History

The Superjet 100 is Sukhoi's entry into the airliner market. The Superjet is a short/medium range regional airliner in the 75 - 95 seat class, designed to compete with Embraer and Bombardier's regional jets. It entered service in the summer of 2011 with Armavia and Aeroflot.

First impressions

Crisp and clean. Very little flash, few sink marks. Fine scribed lines that are out of scale for 1/144 but will still look good under a coat of paint. Panel lines match up very nicely. The plastic has Zvezda's trademark slightly pebbly texture which can be polished out, but which will disappear under the primer paint. The wings are slightly smoother than the fuselage.

Fuselage

The fuselage is two halves from nose to tail. The cabin windows are open, with clear parts provided for them. The cockpit windows are the old-fashioned Airfix style strip, which makes getting them to fit properly without either breaking or faling into the fuselage something of a challenge. The panel lines are nicely engraved and match up well. The APU exhaust is left open, which means that one may look right through the fuselage and out the cockpit windows. It should be filled with a small blocked off piece of tube to prevent the see-through effect. If the windows are left open, the interior should be painted black to prevent the model from looking toy-like. There is no cockpit bulkhead to help confine the noseweight. Zvezda calls for 5g of nose weight. The nose gear well must be inserted before the fuselage is closed. The rudder is moulded with the left fuselage/fin half. Careful fitting and tweaking will be needed to ensure that there is no gap when the right side is joined.

Wings

The wings have a one piece lower half comprising a portion of the lower fuselage and the inner 2/3 of the lower wing. Each upper wing has the outer third of the lower wing. The trailing edge is moulded into the uper wing halves. The wings will need a little work to ensure that there is no step in the lower surface. The flap hinge fairings are moulded into the lower wing. There is no structural detail in the wheel wells. Some may be added if you wish but they are quite small, and your work may not be seen.

Empennage

The tailplanes are one piece mouldings that have two very small stubs as mounting surfaces. They may benefit from drilling out and replacing them with pins. Leave them off until final assembly to facilitate decalling.

Engines

The engines have a two piece pylon/cowling that traps the exhaust fan between them. The exhaust cone has a fine spike on its trailing edge. One has broken from my kit, but it should be easy to replace with a bit of styrene rod or stretched sprue. The intake rings are seperate, and properly thick. The intake fan is to be attached to the rear of the intake ring before gluing to the cowling.

Landing gear

The landing gear struts and wheels are finely moulded and nicely detailed. They could use some brake lines and whatever else the modeller likes, but will look good without. The wheels themselves are properly thick and the detail moulded into the hubs is very good.There is an option for raised gear, and a very large heavy stand is provided. As with all 1/144 kits, the gear doors are overly thick and may be replaced if the modeller wishes.

Accuracy

I don't compare models to drawings or published measurements. When assembled it looks like a Superjet

Decals and markings

The decal sheet is in Zvezda's typical matte finish. Athough the boxtop shows Sukhoi's protortype scheme, there is only one option, that being Aeroflot's first Superjet in the current blue and silver scheme. The sheet has some of the more obvious stencils included, which will help make for a convincing model. Zvezda's colour callouts are generic: Steel, Aluminium, flat red, etc. They will be good enough for kids, but enthusiasts should research the colours of the aircraft they wish to model to ensure the colours will be representative of the real aircraft. No window decals are provided. This is difficult for those modellers who prefer decal windows as there are few colour scheme options available for this model given the Superjet's newness on the scene. As time goes by and more airlines purchase it, the aftermarket industry is sure to provide those schemes for us. In the meantime there's nothing to do but use the clear windows or paint them unless you have a copy of the very rare (and very vice) Jetrack resin kit, which has 2 sets of window decals and both prototype paint schemes.

Updated Nov 15, 2012. Pas Decals has released an aftermarket decal for Armavia. This sheet is provided with window decals for those who like them.

I test fit the major components together. In the picture they are shown being held together by friction alone. The fit of the wings to the fuselage is very precise. Also seen is the truly massive stand. If it is used, the model will look ridiculously like a sparrow perching on an eagle's beak.

The real thing

Armavia

Aeroflot

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