Eduard Su-17/22UM-3K Fitter Update Sets (For Kitty Hawk) 1:48

[Mike]

Su-17/22UM-3K Fitter Update Sets (For Kitty Hawk)

1:48 Eduard

 

 

After a long time with no new toolings of the glorious Fitter, like London buses they all came at once.  Kitty Hawk's range of variants has been expanding rapidly, and this set is designed for the UM-3K, which is shown in Polish Tiger-Stripe colours on the kit boxtop.  Eduard's new range of sets are here to improve on the kit detail in the usual modular manner.  Get what you want for the areas you want to be more of a focal point.  As usual with Eduard's Photo-Etch (PE) and Mask sets, they arrive in a flat resealable package, with a white backing card protecting the contents and the instructions that are sandwiched between.

 

 

Interior (49888)

Two frets are included, one nickel plated and pre-painted, the other in bare brass.  A complete set of new layered instrument panels, side consoles, side walls and floor skins are the primary parts on the painted set, with ejection seat details; coaming instrumentation, HUD and canopy internal structure also supplied.

 

 

 

Zoom! Set (FE888)

This set contains a reduced subset of the interior, namely the pre-painted parts that are used to improve on the main aspects of the cockpit, as seen above.  Whatever your motivations for wanting this set, it provides a welcome boost to detail, without being concerned with the structural elements.

 

 

 

Seatbelts STEEL (FE889)

In case you don't already know, these belts are Photo-Etch (PE) steel, and because of their strength they can be etched from thinner material, which improves realism and flexibility in one sitting.  Coupled with the new painting method that adds perceived extra depth to the buckles and other furniture by shading, they are more realistic looking and will drape better than regular brass PE.  As well as the two sets of crew belts, you also get a set of the pull-handles between the pilot's knees that gets him out of there in case of an emergency.

 

 

 

Exterior (48951)

This larger bare brass set contains some important upgrades, such as delicate new afterburner rings, with instructions for shortening the trunking for accuracy; new pitot vanes; filler caps for the fuel tanks; the recessed box for the sensor in the shock-cone; antennae on the nose, tail and the rest of the airframe; wing-root plates with the correct rivet pattern; weapons rail attachment surface skins; new strakes on the fixed inner wing as well as other details around the hinge point.  The gun trough is replaced by a new detailed box, with breech details added to the gun, and a new door with ejection chute is provided to finish it off.

 

 

 

Air Brakes (48952)

The Fitter has four air brakes on the aft fuselage, and to detail the bays they must be squared off by removing the sections marked in red on the instructions, after which the new bays are folded up, internal detail is added, and they are glued in place instead of the kit parts.  The kit brakes are then thinned, and a new detailed skin is glued to the inside face, while the kit actuator is used.  Repeat until you have four and that's it.

 

 

 

Masks (EX585)

Supplied on a sheet of yellow kabuki tape, these pre-cut masks supply you with a full set of masks for the canopy, with compound curved handled by using frame hugging masks, while the highly curved gaps are in-filled with either liquid mask or offcuts from the background tape.  In addition you get a set of hub/tyre masks for all the wheels, allowing you to cut the demarcation perfectly with little effort.

 

 

 

 

Masks Tface (EX586)

Supplied on a sheet of yellow kabuki tape, these pre-cut masks supply you with everything above, but also give you another set of canopy masks tailored to fit the interior of the glazing so that you can paint the interior and give your model that extra bit of realism. 

 

Review sample courtesy of