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Eduard 1/48 Su-22/Su-17M3 Fitter

By Chris Banyai-Riepl

Overview

The Su-17/Su-22 was a dedicated attack aircraft evolved from the Su-7 fighter bomber. Whereas the Su-7 had a fixed wing, the Su-17 added variable geometry, with the outer wing moveable from 28 degrees to 45 degrees to a fully swept 62 degrees. By keeping the inner wing section fixed, Sukhoi avoided having to come up with complex mechanisms to pivot weapon pylons, and it allowed for the Su-7 landing gear to remain unchanged. First flying in 1966, the Su-17 underwent several changes over the years, with the Su-17M3 adding an additional interior fuel tank and another pylon for a K-13 or R-60 missile. This airframe was modified for export as the Su-22, and between the Su-17M3 and Su-22, the aircraft served in over twenty air forces around the world.

The Kit

Eduard continues their program of providing older kits with detailed resin and photoetch upgrades, and the Su-17M3/Su-22 is one of their latest. This kit combines the older Kopro 1/48 Su-17 kit with a good selection of Eduard's Brassin resin/photoetch details, a couple photoetch frets (including one that is prepainted), and a set of masks for the canopy and wheels. The ample decal sheet provides markings for five aircraft, as well as a comprehensive stencil package.

Construction starts, logically, with the cockpit interior, and it is here that we see the first Brassin replacement show up. The kit cockpit is decent, considering the age of the model, but the Brassin set is far, far better. This is comprised of two resin sidewall pieces that have beautiful detail molded in place. For both sides, there are separate photoetch pieces carefully engineered to fit precisely on the resin pieces, resulting in a very precise and detailed side console. A new rear bulkhead is also provided in resin, while the floor, control column, and rudder bar remains from the original kit. The latter, though, is upgraded through the addition of photoetch rudder pedals. Once completed, this interior will be a significant improvement over the original kit.

With the cockpit finished, the next job is to assemble the fuselage. This requires building up the nose intake bullet and the exhaust can. The latter gets some photoetch upgrades, but it is pretty deep inside the fuselage so not much will be visible there. The fuselage itself is split into right and left halves, and once everything is sandwiched in between, the rest of the assembly will revolve around determining what fittings to put on the fuselage. Depending on what variant you want to build, the number and location of various scoops will vary. The instructions are pretty clear on that, so careful attention here will eliminate any frustrations later.

The wings are made to be moveable, although the aircraft on the ground generally has the wings fully forward. The inner wing sections meet up to the fuselage with some sturdy tabs, which should provide a solid attachment. I would recommend tacking the landing gear in place and using them to ensure that the wings are positioned accurately. Speaking of the landing gear, like the real aircraft these are robust and sturdy, and detailed enough that there are no extra resin or photoetch details for them. There are lots of airframe photoetch details, though, ranging from sensors and antennae to chaff and flare dispensers. For underwing stores, the kit comes with rocket pods, fuel tanks, missiles, a reconnaissance pod, and an ECM pod. These should give the modeler a wide variety of load out options, and the instructions document the options quite well.

The decal sheet covers five aircraft, including two Su-22s and three Su-17M3s. The first Su-22 is a Peruvian example from Grupo Aéreo No 11, Escuadrón Aereo 111, based at Talara Air Base. This aircraft is finished in Euro I colors, and features a large tiger's head on the nose. The second Su-22 is a Libyan example from No 1032 Squadron at OkbaBin Nafaa El' Woutia' air base. This plane is camouflaged in a four-color scheme consisting of two shades of brown and two shades of green, with the undersides in light blue.

For the Su-17M3 options, these are all Soviet examples. The first is Blue 09 from the Soviet Naval Air Forces during the 1980s. This option has a four-color camouflage of light tan, brown, light green and dark green over a light gray. The second choice is from the 1st AE, 168th APIB, 36th ADIB, based at the Bolshye Shiraki air base in 1982. Coded Red 13, this aircraft is also finished in a four-color camouflage, with different shades for the two browns and two greens. The third and final option is an Su-17M3 from the 101st ORAP (Independent Reconnaissance Regiment) in the late 1980s. This aircraft is camouflaged in the same four color camouflage as the previous example. The decals are beautifully printed and provide everything the modeler needs to finish any one of these Sukhois.

Conclusion

This is a welcome upgrade to the old Kopro kit, and while it does not address all the issues with that kit (such as the too-shallow airbrake openings), the updates it does provide will significantly improve the final model. Straight out of the box, this kit will build up into a very nice replica of this famous Sukhoi design. My thanks to Eduard for the review sample.