PM 1:72 SUKHOI SU-15G FLAGON

Reviewer: Ian Langer  (iffl@mailcity.com)

The Sukhoi Su-15 Flagon is the infamous Soviet fighter that shot down a Korean Airliner in the mid-eighties that created an international incident that almost escalated further beyond that.  The Soviets always claimed that the plane was on a spy mission and failed to admit its mistake while everyone on board the flight perished.   The Flagon is a needle-like interceptor designed specifically to intercept American strategic bombers with all-swept flying surfaces - including its delta wing.  The Flagon-G (or Su-15G as stated by this kit) is the two-seat operational trainer version.

I picked this kit up - bagged - and perhaps second hand from a local swap meet for $5AUD which to me seemed a bargain.  I have never had heard of 'PM' before let alone had experience with them and am not aware of any other company with a current injection molded kit of this unique Aircraft from the former USSR.  Overall the parts looked reasonably good - nothing to write home about - but did feature recessed panel lines.  There were not a lot of parts to it and the instructions were adequate if nothing else.

The cockpit was the first area that received attention and the kit replicates this very poorly - only two seats on a floor unit is provided so some scratchbuilding techniques was called upon to enhance this at least to look respectable.   I didn't overdo this section because I planned to build an in-flight example with closed canopy.

Fit of the components was surprisingly straight forward with only a little bit of filler required in the normal required areas of fuselage joins, gear doors and wing roots.  The gear doors did not fit very well and needed trimming to sit nicely in place. The leading edges of the aircraft and flaps needed a touch of sanding to smooth them out.  The rest of the construction phase presented no real dramas.  In fact this model turned out to go together very quickly. 

The exhaust is inadequately shallow and I ended up using black paint for deception on its depth.  This is also true for the intakes that required similar attention.  I thought about cutting/drilling out both components and stretching the trunks through use of plastic card a bit more but decided against it.  I had a quick play with the undercarriage which are a little fiddly but looked reasonably accurate, except the wheel well detail was all but non-existant of any detail.  The small antennae adorning the aircraft were small and fiddly, quite easy to snap, from the kit so care is advised when dealing with these during the construction phase.  The canopy went on easily but small gaps did result that required a little bit of filling and smoothing off.  The canopy itself is thick but its frame is well defined and adequate for the job.  Four missiles are also supplied in the kit and I put a pair on the aircraft's outer wing pylons - not sure what they are but seem to represent AA-3 Anabs?

I finished the kit off by painting it overall in a flat aluminium finish - taken from the Humbrol metalcote range.  This gave it the nice sheen I was after because the photos I have seem to indicate that it has a rather dull metal finish.  I then painted the fin tip, nose cone and tail point in Humbrol #30 Dark Green although a lighter colour in hindsight is probably more accurate.  Anti glare panels were then painted in Humbrol #33 Matt Black.

Only one option is provided in the kit as far as its decals are concerned which were prone to curling and disintegration in application.  The register was both slightly off-colour and off-centre so having test applied a couple I ditched them in favour of a Propagteam Russian set that could be used instead. 

The finished product captures the unique lines of this attractive aircraft very well considering its an 'unknown quality' before I picked it up at the swap meet.  It was easy to construct and went together very well.  Given that its the only injection molded kit of this aircraft in this scale (that I am aware of) it's not expected to be particularly polished as far as accuracy etc is concerned.  Nevertheless it has done this quite well and I would recommend it to fellow enthusiasts.  I would, however, like to get my hands on the single-seat interceptor version (I think PM also produce a kit of this kind) for my collection given my experience with this example.  Nothing flash but is a quick bash !

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Su-15 in a museum exhibit - colour does not show up very well in this photo