Una Tigre Feo de Talara - Sukhoi Su-22M2K Fitter-F of Grupo Aereo 11, Fuerza Aerea del Peru - Modelsvit 1/72

[RidgeRunner]

I am very happy to be rolling out my Fitter-F, known locally as the “Su-22A”, but more officially designated the Su-22M2K or S-32M2K.

 

As many of you may know, the Peruvians took on 36 (34 single-seat and 2 two-seat) of the these aircraft from the Soviet Union from 1976 and they were in service with Grupo Aereo No. 11 by 1978. The variant is the more powerful but more sluggish and less fuel-efficient member of the Fitter family and was used in armed conflict by Peru over a number of years. During that time they were upgraded in both hardware terms and the colours that they carried. Initially they were painted in desert scheme of sand and earth and by the end of their career in Peru they had been given the scheme that I have depicted here. The Peruvians had the full array of weaponry at their disposal and used a fair bit of it in the Cenepa War in the 1990s. More detail can been seen in this extensive write up on the LAAHS site: https://www.laahs.com/the-sukhoi-su-22-in-peruvian-service/. In 1979 these aircraft were supplemented by the delivery of 19 Su-22M3 (16 Fitter-J and 3 Fitter-G). The Fitter-Fs and their two-seat variants were operated from Talara Air base by Escuadrón Aéreo No. 111 (111 Air Squadron) “Los Tigres” with Esc. Grp. 11.

 

 

The aircraft I have chosen to model is Serial No.159. The reason is that after exchanging pleasantries with Chris Lofting, one of the few European photographers to have had access to these aircraft, it was clear that this particular aircraft had attracted all of the various mods by Peruvian, Israeli and Soviet contractors, including the fin mounted chaff dispenser, dorsal blade aerial, chin and fin RWR sensors. It seems to have been the only one configured this way that has been photographed, and from both sides. Here is a similar machine undergoing maintenance.

 

 

Another at an air show:

 

 

and one during combat operations from Lima:

 

The above are public domain images

 

In building this model I have used a lot of aftermarket and resin conversion sets. The main conversion has been to the rear end, a bulbous replacement that was needed to accommodate the larger Tumansky engine. These machines also had an extended nose and so the beautifully crafted Amigo set was used. I also used various bits in order to get a reasonable and appropriate weapons load onboard – particularly the OFAB-100s and MDB rack.

 

Those who have stuck with me on this journey will know that I have wrestled with the Vespa conversion. While I admire the work that Amaru et all have committed to the resin set it does present challenges. To help others these are the areas that I am aware of that need attention:

1.       The rear fuselage “tube” was slightly warped

2.       The fin root chaff dispenser is oversized

3.       For a Su-22M2K there are no RWR receivers included (there are for the Su-22M3K)

4.       The guides inside the fuselage/tube need cutting back. If not the engine sits in the wrong position

5.       The slot for the fin on the top of the rear fuselage needs opening out

 

Also the Vespa decal set appears to be oversized, particularly the wing serial numbers. The Amigo nose conversion was a dream, however! The only missing items were the bulged nosewheel doors. I got mine from a Mistercraft kit.

 

The WIP is here:

 

The colours have been proving tricky. I had been erroneously trying to mimic the colours from the various photos taken by Chris Lofting in 2005. However, the penny eventually dropped when I realised that they were photographed at the end of a sunny day in Talara during the “golden hour”, when colours mellow and take on a different hue. Also, by the time of the photos they had been out of service for a while and were sun bleached. I had wanted to include one of the images from Chris but I haven’t (yet) sought his permission. I can post a link showing her in that late afternoon light: https://www.airfighters.com/photo/248218/M/Peru-Air-Force/Sukhoi-Su-22-Fitter-F/159/

 

Given that my intention was to build an operational machine, I referred to both Amaru Tincopa’s @AmaruTG book and a couple of photo references. This steered me to using a close representation of Gunship Gray and US Medium Green, remembering that these were Peruvian equivalent paints and not authentic. I must also thank the wealth of guidance I have had from many other BM members!

 

What did I use?:

 

1. Kit - Modelsvit Su-20 Fitter (72020)

2. Aftermarket - Vespa Su-22M2K rear conversion, Amigo Models nose section and cockpit (inc seat and canopy), Master pitots and gun barrels. Also the MBD3 racks and OFAB-100s came from Res-Kit. A Mistercraft kit donated the forward nosewheel door. I made antennas for the spine, nose and fin from plastic card as well as making the nose and fin RWR sensors from rod. 

3. Paints - primarily Colourcoats enamels - Bronze Green, US Medium Green (US Vietnam), US Neutral Gray, and FS26622 grey, plus a wealth of other colours from Colourcoats and Humbrol. Finished with Humbrol Satincote. 

4. Decals - Vespa. However, the fin badge in the Vespa set is too small for this aircraft in this colour scheme. I therefore used one from an Authentic Decals set. Lucky me, too, as it seemed the original stencils were stripped and not replaced :).

5. Weathering etc - Flory washes, Silver Pencil and Tamiya weathering Powders 

 

Here are a few photos of her:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you like her!

 

Martin

 

[AmaruTG]

Wonderful! great job on that Tigre!

 

Best wishes from Lima

 

Amaru

[Lightningboy2000]

That looks absolutely awesome! Probably the most epic 1/72 build this year? Apologies that I didn't make many visits to your build thread, but I've just spent a good while having a good look at how you went about making this conversion. I'm currently sticking paint on my Modelsvit Su-22 (doing the Polish twin seat Tiger) & very interesting how different the fuselages are. Your build reminds me of how much I threw at the Bilek single seater for my West German Tiger tailed example. Those bombs & bomb racks look very much like the ones off the Trumpeter Su-24 that I built! 

[exdraken]

wow, what a fantastic early swing wing Fitter!

 

you seem to have managed to tame the many conversion sets achievibng a glamourous result

thanks for clarifing also all the upgrade the Peruian Fitters recieved!

I guess range was a bit an issue withe this big and thirsty engine!

 

need to go one with my Fitters as well.... 

 

 

 

[Vultures1]

Excellent result and well worth all the effort - well done!

[Hook]

That came out rather splendidly!

[GiampieroSilvestri]

Splendid Sukhoi Su-22M2K!

 

Saluti

 

Giampiero

[Courageous]

Glad to see this finished after a few setbacks. The scheme looks awesome and with the weapon fit-out, she's ready to do job albeit slowly.

 

Stuart

[Steve Coombs]

Splendid work there!
It's nice to see a South American Sukhoi.

[billn53]

Bravo! I followed this build and felt your pain over all the trials it gave you. But you beat it into submission and the final result is grand!

[Dave Klaatu]

Very nice build, love the paint!

[cpoud117]

Great build, great choice of subject!

Your efforts really paid off!

[corsaircorp]

This Fitter is fit !!

Well done Martin !!

Look really the business !!

Congrats.

Sincerely.

CC

[Ignacio]

Fantastic model as usual!

Very interesting conversion on this one. Those russian bombs look awesome.

 

Best regards my friend!

 

Ignacio

[Ryan Hothersall]

Nice build. 

[Pete in a shed]

Just superb Martin. I love it, every box ticked for me! An Su-22, Peruvian Air Force, model researched and modified to perfection.

Pete

[RidgeRunner]

Thanks Amaru @AmaruTG, Martin @Lightningboy2000, Werner @exdraken, @Vultures1, Andre @Hook, @GiampieroSilvestri, Stuart @Courageous, Bill @billn53, Dave @Dave Klaatu, @cpoud117, CC @corsaircorp, Ignacio @Ignacio, Ryan @Ryan Hothersall and Peter @Pete in a shed. I think JAmes @Jabba and @opus999 might like to see her finally done

 

As you will all know, it took a while, as many of my builds seem to when there veer away from OOB!  My problem is that I like to try! . Now, on to the next!!!

 

All my best to all, 

 

Martin

 

 

 

[opus999]

That turned out fantastic!  The paint colors are right on.  That is sure an attractive scheme.

[Moggy]

Some brilliant modelling in here!

 

Cheers, Moggy

[SebTartar]

Impressive, most impressive!

That was some adventure.

[RidgeRunner]

@opus999, @Moggy and @SebTartar  I’m glad you like her. She took a while but really that is my fault. I made a few mistakes as you saw. I do like Modelsvit kits and the resin conversions worked well despite a few wrinkles, as I said in my WIP.

 

Martin

[F-32]

Very nice indeed, that really looks the part

[russ c]

Really nice `Fitter` there Martin, superb job!

[RidgeRunner]

Thanks @F-32 and Russ @russ c. I am very pleased with her. I’d now like to get something else Peruvian to add to the collection. Maybe a Mirage

 

Martin

[Fred piket]

fantastic Fitter! Beautiful paint scheme.. I love what you have achieved, doesn't sound like the easiest job...