Suchoj Su-25 UBK (Smer 1/48) - Work in progress

Andrzej Rygiel
I got this kit as a Christmas gift when I came back to the modelling hobby. At first, I felt enthusiasm and nostalgia, the original Su-25K 1/48 kit from OEZ was one the best ones I had the pleasure to build as a teenager loooong time ago. But then the reality hit - the SMER release is nowhere near as good as I remember the original OEZ kit, it looks like they changed the original moulding a bit and definitely weren't keeping it maintained properly. The amount of flash is astounding and on some of the elements it was almost indistinguishable where the actual part ends and what is the flash you need to remove. The white plastic feels "weird", it's very soft, you can shape it easily but I have some doubts if the Tamiya extra thin cement wouldn't have some longer-term effect on it... The general fit is not great, feels a lot like a short run kit. It's definitely not for the heart fainted...

Anyway, I didn't want to let my original gift-giver down and took the challenge head-on! The Eduard's PE sets add a lot of details that are otherwise poorly represented or missing completely. I'm not going to open the canopy so the original equipment + the interior PE set will do just fine here. I am also going to purchase the FOD covers and RBF sets from Quickboost, as it would take an inadequate time for me (not mentioning my lack of the skill required to do that 😄) to model the engines and other details, they will be covered.

I'm pretty sure once (and IF) I finish this fella I'll be so happy to come back to my Eduard or Tamiya stash items (someone called models like that one very good for keeping your "Tamiya appreciation factor" high, I cannot agree more 🙂 ).