AMODEL 1:72 SUKHOI SU-15TM FLAGON

 

Reviewer: Johan De Wolf (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted:  27 March 2008

Kit Details:

Aircraft History:

Aware of the limitations of the Su-9 and -11 Sukhoi started the development of a more capable version. Two designs were made, both broadly similar to the Su-11, but one had lateral air in takes so a larger radar could be fitted, and the other had a wider rear fuselage so two engines could be fitted. Both designs eventually merged into an aircraft with lateral intakes and twin engines known as the T-58. It had its first flight in 1962 and after state acceptance tests it was put into production as the Su-15 in 1965. The first versions had the same wing as the Su-11, but later version were fitted with a cranked delta. This lowered the high landing speed somewhat and improved the maneuverability of the machine. At the time the Su-15 was Soviet state of the art technology and as such it was never exported. This didn’t mean that only a limited number were built. When the production lines closed in 1979 almost 1300 had been produced. The Su-15 was a powerful and capable aircraft, however it was also a bit of a hotrod that left no margin for pilot error. In 1983 the Su-15 gained instant notoriety when a Shakalin based machine shot down a Korean airlines 747 killing all 269 people on board.

The Kit:

Until the release of this and the VES kit we only had the truly dreadful PM kit. So what’s in the Amodel box?  There are 5 white, and one clear sprue packed in a very thin plastic bag. The instruction leaflet and the decals are floating around freely in the box. This is definitely a short run kit, as the sprue gates are thick and in some cases in awkward places. There is also a bit of flash here and there and most smaller parts suffer from mold seams. On the positive side, the parts are finely detailed and surface detail is engraved. Fit of the parts is only so so, and most parts need adjustment for a proper fit. The canopy is reasonably clear but suffers from mold defects. The paperwork includes a short history, in Russian only, a parts location diagram, twelve construction drawings and two 3-view plus two side views for the four colour schemes. A well printed decal sheet, which, besides the markings for the four options, also includes a fair amount of stenciling, rounds out the contents of the box.

Accuracy:

The finished kit measures out as good as spot on. The complex shape of the cranked wing has been captured correctly as have the angled intakes. Surface detail is also very accurate although some of it will disappear while trying to get rid of seams. The landing gear is molded in a “no load” condition. If used as is, this will result in a wrong “sit”. Even an empty Su-15 has a slight nose up attitude. The heavier the aircraft is loaded the more pronounced this attitude becomes. So if you are building your model with everything down, the main gear should be shortened. The Su-15 had a long service life, and was updated a few times. This results in some differences in antenna fit. As always check your references.


© Johan De Wolf 2008

Construction:

I have always liked the brutish lines of the Su-15, for me it falls in the same category as the Phantom. I was working on the PM kit and had already reshaped the fuselage and one wing, complete with a totally new wheel bay when in quick succession the VES and Amodel kits appeared. I gave up on the PM kit and relegated it to the spares bin. Now the choice was between the VES and Amodel kit. The Ves kit is more detailed than the Amodel kit but it is also a lot more (overly?) complex. So I decided I would try the Amodel kit. 

As usual things start with the cockpit, and in this case it includes the nose wheel bay also. In my opinion this has been made a bit overly complex. First of all get rid of the location pins. They only impede a correct fit. I then started with gluing the wheel bay rear bulkhead to the underside of the cockpit floor followed by the side walls and front wall. After that had thoroughly dried I added the cockpit rear bulkhead and side consoles. There is a flashed over hole in the cockpit floor. This should be drilled open as this is where the control column should fit. This is shown wrong on the instructions (too far forward). I used an unnumbered part (next to part 69 in the sprue) for the rudder pedals, as it is not mentioned anywhere else in the instructions. The ejection seat was left out at this stage. 

The cockpit assembly was then made to fit between the fuselage halves. It required quite a bit of sanding to get a snug fit of the wheel bay in the lower nose section (again remove the location tab, as it is only hindering a correct fit). Next are the intakes. Although the parts for both sides are numbered the same (16, 17, 18), they are in fact handed. To make things even more complex, the instruction drawings are wrong and parts on the same side of the sprue don’t belong to the same side of the model. Part 16 belongs to parts 17 and 18 on the opposite side of the sprue. Part 17 should not be glued to 16 as the drawing suggests but to part 18 instead. 

The drawing for the exhaust section is also wrong. Part 12 should fit in between 13 and 14 and not 13 in between 12 and 14 as the drawings shows. The tail pipes are nowhere near as deep as they should be, but I decided to leave it like that. The completed tail cone was then made to fit on the rear fuselage. It was now time for the wings. 

Parts 26 and 27 were sanded down a bit so they would match the thickness of the leading edge on part 25. A nice touch is that the ailerons and flaps are supplied as separate parts. However once again the construction drawing is wrong, the actuator for the flap (parts 30 and 31) should not be fitted on the outboard side of the flap but on the inboard side close to the fuselage. 


© Johan De Wolf 2008

The drawings are rather unambiguous about where the smaller air scoops on the rear fuselage should be fitted. You really need decent references when building this kit. For the landing gear it is the same story. Having a scrap view of the installed parts would have been really helpful. As I wanted to build a fully kitted out machine I shortened the main gear by removing more than 1mm from the oleo. I followed the drawing for positioning the nose gear, only to find out it was too far forward. Luckily I could remove it without too much damage and reinstall it in the correct place. Note that the two unnumbered parts closest to the B in the parts location diagram for sprue B are the fairings that need to be placed in front of the nose wheel bay in line with the bulges on the nose wheel doors. This is not shown on the drawings. 

You have the choice between parts 56 and 57. I used part 56, the gun camera, as this is frequently seen on service aircraft. Part 57 is some sort of ECM housing. I have not been able to find a picture of a frontline machine with these. Note that this part is provided twice. One should be placed under the forward nose, and the other under the right air intake (again not shown on the instructions). As I wanted to build my model as a machine close the end of its operational career, I replaced the “Odd Rod” antennae with the newer triangular IFF blade antennas. 

With the build almost done, it was time to complete the cockpit. I had to thin down part 22 to be able to fit the instrument panel. When I tried the bang seat in place I found that it sat almost 2mm too far forward, leaving no place for the control column. As I had super glued the rear bulkhead and decking in place there was no way I could correct the situation without destroying the model. So instead I thinned down the rear side of the seat considerably. Although the seat still sits too far forward it isn’t as obvious anymore. The last part I added was the canopy, which fitted surprisingly well. If you decide to super detail the cockpit you better find a vacuform canopy though.


© Johan De Wolf 2008

Painting & Decaling:

Painting instructions are given throughout construction. Colours are given as Humbrol numbers and generic names. There are 4 decal options:

-          The infamous machine “red 17” that shot down KAL 007. It was based at Shakalin AB 1983.

-          Blue 38 based at Afrikanga AB 1978. The small red stars below the cockpit of this machine denote shot down target drones.

-          Ukrainian Blue 28 based at Belbek in 1993 shortly before being scrapped.

A camouflaged red 01 based at Bezrechnaya in 1991.

Although it is difficult to tell from photographs, I believe that Su-15’s were not left in bare metal finish. Because of the pretty uniform finish on most machines I think they where coated with an anti corrosive lacquer possibly with aluminium pigments. Even though most Su-15’s were never camouflaged, I wanted to do a camouflaged machine. Towards the end of the 1980’s some regiments started to camouflage their machines. The machine I wanted to do had a complex four colour scheme and belonged to an unidentified air defense regiment in one of the southern soviet republics. The “bord number” came from the spares box, but the rest came from the kit. The kit decals performed well, but are prone to silvering. The model was weathered pretty heavily with pastels and aquarelle paint. On the tail cone I tried the new Tamiya weathering master sets. In this case set C was used with burnt red and blue and oil stain. This worked very well. Finally everything was sealed in with Talens satin Decorfin.


© Johan De Wolf 2008

Conclusion:

Definitely a short run kit, although not overly difficult. If it wasn’t for the errors/omissions and ambiguity in the instructions a relative novice could build it. But being as it is, I can only recommend this kit to the more experienced builder that has a decent library. The VES kit is not really an alternative as it is much more complex and made of an inferior type of plastic. If you want an accurate Su-15, the new Trumpeter kit is not an option either, as it has shape and detail errors. This last kit is a lot easier to build though.

References:


© Johan De Wolf 2008

Colours used:


© Johan De Wolf 2008

 

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