Zvezda 1/144 Sukhoi Superjet 100

The Sukhoi Superjet 100 (Russian: Сухой Суперджет 100) is a modern, fly-by-wire regional jet in the 75- to 95-seat category. With development starting in 2000, the plane was designed by the civil aircraft division of the Russian aerospace company Sukhoi in co-operation with Western partners. Its maiden flight was conducted on 19 May 2008 and the plane received its Interstate Aviation Committee certification in January 2011 with European Aviation Safety Agency certification expected in mid-2011. On 21 April 2011, the Superjet 100 performed its first commercial passenger flight, on the Armavia route from Yerevan to Moscow.

Designed to compete internationally with its Embraer and Bombardier counterparts, the Superjet 100 aims for substantially lower operating costs at the price of $23–$25 million. With over 300 orders secured by early 2011, the Superjet 100 is widely regarded as the most important project of the Russian civilian aircraft industry and the project receives substantial support from the Russian government.

The final assembly of the plane is done by Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Production Association, its SaM-146 engines are designed and produced by the French-Russian PowerJet joint-venture and the plane is marketed internationally by SuperJet International.

214 have been ordered with three delivered as of this date.

This new Zvezda kit is a nice addition to their previous airliner kits. The molding is first rate and perfect for this scale. Zvezda offers the options of building this one gear up or down and includes a hefty display stand for those of us who like our airliners on stands.

The kit itself is about the size of a Boeing 737-200 in overall dimensions so though marketed as a regional jet, it not the skinny little planes we all associate with regional airlines. Probably regional means larger in Russia! The kit includes cabin windows and a clear cockpit canopy. I know that some prefer using decals for these, but this is not an option that is available. It means that one will need to prepaint the exterior prior to installing the cabin windows or be ready for a lot of masking.

A nice touch is having the forward engine intakes as a single piece so no worries about filling in lip seams. For those wanting to put your model on its wheels, 5 grams is suggested for nose weight and there is a lot of room for it.

Instructions are rather brief as kits go. This is not unusual for an airliner kit as there is no interior that needs fussing over and no external weapons to add to the build steps. The single folded sheet is well drawn and uses both generic and Model Master paint references. Though the box art shows the prototype paint scheme, the decals are for an Aeroflot plane in their aluminum, blue and white scheme as you can see from the accompanying image. Decals are well printed and include the red cheatlines. Painting this one will be interesting to say the least. I would not expect aftermarket decals to be available for a while, but in a year or so you should start to see something different available.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukhoi_Superjet_100

October 2011