1:72 MiG-37Sh ‘бе́лая сова́’/ ‘Snowy owl’ (NATO Code: Ferret G)

[Dizzyfugu]

It's a bit inflationary, but it took some time until I had the occasion to take photos of two recent works. So, here's the more fictional one, the 'Snowy Owl'.  


1:72 Italieri - MiG-37Sh 'бе́лая сова́'/ 'Snowy owl' (Ferret G); Russian Air Force "305 Grey"; 970th IISAP, Lipetsk, 2001 (Whif/kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Some background:
The MiG-37Sh (Sh = shturmovik) was a heavily modified version of the basic MiG-37 stealth attack and reconnaissance plane. Dissatisfaction with the basic MiG-37 sans suffixe in the air-to-ground role, esp. due to its limited internal weapon load and agility at low level of flight, and the need to replace the ageing Russian MiG-27 and early Su-25 fleet after the millennium led to a further and radical development of the basic airframe, while keeping the proven stealth features.

The resulting 'Sh' variant was consequently optimized for all-weather ground attack, with a focus on a high chance of survival in front line service as well as an improved low-level handling and loiter time.


1:72 Italieri - MiG-37Sh 'бе́лая сова́'/ 'Snowy owl' (Ferret G); Russian Air Force "305 Grey"; 970th IISAP, Lipetsk, 2001 (Whif/kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

The 2nd generation 'Sh' prototype flew in summer 1999. A small number of MiG-37Sh has been built since, and in the long line of the MiG-37 development the aircraft received the NATO code 'Ferret G'. Probably 20 of these machines serve alongside 1st generation versions of the MiG-37. Lack of funds seems to hamper large-scale production, even though the type already proved its effectiveness, e .g. in the Chechen conflict (see below).


1:72 Italieri - MiG-37Sh 'бе́лая сова́'/ 'Snowy owl' (Ferret G); Russian Air Force "305 Grey"; 970th IISAP, Lipetsk, 2001 (Whif/kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Most visible difference of the new 'Sh' to its predecessors was a completely new wing. This new design featured a bigger wing span, lower sweep, a much higher aspect ration and also a much bigger profile. This new wings, together with the type's typical medium grey RAM surface coating, quickly earned it the nickname 'бе́лая сова́ ' ('Snowy owl').
The new wings' anhedral had to be strongly reduced and the bigger internal wing space not only allowed additional fuel tanks to be integrated.


1:72 Italieri - MiG-37Sh 'бе́лая сова́'/ 'Snowy owl' (Ferret G); Russian Air Force "305 Grey"; 970th IISAP, Lipetsk, 2001 (Whif/kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

The more rigid wing structure now also allowed the optional attachment of two hardpoint per wing for external ordnance loads, the inner ones being able to carry 1.000kg, the outer ones 500kg. The inner pair is 'wet' for PTB-800 drop tanks in ferry configuration, there seems to be no provision for an IFR probe installation. But compared to the 1st generation MiG-37 versions, this new feature considerable expands the offensive potential, esp. for long range deployment or when the plane is simply on a non-stealthy mission.

Another new feature was a downward-sloping nose profile for improved pilot visibility. It also holds the highly effective Kyra-23 laser-television sighting system, which includes an A/W TV camera, a missile guidance antenna and integrates an S-31E2 KOLS, a combined laser rangefinder and IRST. This system more or less replaces an active, radar-based fire control system and is also installed on MiG-29 and Su27 interceptors. It provides exceptional gun-laying accuracy and is used for both air-to-ground guidance as well as to track and combat low-flying planes, helicopters and even cruise missiles.


1:72 Italieri - MiG-37Sh 'бе́лая сова́'/ 'Snowy owl' (Ferret G); Russian Air Force "305 Grey"; 970th IISAP, Lipetsk, 2001 (Whif/kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

The Mig-37Sh's PrNK-23K nav/attack system was borrowed from the sophisticated MiG-27K. It provides automatic flight control, gun firing, and weapons release. The capabilities of the aircraft in the ASM role are being enhanced by the incorporation of modern avionics systems consisting primarily of two Multi-Function Displays (MFDs) Mission and Display Processor (MDP), Sextant Ring Laser Gyros (RLG INSI), combined GPS/GLONASS navigation, HUD with UFCP, Digital Map Generator (DMG), jam-resistant Secured Communication, stand-by UHF communication, data link and a comprehensive Electronic Warfare (EW) Suite. A mission planning and retrieval facility, VTR and HUD Camera are also fitted.


1:72 Italieri - MiG-37Sh 'бе́лая сова́'/ 'Snowy owl' (Ferret G); Russian Air Force "305 Grey"; 970th IISAP, Lipetsk, 2001 (Whif/kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

The aircraft retains stand-by (conventional) instrumentation, including artificial horizon, altimeter and airspeed indicator, to cater for the failure of HUD and the MFDs. The modified plane also received much-improved electronic and Infra red countermeasure (ECM & IRCM) systems, including an SPO-15 radar homing & warning system (RHAWS) and an SO-69 identification-friend-or-foe (IFF) transponder.

Additional kevlar cockpit armour plates were installed. The undercarriage was revised to facilitate operation from poorer-quality airfields. It has a much simpler design and also allows more room under the plane for easier maintenance.


1:72 Italieri - MiG-37Sh 'бе́лая сова́'/ 'Snowy owl' (Ferret G); Russian Air Force "305 Grey"; 970th IISAP, Lipetsk, 2001 (Whif/kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

In order to improve agility, the MiG-37Sh received two Klimov RD-33MK turbofans (the same as used in the MiG-29MK, without afterburner and a special nozzle arrangement which adds cold air for a reduced IR signature) and modified vectored trust nozzles. The latter are still 2D, as featured on the original MiG-37 design, but can now move independently so that roll and slow speed manoeuvrability are considerably enhanced – the MiG-37Sh is not solely a ground attack aircraft, it is also supposed to take on attack helicopters and even cruise missiles near ground level. Rumor has it that its agility is immense, largely limited by the g-forces the pilot can accept.

With the emphasis on strike and low-level attack requirements, a fixed single-barreled GSh-30-1 30mm cannon with 300 rounds was installed in a shallow fairing under the plane's starboard belly. It features a closable nozzle, so that the radar and also IR signature of the weapon is minimized – it is only exposed when actually made ready to fire.


1:72 Italieri - MiG-37Sh 'бе́лая сова́'/ 'Snowy owl' (Ferret G); Russian Air Force "305 Grey"; 970th IISAP, Lipetsk, 2001 (Whif/kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Compared to the MiG-37 sand suffix, provisions were made to mount more weapons, mainly missiles and precision-guided munitions against ground targets. Self defence and limited air-to-air capability was also on the designers' agenda. Therefore, and thanks to the bigger fuel capacitiy in the bigger wing tanks, two additional internal weapon bays could be incorporated into the lower wing roots.
These are to store a single, compact R-60/AA-8 "Aphid" IR missile each, leaving the original weapon bays free for offensive armament like a single KAB-500 guided bomb in each of them.


1:72 Italieri - MiG-37Sh 'бе́лая сова́'/ 'Snowy owl' (Ferret G); Russian Air Force "305 Grey"; 970th IISAP, Lipetsk, 2001 (Whif/kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Overall, the offensive potential of the 'Sh' variant increased tremendously compared to the 1st generation MiG-37 types: thanks to its uprated engines and the new wings with greater lift, the MiG-37Sh can carry up to 3 tons of weaponry, about 40% more than the original MiG-37 sans suffix. It is able to deliver strikes with much more accuracy, in all weather conditions and with a much higher chance of survivability in hostile environment.  


1:72 Italieri - MiG-37Sh 'бе́лая сова́'/ 'Snowy owl' (Ferret G); Russian Air Force "305 Grey"; 970th IISAP, Lipetsk, 2001 (Whif/kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

MiG-37 actively took part in the Russian Army's operations against rebels in the Chechen Republic. In December 2000, a pair of early production MiG-37Sh from Lipetsk-based 970 IISAP (Instructional & Test Composite Air Regiment) arrived to the area, accompanied by several Su-25, to provide reconnaissance and target designation in the conflict theatre.

The MiG-37Sh were quickly thrown into action: On 6 January 2001, the MiG-37Sh used live weapons against a real enemy for the first time. On 9 January, at the entry into a mountain gorge in the area of a settlement named Komsomolskoye, a single MiG-37Sh used Kh-29L missiles to destroy a warehouse full of ammunition belonging to Chechen insurgents.

On 6 February, in the forest-covered mountain area to the south of the village of Tsentoroj, the strike group composed of two MiG-37Sh and two Su-25 discovered and, from a range of 3 km, destroyed a fortified camp of insurgents using KAB-500L guided bombs.

14 February, saw a similar strike group carrying out a "hunting" mission in the area of Oak-Yurt and Hatun. In difficult conditions, pilots found and destroyed eight targets. These missions tested the type's airframe, as well as its on-board systems and armament. Its successful performance in difficult, mountainous terrain once again confirmed the usefulness of the many advanced features of the MiG-37Sh design, including its power and manoeuvrability.


1:72 Italieri - MiG-37Sh 'бе́лая сова́'/ 'Snowy owl' (Ferret G); Russian Air Force "305 Grey"; 970th IISAP, Lipetsk, 2001 (Whif/kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

It is unclear if the type has been used in combat since, e .g. in Afghanistan. It has participated in a number of exercises, though, including "Boundary 2004" which took place on the Edelweiss mountain range in Kyrgyzstan, in August 2004. Once again the "Ferret G" demonstrated its advantages by operating at a high altitude and an air temperature of more than 30 °C. Among other sorties, a single MiG-37Sh provided cover for the landing of troops, taking down two Ka-50 helicopters in mock air combat, and then successfully worked on ground targets using its precision weapons as well as unguided rockets.



General characteristics:
Crew: 1
Length: 53 ft 6 in (16.34 m)
Wingspan: 43 ft 1 1/2 in (13.18 m)
Height: 10 ft 9 in (3,24m)
Empty weight: 24.250 lbs (11.000 kg)
Loaded weight: 33.730 lbs (15.300 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 39,690 lbs (18.000 kg)

Performance:
Maximum speed: 610 mph (980 km/h)
Range: 1.030 miles (1.650 km)
Service ceiling: 39.400 ft (12.000 m)
Rate of climb: 12.960 ft/min (72 m/s)
Engine: 2 Klimov RD-33MK turbofans w/o afterburner rated at 53.0 kN (11,900 lbs.), fitted with 2D vectored thrust nozzles

Armament:
1× GSh-30-1 30mm cannon with 300 rounds
Four internal weapon bays (two bays for a single AA-8 "Aphid" or a twin 'Igla' light air-to-air missile starter; two bays in tandem fore and aft the main gear wells for various weapons incl. guided missiles and bombs).
Four external hard points (2 under each inner wing); total internal and external weapon ordnance 3.000kg.
Five UV-26 dispensers in the tail section (w. 120 chaff/flare cartridges in each pod)



The kit and its assembly:
I guess that everyone who is into whiffy model is familiar with Italieri's fantasy MiG-37B kit from 1988, and I already built 3 of them since then.

Nevertheless, with my recent interest in Soviet/Russian air industries I felt an itch to build another (better) one, this time with major modifications. Esp. the stubby wings and the senselessly wide and low MiG-23-style landing gear had always been points that did not truly convince me. And since I had such a kit in 1:72th scale in store, I took action.


1:72 Italeri - MiG-37Sh 'бе́лая сова́'/ 'Snowy owl' (Ferret G); (Whif/kit conversion) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Italeri - MiG-37Sh 'бе́лая сова́'/ 'Snowy owl' (Ferret G); (Whif/kit conversion) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Surprisingly, you find a lot of individual conversions of the 'Ferret E' kit in the Internt. Many are colourful, but few are IMHO convincing as a complete work, lacking thought about the plane's concept or mission. So, here's my take on it, the 'Snowy Owl' version. All in all I wanted to present a realistic and optimized ground attack plane, based on the original and pretty interesting MiG-37 design, pushing my personal "Sh" version towards Su-25, MiG-27 and even Su-24 ground attack aircraft.


1:72 Italeri - MiG-37Sh 'бе́лая сова́'/ 'Snowy owl' (Ferret G); (Whif/kit conversion) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Italeri - MiG-37Sh 'бе́лая сова́'/ 'Snowy owl' (Ferret G); (Whif/kit conversion) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Most obvious change concerns the wings. These were taken from an F-117 donation kit, a horrible thing (probably the early Revell kit) that a friend gave me. Installing them to the fuselage was tough, since they are much thicker than the original, stubby wing spades!

A new landing gear, borrowed from an F-18, and a new nose section (built from scratch & putty and inspired by the installation on MiG-27 fighter bombers) were further changes. Other modifications include additional weapon bays for short range AAMs under the wing gloves à la F-22, the narrow gun fairing nect to the front wheel well and the auxiliary air intake doors on the upper side.


1:72 Italeri - MiG-37Sh 'бе́лая сова́'/ 'Snowy owl' (Ferret G); (Whif/kit conversion) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Italeri - MiG-37Sh 'бе́лая сова́'/ 'Snowy owl' (Ferret G); (Whif/kit conversion) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

The engine exhaust area has been modified, since I wanted to get away with the original tabletops that are supposed to be vectored nozzles(?). I added some side panels, made from styrene sheet, as well as a central divider, which now offers space for some warning sensors and chaff dispensers. The vectored nozzles were re-built from the original parts as well as styrrene profiles.


1:72 Italeri - MiG-37Sh 'бе́лая сова́'/ 'Snowy owl' (Ferret G); (Whif/kit conversion) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Minor changes were made to several antennae and sensors all around the plane. The cockpit was left more or less OOB – it is pretty detailed, and together with the landing gear one of the original kit's highlights. I just added a Matchbox pilot figure and some details behind the ejection seat.

The weapons come from the scrap box: the AA-8's belong to the ESCI Ka-34 whif Hokum helicopter, the guided bombs are fantasy weapons built from scratch.


Painting/Finish:
A tough task from a creative point of view. I neither wanted the stereo-typical all-black stealth look, nor a Russian tactical paint scheme (even though the latter would have been appropriate for the aircraft's role).
A Flanker scheme or even the garish Su-34 'Greenbottle Fly' look also did not seem appropriate, as well as the Su-24-inspired light grey/white livery which is suggested in the OOB kit.

Since I wanted something murky and mysterious, still with a kind of prototype look, I finally settled on two simple grey tones: a uniform medium grey for the upper sides (Testors 2059, 'Dark Sea Grey') and for a twist, a dark grey for the undersides (Testors 1592, RAL 7021 'Schwarzgrau').
I find that such simple designs make a whif plane much more realistic than flamboyant colours or weird paint schemes – leave this to "real" planes in whiff guises. Another factor for this all-grey livery is that I wanted to use the (many) light grey OOB stencil decals, making them stand subtly out against the darker shades below. Lighter shades of grey and ochre were used for antennae, di-electric covers and the wings' leading edges.


1:72 Italeri - MiG-37Sh 'бе́лая сова́'/ 'Snowy owl' (Ferret G); (Whif/kit conversion) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Italeri - MiG-37Sh 'бе́лая сова́'/ 'Snowy owl' (Ferret G); (Whif/kit conversion) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

The cockpit was painted in typical Russian Blue-Green, air intakes, air brakes and the landing gear with its wells were, after consulting pictures of modern Russian fighters, painted in Barley Grey (Humbrol 167).

The wheels received dark green disks (Humbrol 149), the bomb/missile bays were - as a contrast - painted in a chromate primer color (a mix of Humbrol 81 and 225, Olive Yellow and Mid-Stone), a detail I found on photographs of Tu-95 and Tu160 interiors. Looks weird, but: why not?


1:72 Italeri - MiG-37Sh 'бе́лая сова́'/ 'Snowy owl' (Ferret G); (Whif/kit conversion) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Italeri - MiG-37Sh 'бе́лая сова́'/ 'Snowy owl' (Ferret G); (Whif/kit conversion) - WiP by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Unfortunately, the final matte varnish ended in a minor disaster: I used a water-based, acryllic matt varnish (for a VERY matt finish), but it reacted with both some decals and the enamel paint, not certain why? Probably not enough stirring, and the Begemot decals seem to be very sensitive to humidity and setting solution.

Originally, the machine sported neat low-viz Russian insignia (just red outlines for the stars, featured e .g. on Suchoi's T-50/PAK FA prototype) from a Begemot decal sheet (called "Demo Flankers" – it is massive, featuring decals for almost 20 prototypes with all markings and the respective paint schemes in a booklet!). They looked great, but crincled under the matt varnish and had to be scraped off, together with some other Begemot decals.


1:72 Italieri - MiG-37Sh 'бе́лая сова́'/ 'Snowy owl' (Ferret G); Russian Air Force "305 Grey"; 970th IISAP, Lipetsk, 2001 (Whif/kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Italieri - MiG-37Sh 'бе́лая сова́'/ 'Snowy owl' (Ferret G); Russian Air Force "305 Grey"; 970th IISAP, Lipetsk, 2001 (Whif/kit conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Hence, the final finish of the kit is not the best, I tried to save as much as possible. Since I did not want to invest into another aftermarket decal sheet, I used the light and dark red, opaque Red Stars without outlines from the original Italeri decal sheet. With the light and dark grey as backgorund the result is O.K., but I had another outcome envisaged.



All in all, though, a small but catchy project. Not as good as planned, but an attempt to make more of the wacky Italeri MiG-37 than just another black piece of charcoal.  

[dwomby]

Nice work!   Great story and terrific modelling.

Much more exciting than the standard Mig-31!   

David

[pedrospe]

That is a magnificent model,thanks for sharing.



       best regards

       Pedro

[Dizzyfugu]

Thank you! 

[PR19_Kit]

Wowee!  

And how long did THAT take you build Thomas?

[Hobbes]

Very nice! I like the photos with the hangar in the background, very realistic. Good backstory too.

[Dizzyfugu]

Wowee!  

And how long did THAT take you build Thomas?

A little longer...  Needed more cosmetics and putty work than the J-7FS, probably three weeks from sprue to pictures.

Again, many thanks to everyone!

[Devilfish]

Love it!!  I have one on the shelf of doom and can't get the urge to finish it!!

The "vectored thrust" is actually fixed heat baffles to hide the engine exhaust. 

[Tophe]

Congratulations for this model!
For the Russian name, it sounds as Belaya Sova, but letters é and а́ do not belong to the Russian language I learned at school. Some top secret dialect?

[sletch]

Hi,

Nicely done  Dizzyfugu 

Regards / Frederic