Su 25K Sea Frogfoot - finished

[buzzbomb]

I did a demo on an old model at my model club.. I pulled an old Hobbycraft Frogfoot from the Bone yard.
After the demo I was about to bin it and went... hold on a mo!!!!

I had seen musings in the Navalise area on the group build and thought this has merit.

What if the Soviet Navy wanted a dedicated beach assault aircraft, why not use the existing Frogfoot. The SU25M was already used on the Soviet Carriers for Naval Hack work, so the single seat version would work as well methinks.. now where is my saw

First I lopped off the wings, this was not going to be a mega conversion, just a simple folding wings thing as the aircraft is already emminently suitable for naval work already.

Then I decided I had cut too far in and replaced some of the wing stub back to enable the inner pylons and drop tanks to be left intact on the aircraft.

So after all that I went to work, mostly just fixing up the gloopy paint and the glaring things from this ancient kit



Next is painting and fixing the after paint type things such as stores and arrestor hook.

Hmm... colours.. perhaps greys I am seeing

Cheers

[Shasper]

This aint too much of a stretch, the Russian navy already use a few Su-25UBs modded with a tailhook for basic carrier training.

[upnorth]

Nice. Though I'd have put the wing fold a bit further out to reduce the height of the wingtips when folded.

[buzzbomb]

Nice. Though I'd have put the wing fold a bit further out to reduce the height of the wingtips when folded.

good point.

I changed my mind at the beginning I was going to do the fold lengthways down the fuselage, but trying to be clever and cutting around the flaps meant that could not happen... great aero engineer I am.

Hmmm.. perhaps a tip fold inwards might look ok.. complicated.. but ok

Oh and the Su25UB... that's the one I was thinking of.. the two seater jobby in the nifty grey and blue scheme... thanks Shasper

[nev]

Nice work - how about Indian Navy, just to be different but still plausible?

[upnorth]

Nice. Though I'd have put the wing fold a bit further out to reduce the height of the wingtips when folded.

good point.

I changed my mind at the beginning I was going to do the fold lengthways down the fuselage, but trying to be clever and cutting around the flaps meant that could not happen... great aero engineer I am.

Hmmm.. perhaps a tip fold inwards might look ok.. complicated.. but ok

Personally, I'd have tried for the crossover fold that you see in the S-3 Viking:

web photo

I think it's really the ideal way to deal with longer wings like that on a carrier, but you might have to jostle the pylons a bit to get enough room to get the hinges positioned properly.

However, as you've already made your decision about the hinges and gotten a start on them, how about folding the tips outwards. It would give you that "deck of cards" fold that the Fairey Gannet was known for, so certainly not something implausible or without precedent:


web photo

[Spey_Phantom]

or you can just go with the basic SU-25UTG wingfold 

[Captain Canada]

Nice save !

I wouldn't worry to much about the wing fold, those things sit so low to the ground anyway....

[Sauragnmon]

Pretty sweet looking navalized Frogfoot - the high fold looks great in my opinion.  The only other potential problem would be the clearance to the hangar roof, but hey, crap happens.  I can't help but think a roll and fold would have looked pretty cool, but as you said, you were worried about cutting around the lines and making it look pretty.

Tempts me to do a navalized Thunderbolt with Roll and Fold wings...

[BlackOps]

Looking good. I love folded wings of all sorts.    The fact it's a Frogfoot makes it even cooler.

[Joe C-P]

Can I put in a second vote for the Indian Navy?

[buzzbomb]

Sorry for the delay.. I get easily sidetracked on other projects.



So taking on board all the great feedback about wing folds and colour marking options.. including the Indian Idea which I just loved...
.. I give you the Su25K BARAC (Spear in Hindi) of the Indian Navy


Found some Indian markings in the spares box off the original Matchbox Sea Harrier.. and let me say, 25 year old Matchbox decals ain't that flash, but I got them on


Added an additional wing fold to lower the overall height



... and to give it continuity with some existing Indian Navy aircraft I found some Harrier tanks.


It is not a great build as there are a lot of things such as some seams that could have been attended to, but decided to just get it finished

Thanks Brian

[Sisko]

Nice one, looks great!!!

[Green Dragon]

Great way to recycle a wreck Brian! Looks really good in the Indian colours.

Paul Harrison

[Weaver]

That's a real looker - nice one!