Sheet:

Aeromaster 72-126: Su-22 Fitters part 1

Units: See review

Price

$

Reviewer:

Scott Van Aken

The Su-22 hasn't been done in a lot of kits, and that goes for both 1/48 and 1/72 scale. The best one in 1/72 is the Italeri kit, which may well be a reboxing of a Bilek version. The only other one I know of was a less than great Leoman resin kit from the mid 1980s, but I'm not up on modern aircraft that much so some could have slipped past me.

The sheet contains markings for three (well really two) German planes. The Germans had their Su-22s painted in some very interesting cam schemes, no two of which seemed to be alike. Colors are given in FS numbers, but a note is given that they are only approximations.

The first two are really the same plane at different times of its life. When Germany was reunified, it inherited those aircraft flown by the East German Air Force. Though some were kept and used (Mig-29s and some helicopters), the vast majority was stored for eventual sale or scrapped. This included most of the Su-22s. However, one was painted up in a sort of farewell scheme that is, to put it mildly, rather flamboyant and a bit gaudy. Markings are provided for both East German and Luftwaffe markings. The other aircraft on the sheet is a standard East German Su-22. The only real difference between aircraft were the tactical numbers so if you have access to photos and some additional number decals, you can do other aircraft with ease.

Here is a photo of #546 to help you when doing this scheme.

 

Most of the more complicated decals are provided in layers to forego any registration problems.

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