Other voices: The Kitty Hawk 1/48 Su-17 and criticism of new kits

Paul Cotcher of Red Star Scale Models is back for another contribution to our Other Voices series. Paul has long had a strong interest in Soviet and Russian subjects, so it's only appropriate that you hear his comments on the new Kitty Hawk Su-17 and the response from rivet counters upon seeing it.

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Fair warning, this article is the modeling equivalent of our parents describing walking to school in the snow, uphill – both ways. Time to practice a little modeling relativism, so if that might push your buttons, you may want to stop reading now. Otherwise, let’s take a trip down memory lane.

In the days before the internet, every trip to the hobby shop could bring a surprise, there were no CAD renderings posted ahead of time, no product listings, no Facebook (or Hyperscale, ARC, or even rec.models.scale). And if the local hobby shop wasn’t good enough, a trip to an out of town hobby shop could bring even more modeling goodness. In the early 90s I frequently travelled to Miami on business, and used those trips to frequent Orange Blossom Hobbies. Not only did I get to meet a bunch of people that I still consider good friends, every trip revealed something new that I had never heard about before. Those of us that have been around the hobby for a while can certainly remember these discoveries.

This specific story, however, relates to a different out of town shop. Traveling to New York City, one would have thought that there would have been a grand and glorious hobby shop somewhere in that metropolis. Ace Hobbies, formerly of mid-town Manhattan provided plenty of exotic products that you wouldn't find elsewhere. Their product listings in the old Military Model Preview magazine would have led one to believe they were much larger. Frequently getting kits, magazines, and supplies from Eastern Europe (apparently from pilots flying in and out of JFK). That was more than enough to get me to visit. Having always been a big fan of modeling Soviet and Russian subjects, anything that was then coming out of newly opened eastern Europe was modeling gold! Alas, Ace Hobbies was far from grand and glorious, it was a dark little place in the shadow of the Empire State Building. Located on the third floor up an elevator that likely later posed as the elevator in the Big Bang Theory, you’d enter the small space to find a pile of kits strewn about in no particular order, save for the few kits on a somewhat center table that were the “new items.”

On a visit one summer day, I recall walking in (after the ride up from Bucks County, PA where I was staying) ready to shuffle through the dusty piles, after all, that’s what was required to really find what was in stock at this (and so many other) shop. What to my amazement should appear but a brand new 1/48 Su-17 from KP. Talk about modeling gold! A 1/48 swing wing Fitter! I was in modeling heaven. Not thinking for a minute, it was going home with me. Of course, they didn’t take credit cards, so I had to ask that they hold it while I went to find an ATM. Long story short (no, Steven Zaloga, you can’t have it), it was on its way home with me.

First inspection showed that it looked a lot like an OEZ kit. Which later was confirmed. OEZ had sold their efforts to KP (Kopro) resulting in their last tooling showing up under a different brand (I guess at one time they had a MiG-23BN planned, too). It was certainly more refined than the Su-7 that I had previously built. Still crude (mid-90s crude) in some areas, but again, better than the other OEZ kits I had in the stash (keep in mind there was no Academy MiG-21 yet, so that included the OEZ MiG-21 kit).

Fast forward a few months, maybe even a year or so, and it was time to build the beast. Likely the release of the Cutting Edge cockpit for the kit was what pushed the project over the Go line. Like most projects it was simple to get the cockpit together, but the small amount of work in to get the resin fit to the kit, and then the fuselage together. After all it was just two fuselage halves, putting those together can’t be hard. But (and here’s the but), from that point in the project fought me every step of the way. Things I remember being difficult include the main wheel well where half the well wall was molded with the upper half of the wing and the other half was molded with the bottom half. Well that will leave a heck of a seam...if the two wheel well halves even matched up. They were so offset that a totally new set of walls had to be fabricated to get one smooth wall all the way around. Seemingly everything had to be trimmed, shimmed, blended, or otherwise spackled in place. Pylons were not molded to one side of the wing or the other, and had to be filled and carefully blended. The large wing fences were split requiring careful filling and sanding. The landing gear was an atrocious approximation of the complex gear on the real aircraft (heck we had new books coming out to show us what these things really looked like). One problem after another. And let me be perfectly clear here, I am only glossing over the bigger issues.

Suffice to say, I fought it all the way to the finish line, and LOVED every minute of it. It was a 1/48 Su-17, and I was darned glad to have one to build. Despite this, I had others in my collection over the years, and even built up a host of additional details to do a “really nice” build. Cutting Edge cockpit, exhaust and outer wings, resin wheels from TallyHo!, a host of etching from Eduard and Part, weapons and pylons from Art Model, and then at the very end came Ciro and their glorious wheel wells (that fixed the out-of-register main wheel well halves). All of this would have made for some spectacular detailing on a kit that was still a bear to build. Project cost was probably in excess of $250 by the time you secured all the add-ons – not to mention some aftermarket decals. Despite many false starts I could never get myself to really engage on the project again. Would get the kit out, tinker a bit and then turn my attention to something newer.

In the two decades, give or take, since I built the first one, I never built a second. I am a far better modeler now then I was then. Better not only in terms of skills, but also better in terms of tools, materials and techniques that have come to light since that time (I mean, Squadron Green putty, am I right?). As we moved into the last four or five years with the onslaught of new 1/48 jet kits, it then became a matter of time before a new Su-17 would present itself and I would be able to build a new and improved Fitter (and the good Lord willing, all the earlier versions too).

So where is this whole thing going Paul, that’s a great story, but what’s your point here?

Thanks for asking! There is most definitely a point. Today, on my front porch, I found laying a brown corrugated box in the characteristic model kit dimensions. In that box, was a brand new 1/48 Kitty Hawk Su-17M3/M4. The kit is GLORIOUS. I’ll have details on my website and Facebook page (probably by the time you read this), but in the interim, let’s talk about why it’s a great kit, and why you almost certainly will have heard otherwise.

From the moment this kit was announced, it was already decried as a piece of garbage. Because of brand alone, it was already doomed in the eyes of many. Doomed not only to those that like to use such statements as “debacle” or “dumpster fire” or even “horribly misshapen monstrosity” to describe flaws in kit designs, but doomed to the people that just read those statements in passing and assume them to be gospel. After all everything you read on the internet is true, right?

Unlike the good old days, we get to carefully monitor each dumpster fire in progress, much like the 24 hour news cycle. Each step of a release is carefully charted on modeling forums everywhere. Announcements are made, CAD renderings are displayed, test shots come out of the mold machines, first kits are assembled, early releases reviewed, and only then does a release get to mass market. By that time the Photoshop and red pen brigade have sliced and diced every nuance of every photo.

So as we proceeded through the release process on the Kitty Hawk Su-17, we see the CAD, and it looks pretty good. We see updated CAD, still pretty darned nice. We see the first test shot build – wow that looks great! We finally see parts on the trees, those looks great, too. Wow, it’s a legit 1/48 Fitter! Yet even with all of this, the haters are still there, and more importantly those that read the hate go into the release expecting it to be wrong and not worth their while.

Here is why the negative point of view, relatively speaking, is incorrect. Let me make this VERY simple:

You ready?

Gonna be hard for some of you to comprehend, but...

IT’S NOT THE OEZ/KP/KOPRO/KARAYA/EDUARD KIT.

End of discussion. Somehow we’ve gotten ourselves into the practice of comparing every kit to some idealized non-existent kit that can never be achieved. Yeah, there’s Tamiya, they seem to be the best blend of engineering and fidelity, but they come at a price, and come out with maybe one subject a year. We need to stop comparing against unrealistic ideals and maybe look at some more realistic comparisons – like what else is out there in the 1/48 Su-17 space? Here’s a clue: It’s that project I so lovingly described above. It was a beast to build, it was full of accuracy issues, and to get it to a similar standard, would cost three to four times as much as this new kit will cost. Fair and full disclosure – there is a Hobby Boss kit coming of the same subject – not sure when, but it’s in their catalog. Maybe that will fix the canopy issue, but from what we’ve seen of early test displays, it’s not as accurate as the Kitty Hawk kit. Beyond that, you’re hoping that somebody else does a better job, but at this point you’re hoping for something that’s FAR down the road, and nothing more than a wish at this point. Kitty Hawk, Hobby Boss, Ideal Future Kit or KP – that’s your choice. Nope, sorry, I forgot one, there's the Evergreen kit too. There's always the Evergreen kit.

So back to that whole modeling relativism thing. We need to stop comparing to the imaginary and start looking at what’s in front of us. Ninety-five percent of kits are really good releases and so far and away better than what has come before. We’ve lost track of that. Every once in a while something really superb comes along, but even then, there’s a flaw somewhere, or the panel lines are too heavy (even if everything else is near perfect), but those releases are the exception and not the rule. Secondly, if you’re really into a given subject, you’re going to be willing to put more effort into the build then somebody only casually interested in the subject. That said with the huge variety of new kits coming, there has to be just about something for everyone at this point.

And yes, I get it, we want to hold the manufacturers to a higher standard. The reason why the kits are so good today is because of the input that has been received by customers over the internet years of modeling.  But while the standard has gotten better and better, the complaining about accuracy issues has not. Endlessly chasing down accuracy issues comes at a price, and in most cases, manufacturers will cut a corner here and there to keep the price of a given release in the reasonable range.

So the next time you want to build a given kit, here are a few pieces of advice:

• Look up hyperbole (see also click bait) in the dictionary, then look at many other pieces of new, postings or similar pieces of content (whether modeling related or not). It will put things in perspective.
• Stop worrying about what’s being said online about a kit or manufacturer. Chances are it’s something you’d never see if a subject matter expert hadn’t pointed it out in the first place.
• If you’ve built a few models, chances are you’ll be able to overcome any fit issue that you come across. Remember these are model kits and not Lego sets. Maybe the whole “kit doesn’t fit” issue is something that I need to address in a separate article (this one is long enough).
• Don’t apologize for what you’re building because somebody said something bad about the manufacturer or the kit. If you like it and had fun with it, a lot more people want to hear about your experience with the kit than with further comparisons to the imaginary ideal. Guaranteed that 90 percent of the folks who view your model, whether online or in person, will be blown away by the effort.
• If you’re into a given subject, build the kit, because chances are a better kit is a lot further out than not. Unless it’s a P-51 or a Tiger tank, there will be another release of one of those in five, four, or three years.

Finally, it’s a hobby, it’s supposed to be fun, build the darned thing and stop worrying about what some expert said.

If I can build and enjoy the KP 1/48 Su-17, then it’s a virtual certainty that you’ll be able to enjoy the Kitty Hawk release. All a matter of perspective.


The opinions expressed above are those of the contributor and not necessarily of Scale Model Soup.

Bachelor build

Our hobby tends to be a solitary one, each of us building models alone in our workshops. We come together only for club meetings or contests. When I lived in Ohio my friends and I would occasionally get together to build models, sharing ideas and techniques, or to simply make modeling a social experience. I don’t have any modeler-friends near my today, so it’s great to see other modelers coming together from time to time.

This article by Craig Gregory originally appeared in the August 2016 issue of The Navigator, the monthly newsletter of IPMS/USA Alamo Squadron. My thanks to its editor, Len Pilhofer, for allowing me to share it with you.

On Saturday, July 9th and Sunday, July 10th I hosted a bachelor build weekend at my house; as my wife was visiting the East Coast with her relatives from China. There were three of us on Saturday; one started a new tank project, another a new aircraft build, while I continued working on an aircraft and a starship projects. I also BBQ hamburgers, while others brought the associated sides.

I joined Alamo Squadron for two reasons: to learn and improve my plastic modeling skills, the other to meet people. I had built a few models after college, but I had no mentors. I did not know about seam repair or how to mask canopies; my work did not meet my expectations. I still continued to grow my stash waiting for that day I would build models again. In 2013, we moved to San Antonio, I decided that this might be the time to start anew with plastic modeling. I was also new to San Antonio and wanted to meet other like-minded people (well like plastic modeling at least.)

I am of the opinion that meeting once a month for a club meeting is not enough. I am always looking for other ways to learn more about our hobby and meet others. Hosting the bachelor build weekend accomplished both goals. There is no better way to learn than to see it happen; and then to do it yourself. And no better activity that to share with others.

What did I learn? I learned that a tank has a hell of a lot more parts that a typical aircraft kit.

The magic of model making

Today I offer the second contribution in a series here on Scale Model Soup that I call "Other Voices." Lee Carnihan offers a look into what makes scale modeling so engaging to us, looking back to the days when toy soldiers and model railroads held a special intrigue in our young minds. As we mature in the hobby and increasingly take our subjects more seriously, I think it's important to not lose sight of the excitement we felt as children,and to indulge in a bit of nostalgia from time to time to reclaim it.

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From childhood to older age, most men never lose their fascination with models – whether it’s constructing, painting, assembling, or even just looking at them. From showpiece Spitfires to ships in bottles to military battle scenes to miniature cars, we can all connect to the enjoyment, relaxation, and craftsmanship of “playing” with models.

Model miniatures have a way of taking us back to early childhood memories, sparking our interest in history and encouraging us to admire the craft of modelmaking. Take a few minutes to look over the paintwork on a miniature vintage car model and it’s likely to evoke some kind of memory – maybe unwrapping your first toy car or playing with it for hours?

Ok, so we’re not all into cars. Maybe you remember the thrill of opening a new Airfix kit, taking out the grey sheets fitted with intricate parts, and carefully examining (or discarding!) the instructions before starting to build. It’s a pastime that has been passed down from generation to generation, regardless of the many digital distractions these days.

Battle it out with military figurines

Military miniatures still have a huge following, and they are just as popular today as they were before the rise of war-based computer games. From classic handcrafted models to brands like Warhammer, military figurines provide endless fun, not just from the design and painting but also from setting them up into battle scenes and bringing the action to life. Don’t tell me you’ve never walked past a Warhammer store without looking twice!

So how come real models are so popular when there are loads of exciting live-action options (World of Warcraft and the like) to distract us fantasy enthusiasts, history buffs, and geeks? The answer is simple. It’s an affordable hobby that can be enjoyed for life and passed down through the generations and never fails to create a welcome sense of nostalgia. 

For the older generation, some who fought in a war or heard family stories of war, painting military models is a way of keeping those memories alive. For others, it’s about remembering the models they played with when they were younger, or enjoying a collection that once belonged to their father or grandfather. As cool as they are, computer games just can’t compete when it comes to delivering a good old dose of nostalgia. 

Building and painting models also offers a sense of accomplishment and gives the painter the freedom to create any scene with his finished models. Computer games are great for immersing yourself in world of adrenaline and explosions, but painting military miniatures is a relaxing exercise in discipline, concentration, and interpretation, allowing the painter to explore the scene in detail and express his creativity – arguably a more rewarding venture.

Design your own model railway

Some people assume that model train sets are only for children under the age of 10. But the detail and artistry that goes into researching the scenes, painting the backdrops, creating the scenery, and building the sets means that model railways are still a hit with people of all ages. And now with Digital Command Controls to operate the set, they’re becoming more impressive than ever. 

One of the largest model railways in existence is at Wunderland in Hamburg, Germany, spanning more than four square kilometres. Building it required more than a few pairs of hands and some serious elbow grease. It took 500,000 hours to create! Running through model villages and rolling hills, it’s like the Holy Grail for train enthusiasts, inspiring many men to rush out and upgrade their own kits with realistic details and add-ons.

For most of us, playing with model railways is a way to relieve stress, indulge our interest in trains, and flex some creative and problem-solving skills. 

“You can begin by researching the different railways and trains, and then of course a great deal of skill goes into the planning,” says Mike Hughes, marketing director of the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA). “Woodworking skills are required to lay the track and then electrical skills to successfully install all the wiring. You improve your artistic and modelling skills as you build as well.”

Good for the Mind

Working with models is a real craft, whether you’re putting them together or painting them. It requires concentration and creativity, which in turn helps you relax. The stress-relieving benefits of creativity has been widely acknowledged by scientists and mental health therapists – most recently with the sustained popularity of adult colouring books, which dominated Amazon’s bestseller book list last year. 

If you like the idea of building your own model but don’t think your creative skills are quite up to scratch or can’t seem to find quiet time alone, then perhaps an out-the-box model is a better option. You can find all sorts of valuable models, gadgets and toys, like remote-controlled drones, helicopters, planes or boats, by rummaging around jumble sales or specialist shops. 

You never know, you might discover your new hobby!

Other voices: IPMS/USA 2015 National Convention after action report

I've long intended to open Scale Model Soup to other modelers who have something to share, and Paul Cotcher of Red Star Scale Models is the first to step up.

There's always a great deal of conversation following the IPMS Nats, and this year has been no different. Maybe you've seen the conversations on the IPMS/USA Forums, or maybe you've been quietly talking about the Nats among your friends, but either way there's no shortage of ideas about how to improve or change an event that for many of us is Christmas in July...or August, as the case may be. Paul has some interesting thoughts and may offer more over the coming weeks.

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By most standard measures this year's IPMS/USA National Convention was an outstanding show. As has been the pattern for the other shows that Columbus has hosted in recent history (1997, 2009), this was a big show with over 2400 models on display, which ranks this show in the top five all time (it's worth noting the three of the five top spots all belong to Columbus). There was a wide variety of vendors available to cater to almost any modeling taste. From my own perspective as a vendor, my sales were excellent, so the show was more than commercially successful. In talking with other vendors it seemed like they were having successful shows as well. With all the success, good sales, and lots of models on display, there are still issues that must be discussed, and problems that are only there IF you can look beyond the normal IPMS measures of success.

First, this should not be taken as a critique of T.J. and the local crew in Columbus. They were always on point, always quick to solve a problem, and seemed to have things well in control. In the areas that they were able to control, they did a great job! The failings of this year's show all center around the facility and scheduling. Knowing this year's vendor coordinator, and having a few offline discussions with him, as well as asking around with the Hyatt staff, it seems pretty clear that the issues were not the direct result of the Columbus staff.

Around a month before the show several vendors found out that there were scheduling conflicts with the rooms, particularly at setup. Those of us in the Union room already knew (it was written in our contract) that we would have to close early on Saturday. Now, we found out that we could not setup until 1:00 on Wednesday, with the show opening at 2:00. As a vendor, I cannot stress how important setup time is. Some of us have elaborate displays that are time consuming to setup. It is difficult enough to get this done without many distractions. However, once customers are in the room the problem compounds quickly.  Imagine trying to get everything organized at the same time customers are excitedly looking through new product or trying to make purchases. So with only an hour of setup time available, we had an extremely stressful setup schedule. The norm that we've come to expect is that vendor setup runs from at least 9:00 in the morning (sometimes even as early as 6:00) until a mid-afternoon open time. This allows everything to be ready so that the vendors are immediately ready to serve the excited customers that pour in quickly after the doors open. Those of us vendors in the Union room were not even the most impacted. The room across the hall (which I believe was the Franklin room) was not available for setup until 6:00 pm, four hours after the show opened. So those vendors not only didn't have long for setup, but they also lost valuable sales time (effectively their Wednesday was setup only with no sales).

While reviewing options with the Hyatt staff and having a little time to kill Wednesday morning we found out a few key things. Most importantly, the group that had the spaces before us (CCH) had contracted with the Hyatt two and a half years before the Columbus team contracted for their space. So where IPMS would have contracted for that space in 2013 after winning the bid for the convention, the CCH convention would have contracted in 2010 or 2011. This is an important fact to consider when we think about planning our conventions. The lead time for planning a space is far longer than the normal two year bid cycle that we are on. I'll speak to that in more detail in the next article.

As our vendor coordinator suggested, once setup was completed, the show would run just fine, and that in fact was the case -- until it was time to clear out on Saturday, and then there were a whole new set of issues to deal with.

Sometime Friday evening we started noticing a lot more pink around the hotels and convention space, and by Saturday they started to arrive en masse. 31 is a multi-level marketing type of organization selling handbags and similar merchandise, structured much like Mary Kay (anyone remember that in Dallas in 2000?). By Saturday the "pink people" were hard to miss, they were EVERYWHERE, and IPMS was suddenly the small fish in the pond. Once they arrived, their security and the Columbus police cordoned off all the normal loading zones for their busses. For those of us vendors trying to load out on Saturday, the places to load our vehicles were severely restricted. Even the very helpful Hyatt staff that was working with carts to help us load out quickly were at a loss as to where to put our vehicles while we spent the few minutes moving stuff from the carts to the vehicles. I personally was redirected several blocks to the other side of the convention center (a path that was not obvious) only to find the 31 busses on the other side as well -- and very rude security people (working for 31) that would not allow us to load.

While this is normal logistics for a large convention, it underscores an important point for IPMS, that we are a relatively small group. Yes, we need a lot of space for vendors and for the model displays, but, in terms of the number of people, we are a small group. In talking to the 31 folks (that weren't their rude security people) we found out that they were expecting anywhere from 45 to 65,000 attendees for their convention, and that the convention didn't officially start until Monday (mind you this is still Saturday afternoon). By Saturday night, area restaurants had a 2 plus hour wait and elevators had half hour lines to get back to our rooms.

The most important lesson learned here is that those planning future IPMS events need to be keenly aware of conventions taking place before and after our event, and when those attendees are leaving from the show prior or arriving for the show following, and need to be utterly clear of our contract start and stop times, such that the hosting convention center does not try to fill in a meeting right before or after ours by crowding it in before/after our start/stop time.

Finally Saturday night and the awards banquet arrived - and as such we found out why we had to leave the Union room early. It had to be converted from our vendor room into the banquet room, as there were no other available spaces for the awards banquet to be held (again, the entire town was consumed by the 31 show). The available space was BARELY adequate for the banquet tables and had next to no space for those that invariably arrive afterwards for the awards show. The same hallway where we had unloaded our vendor goods were now filled with chairs trying to peek through the doors at the screens.

Those highlight some of the issues faced by this year's convention -- again, none were really the fault of the Columbus team planning the show. The issues were largely minor in nature (save possibly for the scheduling conflicts for vendor setup). I'm certain there are people complaining far more loudly, as there always seem to be about IPMS shows after they complete. Hopefully most can read this as an objective look at the issues that we faced.

It is important to consider these scheduling and space issues when we next begin to look at how to restructure the IPMS show to help in the planning, logistics and operations of the show that would put a near permanent end to these kinds of problems, not to mention the far more minor registration and similar operational issues that seem to plague us each year.


The opinions expressed above are those of the contributor and not necessarily of Scale Model Soup.