1/32 Ukraine Air Force Su-25 "Frogfoot"
Trumpeter kit, DNModels digital masks, Fundekals bort numbers.
The kit is generally accurate, with the exception of the omission of the characteristic arrow-shaped vanes on the nose probes. Ukrainian aircraft sport indigenous countermeasure dispensers that look generally identical to the ones in the kit except their countermeasure tubes are longer. The kit decals are rubbish-- poor quality and entirely false for the cockpit. The painting instructions are similarly wrong. The best source for cockpit references is the game DCS; the base game is free and the "Flaming Cliffs 3" addon provides you with a handful of planes that have accurate cockpits where you can pan and zoom around in them to see details.
Assembly is by-the-book, but the part joins all need to be melted together with plastic weld, clamped and/or puttied over. The only deviation from the instructions is with the main gear doors: the kit has these hanging open, but these are closed and flush with the fuselage at all times except during gear cycling and during heavy maintenance. You should try to cement these shut, but Trumpeter's engineering has one of the gear struts fouling the closure of the door. Close enough, I guess.
Ordnance is comprehensive, but the kit omits the R-60 pylon and rail despite opening a hole in the wing for you. Source the replacement parts from Zactomodels.
So without further ado, here is my laundry list of nitpicks:
-Throw the R-77 / AA-12s away. They look like hot garbage and the Su-25 can't carry them.
-AA-8 launcher rails are MEDIUM GRAY.
-Inner pylons are ALWAYS carrying fuel tanks
-Outer pylons are ALWAYS carrying AA-8s.
-Interior cockpit color is RU AF light blue
-control stick is RU AF light blue and has a flat black boot and tire black griptape. The buttons are black.
-Cockpit is missing defog vents and rearview mirrors on the sides of the canopy. There should be a horizontal handle on the inner left side of the canopy sill, painted red. There is a vertical handle on the right side of the cockpit at the join between the canopy sill and windscreen.
-All toggle switches are silver with either yellow or blue caps.
-The sealant for the canopy glass is brown.
-There is a green tube that runs along the windscreen sill.
-The color for the inside of the canopy glass is RU AF Light Blue, except the immediate front of the windscreen and the overhead mirror, which are black.
-The seat is entirely black. Metal parts may be painted slightly cooler blacks.
-Primer is a sickly yellow olive.
-Decals for left and right cockpit sides are total fabrications. Ignore them.
-For Ukranian Su-25s only, the undercarriage is the same light blue as the cockpit.
-The only mixture of loadouts you may see may be a combination of unguided rockets and iron bombs; I have never seen evidence of the Frogfoot carrying precision guided munitions and iron bombs and unguided rockets, nor have I seen evidence of a mixture of laser-guided rockets, anti-radiation missiles, and unguided rockets. Just because you can do it in DCS doesn't mean it's done in real life.
The DNModels digital mask is fine, save for missing the winged UAF roundel on the fin and the (for me) unusable bort numbers. I had a horrible time aligning the numbers properly and they just didn't seem to be sized correctly. Fundekals Mig-25 bort numbers came to the rescue!
Superb camouflage scheme. Iām not a big fan of the Su-25, but this one is a real beauty. Well done.
An excellent model, Wes!
A fantastic result, Wes @avispa93
What an amazing camouflage scheme you have chosen and well executed.
Well done.
Fantastic result! If I were a plane modeler, this would be the time and age where I would build one of these! @avispa93
Wonderful build!
Looks pretty good!
Building this beast right now. Not close to the painting stage so I have still have a chance to correct many of the mistakes.
I was shocked at the 500 or so sprues for weapons especially the precision guided weapons (I suspect Trumpeter supplied one kit with more PGMs than the Russian AF actually has... er had.)
Thanks for the heads up on the decals. Will have to source some new ones.
I honestly suspect Trumpeter has a generic 1/32 RUAF weapons tree that they chucked into every 1/32 Sukhoi and Mig kit. Not that I'm complaining, but it does ~kinda~ explain why there's so many weapons included, especially ones that the Frogfoot doesn't use.
Turned out very well, Wes, good work sorting out the details.
OUTSTANDING!
Great paintwork. An outstanding result.
Great build Wes. Would love to have a go at doing that scheme in 48th scale. Nice one š
Very cool Frogfoot, the camouflage paintwork is awesome! The natural metal rocket launchers look very realistic, Wes - what product and technique did you use on those?
Straight, unthinned, Vallejo Metal Color Duraluminum directly onto bare plastic. Multiple thin coats of course, but that stuff is genius. Acrylic, no buffing, everything except but the lightest shades actually goes on nicely with a traditional brush. The only thing it can't do very well is drybrush.
Beautifully built, finished, and photographed!
The weathering is just subtle enough to look real, used, but not abused!
Stunning mate! I love the camo, fantastic build.
That is a real beauty! The digital scheme looks fantastic. Well done.
...super nice!