Ukrainian manufacturer Modelsvit has been building its Fitter family over several years now. The latest to arrive is the Su-17M4R reconnaissance variant, reviewed by Stu Fone.
Sukhoi’s Su-17 Fitter was a mainstay of Warsaw Pact nations during the Cold War, and was exported widely to Soviet 'clients'. It filled a similar role to the RAF’s ground-attack and reconnaissance Phantoms and Jaguars, and – especially in later guise – could carry a broad range of guided/unguided bombs, rockets, missiles and specialist electronic countermeasures/reconnaissance pods. The Fitter can be a source of confusion, due to export machines having a different designation (Su-22), but the read-across between variants is the same, so the Su-22M4 is the export version of the Su-17M4. Surprisingly, though, it’s not been covered well by kit manufacturers, with just Bilek and Pantera’s offerings (re-packed by multiple companies) previously available in 1/72 scale, although KP (re-boxed by many firms), Hobby Boss and Kitty Hawk all released 1/48 products.
Technically, Modelsvit’s kits could be categorised as being limited-run, as production numbers are smaller than, say, Airfix or Eduard, but the detail and refinement – along with the use of locating pins…
