The new Trumpeter 1/72 Su-15TM arrived from HLJ today. Here are a few comments, but this isn?t an in-depth review by any means. To begin with, Trumpeter did try to catch the two details mentioned previously in this thread, but unfortunately, they blew both of them.
(1) Nose cone (radar housing) ? It does have the slight downward angle of the real aircraft. However, Trumpeter have made the joint between the cone and the fuselage vertical (in other words, at 90 degrees to the fuselage datum line), and achieved the angle by molding it into the nose cone itself. In other words, if you stand the cone up on end, it?s tilted, not vertically symmetrical. On the real aircraft, the cone is symmetrical, and the joint between the cone and the fuselage is angled forward at the top so the cone has a downward droop. The fix would probably be to glue the cone on, sand down the joint thoroughly, then rescribe the joint line in its correct, angled location.
(2) Wing leading edges ? again, Trumpeter had sort of the right idea, but they got the details wrong. On the real thing, the downward angle (droop) of the wing leading edges begins where the leading edge sweep angle change occurs between the inner and outer wing panels, inboard of the airflow fence on the upper surface. Trumpeter have done something truly odd-looking, by not only trying to create the drooped effect outboard of this location instead of inboard, but also by drooping not just the leading edge but also most of the outer wing panel! This is difficult to explain, but as I said, it looks very strange. I?m not sure how you could fix this error ? maybe by adapting the wings from the Amodel Su-15TM, which are correct.
The plastic in the fuselage halves of this kit is remarkably thin ? I?ve seen vacuforms with thicker plastic! Trumpeter are trying to help conserve the world?s petrochemical resources, I assume! However, this will make for a very weak joint along the length of the fuselage, and anyone assembling the kit should consider the vacuform-building trick of adding some narrow plastic strips along the inside of the joint line in order to increase the strength of this joint.
A quick comparison with drawings also shows some panel line location errors, but I haven?t had time to go over the kit in that kind of detail. I suspect Trumpeter are planning to use the same fuselage for a future Su-15A kit. In this case, the two errors detailed above will not be a problem, since the ?Flagon A? does not have either of these features! So, Trumpeter Su-15TM bad, Trumpeter Su-15A (possibly) good!
In summary, this kit is a bit of a disappointment. In rating all the existing injection-molded 1/72 Su-15TM kits, I?d say:
VES ? This is the one you want if you can handle an insanely-detailed, difficult-to-build kit, and have the time and skills to bring out the best in it (I certainly didn?t!). This kit is a tribute to the skills of the person who prepared the masters for it with regard to the huge amount of detail ? it seems like every single rivet in the whole aircraft is represented! Lots of dry-fitting and some careful thinking about the assembly sequence is required.
Amodel ? Great accuracy, simpler design than the VES kit; again, lots of dry-fitting needed. Probably the best kit in terms of a compromise among reasonable detail level, acceptable accuracy, and ease of assembly.
Trumpeter ? If you want an easy-to-assemble kit that ?looks like? a Su-15TM, this is probably the best choice. On the other hand, you could probably say the same thing about the old PM (Pioneer?) ?Su-21F?, too!
John
