Finnish Sukhoi Su-27

[nighthunter]

Instead of buying F/A-18s the Finnish Air Force chooses to go with the Soviet Su-27, due to improved relations with Soviet Russia.

[Dizzyfugu]

PantherG once posted a nice splinter cammo for potential Finnish Su-27...!

[Snowtrooper]

Watching this with great interest.

Su-27 would have been a better contender in the 1992 fighter deal than MiG-29, due to the latter's rather short range and limited capabilities - this being the turn of the decade, it would have been 29A, not even 29S/SE/SM and so it was unceremoniously dropped from the contest in December 1990 (request for tenders were sent to everyone else in March) - unofficial test flights (which confirmed the opinion) were performed in 1991 when Hornet had already been included as a (favourable) late contender. Of course, at that point the Soviet Union was already in its death throes, making any Soviet deal completely uncertain so even if Su-27 had been offered, it would have probably received a similar treatment anyway (what with the intention to adapt the fighters to multirole tasks instead of pure interception at some point, nevermind purchasing hardware with an unknown amount of backdoors from the only potential opponent if there was no political need...)

So a Su-27 deal would require a very specific time window - from its introduction in 1985 to a point where Finnish government no longer sees Finlandization absolutely necessary (1990 when a request for tender was not even sent for MiG). The fighter deal was authorized in the Parliament in December 1988 with the original intention to replace MiG-21's with 29's and Drakens with something from the West, so conceivably a quickly-made extremely favourable offer (read: sold at zero margin if necessary) of 27's instead of 29's (perhaps to sway the Finnish attitudes to more favourable in general - plus it would not be unheard of, at the time 21F had also been the best Soviets had to offer) at that point would have worked - bearing in mind that the only price informally stated (as no official tender was sent) for the 29 was actually higher than what the F/A-18C/D sold for...

Of course, in whiffworld the Soviet Union (and Finnish foreign policy of the time) might drag on for a bit longer, expanding the window of opportunity.

[nighthunter]

PantherG once posted a nice splinter cammo for potential Finnish Su-27...!

That's exactly where I was headed with my build! Spoilers!

[Dizzyfugu]

He he. Looking forward to the colors. 

[nighthunter]

So, work has started:

[nighthunter]

Well, work is nearly done on the old girl, construction, anyway. A lot of greenstuff work still ahead as parts fit is atrocious, *Shudders*. The F-16 from the same box was a delight to assemble. Anywho, work carries on. Wish me luck!

[JasonW]

Well, work is nearly done on the old girl, construction, anyway. A lot of greenstuff work still ahead as parts fit is atrocious, *Shudders*. The F-16 from the same box was a delight to assemble. Anywho, work carries on. Wish me luck!

Which kit did you use?

[nighthunter]

A 1/144 Dragon Air Superiority F-16C vs Su-27 kit # 4004

[nighthunter]

More progress today. Paint mostly done. Almost time for a gloss coat and decals.

This was the inspired scheme and proof that Russians also had a splinter scheme, that I was originally going to follow then gave up

[nighthunter]

Okay, here's the status so far:

[DogfighterZen]

I like that camo and it looks good on the Flanker, nice work.

[nighthunter]

Work has stalled. Trying to figure out alt user for 1941 Model T-34/76 to use as an alternate build for the GB.

[NARSES2]

Work has stalled. Trying to figure out alt user for 1941 Model T-34/76 to use as an alternate build for the GB.

How about Turkey ? Maybe the Soviet's handed some over in say 1943 as a sweetener ? The Turks got aircraft from both sides so why not some armour as well ?

[nighthunter]

Meh, not a fan of the Turks, a holdover from watching Gallipoli, lol. So many of my "whiff preferred" countries used the T-34, it's hard to find one that didn't, lol! Thinking Mercs in China, at this point, supplied by the Soviets to counter Japan.