Kit: No. 02224
Scale: 1/32
Manufacturer: Trumpeter, imported by Stevens International, 856-435-1555, www.stevenshobby.com
Price: $149.99
Comments: Injection-molded, 425 parts (3 vinyl, 45 photoetched metal), decals
Pros: Nicely molded parts, great detail
Cons: Some minor fit problems, two-piece canopy too narrow

Open the box to Trumpeter’s new-tool Su-27, and you’ll find hundreds of carefully packed parts: The fuselage halves are in separate boxes, with air intakes are boxed separately, too, their delicate leading edges wrapped in foam. Everything is boxed, bagged, or both – thank you, Trumpeter!

The kit is molded in a light gray, slightly soft plastic. The landing gear and pitot tube are cast metal, and there’s a fret of photoetched parts, too.

The parts are nicely molded, with finely engraved panel lines. The trailing edges of the wings, rudders, and other control surfaces are realistically thin. Trumpeter gives you a choice of white-metal or plastic landing gear (with working oleo struts), and the speed brake, control surfaces, and canopy are positionable.

I started my Flanker with the nicely detailed cockpit, then moved on to the impressive main-wheel wells. The nosewheel well attaches with four small screws.

After installing the cockpit, the main wing assembles to the lower fuselage, and then the upper and lower fuselage halves join. I should have deviated from the instructions and first glued the main wing to the upper fuselage half. This would have helped eliminate the upper wing joint.

Small screws help secure the model’s large parts. I chose the white-metal landing gear. It’s nicely detailed but somewhat over-engineered, having more than 20 pieces in the nose gear alone!

When it was time to add the vertical and horizontal stabilizers, I realized these parts need to be installed at the same time to avoid alignment problems.

The clear parts are thin and distortion-free, although they do have a small seam down the middle that’s easily removed with a polishing stick. Both parts of the two-piece canopy are too narrow. I was able to spread the windscreen enough to make it fit onto the fuselage. It’s still not quite right, but I didn’t want to press harder and risk cracking it.

Instead of following the camouflage pattern in the instructions, I used one leftover from a set of 1/48 scale Su-27 decals. I painted the model’s metal areas with Model Master Metalizers.

The Cartograf decals are superb and even include stencils for the weapon pylons and the prominent missile stripes. They’re in perfect register and snuggled down under a little Gunze Sangyo Mr. Mark Softer.

I saved the ejection seat for last. The photoetched seatbelts are nice, but the headrest has a seam down the middle, lacks detail, and is hollow when viewed from behind. The positionable canopy is fiddly to install in the raised position.

The finished model is quite impressive! It’s more than 28″ long, 19″ wide, and 9″ tall, which is within a scale foot in length, span, and height according to my references. I spent around 40 hours building my copy of Trumpeter’s nice kit. Would I build another? You bet!

– Jon Hergenrother