Keyboys 1/144 Su-30MKI 'Flanker'

The Su-30MKI is the Indian version of the long-range Su-30, itself being a surrogate of the ultra-long Su-27 family.

It has vectoring nozzles, a huge array of weapons, and has attracted much attention whenever it has flown, either at military exercise (Red Flag) or during airshows.

First of all, this is a really impressive kit, even in 1/144. It depicts one of the latest version of the Su-27 family (that Trumpeter should bring to our shelves by year’s end, and in better shape than Dragon’s one we hope!!!).

The quality of that kit is, in my opinion, light-years away from Trumpeter Su-34 in term of overall accuracy.

The kit contains 42 resin parts (with some 3-D printed), a set of two vac.formed cockpit, a fret of photo-etched part, and an Alps-printed decals sheet.

The main fuselage components are casted in a yellow resin, and need some flash removing work.

Those panels are done in neat recessed-line. The exhausts are done in clear resin, and have a clever mechanism that can make you pose the movable exhaust as you like. The undercarriage, undercarriage-doors and armament pylons are moulded in the same clear resin.

The two KD-36 ejection seats come that way too, and their sharpness is truly impressive for a 1/144^th scale!!!

The cockpit is provided in clear vacuform (x2), and in resin if you prefer it that way. The photo-etched fret is used to detail the air intake complex inlet system, and all the various pitot and antennae.

You will find no weapons in the box for that beast, but you can have a try with OzMods range of 1/144 weapon.

The decals are Alps-printed, and offer the choice of 3 different Indian Air Force aircraft. With a very small extra work and decals, you can easily depict the very latest Russian Su-30SM, with the new dark grey camo…

You will also find a couple of very detailed two-sided colour building/painting instruction sheet, including a very useful 1/144 3-sided view technical drawing, and colour painting guide.

This kit is priced 3800 Yen (without post and packing), which is 28€ / 37.5$ / 24.75£, which is in the high-end range for 1/144 kits.

But if you like Russian hardware and modern jets, it provide you with a very accurate up-to-date Sukhoi superfighter, with tremendous details for such a small scale.

Keyboys site : http://home.v01.itscom.net/keyboys/products/p_products01.html

September 2013

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