1/48 Su-11
Trumpeter 1/48 Su-11

And here we go! Trumpeter's 1/48 scale Sukhoi Su-11.

The Sukhoi Su-11 was a Soviet jet interceptor that entered service in 1964. It was closely based upon the earlier Su-9, with the Su-11 noticibly differing in its larger more powerful radar (visible by the much larger nose cone), new larger radar guided R-8 air to air missiles, replacing the Su-9's earlier beam riding missiles, and a slightly uprated engine, which necessitated additional external fuel lines, visible along the upper surface of the fuselage.

The aircraft was mach 2 capable, with a top speed of 2,340 km/h at a height of 11,000m, while it was capable of climbing at over 136 m/s.

Relatively few Su-11s were built, with an official figure of 108, although more were likely converted from the earlier Su-9. Despite this and the aircraft's shortcomings, the Su-11 remained in service for a long time, not being retired until 1983, at which point it had been almost fully replaced by the superior Su-15.


This kit was... well, not so bad to make I suppose. The fit was reasonable with the exception of the wings, which required a LOT of filler around the root area. In fact a lot of the aircraft ended up requiring filler. I wish I had been more careful with fitting the radar nose as well instead of just trusting the locator tabs, as it ended up slightly off centre, although this is not so noticeable from a distance.

I rather enjoyed the cockpit on this one, and I feel it is possibly my best cockpit yet! I did my best to paint all of the little buttons and switches, and it really improved the overall look. I did buy and use Eduard canopy masks with this model in order to neatly paint the canopy.

The aircraft was painted as usual with Vallejo Model Air paints, primarily metallic aluminium, although I used light green chrm for the nose, tail tip, and wheel hubs. The main colour of the cockpit interior was pale blue, which is the colour Sukhoi used for their cockpits at the time.

I also replaced the kit wheels with a more detailed resin wheel set, that was very kindly provided by Nathan Dempsey from scalemates. A big thank you to him!

In conclusion, this kit was reasonable. Nothing spectacular and it definitely has problems, but it was a reasonable kit. And if you DO want to build an Su-11, you don't have much choice anyway. There are several things I would do differently if I could do it again, but I do think it worked out ok. And it certainly looks alongside its JASDF contemporary, the F-104J!