1/72 Sukhoi Su-6 M-71 Engine

The Sukhoi Su-6 was designed as a competitor to the famous Il-2 Shturmovik, however due to teething troubles with the untested engine, plus the fact that the Il-2 was ready first, it never saw widespread service. The original design was a single-seat aircraft with two 23mm cannon and 2 7.62mm machine guns. No defensive armament was fitted, as it was expected that fighters flying top cover would take care of that problem. In 1942, there was a competition for a two-seat "shturmovik", and Sukhoi responded by redesigning the Su-6 with a back-seater operating a 12.7mm machine gun. Also, the wing cannons were changed to 37mm units. Although superior in most respects to the Il-2m3, Ilyushin won the contract as the Il-2 was already in mass production and the changes needed to the m3 version could be carried out on the already moving assembly line.

Valom's kit represents this second version, the two-seat Su-6. The kit includes a resin engine and photoetched parts for the cockpit panels, belts, bomb fins and gear doors. Two vacuformed canopies are included. Panel lines are recessed and while not as fine as a Hasegawa kit's, will look fine under a coat of paint. This kit will require some modeling skills, but nothing beyond the abilities of those with a couple of kits under their belt. It will, however, give you the chance to put something "different" on the shelf, and fill a gap in any collection of Russian or ground-attack planes.