REVELL 1:72 SU-25 FROGFOOT

Reviewer: Myself  (braithy@bigpond.com)

The Sukhoi Su-25 is generally regarded as the Russian equivalent of the Western A-10 Thunderbolt, although it more closely resembles the failed A-9 Avenger - the aircraft, the A-10 beat in the battlefield aircraft competition.  The Frogfoot has appeared in many versions since it was first spotted by the West in the early to mid-eighties and proved itself as an advsersary not to be messed with in the Afghanistan war - teaming up very effectively with the Mi-24 Hind Helicopter.  Though, unfortunately it is not as well armoured as the A-10 and suffered large losses at the hands of the stinger launching Muhajideen tribesmen.  Like the A-10 it can pack a severe punch on the battlefield and is a feared anti-armor weapon.

This Revell version is of mid-late eighties tooling so is engineered nicely.  But if you are looking for an accurate replication of the Su-25 then I would suggest you read no further because this kit has too many flaws.  I have had this kit waiting to be built for years, having earlier discovered it had many flaws, but decided now that it was time to build it, straight out of the box to see how the kit really stacks up.  A number of other modellers recommend that the Zvedva Su-25 is the most accurate replication in this scale.  I therefore hazard a guess that Revell has based their manufacturing on either the T.8 prototype or on estimations gathered by western intelligence - which is further supported by the use of phrases such as "it is believed to be...." in the instructions. This is disappointing because the kit is otherwise excellent.

The kit comes in a large box, which is priced to reflect the box, not the kit.  It is not a small kit but in my opinion not worth the large amount of airspace in the box.  Two sprues of injected molded plastic coloured in tan - more on the colour later.  External detail and panel lines are finely engraved and are really done quite nicely.  Wheel wells have a nice amount of detail too, even if a little unrealistic.  One clear sprue is included with a one-piece canopy.

The instructions are set out on a single sheet slightly wider than A3, and as usual there are a number of assembly steps, 16 in this case, which are easy to follow and straightforward.  FS numbers are provided for the external colour scheme and this is featured on a four-view diagram.  Individual parts are given colour names - as opposed to also telling you their number from the Revell range - so one needs to match up the name with a Revell paint chart and then cross-reference to their own brand preference.  Most of the smaller individual parts are given a description for what they are - eg: wing panel, nose gear door, intake louvers etc which makes identifying pieces a little easier.

The cockpit contains a base with side panels (finely raised instrumentation) and rudder pedals already molded onto it.  A three-piece seat is assembled and glued to the base, as is the control column.  The fuselage halves are split horizontally, so the cockpit unit is affixed to the bottom half with small guide 'rails' to indicate positioning.  An instrument panel, also with finely raised instrumentation, is affixed to the dashboard and its worth dry fit testing the cockpit and fuselage halves to make sure it all sits snugly.  There is a reasonable amount of space to slip in some nose weight to prevent the aircraft from tail-sitting..

For a moment one could be forgiven they are doing a 'snap-tite kit, because of how the fuselage halves go together - a resounding snap as the alignment pins slip into their grooves.  Some well positioned rubber bands are also needed to keep to keep the halves firmly together but unfortunately that will still not prevent the ugly join lines resulting afterwards.  The whole fuselage needed to be sanded down to get the join lines to blend into the aircraft.  Attaching the laser nose cone was a painless process but it's recommended to just smooth the nose area with a little bit of sanding to assist the process. 

I attached the intakes next, with the intake louvers affixed to the back of the intake cover before applying to the aircraft.  This is one of the first things that appears to be out of whack.  Reference material I have, including a frontview photo and a cutaway drawing suggest there is actually no intake louvers - you should be able to see right through to the turmansky engine fan.  I decided from the beginning that this was going to be an OOB build regardless of the accuracy. Pay attention when doing the intakes because they are left and right-handed, and the louver intakes are also meant to face a certain way and it's very easy to mix the process up.

Antenna and aerial are affixed to the underside rear of the aircraft (I am not sure if these are accurate) and the engine flame holders are encased by the exhaust nozzles.  These were all attached without any problems.  I had decided also to build a wheels-up model but for the benefit of those of you who will have the aircraft static, I test fitted the undercarriage components, which are robust and nicely molded.  If one compares them to photos they don't quite measure up to scrutiny to achieve 100% but are quite close to the mark.  The main gear is easy to assemble and fits well in the appropriate grooves.  The nose gear is a little more fiddly but still goes together quite well.  The main gear doors are separated into three pieces and this is quite a fiddly exercise.  They all need very slight trimming to ensure a perfect fit.  I actually glued on one door at a time, carefully placing it and allowing it to dry before glueing the next.  This worked well and no sanding or filling was required afterward (although generally I am pretty good at playing with gear doors).

At this point I actually assembled all the weapons.  The wings are each one-piece except for the inner wing panel which is glued into place.  You get a good range of underwing stores including a pair of AS-7 air-to-surface missiles, Drop tanks, a couple of bombs on an ejector rack for each wing, six rocket pods in total and a pair of small AA-8 air-to-air missiles.  Since I have problems when it comes to stores falling off completed aircraft (I usually paint the wings first and then attached the already assembled and painted stores) I decided to assemble the stores, attach them to their pylons and then paint them, attach them to the wing and then paint the wing.  On each wing there are provisions for five pylons - I chose (from inside toward wingtip) drop tank, AS-7, two rocket pods and the bombs for my stores.  I also did not attach the wing panel to the wing until I had attached the stores - this wasn't much of a success as it wouldn't sit flush against the wing.  I would suggest using the same process as myself, but attach the wing panel onto the wing first and use pegs to keep in place. 

Having completed the wing and underwing stores I then attached the wing to the fuselage but it did leave a rather nasty gap.  Another problem with the kit is that it indicates the wings are perfectly square to the fuselage - they're not, they should droop down.  Luckily the weight of the stores made this a fairly simple process, and you should use reference material for proper angle and leave to dry - but unfortunately this is also what is responsible for the ugly gap.  Rather than trying to somehow squeeze putty in there and sanding it between the nicely done stores, I decided to plug it up with hobby & super glue which did the job okay. 

The wingtip airbrakes are attached once the wing has been affixed and there are a few problems here.  Firstly the wingtip pod section where it meets the wing is not the same width leaving a jagged edge.  Pictures clearly show that pod should look like it is literally on the wingtip - not on a rail on the wingtip.  I wasn't able to correct this problem.  The airbrake halves can be open with an actuator strut between them.  If you have them closed, be careful because they are left and right handed and very easy to mess up.  A landing light is also given to attach to the bottom of the wingtip pod which is very nice.  If you don't want the light affixed, you will need to plug up the hole where it goes into.  The pod itself is also a little inaccurate in shape with some small fairings on the airbrake halves that don't show up on reference photos.

The tailplanes according to the instructions, and boxart, are supposed to sit at right angles to the aircraft, which is totally inaccurate.  They are also more of the 'standard' type when in fact they should be broader.  When affixing them there is a tendency to have them slant upward - follow the tendancy because they are meant to slant upward (best to have good reference material on hand to show the right angle). The tailfin was a bit of a nasty enterprise.  It leaves a nasty gap and if you attach according to its 'feel' it encourages you to put the bugger off centre.  If you take a bit of care at this part and then use some glue to plug up the gaps it works out fine.  I am not convinced that the shape is accurately molded.

The canopy is a tight fit and needed to be worked on (very very slight trimming) before it would sit snugly in place, also trying to trick you in placing it off centre.  I used rubber bands to hold it in place otherwise it would leave a gap underneath.  The canopy is quite nice but a touch distorted.  At this point I also attached the various nose antenna, sensor boom, aerial and pitot tube which all went on with no dramas.  The nose indents where the boom and pitot go were a little over exhaggerated.  The small spikes on the sensor boom should be vertical according to my reference material, the instructions are a bit vague but suggest a more diagonal positioning.  Both the pitot and boom do not exactly line up when comparing them from sideview - they should, and both are a tad overscale.

An aerial is placed behind the cockpit on top of the fuselage and its positioning is very vague.  Use the boxart as a guide to where it should sit.  The kit also supplies a pair of hand-rails but curiously the instructions do not cover these small parts at all.  Use reference photos to select the best positioning of these hand-rails, the boxart is a very good guide but is not exact.  The real aircraft appears to have two pairs of handrails, one pair in this position eitherside of the aircraft, and another just behind and above the cockpit.

Having completed the assembly it was time to paint and finish the model.  The kit provides two identical versions, a Russian and a Czech one respectively.  Both are finished in the same FS34102 Green and FS30219 tan camouflage with FS36440 grey undersides and only roundels and serial numbers showing the difference.  Using Humbrol paints the matches are 117 and 118 for the camouflage and an out of date Grey for the undersides.  I chose 127 which is a grey with a slight bluey tinge to it.  This is where things got out of hand - the tan plastic is an exact match with the tan paint and telling the two apart was difficult.  I managed to not paint a whole section because of this, but luckily spotted it before giving it a clear coat.

I decided to do mine in the more traditional Russian finish as depicted on the boxart because if you were to do the czech version my reference material suggests an aircraft grey underside and another darker green added to the camouflage.  After giving it a clear coat it was time to affix the decals.  The Revell decal sheet has very nice register but you only get roundels and serial numbers, nothing else.  It is also in a gloss finish which should start ringing alarm bells instantly for those who have used Revell decals of this particular genre.

I ditched the Revell decal sheet, I wasn't going to risk them on *this* model.  Experiences recently with this era of decals (see Yak-38 review) suggest that these are not going to be very good quality, they may disintegrate, curl and perhaps the white borders of the russian stars would dissolve in water.  So, I obtained a more preferable decal sheet from Propagteam and finished the Su-25 using this - I think Microscale also have one available.

(ADDENDUM: note on decals) - I did end up trying out the decals anyway on some spares half-kit I use for this purpose.  They were crap - absolutely shocking - and I recommend you replace them.  Just a few seconds in the water and the backing paper starts to dissolve leaving a bluey-cream 'curdle' like affect when your decals are placed onto the plastic.  The distinctive white strips that outlines the russian red stars also disappeared.  There's an old saying going round in the world of RMS and that is, don't trust Revell decals for any aircraft other than WW2 subjects - while by accounts their newer kits are okay, this unfortunately, is not the case for the Su-25 kit, and the adage rings true!

Overall the kit captures the looks of the Su-25 rather well but is fundamentally flawed in just about every nook and cranny you care to scrutinise.  I have already pointed out some blaring observations during the construction process above, and there are lots of little things which appear not to match up to reference photos.  Luckily some (like the wings and tailplanes) can be corrected but many are fixtures on the aircraft that have to be lived with.  There are also nit picky things you can point out such as the wing shape etc that will not be flattering to the kit either.

Measurement wise one has to again put a bit of an estimation factor into it because sources conflict with each other (well mine do) but they all agree that the span is around three to four feet longer than the overall length.  The model shows that the length is longer than the span (only by millimetres) so naturally the model's measurements are immediately wrong regardless.  I am inclined to think that the length is 47'6" and span is 50'10" or thereabouts. This comes to a scale of 20.1 cm and 21.5 cm respectively.  The kit measures out at about 20.5 and 20 cm respectively.

So you judge for yourself - if you won't settle for much less than perfection then this kit is not for you. 

On the otherhand if you really have no qualms about building the kit, and couldn't care less with the various inaccuracies, it is an excellent and enjoyable build.  Most of the parts went together without any hassles and the finished product looks very nice, a lovely amount of scribing detail has gone into this kit.  My verdict (even though I was expecting the outcome) is one of disappointment but if you shove it in front of someone who is not up to speed on the intricacies of the Su-25 then they are not going to know the difference, and the model looks lovely finished. 

Back to home
Kit Review Index:   1/72      1/48