1/48 Kopro Su-17M3 “Fitter”

by Pano Troplev

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Here are some photos of my 1/48 Kopro SU-17M3. My model represents a Soviet Union aircraft from the Afghanistan War. During this period the aircraft served in the “101st Recon Regiment”.

Construction:

The original cockpit was very badly done, so I’ve used a NeOmega resin cockpit set. This cockpit fits very well into the fuselage halves. The only problem was to position the cockpit tub, because the original one lies on a wheel well, but the resin one must be in the upper position to fit properly. I’ve put acrylic filler on the top of the wheel well, and then I put the resin cockpit tub on it. This filler dries very slowly and this helped me to find the correct position for the cockpit tub.  

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For building correct speed brakes, I’ve used a photo etched detail set from Part Accessories.  This set has enough parts to completely replace the original speed brakes, including speed brakes doors. The hardest work was to remove the original speed brakes from the fuselage, and to fit the photo etched in the holes because they were bigger than the original one……  After some hard work, you can see the final result:

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Another great feature from Part is their “crew boarding ladder”. It gives more “life” to my model.

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The small air intake doors located in front of the cockpit were cut out. After that I’ve build new one using styrene sheet. All four doors were repositioned in opened position.

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All flaps and slats were removed from the wing using sharp Jeweler’s saw. After that they were rebuilt and glued in folded position:

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Painting:

The paint job was finished using a Paashe VSR-90 airbrush and ModelMaster enamel paints. I’ve used the following colors:

  • Dark Green FS 34079 (not modified).
  • Medium Green 34102 (not modified).
  • Dark Tan 30219 (lightened with some yellow and white).

I don’t know if this scheme is 100% authentic but I like it very much.

Panel lines of overall plane were highlighted with mix of dark brown and black oil paint. The decals are taken from the original box, but stencils are from Hi-Decal Line.

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Here are some photos of the overall plane. Enjoy it!

Pano

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Photos and text © by Pano Troplev