1/48 Academy Su-27 Flanker

Gallery Article by A joint effort by Alexander Sidharta, Andreas Pramaditya and Iwan Winarta on Oct 25 2003

 

Indonesia’s newest Bird of Prey : Sukhoi Su-27SK Flanker. 

The quest: to be the first to complete an Indonesian Flanker.
The way: any means possible

In the middle of Flanker hysteria here in Indonesia after the first batch of Indonesian Flankers arrived, an idea to be the first to complete a Flanker model in Indonesian markings aroused. Alex mentioned the idea to do it together and split the works to cut the building time considerably. 
 
The Academy 1/48 Su-27 was chosen principally because there is no major modification necessary for Indonesian Su-27SK, and also because the kit quality is quite good and has crisp details. There was nothing special during the construction, except that the kit went back and forth between our homes. We used some filler here and there, but overall the fitting is quite good and we faced no trouble at all.

 

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Problems started to appear during the painting stage.  The camouflage (especially the upper fuselage) and markings were still sketchy and not clear. Discussions, dispute, and guessing was common during this period, until finally we reached a compromise on light ghost gray and intermediate blue for the color.  The camouflage itself was mostly based on the Su-27SKU scheme during MAKS 2003.  We were so relieved and pleased when some official photographs were released just in time we finished this Flanker. It was a cheerful time to know our “guessing” camo turned out to be quite accurate.

We used supplied kit decals for the stencils, Scale Nutz decal for the national insignia and “TNI-AU” letter, Aeromaster and Carpena for the serial numbers, and my trusted pointed brushes for the squadron badge.

 

This huge & fierce-looking baby was completed in about 5 weeks after the real things landed and most of time was for the camouflage & markings.

Alexander, Andreas and Iwan

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Photos and text © by Alexander Sidharta, Andreas Pramaditya and Iwan Winarta