1/72 Italeri Su-34

Gallery Article by Mike Grant

 

This is one of those aircraft that looks great from any angle, I love the arch of the forward fuselage.  I saw a pic in a model magazine of an Su-34 someone had entered in a competition and decided I had to build one.

The Italeri kit was the only one available in any scale at the time (I'd love to build one in 48th!)  The kit itself is pretty good, there's some nice detail on the undercarriage and weapons, but some of the parts don't fit too well, I really struggled to get a good wing-to-fuselage blend.  I used a Neomega resin set for the cockpit, it's the first time I've used one of their products and I'm very impressed.  Not only was the detail terrific but it fit into the kit with virtually no modification.

 

Click on images below to see larger images

The camouflage scheme was painted with my own mix of acrylics and I used paper masks for a slightly feathered edge, highlighting the panel lines with watercolours.  Despite paying close attention to the scant references I had regarding the paint scheme and aerial positions etc., it wasn't until I took it along to our local model club that our resident Russian expert pointed out my model had totally the wrong tail-fins!  Talk about missing the obvious :)  I now have an Su-34 wearing in-service colours on a prototype machine.  Apparently there are other errors in Italeri's kit in some of the dimensions, but overall I think it captures the look of the real thing.

Enjoy the photos.

Mike Grant

      

Photos and text © by Mike Grant