The Sukhoi Su-34 Fullback is the latest publication from Duke Hawkins Books and is the twenty-ninth volume of a series of books that they have recently published highlighting modern aircraft. This series got its start with The Sepecat Jaguar in July 2017 and has been quite successful. There is also a special limited edition on the Belgian Air Force F-16 and on the Juan Carlos I Aircraft Carrier. This series of publications fall under the name of Duke Hawkins, but it is not clear exactly who Duke Hawkins is. If you check out other retail sites on this series, you can find Robert Pied and Nicolas Deboeck listed as authors, but there is not much additional information on them. One of the bylines goes like this:

So, there I was, looking for a book that could show me the Jaguar in every detail. I didn’t find it. I found a couple of photos online, but I wasn’t really ecstatic about that. That’s when I decided to make a book for myself. I showed it to a friend and he said: “We should publish it! And make other books too!” And here we are.

HMH Publications are distributed in North America by Casemate Publications.

The Sukhoi Su-34 Fullback is a Soviet Union twin-engine, twin-seat fighter-bomber aircraft that replaced the swing-wing Sukhoi Su-24 Fencer. The first flight was achieved on April 13, 1990 and it officially entered service on March 14, 2014. Seven test aircraft were built followed by 148 production aircraft. Production remains ongoing at a small rate. Russia is currently the sole operator, although Algeria has been negotiating purchase of the export version, the Su-32, since 2012.

This latest photo essay monograph by Robert Pied and Nicolas Deboeckis is printed on high-quality glossy paper. The front cover features a color photograph of a Russian Su-34 behind a refueling tanker. All photographs included in this book were taken before Russia invaded Ukraine. I counted 286 full-color photographs. There is text scattered throughout, but most of it would be considered detailed photo captions.

The Table of Contents includes the following sections:

• Su-34 Fullback Introduction
• Su-34 Fullback Types
• Su-34 Fullback Forward Fuselage [Page 015]
• Su-34 Fullback Canards
• Su-34 Fullback Air Intakes
• Su-34 Fullback Fuselage
• Su-34 Fullback Wings [Page 045]
• Su-34 Fullback Fuselage [Part 2]
• Su-34 Fullback Cockpit
• Su-34 Fullback Ejection Seat [Page 063]
• Su-34 Fullback Fuselage [Part 3]
• Su-34 Fullback Front Landing Gear
• Su-34 Fullback Front Landing Gear Bay
• Landing the Fullback
• Su-34 Fullback Main Landing Gear
• Su-34 Fullback Main Landing Gear Bay
• Su-34 Fullback Horizontal Tails
• Su-34 Fullback Vertical Tail
• Su-34 Fullback Aft Fuselage
• Su-34 Fullback Engine Exhausts [Page 105]
• Loading the Fullback
• Su-34 Fullback Ordinance
• Fullback Action !!! [Page 131]

This book provides amazing source detail in color (286 color photographs!) and is an excellent reference for modelers. The detailed captions pick out plenty of small details for the modeler as you can see from the sample of five pages included with this review. Page 15 on the Fullback forward fuselage is a good example where the detail of the 30 mm Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-30-1 autocannon mounted on the starboard side of the aircraft. Wing detail is shown off on Page 45 with close-up photographs of the ECM pod mounted on the starboard wingtip. The Fullback’s wings are nearly identical to the wings used on the Sukhoi Su-27. The Su-34 Fullback uses the Zvezda K-36 ejection seat which can be seen on Page 63. Most Russian modern jets use variants FM1 engine exhausts are depicted on Page 105. Notable is the afterburner section and its variety of shades of metal from the extreme heat they are exposed to.

This is a fantastic book and a must for anyone waiting to detail up their Su-34 Fullback. I pulled out my two 1/48 scale Su-34 kits [HobbyBoss and Kitty Hawk) just to compare the detail on the kits to these photographs. If you are into 1/72 scale kits, there is a plethora of manufacturers that have dropped kits into the marketplace. Many of these are based on the Italeri new tool that was released in 1995. Trumpeter appears to have the newest tool 1/72 scale kit with a 2017 new tool kit. My thanks to Casemate Publications, HMH Publications and IPMS/USA for the chance to review this great book.

Highly recommended!