Red Star 1/48 Su-9 Fishpot Cockpit First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

Red Star was previewing a few of their new resin detail sets at last year's IPMS Nationals and with the Trumpeter Su-9 and Su-11 Fishpot kits coming in 1/48 (back then), they were pushing to have several detail sets tailored for those kits. Here is one of those detail sets - this is the cockpit for the Sukhoi Su-9 cast in tan resin and consisting of eight parts. As you can see here, this set includes the instrument panel, left and right side consoles/walls, ejection seat, rear cockpit bulkhead, and under-canopy deck.

The instructions walk you through the installation of these parts with the left and right sidewalls also having half of the floor that glues together to form the tub along with the rear bulkhead. I would recommend cleaning and painting the components before gluing the tub together so you can bring out all of those nice details.

Speaking of painting, the instructions advise that the cockpit color is not jade green (turquoise blue-green) as used by the MiG family (true) except that the MiG family didn't use that color either in the days of the Su-9 and Su-11. That cockpit color appeared sometime in the late MiG-21 and MiG-23 production cycles for cockpit colors and that color would appear in earlier MiGs as they went through depot maintenance, but that's a story for another time.

This set will definitely enhance the front office of the Sukhoi delta-winged stove pipe (Su-9). Stop by Red Star website ( www.redstarscalemodels.com) for a look at this and other detail sets produced under their banner. What ever you do, do NOT search for Red Star Productions (ignore the logo) as you may end up in either a pornography website, a branding and marketing website, or even a move production support site.

My sincere thanks to Red Star for this review sample!