1/48 Academy Su-27 Flanker by Peter Pelka

1/48 Academy Su-27 Flanker

Gallery Article by Peter Pelka

This is Academy’s old, but fairly accurate Su-27B Flanker. I built this model last year with the aid of Cutting Edge cockpit superdetailing set.

Click on images below to see larger images

This was the third plane I built and it turned out ok. The kit is quite nice, old but I don’t think there’s a better 1/48 scale Flanker out there. The cockpit however leaves a lot to be desired. Academy’s idea of a Flanker cockpit is a pathetic seat with a stick and a sad instrument panel. I highly recommend the Cutting Edge set as a cockpit replacement, it mostly fits very well and adds a lot to the kit. There’s a problem when attaching the cockpit tub, you need to remove a lot of resin to make it fit above the wheel well. I had to leave a part of the cockpit floor so thin that you could almost see through it, but the seat goes over it hiding any "accidents" (such as a hole I made).

The Sorbitsiya ECM pods also came from the CE set. Originally I intended to attach some missiles but then got lazy and just left the pylons empty. I painted the plane using Tamiya acrylics. I didn’t do any weathering but I did highlight the panel lines using dilute ModelMaster gloss black enamel.

I used the kit decals, they’re VERY thin but don’t stick very well. I made a mistake while painting around the shark’s head and made the blunder of masking it. Even though I used low-tack tape it still managed to pull the shark’s head off and I had to paint it in myself (the decal was sealed with future, so I thought it won’t come off, lesson learned!) In the end I think the plane looks OK, nothing groundbreaking but for a third kit built it’s OK.

Peter Pelka