history

The Sukhoi Su-7 (NATO designation name: Fitter-A) was a swept wing, supersonic fighter aircraft developed by the Soviet Union in 1955. Originally, it was designed as tactical, low-level dogfighter, but was not successful in this role. On the other hand, soon-introduced Su-7B series became the main Soviet fighter-bomber and ground-attack aircraft of the 1960s. The Su-7 was rugged in its simplicity but its shortcomings included short range and low weapon load.
Su-7U (NATO Moujik)
Two-seat trainer version of the Su-7B with reduced fuel capacity. First flight 25 October 1965. Manufactured 1966-1972 in parallel with the export version, designated Su-7UMK.
Info from Wikipedia

in the box

Packed in a top opening box the sprues are bagged in one re-sealable bag, with the clear sprue packaged seperatly inside its own bag within the main bag. The remainder of the box contains two decal sheets, one set of instructions and a full colour profiles booklet.
This kit is in 1/72nd scale, at one point I had to check the box as it contains 13 sprues, an enormous amount for a kit in ths scale.
There is no flash present and ejector pin marks are few are far between.
Detail for the exterior is in the form of recessed panel lines and access hatches, with some raised panel areas and moulded on vents. Detail is very good and in places quite delicate.
The flaps and rudder are moulded as part of the wing and tail fin, so moving these off center will require surgery to the kit.
The wing fences are thin and made up as one piece each and slot over the wings. Wether they will need any work to fit I won't find out untill I build the kit.
Internal detail for the cockpit is pretty good with a multi part construction, but the ejetion seats do not have any harnesss, so adding your own will need to be done.
The cockpit sidewalls double up as the air inlet tunnel and detail for the cockpit sidewalls is very good with moulded on spars and boxes.
The instrument panels have some raised detail on the stem but the instrument panels themselves are flat. Decals are supplied for these parts.
As already stated the cockpit sidewalls double up as the air intake tunnel, and also the front undercarrige bay. The nose radome looks to be the correct shape, and 5g of weight needs to be fitted into the small space, to stop the aircraft tail sitting.
The front undercarriage leg is made up of two parts and is possibly the weakest part of the kit, as the wheel and part of the leg are split down the center, so cleaning up the join could be a pain.
The front undercarriage bay has some raised detail in the way of spars moulded onto parts.
The main gear bays have the same amount of detail, moulded on the underside of the upper wing. The main gear legs are made up of four pieces, and detail is acceptable due to the size of the parts. The tyres are in two parts and split down the middle.
The exhaust tunnel is made up of five parts including a turbine face and a pretty well detailed afterburner nozzle.
External stores for the kit are well stocked with two fuel tanks, two SPRD Boosters, two S-24 rockets and 14 S-3K rockets. You have a choice of installing one of the two sets of rockets for the wing pylons and a choice of the fuel tanks or boosters for the fuselage belly pylons. Detail is ok but nothing special.
The canopy is one piece, quite thin but not that clear. Slightly raised panel lines make up the frames.

instructions, markings and decals

The instructions are printed on A4 size sheets and have computer generated pictures for the build sequnce. The build steps can get a little complicated due to the large number of symbols for part numbers, painting internal parts, applying decals, and various other options. The build is complete in 20 steps, with a few of the steps having a large number of parts to attach.
Internal colours are given for the Humbrol range of paints.
A seperate painting and decal guide, called "The scheme of colouring" is supplied and is in full colour with top, bottom and both side profiles.
One of the pages features the stencil guide, of which there are quite a few, and on the most part are tiny.
The decals come on two sheets with the unit markings on one with the smaller sheet having the stencils and cockpit decals.
The decals are in register, with good colour and seem to have a little carrier film around them. I believe Modelsvit have printed them themselves. Having never used these decals before I don't know what they are like to apply.
Markings for the aircraft are -
USSR Airforce, 963rd Aviation Regiment Training Yeisky VVAUL, Taganrog, 1981.
A Cechoslavakian Air Force machine.
A Indian Air Force machine USSR Airforce, Yeiskoe VVAUL, Budennovsk, 1979.
The Indian and one of the Soviet aircraft are in natural metal, with the other two in green/sand upppers with blue lowers.