LEM/Ruporator | 1/32 Su-17/22

Reviewed by Nicolas Renoult

Here is an in-box review of the nice LEM 1/32 Su-17/22 resin kit. There are 2 different kits, the Su-17/22M3 and the M4 if I remember correctly, but they are basically the same, except a few extra scoops to be glued for it to become a M4. So any M3 can be built with the M4 kit. Mine is the M4.

And Su-17 and Su-22 are the same, Su-22 is only the export designation for the Su-17.

The kit is nicely cast in a yellowish resin, delivered in a cardboard box with no decals and no instructions. You only have a CD with a few Su-22 photographs which won't be really a help to build it. So you better have to get as references as you can before tackling it (there is a big book from Yefim Gordon that is very nice, or the 4+ publication about the Su-17/22 that would be very helpful). Anyway, the kit is quite clean and easy to understand, and the parts are packed in bags sorted by sub-assemblies so one should know where parts go without to much problems.

Happily, Zotz Decals has made a Su-17/22 decals set, with USSR and Peru markings.

The casting is very good, with a whole front hollow fuselage and a rear fuselage in two halves. The fit seems to be pretty good. There is a nice panel engraving, though the panel lines are not very deep. So I doubt that they would survive any sanding, and one would certainly have to rescribe them. But they are already there, so it'd be time saving.

The wing root are also quite amazing with a nice hollow casting:

The cockpit is the bad point of the kit and would deserve a lot of scratch building to be as good as the whole model. Swapping the seat with a Quickboost Su-22 or MiG-29 seat will be easy, the consoles and the instrument panel should be detailed by the modeller. There is an acetate instruments printing that can be used as a template to make your own instrument panel.

The wheel bays, main and front, seems to be nicely done, with a good rate of details. The modeller can add wires and pipes if he would like.

The gear struts (and so are some fragile parts as the pitot tubes) are strengthened with metal wires.

The engine is also nice, with a nice fuel ring. Being not as good as an Aires burner cans, it will be as good as most of the injected plastic kit burner cans.

The canopy is provided in both clear resin and vacuformed. The vacuform is quite thick, but personally I like that (except that it would be a pain to cut).

There is also a full bunch of pylons, fuel cans and rocket launchers. You can also see the scoops that go on the M4 version.

Here is the very nicely done pitot tubes, typical of the Su-17:

To finish, here is a picture of the Su-17 beside a MiG-19, both 1/32. You can notice how a big bird it is:

Conclusion

To sum up, this is a nice resin kit, with a good casting and smart engineering, at a good price (only available on eBay), but I'd place it between resin and vacuform in that there is a lot of room for scratchbuilding (though it's yet better than most vacform kits). You will certainly have to rescribe the panel lines, and you have to hollow the cockpit and the wheel bays places yourself. It is definitely not a kit for beginners.

So I'd say it is a good kit, but not necessary the best way to tackle your first resin kit.

LEM/Ruporator | 1/32 Su-17/22

Reviewed by Nicolas Renoult

Conclusion

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