1:48 US weapon adapter for Su-27 Flanker (2 pcs) (GBU-39 SDB, GBU-62 (JDAM-ER))

A heavy fighter and a light bomb

The Su-27 came about as an answer to the American fourth-generation fighters and it was built generously from the start: twelve hardpoints, an enormous fuel load and a range that frontal machines did not have. Its armament, though, was Eastern production throughout, with lug spacing and an interface of its own. When Ukrainian Flankers began to be armed with American munitions, the missing link was supplied by exactly this adapter, which slides in between pylon and weapon. Without it, neither the GBU-39 glide bomb nor the GBU-62 JDAM-ER kit would have anything to hold on to.

A smaller scale, the same job

In 1:48 the part is noticeably smaller than its counterpart for the large scale, but the contents are the same: two pieces for one pair of stations. The reduction shows mainly in the thickness of the beams, not in the amount of detail – the bolts, the ribs and the through openings all stay legible.

Detail a mold cannot manage

This is where the main advantage of cast and printed resin shows. An injection-molded component has to have a wall that the punch will fill safely, and in a small scale that means thickened edges and blind holes. A resin part keeps its real thickness and its holes right through, because it is not pulled out of the mold under pressure. The price is brittleness: under a knife the material chips rather than deforms. Cut the supports off with some margin, sand the rest down on paper laid over glass and make the joint with a drop of cyanoacrylate glue. Apply the paint to a degreased surface and thinned, so that the fine relief stays visible.