ICM

1/72 Su-2 WWII Soviet Light Bomber "Ivanov"

Kit Number 72081

Reviewed By Howie Belkin, #16

58 white plastic, 10 clear plastic parts, waterslide decals for either of 2 aircraft.

MSRP: $11.98 USD

Sukhoi makes some of today’s most advanced jet fighter-bombers, with roots tracing back to Pavel Sukhoi’s first truly independent design, the ground-attack Su-2 (odd numbers were assigned to fighters; even numbers to bombers).  It was the Soviet’s shturmovik until the Ilyushin Il-2 began to replace it in 1942 (all Russian assault aircraft were called shturmoviki).  The Su-2 heroically fought the Nazi invasion, often without fighter cover, but was not destined to have the fame of its successor, the Il-2, which was built in more numbers than any other aircraft!  The bravery of its pilots was exemplified by a female, Senior Lieutenant Yekaterina Zelenko who was awarded the Order of the Red Banner and the Order of Lenin.  She was also awarded Russia’s highest award, the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union, after she and her gunner exhausted all their ammo downing two ME-109Fs; he parachuted to safety as ordered while she died performing a “karan” – ramming a third 109!!  The Su-1 by the way, was a single engine single seat fighter looking something like a Mig-3 – Interavia makes a 1/72 kit of it.

The Su-2 fuselage was of wooden monocoque construction while the wings had steel spars with dural ribs and skinning.  Behind the pilot sat a navigator/gunner with a 7.62 mm ShKAS machine gun mounted in a manually operated MV-5 turret at the end of a long canopy.  The rear seater could fly the plane with dual controls (add instruments to the panel in front of part C32) and could open a set of "trap doors" to fire underneath the aircraft.  There are clear plastic “windows” under the aircraft but a small porthole on either side of the lower fuselage should be drilled out and filled with Crystal Clear to be as accurate as the illustrations.  The Su-2 was armed with four ShKAS guns in the wings and had an internal bomb bay that accommodated four 100kg bombs.  You can build the bomb bay open - there’s plenty of detail inside the doors but a couple of minor sinkholes will have to be filled inside the bay.  Two bombs are provided (250kg?) with very thin fins.  Su-2s could also carry externally mounted stores ranging from two 250kg bombs to ten RS-82 rockets.  I believe this is the M-88 radial version of the three Su-2 variants.

This is my first ICM kit and I was impressed.  The transparent parts are thin and crystal clear.  There are tons of finely engraved rivets and panel lines where they belong.  Don’t be alarmed by the lack of rivets and few panel lines on the fuselage as it was wood-laminate – there weren’t any more than shown!  The control surfaces are smooth fabric covered.  Remember that ICM’s got it right if you weather your model – don’t have metal worn through where there wasn’t any!  The cockpit has a properly shaped and scale appearance control stick, side consoles with raised detail, a separate bucket and ribbed seatback.  There’s floor detail in addition to the molded rudder pedals.  The instrument panel has fine raised detail instead of a flat decal.  The multi-part turret requires care; the ShKAS is great but you can add an aftermarket gun sight; the turtledeck can be assembled up or down.  The engine’s two banks of detailed cylinders look great, and the mounting frame for the cowl is superb.  There’s nice detail inside the doors but you have to cut them apart if you model your landing gear down; the landing gear legs are detailed and have very thin struts.

If you had any hesitation to build an Eastern European model, have no fear with the Ukraine’s ICM Su-2.  I recommend this kit if you can handle some minor fit and putty effort, especially the wing/fuselage joint.  I painted mine AII Blue undersides and interior, AII Green and Black upper.  I sprinkled table salt on water spots on the upper surfaces.  When dry, I airbrushed a coat of white, and when dry removed the salt to get the look of weathered winter wash.  The small decal sheet is accurate with black outlined stars which are very thin yet opaque, perfectly registered, and went on without problem.  I added scrap decal lightning bolts and numbers on the tail to represent an aircraft similar to Hero of the Soviet Union V.I. Yanitskiy’s 52 Bomb Aviation Regiment, Stalingrad Oct. 1942.  This airplane played as significant and ill-fated role in the early years of WWII much as the Fairey Battle in France or (though not a torpedo or dive bomber) the TBD Devastator.  And it was the first success in the long Sukhoi line.  You can see the ICM line at www.icm.net.ua distributed by Italeri www.italeri.com - their kits are available just about everywhere!

References:

The two marking schemes provided are pretty straightforward but I found some real colorful schemes at Hobbyvista and history at Centennial of Flight.

A good but rare book for reference is Sukhoi Su-2 History at Short-Range Bomber by Dmitri Khazanov & Nikolai Gordyukov.  I also referred to “A Sukhoi Decade” in Flying Review International Feb 1966 and, a must for WWII Russian modelers: Soviet Air Force Fighter Colours 1941-1945 by Eik Pilawskii.

Information, images, and all other items placed electronically on this site are the intellectual property of IPMS/USA ®.