Sukhoi Su-24MR
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KIT REVIEW
I was about to build this kit directly from the box when I realised that some features of the MR version (reconnaissance) were desperately missing. So I had to scratch build the missing parts and we’ll see bellow. Anyway I started building this aircraft with the cockpit and inside the box we have the cockpit bath with simplified details engraved for the instruments. I chose to use the ejection seats as my first idea was to close the canopy. Actually they are convincing even if the harnesses are thin. The main colour of the cockpit is to be grey-blue so from some pictures available on the Internet I chose to paint it FS35237, X126 in the Xtracolor range. The instrument panels and consoles are black grey RLM 66 (X203) and some white, light grey and red for the different knobs. For the cockpits I prefer using enamel paint because I make a light wash of Tamiya X-19 acrylic paint to increase the depth of these details. Some thin layers of matt varnish went to seal this paint job. Both ejection seats were painted the same way and put aside pending the end of the build. Next the cockpit was glued on the front wheel well but this one was put aside to avoid any damage during the following steps. Before gluing the nose and the cockpit I filled all the front part with tiny fishing sinkers to avoid getting a tail seater. Trumpeter has cut the fuselage to get the dedicated details of the reconnaissance type each side of the nose : the SLAR (Side Looking Airborne Radar) M101 'Shtyk' which has flat sides when compared to the bomber Su-24M. Next I made the main wheel well and glued it inside the lower aft fuselage. Many holes have to be drilled on this part for the different loads of the aircraft. The end of this part of the job went smoothly by inserting the jet exhaust painted in dark metallic shades from the Alclad II range (ALC-113 Jet Exhaust and ALC-112 Steel) and gluing both upper and lower parts. Later I assembled the front and aft fuselage with Tamiya liquid cement (white cap) to get a perfect fit. The air intakes took a little time with some sanding around the angles then I painted in black the area where these intakes were going to be glued. When I put them in place I had to use some cyanoacrylate cement to get a nice joint. Obviously the fantastic and fine engraved panel lines disappeared at the same time. Just aft of the port intake there is a downward outlet which is seen only on the bomber Su-24 so I had to transform it in a flat panel. Next I put the very end of the fuselage and there I was more disappointed because this was not the same shape as the main part. So I privileged the upper part and I sanded strongly around the joint. Once again the panel lines disappeared... Next the swing wings were a nice cup of tea. As I wanted to save space in my showcase I chose the fully swept position and kept straight the aft moving parts (C13/C26). I you prefer you can choose the fully forward position of the wings and drop the flaps and ailerons (B15/B30) as Trumpeter give us both opportunities. Anyway we can put the moving wings at the end of the build by simply sliding inside the fuselage. Later I closed the gloves under the fuselage and I attached the the big vertical stabiliser with the separated rudder on the aft fuselage. For these parts I needed to fill some spaces with cyanoacrylate cement to get a perfect joint. Next step was about the landing gears which are as complex as the real aircraft. So I prepared all the small parts before painting them and the wheel wells in white (X141). The wheel were soviet dark green X628 and the tyres black grey X203. As for the cockpit I let flow a Tamiya X-19 wash around the details and I airbrushed some layers of matt coat. I said above there were some discrepancies about the load of this reconnaissance version of Su-24 and this is why I studied carefully what I had in hand to make a much more accurate Su-24MR. I had the opportunity to get on the Internet a picture of this aircraft from bellow with explanation about every equipment. First I chose from the box both PTB-3000 belly fuel tanks for the points under the gloves of the fuselage. Next the PTB-2000 tank was close enough of the Elint M-341 “EFIR 1M” pod under the starboard wing and under the port wing I could select the double air to air missile rail with a couple of R-60 AA-8 'Aphid'. Then I scratchbuilt the AFA-AP-402M panoramic camera fairings just aft the front wheel well and the Elint M-321 'Tangazh' pod under the belly. For this one I made a mistake as the real one should be more pointed. Finally I made the forward looking AFA A-100 camera fairing under the port engine air intake. I was ready for the main paint job.
Colours
On the original decal sheet we can get markings for two aircraft of Ukrainian and Russian aircraft. They are just identified by their respective numbers 'Blue 33' and 'White 34'. The Ukrainian one is very colourful with an impressive sharksmouth under the nose but these decals sadly are off-registered. So I ordered Authentic Decals #72-71 sheet which is full of Ukrainian Su-24MR markings. I then decided to make 'Yellow 93' stationed at Starokonstantinov Air Base in 2013. These decals are finely drawn but are on the thick side and it was difficult to apply the sharkmouth. I had to paint in red some worn pieces of the decals at the end. The paint job is straightforward with only two colours: Tamiya Medium Sea Grey XF-83 above and on the sides, and X-2 White for the belly, the nose and leading edges. The pod rails are partly grey or white and you have to check pictures to get the right colour. On the other hand the loads are white. I airbrushed some layers of Alclad Aqua gloss coat on the whole kit to secure the decals. When everything was dry I just had to glue every little part in place and I can say for the landing gears that they are very strong. The belly camera fairing is actually made from the aft part of the front wheel doors so as in the real life I had to close them. For that I had to adapt a little the shape of them to make room for the front wheel gear. When you see the aircraft on the apron you can see that nearly all the well doors are closed so this is no accident.
Conclusion
This kit is very interesting as certainly the best at the moment of the Su-24 Fencer. It is very sad that this reconnaissance version is not fitted with the right equipment. Strangely you can see on the box art a true Su-24 MR with all the loads and fairings. In the end you can add in your spare box many loads for a Soviet/Russian aircraft like dumb FAB-100 or smart KAB-500L bombs, air to ground KH-31 AS-17 'Krypton' missiles and rocket pods. Anyway a true bomber is in the pipeline and it will be another opportunity for me to make this cold war era huge tactical fighter as was the Su-24 Fencer.
Our thanks to Pocketbond Ltd/Bachmann Europe (www.pocketbond.co.uk) for the review sample.
I was about to build this kit directly from the box when I realised that some features of the MR version (reconnaissance) were desperately missing. So I had to scratch build the missing parts and we’ll see bellow. Anyway I started building this aircraft with the cockpit and inside the box we have the cockpit bath with simplified details engraved for the instruments. I chose to use the ejection seats as my first idea was to close the canopy. Actually they are convincing even if the harnesses are thin. The main colour of the cockpit is to be grey-blue so from some pictures available on the Internet I chose to paint it FS35237, X126 in the Xtracolor range. The instrument panels and consoles are black grey RLM 66 (X203) and some white, light grey and red for the different knobs. For the cockpits I prefer using enamel paint because I make a light wash of Tamiya X-19 acrylic paint to increase the depth of these details. Some thin layers of matt varnish went to seal this paint job. Both ejection seats were painted the same way and put aside pending the end of the build. Next the cockpit was glued on the front wheel well but this one was put aside to avoid any damage during the following steps. Before gluing the nose and the cockpit I filled all the front part with tiny fishing sinkers to avoid getting a tail seater. Trumpeter has cut the fuselage to get the dedicated details of the reconnaissance type each side of the nose : the SLAR (Side Looking Airborne Radar) M101 'Shtyk' which has flat sides when compared to the bomber Su-24M. Next I made the main wheel well and glued it inside the lower aft fuselage. Many holes have to be drilled on this part for the different loads of the aircraft. The end of this part of the job went smoothly by inserting the jet exhaust painted in dark metallic shades from the Alclad II range (ALC-113 Jet Exhaust and ALC-112 Steel) and gluing both upper and lower parts. Later I assembled the front and aft fuselage with Tamiya liquid cement (white cap) to get a perfect fit. The air intakes took a little time with some sanding around the angles then I painted in black the area where these intakes were going to be glued. When I put them in place I had to use some cyanoacrylate cement to get a nice joint. Obviously the fantastic and fine engraved panel lines disappeared at the same time. Just aft of the port intake there is a downward outlet which is seen only on the bomber Su-24 so I had to transform it in a flat panel. Next I put the very end of the fuselage and there I was more disappointed because this was not the same shape as the main part. So I privileged the upper part and I sanded strongly around the joint. Once again the panel lines disappeared... Next the swing wings were a nice cup of tea. As I wanted to save space in my showcase I chose the fully swept position and kept straight the aft moving parts (C13/C26). I you prefer you can choose the fully forward position of the wings and drop the flaps and ailerons (B15/B30) as Trumpeter give us both opportunities. Anyway we can put the moving wings at the end of the build by simply sliding inside the fuselage. Later I closed the gloves under the fuselage and I attached the the big vertical stabiliser with the separated rudder on the aft fuselage. For these parts I needed to fill some spaces with cyanoacrylate cement to get a perfect joint. Next step was about the landing gears which are as complex as the real aircraft. So I prepared all the small parts before painting them and the wheel wells in white (X141). The wheel were soviet dark green X628 and the tyres black grey X203. As for the cockpit I let flow a Tamiya X-19 wash around the details and I airbrushed some layers of matt coat. I said above there were some discrepancies about the load of this reconnaissance version of Su-24 and this is why I studied carefully what I had in hand to make a much more accurate Su-24MR. I had the opportunity to get on the Internet a picture of this aircraft from bellow with explanation about every equipment. First I chose from the box both PTB-3000 belly fuel tanks for the points under the gloves of the fuselage. Next the PTB-2000 tank was close enough of the Elint M-341 “EFIR 1M” pod under the starboard wing and under the port wing I could select the double air to air missile rail with a couple of R-60 AA-8 'Aphid'. Then I scratchbuilt the AFA-AP-402M panoramic camera fairings just aft the front wheel well and the Elint M-321 'Tangazh' pod under the belly. For this one I made a mistake as the real one should be more pointed. Finally I made the forward looking AFA A-100 camera fairing under the port engine air intake. I was ready for the main paint job.
Colours
On the original decal sheet we can get markings for two aircraft of Ukrainian and Russian aircraft. They are just identified by their respective numbers 'Blue 33' and 'White 34'. The Ukrainian one is very colourful with an impressive sharksmouth under the nose but these decals sadly are off-registered. So I ordered Authentic Decals #72-71 sheet which is full of Ukrainian Su-24MR markings. I then decided to make 'Yellow 93' stationed at Starokonstantinov Air Base in 2013. These decals are finely drawn but are on the thick side and it was difficult to apply the sharkmouth. I had to paint in red some worn pieces of the decals at the end. The paint job is straightforward with only two colours: Tamiya Medium Sea Grey XF-83 above and on the sides, and X-2 White for the belly, the nose and leading edges. The pod rails are partly grey or white and you have to check pictures to get the right colour. On the other hand the loads are white. I airbrushed some layers of Alclad Aqua gloss coat on the whole kit to secure the decals. When everything was dry I just had to glue every little part in place and I can say for the landing gears that they are very strong. The belly camera fairing is actually made from the aft part of the front wheel doors so as in the real life I had to close them. For that I had to adapt a little the shape of them to make room for the front wheel gear. When you see the aircraft on the apron you can see that nearly all the well doors are closed so this is no accident.
Conclusion
This kit is very interesting as certainly the best at the moment of the Su-24 Fencer. It is very sad that this reconnaissance version is not fitted with the right equipment. Strangely you can see on the box art a true Su-24 MR with all the loads and fairings. In the end you can add in your spare box many loads for a Soviet/Russian aircraft like dumb FAB-100 or smart KAB-500L bombs, air to ground KH-31 AS-17 'Krypton' missiles and rocket pods. Anyway a true bomber is in the pipeline and it will be another opportunity for me to make this cold war era huge tactical fighter as was the Su-24 Fencer.
Our thanks to Pocketbond Ltd/Bachmann Europe (www.pocketbond.co.uk) for the review sample.
