1/48 - Sukhoi Su-57 "Felon" by Zvezda - released

[B_Bogus]

After their Pe-2 and Yak-130 (I haven't had my hands on the Il-2 yet) this is really surprising.

At least no-one has said it's inaccurate yet  

[SAT69]

On 12/11/2020 at 7:19 PM, Thomas V. said:

This is beyond belief, its 2020, there are hundreds of hi resolution T-50/Su-57 photos online, not to mention Russian ( Zvezda TV ) that show more or less everything on the outside,

and to larger extent inside, this reminds me on Pandas so called F-35. More than certain that Zvezda took a wrong turn as of lately regarding 1/48 scale, I certainly won't buy one.

 

P.S. GWH can produce outstanding current Su-35, with all the detail, but Zvezda is limited in its portray ( does not outsource like GWH, keeping far lower production costs ).

 

Looking at the photos, I think the lighting is the issue here. In some places you can see detail while overall in most of the photos detail isn't obvious. The first photo illustrates what I mean. You can see a bit of the fuselage detail but the wing upper surfaces show none. More contrast would likely bring the details out. 

[SAT69]

Follow up on my last post. I copied the aforementioned picture and opened it with Microsoft Picture Manager. I tried various levels of brightness to get more detail and only the darker images presented more than the original photo ... and only with contrast set at 100%. Someone with more skill at picture editing can probably do far better but, again, I believe the kit has the detail but the photos don't present it near well enough.

[plasticguy]

On 12/12/2020 at 2:19 AM, Thomas V. said:

This is beyond belief, its 2020, there are hundreds of hi resolution T-50/Su-57 photos online, not to mention Russian ( Zvezda TV ) that show more or less everything on the outside,

and to larger extent inside, this reminds me on Pandas so called F-35. More than certain that Zvezda took a wrong turn as of lately regarding 1/48 scale, I certainly won't buy one.

 

P.S. GWH can produce outstanding current Su-35, with all the detail, but Zvezda is limited in its portray ( does not outsource like GWH, keeping far lower production costs ).

 

it looks like a 1980s kit someone put in a timecapsule, someone else discovered and opened few days ago.

[Solo]

This is not a light, it is a plastic.

 

A nose:

 

 

Nose wheel bay:

 

 

Pilot tube and seat:

 

 

IP:

 

 

Main wheel bay:

 

 

[drake122]

Panel lines on the nose are  supposed to disappear into nothingness? 🙄

[exdraken]

Cockpit is bare... yes!

PE or those new fancy decals from Quinta! Or go full resin.

I'd do that anyways...

Same goes for nozzles...

 

This kit is sold at 30-40 €! Keep that in mind

 

I suspect fit and Engineering will be great though!

Fingers crossed 

Hope to find out soon!

 

[Solo]

I hope there will be resin cockpit from TempModels available and resin exhaust nozzles from ResKit as well.
Kit's exhaust are not bad frankly said, but resin cockpit is a must if you want to make it opened.
Quinta's cockpit is now almost available, but I think that 3D decals do not look so good.

Regarding fit, is is almost perfect, regarding fuselage halves:

 

[Thomas V.]

1 hour ago, exdraken said:

Cockpit is bare... yes!

PE or those new fancy decals from Quinta! Or go full resin.

I'd do that anyways...

Same goes for nozzles...

 

This kit is sold at 30-40 €! Keep that in mind

 

I suspect fit and Engineering will be great though!

Fingers crossed 

Hope to find out soon!

 

Have no problem with cockpit, have huge problem with surface detailing, if one compares close ups of the real plane to Zvezda model, its lacking maybe 50% of surface details

like panel lines, not even speaking about rivets and smaller detail, very, very dissapointing.

[B_Bogus]

12 hours ago, Thomas V. said:

Have no problem with cockpit, have huge problem with surface detailing, if one compares close ups of the real plane to Zvezda model, its lacking maybe 50% of surface details

like panel lines, not even speaking about rivets and smaller detail, very, very dissapointing.

Agreed - I was really looking forward to this kit, and after building their excellent Yak-130 I was hoping for something similar. 

They've even managed to remove all the detail from the Ejection seats?

I don't think I'll be buying this one.

Edited December 14, 2020 by B_Bogus

[Homebee]

Released - 

https://zvezda.org.ru/catalog/sbornye_modeli/aviatsiya/poslevoennaya_i_sovremennaya_aviation/rossiyskiy_mnogofunktsionalnyy_istrebitel_pyatogo_pokoleniya_su_57_29335/

https://ksmodel.pl/sklep/szczegoly/zvezda-4824-russian-fifth-generaion-fighter-su-57-1-48-22548/

https://vk.com/wall-29859496?own=1&w=wall-29859496_2622036

https://www.aviationmegastore.com/sukhoi-su57-4824-zvezda-4600327048240-aircraft-scale-modelling/product/?action=prodinfo&art=174398

 

V.P.

Edited December 16, 2020 by Homebee

[Solo]

Few days ago in many stores.

[SAT69]

I was really looking forward to this one. I can't understand not presenting cockpit and wheel well detail. From what I'm hearing about the quality of the Kittyhawk SU-34 and SU-35 (at my local hobby shop), maybe the Kittyhawk SU-57 will be the way to go.

[Tiger331]

Lack of cockpit and wheel well detail etc ?. Let's have a think about this. Are Sukhoi (and the Russian MOD) really going to allow Zvedza to crawl around their latest combat aircraft, given all of the stealth technology etc ?. Let's not forget that this aircraft is some way behind the F-22 and F-35 in terms of R&D, with the Russians wanting to play catch up (or maybe stay ahead of the game ?). I'm not sure they would appreciate Zvedza insisting in having a look inside that cockpit and taking measurements of the innards of the weapons and undercarriage bays, which could reveal useful data on stealth capability or otherwise.

 

From a modelling perspective we are also seeing a trend developing with Zvedza (and maybe Russian kits in general) where the company is producing basic but accurate plastic kits at an affordable cost which can then be embellished with the host of aftermarket products being developed in close coordination with the originator (Quinta Studios instrument panels to name but one). We have seen this with the recent 1:48 Mil Mi-24V/VP Hind (excellent shape etc but fairly basic detail) and the 1:72 Lockheed C-130H Hercules (Excellent kit with much better, but not stellar, detail - that is where Microdesign and Quinta step in with detail sets etc). I would much rather have accurate, relatively simple and reasonably priced kits, to which I can add as much detail as I want, than all the 'bells and whistles' (which may or may not be accurate anyway) on a more expensive and complex kit (e.g. Kittyhawk Jaguar and Mirage F.1).

 

     

[Col.]

5 hours ago, Tiger331 said:

Lack of cockpit and wheel well detail etc ?. Let's have a think about this. Are Sukhoi (and the Russian MOD) really going to allow Zvedza to crawl around their latest combat aircraft, given all of the stealth technology etc ?. Let's not forget that this aircraft is some way behind the F-22 and F-35 in terms of R&D, with the Russians wanting to play catch up (or maybe stay ahead of the game ?). I'm not sure they would appreciate Zvedza insisting in having a look inside that cockpit and taking measurements of the innards of the weapons and undercarriage bays, which could reveal useful data on stealth capability or otherwise.

 

From a modelling perspective we are also seeing a trend developing with Zvedza (and maybe Russian kits in general) where the company is producing basic but accurate plastic kits at an affordable cost which can then be embellished with the host of aftermarket products being developed in close coordination with the originator (Quinta Studios instrument panels to name but one). We have seen this with the recent 1:48 Mil Mi-24V/VP Hind (excellent shape etc but fairly basic detail) and the 1:72 Lockheed C-130H Hercules (Excellent kit with much better, but not stellar, detail - that is where Microdesign and Quinta step in with detail sets etc). I would much rather have accurate, relatively simple and reasonably priced kits, to which I can add as much detail as I want, than all the 'bells and whistles' (which may or may not be accurate anyway) on a more expensive and complex kit (e.g. Kittyhawk Jaguar and Mirage F.1).

While I can understand your point in regard to Zvezda not being allowed to get intimate with the real machine and therefore leaving a blank canvas it makes me wonder where the likes of Quinta and the various resin aftermarket get their information if that really is the case. In light of that thought I find your 'accurate but basic to reduce costs' philosophy the more likely explanation.

[Dudikoff]

Yeah, it has nothing to do with the secrecy and everything to do with a business choice to make a cheaper tooling and sell more of them due to a lower price. They said so themselves after the 1/48 Mi-24 kit release. Probably also due to the fact that their primary market is Russia, IIRC.

Edited December 16, 2020 by Dudikoff

[Thomas V.]

Don't see the logic, Zvezda has different wholesale pricelists for Russia, for CIS and for other parts of the world. If one finds himself outside Moscow, Zvezda kits are dirt cheap.

The key for Zvezda's expansion in recent years has been releasing well detailed but relatively cheap kits. With recent Mi-24 and Su-57 we have lost details, so one part of the( up to recently )winning forumula.

At the same time in 35th scale Zvezda continues releasing highly detailed but cheap kits ( Pantsir, Koalitsya, Boomerang  etc...)

 

To add, Zvezda has all production in house, no

outsourcing thus far lower prod.costs compared to likes of majority of comparable ( subject wise )Far Eastern brands. Before mentioned enabled them to be highly competitive, without skimping on detail or gen.quality.

 

Shortsighted and bad decision.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SAT69]

The access to the real airplane question should be answered when the Kittyhawk 1/48 SU-57 is released. If there's the same sparsity of detail, we'll know access is an issue.

[Solo]

Why the access to real aircraft is forbidden for making plastic cockpit, but is not forbidden for making decals? Wish to know the answer.

[Tiger331]

9 hours ago, Col. said:

While I can understand your point in regard to Zvezda not being allowed to get intimate with the real machine and therefore leaving a blank canvas it makes me wonder where the likes of Quinta and the various resin aftermarket get their information if that really is the case. In light of that thought I find your 'accurate but basic to reduce costs' philosophy the more likely explanation.

 

I hear what you say about the Quinta Studios instrument panel/ejection seat detail set but on closer inspection the instrument panel and console look to be fairly generic albeit they will definately dress up the very bare Zvedza cockpit. The Ejection Seat is, of course, more of a known quantity so its relatively easy to get this detail correct. I'm not normally a fan of kits that are prone to risk with accuracy due to their dependence on prototype or pre-production examples but I may make an exception with the Su-57 since I really like the digital scheme applied to the most recent examples.   

[Shorty84]

Well, the cockpit at least is not so secret for a long time. Already years ago good photos of a simulator/mock-up cockpit were shown on the web (like here; the PAK-FA/T-50/Su-57 thread on the keypublishing forum was a goldmine), so I think they have a good idea about the layout. For other things like wheel wells or weapon bays it's for sure much more complicated as detailed walkarounds are not possible.

 

I'm quite torn regarding this new approach by Zvezda. For one, shape accuracy is most important for me (detail can be added later on, especially if the base kit is priced accordingly). On the other hand I feel that the simplification in the cockpit area is taken a step too far. Flat cockpit walls in 1/48 in the year 2020 simply doesn't cut it (in my opinion). While I will still buy the Su-57 I would wish they would get back to the detailing level of their Yak-130. I would gladly pay €10 more per kit for this.

 

Maybe they could team up with Quinta and offer their decals directly OOB?

 

Cheers

Markus

Edited December 16, 2020 by Shorty84

[Tiger331]

23 hours ago, Shorty84 said:

Well, the cockpit at least is not so secret for a long time. Already years ago good photos of a simulator/mock-up cockpit were shown on the web (like here; the PAK-FA/T-50/Su-57 thread on the keypublishing forum was a goldmine), so I think they have a good idea about the layout. For other things like wheel wells or weapon bays it's for sure much more complicated as detailed walkarounds are not possible.

 

I'm quite torn regarding this new approach by Zvezda. For one, shape accuracy is most important for me (detail can be added later on, especially if the base kit is priced accordingly). On the other hand I feel that the simplification in the cockpit area is taken a step too far. Flat cockpit walls in 1/48 in the year 2020 simply doesn't cut it (in my opinion). While I will still buy the Su-57 I would wish they would get back to the detailing level of their Yak-130. I would gladly pay €10 more per kit for this.

 

Maybe they could team up with Quinta and offer their decals directly OOB?

 

Cheers

Markus

 

Agree Markus,

 

Perhaps they could adopt a similar approach to Eduard with marketing.....'Profipack' (with Quinta Studios type cockpit detail) vs. 'weekend' with instrument panels provided as part of the 'standard' decal sheet. ?  

[Harold55]

7 hours ago, Tiger331 said:

Perhaps they could adopt a similar approach to Eduard with marketing.....'Profipack' (with Quinta Studios type cockpit detail) vs. 'weekend' with instrument panels provided as part of the 'standard' decal sheet. ?  

This is an excellent idea!  I have always admired Eduard for this approach and I think it would work for others as well.  It could help the manufacture capture some of the money spent on after market products and also increase the total number of kits sold.   Eduard was not the first to do this and there are others that do this also but Eduard really perfected it.

[exdraken]

Exterior detail in detail would indeed be great!

 

But than those planes are supposed to be as smooth as possible... 

Tamiys engraved the panels on their 48th F-117.... the biggest point if critisism.. or remember the overdone Hasegawa F-22 panels?

 

It is not easy with us modellers

 

[Stephen]

I don't think release in the UK is too far away. On Facebook , The Interesting Modelling Co will be looking at it tomorrow night according to a preview today.