Scale aviation modeller international

take exception to having all the

optical windows as solid parts, even

the ones that are very big, clear

windows on the real thing, like the

KAB-1500L laser guided bomb.

I went with a loadout matching a

picture I found: two R-73s on the tip

rails, which for some reason appear

to be a remarkably weathered

green over white; two differently

painted but mostly red R-77s on the

next pylons in; empty middle wing

pylon; empty AKU-58 launch rails

on the inner wing pylons; and the

intake and centreline pylons empty.

(https://www.airteamimages.com/

sukhoi-su-35_902BLACK_russia-

--russian-air-force_207426.html)

This also had the advantage

that it was flying without the

front and rear black “hook”

antenna(?) usually seen on the

prototypes, so I could legitimately

leave them off. One less thing

to guess scratch-build!

THE BACK END

“But what about the engines and

the bare metal areas?” I hear you

ask. Good question.

The kit instructions

say “Burnt Iron” for

everything (although

the colour drawings

correctly identify a separate,

silver area on the underside) but

frankly, that doesn’t come close

to representing the riot of shades

of silver, gold, bronze, dark metal,

hot blue and whatever else the

back end of these aircraft are,

and neither could I. I thought

Phantoms were difficult but this

is in a different league again.

But the big issue was the

lack of the distinctive dropped

nozzles. The kit parts weren’t

going to be usable without a lot

of messing about, so I contacted

AMUR Reaver and

they kindly supplied

a sample of their resin

exhaust set, RC4822, which

has been designed to resolve

this oversight by Kittyhawk.

The detail is exquisite, though

the finest work can’t really be seen

because of the afterburner flame

holders. They are so much better

than the kit parts – they look

perfect – and most importantly,

can be posed correctly at the

appropriate angle (35 degrees).

So on to the final stage, starting

with the horizontal tails, my

homemade pitots, and the IRST

sensor, plus a small length of Albion

Alloys metal tube for the gun barrel.

The last things to be added were

the wingtip navigation lights, and I

was calling my model finished (and

now very hard to handle safely).

CONCLUSION

So, after all that, what do we think?

Well, as you could probably tell, I got

a bit tired of it. The exhausts need

attention but I understand that in the

latest boxing of this kit KittyHawk

have included a resin set consisting of

drooped nozzles, a new stinger, two

pilot figures (so you don’t necessarily

need the nozzles drooped), and

wheels. I don’t know how much

those extras are being charged at

but at least they’ve made an effort

to correct some of the problems.

But if you have this boxing

I would suggest you build it as

an early production aircraft and

purchase the AMUR Reaver

exhausts (www.amurreaver.ru)

A challenging build that

you do have to work at to get

a good result, but is that not

what modelling is all about?

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