1/48 GWH Su35S Flanker E

Gallery Article by Klaasjan Schuuring on July 16 2021

 

      

The Sukhoi Su35S is one of the most modern jets within the Su27 family. It's truly a stunningly beautiful aircraft and if looks would win the war, it would win it hands down. Besides that, it's packed with the latest in Russian military technology and has been deployed operationally in the Syrian theatre of operation. 

The Great Wall Hobby kit is very well detailed and the molds are of the best quality. Virtually no flash anywhere and the fit was perfect. A few minor push pin errors were easily negotiated but what had me baffled slightly was the absence of some crucial information in the instructions. A number of colours that were mentioned in the description were absent in the list of colours and information on decal placement on some of the underwing missile rails were missing as well. But apart from that, this is a very good kit.

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Hence the build went very well. I added some extra detail to the undercarriage legs but that was pretty much it. I decided to use the cockpit as provided by GWH and not use the Eduard set I had purchased for it apart from the belts on the ejector seat. 

Painting was a bit of an adventure. I purchased a special set of colours from Mig but the blue turned out to be quite too blue and didn't resemble the actual colour on the Flanker at all. So I had to resort to mixing until I was satisfied and I think I came really close. Luckily I managed to make enough of the mix so I could store some in case I needed to fix some damage which usually happens to the freshly painted surface in subsequent handling of the model. For the cockpit I was faced with a similar challenge b.t.w. because I was unable to find any good representation of that Russian cockpit hue (which is very nice actually). 

Anyway, the decals were a treat and very accurate. Finally I decided to leave the weathering to a minimum. Besides the kit I also ordered a pilot for the Su35 from Aero Line which was a lot of fun to paint. Enjoy the pictures. 

Klaasjan Schuuring

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Photos and text © by Klaasjan Schuuring