1:48 Su-27K Sea Flanker (for Minibase kit)

The Flanker that learned to land on a deck

The Su-27K is the naval offshoot of the famous Flanker, later redesignated the Su-33. So that the machine would stand up to operation from a ship, it received canards ahead of the wing, folding wingtips and horizontal tail surfaces, strengthened landing gear, an arrestor hook and a retractable probe for refueling in flight. It took off from a ski-jump, because the Soviet and later Russian aircraft carrier never got a catapult.

The first example left the ground in August 1987, and the type tried a landing on the deck with an arrestor wire in November 1989. It entered service only in a small run and served with a single unit of naval aviation, where its main role was defending a formation of ships against attack from the air.

How it differs from a painted cockpit

The set brings the instrument panels, the side consoles and the seat belts executed as thin layered elements with an embossed surface. The colors and the lettering are printed in production, which with Russian cabins and their characteristic turquoise shade saves a great deal of time and nerves in mixing paint.

The procedure is simple: clean the part of grease, transfer the element with tweezers, press it down and push it into the corners with a toothpick. Anyone who wants to make the play of light easier still can spray the cabin with a dark color in advance, so that the surroundings of the panels do not stay in bare plastic. The package holds neither the plastic model nor glue.

Only a few dozen examples were built, so this type is among the least numerous modern carrier fighters of all. On the single ship it ever operated from, meanwhile, no more than a handful of machines were ever gathered.