OEZ 1/48 Sukhoi su7

[yak face]

Heres a kit ive been meaning to start for years . I bought it at the Waddington airshow about 10 years ago for the princely sum of £6 and its been patiently waiting up the loft till now . Its hard to believe this aircraft first flew only ten years after the Tigercat ive just finished . Its a nice kit ,reasonably detailed , recessed panel lines and a choice of four schemes . The only thing im adding is to replace the simplified kit seat with a resin one . Hard to believe a significant aircraft like this and this tooling is the only one ever done in 1/48 ! Its since been reboxed by various makers but if you ever see a 1/48 su7 then its going to be these moulds .

[Guest]

That seat is a great improvement, but judging by the photos of the sprues and parts, the kit as a whole doesn’t look all that bad.

[yak face]

That seat is a great improvement, but judging by the photos of the sprues and parts, the kit as a whole doesn’t look all that bad.

Yes its not a bad kit at all jakko , according to scalemates it was tooled in 1989. The cockpit is quite nicely done but the seat was very simple . To say it was widely used by all the soviet bloc plus quite a few African and middle eastern airforces its amazing that theres only ever been this kit in 1/48 . Its a surprisingly large beast too .

[Dave Ward]

Tony,
I remember having a go at this a long time ago! I think I had trouble withe the undercarriage, not being strong enough. Quite large - I suppose the equivalent of a F-105.............
Dave

[rtfoe]

Hi Tony, I think I have done one in an ESCI reboxed. One and only Russian plane I've built and a rare jet for me. You have your's in an earlier mold which I think is better than the worn out mold I got which made the recessed lines less crisp. Here's a finished pic of it. I have a build blog of it if you'd like to see.
Nice to see it being built and I didn't know it's the only one in 1/48.



Cheers,
Richard

[papa 695]

It looks a nice kit Tony, and the resin seat looks very nice indeed.

[yak face]

Hi Tony, I think I have done one in an ESCI reboxed. One and only Russian plane I've built and a rare jet for me. You have your's in an earlier mold which I think is better than the worn out mold I got which made the recessed lines less crisp. Here's a finished pic of it. I have a build blog of it if you'd like to see.
Nice to see it being built and I didn't know it's the only one in 1/48.

[ATTACH]429687[/ATTACH]

Cheers,
Richard

Looks excellent richard , way to set the bar high !! Hopefully i can do as good a job on mine . I’ll be doing the nat metal soviet version too so plenty of scope for different shaded panels ! One thing you can help me with straightaway is did you put any nose weight in to stop it tail sitting , if so how much ? Cheers tony

[JR]

Seeing it's Russian I suppose I should take a front seat Tony.:nerd::smiling3:

[yak face]

Seeing it's Russian I suppose I should take a front seat Tony.:nerd::smiling3:

Da Dzjhon , its about as typically Russian as aircraft get - no nonsense , built like a brick kakathouse and kept in service for far longer than it deserved to be . I mean just look at the ejector seat , unique to the su 7 , it looks like a really heavy duty barbers chair !!I love it though , its just such a straight forward beast of a machine. And its just got to be in the classic cold war bare metal scheme . Cheers tony

[rtfoe]

Tony, if you're into Russian planes, take a look at this. It's a Sukhoi too but a lighter version for the future. When you say brute, I believe you as the recent SU's have been big and heavy. I've been close to one and the cockpit is nearly two stories up.:smiling6:

Cheers,
Richard

[rtfoe]

Looks excellent richard , way to set the bar high !! Hopefully i can do as good a job on mine . I’ll be doing the nat metal soviet version too so plenty of scope for different shaded panels ! One thing you can help me with straightaway is did you put any nose weight in to stop it tail sitting , if so how much ? Cheers tony

I started the kit with only the fuselage put together long before actually continued years later and completed it. Can't remember the tonnage I used but it was one heavy cigar shaped baton. Just took the plane out and doesn't feel that heavy now. The front undercarriage is strong so I think you can pack the lead.

Cheers,
Richard

[rtfoe]

Oh...something my friend from Moscow has photographed and might take your fancy...


Cheers,
Richard

[yak face]

Got the cockpit sides painted and stuck to the floor , also the front undercarriage bay which the cockpit sits on . This has given me a chance to dry fit the cockpit and see how the ejector seat fits . Well it didnt ! For a start the armrest were fouling the sides so I cut them off with the razor saw , thinned them and re attached . The seat now fits snugly between the cockpit sides BUT it didnt look right , seeming to stick up too far and the headrest looked too far forward. A quick try confirmed it was way too big to allow the canopy to fit . So my options were use the rubbish kit seat or a bit of surgery and use the kit headrest on the resin seat . So the razor saw came out again and the frankenstein seat now looks correct and more importantly the canopy fits over it!

[Jim R]

Hi Tony
£6 - I'll bet the resin seat cost more :smiling2:
Even with the fit issues and the surgery needed the seat looks good. The kit actually looks quite nice. I've not heard of the maker before.
Jim

[yak face]

Hi Tony
£6 - I'll bet the resin seat cost more :smiling2:
Even with the fit issues and the surgery needed the seat looks good. The kit actually looks quite nice. I've not heard of the maker before.
Jim

I think it did Jim !! :smiling5: Looking at it now I reckon the seat was for a later su9 or 11 , even though it said su 7 on the packet.Maybe they just got it a bit wrong ? , the headrest just looked far too long , the poor pilot would have finished up with a humpback !