It’s been a while since I’ve made a Trumpeter airplane plastic model. I chose Su-11. It is a Soviet interceptor in the Cold War era and features delta wings.
It starts with smaller parts such as cockpit and jet engine. I made a 1/32 scale a while ago, so I feel that this 1/48 scale is small.
The body is almost elongated and cylindrical in shape. It will be quite big when it’s finished.
Looking at the position of the landing gears, I don’t think I need a weight. But, the vertical tail is big, and the center of gravity may be shifted backward if the fuel tank and the missile are installed, so I put a weight in. There is enough space at the nose.
I think I was able to put the landing gear hangar and cockpit between them quite smoothly. I glued it together by scraping it a little and correcting the bad fit. Hold it in a small vise until it dries.
(2025/06/28)
It was mostly in the shape of an airplane. I still have to clean the joints and attach small parts.
I installed all the fragile parts before painting. Only the missile will be painted in several colors, so I will attach it later.
Compared to other current Russian jets, the landing gear components were simpler. It is easy to assemble without any trouble. There are sharp parts everywhere, so I really need to be careful when handling.
The cockpit panel came with a decal of relatively detailed instruments. That’s more than enough detail over the canopy.
I wasn’t sure, but I had extra seat belt parts for US aircraft, so I attached them with superglue. I usually paint the cockpit before I put it in, but it’s a weird feeling to do this right before I paint the whole body. It’s so hot these days that I don’t feel like opening the window to work on painting. If I say that, I won’t be able to work until mid-October.
The jet engine nozzle was painted in a hot iron color. It’s a little too red. I’ll paint it a little more silver-like later.
(2025/07/05)
This time I used Mr. Color Super Stainless metaric color.
The Trumpeter Su-11 is complete. In the case of silver, scratches were noticeable where the surface treatment of the airframe was poor. It’s been a while since I blew metallic with an airbrush, but it’s difficult.
This time, silver is mostly on the surface of the aircraft, and green and white missiles stand out for a bit. I don’t think there is much paint left on the panel line, even though it was too hard to wipe it off after being soaked with the stain. But maybe this is just the right way to go. There are some spots left to wipe the stain. The actual item doesn’t seem to be in such a clean condition, so it might be just the right weathering condition.
If I put some decals on it, it will accentuate it together with the green nose. This kind of aircraft would be a hit with fans of the Cold War.
The performance of the new Su-11 was improved compared to the previous Su-9, but the mass-production Su-11 crashed due to engine failure during a test flight. This had a negative impact on the deployment plans for new interceptors, and although production continued until 1965, the number of interceptors manufactured was less than 100, which was only about 1/10 of the Su-9. One theory is that there is an air intake at the nose of the aircraft, and this design may or may not improve safety. After WWII, many of the jets I often saw in the early days were of this type.
The delta wing is good, but the main wing is rather compact compared to the length of the aircraft. I have an impression that the wing area is too narrow, but it can still fly.
It’s an interceptor, so it’s equipped with anti-aircraft missiles as its main weapon. It is an air-to-air missile made in the Soviet Union called R-98KM. It is a medium-range guided missile and the range is from 2 km to 20 km. There are various painting patterns such as blue band on white background, but this time I chose red warhead. The manual doesn’t have proper painting instructions.
The Su-11 is an interceptor fighter developed and operated in the Soviet Union during the Cold War, but it is said to have no actual combat experience. This aircraft was used by the Soviet Air Defense Force (PVO) in the early 1960s and was mainly engaged in national air defense missions, such as responding to aircraft that violated its airspace. However, the Su-11 had limited operation because it needed guidance from ground control and was not capable of handling low-flying targets. As mentioned earlier, the production numbers were small, and it was retired early due to the appearance of the successor Su-15. That’s why they didn’t have a chance to put it into action in wars and conflicts.
This kit, Su-11, has finally been assembled. But I didn’t know much about the actual aircraft. But when I saw the cool packaging on the box, I couldn’t help but buy it. Only about 100 actual aircraft were produced and not many were deployed. But I had a lot of fun making it. I think it is a plane with the air of the Cold War period and its coolness shines.
(2025/07/11)
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