/earth camouflage over blue undersides, wearing blue 23.
  • Su-17M3 Russian Air Force, red 95 – all over natural metal.
  • Su-17M4R 886th ORAP, 15th VA Afghanistan war - green/earth camouflage over blue undersides, wearing blue 07.
  • Su-17M3 red 50 – green upper over blue undersides.
  • Su-17M4 Ukrainian Air Force – green/earth camouflage over blue undersides, wearing Yellow 50.

 

decals.jpg

 

Previously, Kittyhawk's decals have been of variable quality, but there is an improvement in this sheet, although there is a small mis-registration of the white or red that affects a couple of the decals with borders, but it shouldn't notice too much.  Otherwise the other colours are in good register, sharpness is better, as is colour density.  The smaller sheet contains the instrument panels and some emblems that required a different printing process.

 

Conclusion

A modern tooling of this aircraft, with its aggressive look and wide use, was long overdue and this scale and now it's here.  Detail is good from the box, the weapons provided are unbelievably generous in scope and quantity, and improvements to the engineering and finish of the kit appear to have been made.  I haven't been over the kit with a fine toothed-comb checking each rivet yet, but I'm sure any inconsistencies will come out in the wash, as no kit made by imperfect beings such as us can be absolutely perfect.  The discussion has started already in the Rumourmonger forum for those that are interested here.

 

Highly recommended.

 

Review sample courtesy of

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and available soon from major hobby shops.

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Looks nice and well detailed, quite excited about this release.............. excited but concerned about all those fuselage joins. 😲

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Thanks Mike,

It seems that you've done well in your previous life, as so far you've avoided Misercraft's kits review...

:rolleyes:

 

I just love this aircraft, and this preview tells me that the kit will join my stash soon.

Well, ok, there's this fuselage, with cuts everywhere, and KH's reputation of general bad fit. We'll see.

But on the plus side, there are those weapons sprues. I even see R-27 and R-77, indicating that KH follow its tradition of using the same weapon sprues for the same kind of aircraft.

Wel, the same kind... sort of. Remember the mix-up with the Jag, F1 and... Gripen!!!

Second plus, we'll get an UM, for sure.

 

 

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37 minutes ago, Antoine said:

 

If that video doesn't make you want one, then you're dead inside! :Tasty:

 

38 minutes ago, Antoine said:

It seems that you've done well in your previous life, as so far you've avoided Misercraft's kits review...

 

So far, yes :ninja:

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Ohhh yesss!! Most anticipated release for me this year, will definetly be adding that to the stash. As mentioned already, and my own initial thoughts, how well will that fuselage and spine go together though?

 

A purposeful and great looking beast.

 

Top review, and great photo's too ;)

 

Eng

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7 minutes ago, eng said:

Top review, and great photo's too ;)

 

Thanks for that :)  Suspect it'll sell lots, which hopefully seals the deal on the other variants :pray:

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16 minutes ago, Mike said:

 

Thanks for that :)  Suspect it'll sell lots, which hopefully seals the deal on the other variants :pray:

Fuselage break-down suggests other versions are possible...but given Kittyhawk's track record on multiple variants...the long promised RF-101...it may be a while :)

 

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9 minutes ago, azzaob said:

Fuselage break-down suggests other versions are possible...but given Kittyhawk's track record on multiple variants...the long promised RF-101...it may be a while :)

 

RF-101 ??

Look I'll start my resin conversion and KH will release it:huh:

Corsaircorp

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2 hours ago, Antoine said:

Mike, would it be possible to add colour options profiles to the reviews (in general)?

I think it would be a real bonus.

 

+1. I'd love to see a profile of the NMF example; that would tempt me to buy, if I liked it.

 

Jon

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16 hours ago, Sobby_23 said:

Looks good, thanks for the review! Disappointed that there are no Polish AF markings OOB

 

The Polish aircraft are technically Su-22M4 so perhaps a separate boxing is planned for the export variants?

 

The new Polish two-tone gray scheme is pretty cool. While those aircraft are somewhat upgraded, the changes to the cockpit seem rather minor (a new radio panel plus a new panel for uploading the mission data).

 

The decal sheet does seem somewhat light, given the 1/48 scale and the amount of stores included. I'd expect Begemot to jump in soon.

 

 

Edited by Dudikoff
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