More sprues are found below it, clear parts, a decal sheet which we didn’t use except the stencilings, photoetched part and rubber tires. There are some sink & injection marks found, but the details are generally good. All panel lines are recessed and there are thousand of recessed rivets all over the kit.

 Some says that the radome is too big and bulbous but in our eyes, the model surely captures the impressive look of a Su-27 Flanker.

As usual, cockpit was always the first step. We didn’t want to go into details, so we used kit supplied cockpit (and rather-too-short K-36DM ejection seat) which after painted light blue and washed, looks OK to us. The only things we added were seat belts and throttle lever.

 After everything was in place, the upper & lower fuselage parts were glued together. As we used to build 1/72 models, joining this huge model did required extra hands. We began gluing the tail, moved to nose, and then went to the wings. Engine blades was installed, but after the mesh grill installed, the blade is hardly to be seen.

 The model’s fitting is quite good except on tail, engine trunks and area around the stabilizer which need extra filler. A little cut following the intake circular shape wheel well is required on main wheel well area.   We chose to install the fins on the final stage to make the metal engine area easier to paint. Joint seams are visible, but still in acceptable level.

 Inserting the plastic wheel-hubs into the rubber tires was quite hard. Trimming, forcing, and cursing were required but the effort was well worth…

 Clear parts need cleaning from injection lines. We used 1000, 1500, and 2000-grid  sandpaper and Future brought the clearness back. We modified the panel behind cockpit so when the canopy is opened, the panel stayed on the canopy.

 There was no more anything special during the construction, except that the kit went back and forth between our homes. We still used some filler here and there, but overall the fitting is quite good except said areas and generally we faced no trouble at all.

Problems started to appear during the painting stage.  The camouflage (especially the upper fuselage) and markings were still sketchy and un-clear at the time we started the painting session. Discussions, dispute, guessing and even cursing was common during this period, until finally we reached a compromise on using Tamiya Spray light ghost gray and Testors/Model Master intermediate blue for the color.  The camouflage scheme itself was mostly based on the Su-27SKU scheme during MAKS 2003. 

 We were so relieved and pleased when some official photographs were released just in time we finished this Flanker. It was a cheerful time to know our “guessing” camouflage scheme turned out to be quite accurate.

 We used supplied kit decals for the stencils, Scale Nutz decal for the national insignia and “TNI AU” letter, Aeromaster and Carpena for the serial numbers, and Iwan’s trusted pointed brushes for the squadron 11 badge.

 This huge & fierce-looking baby was completed in about 5 weeks after the real things landed and most of time was for the camouflage & markings. 

It was an enjoyable project for us, especially because we tried to build a kit together. More, also because we tried to guess what our newest fighter/striker looks like. The model itself is generally good and there should be no major problem when building one.

-         “Angkasa” special edition on Sukhoi

-         IAPR, WAPJ books on Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker

-         Other magazines, internet web-sites, etc

  Text & article by Iwan Winarta & Alexander Sidharta

Photos by Alexander Sidharta

November 2003