J-22 Orao

Litaki, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Graham Carter

The Soko J-22 Orao (Eagle) was developed as a joint Romania-Yugoslavia project for a simple, tough aircraft using local skills, equipment and avionics in the 1970s.

Originally fitted with a pair of license-built RR Viper, subsequent variants have upgraded engines. It was the first indigenous aircraft to break the sound barrier in 1984. It can fulfil several roles such as trainer, close-support, ground attack, PR and limited air-to-air defence.

It was not particularly successful in its tasks and only some 60 were built despite much larger orders.

The break-up of the former Slavic states played havoc with placements and servicing and most were withdrawn from service by 2010. Only Serbia continues to use a small number of them.

A couple of resin kits of this aircraft have been produced by Aeropoxy (!) but this is the first injection moulded plastic rendition of the aeroplane by Litaki, a brand new Ukrainian kit manufacturer. All bodes well for them if this is any indication of future releases.

Litaki's 1/72 scale J-22 Orao arrives in a sturdy top-opening box with a nice rendition of one of the decal choices, a 60th anniversary scheme from 241st Squadron, Serbian AF in 2023.  A framable A4 card copy of the box lid will be a great inclusion for your collection. 

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Thumbnail panels:

The six dark grey sprues are packed in a pair of resealable clear sleeves, with foam inserts to prevent part damage during transport - great idea! There is also a photo-etched fret and the transparencies are in their own sleeve, as are the colourful decals.

There are no locating pins or holes for major parts as this is a short-run kit. Despite this the parts are very well moulded with no flash and excellent surface detail on wings and fuselage.

I’m not a great fan of horizontally-split fuselage halves but it does allow for convenient cockpit and wheel-well insertion. These interior components are well detailed, each being made up of several parts with good details and photo-etch and decals for detailing. The bang seat is very nice - six plastic and six photo-etch parts are used here.

Instrument panel is made-up using plastic, photo-etch and decals.

Most of one sprue is made up of masses of ordnance. Photo-etch is used for much of the interior, wheel well details and for the wing fences and aerials.

Gates are a bit wider than some of the more experienced manufacturers but will create no problems for the average kit builder.

The small clear sprue contains four parts including separate windscreen and canopy.

The instruction booklet includes a nice welcoming note and an outline of the aircraft’s history and use. The A5 stapled booklet gives part map, a paint table for Mr Color, MIG, AK Interactive and Tamiya colours, a weapons diagram, and 48 construction steps. Each of these is clearly set out, well-drawn and with colour notes and hints. A great start for Litaki.

Markings

The colour schemes and decal placement drawing for the six choices occupy four A4 coloured cards, including the stencil locations separately. All aircraft are in disruptive dark green/dark grey over a pale blue scheme, each slightly different, and are as follows:

1. 25103 ‘103’, Yugoslav AF Open Day, Belgrade, 1980,

2. 25102, ‘407’, Yugoslav AF Le Bourget, 1987,

3. 25207, Romanian AF ase Batajnica, 1998,

4. the same aircraft at Constanta in 2006,

5. again the same aircraft in the Serbian AF at Kecskemet in 2007, and 

6. 25175, in the 60th anniversary scheme from 241st Squadron, Serbian AF in 2023, with a great tiger head tail illustration..

The decals are semi-flat and appear to be well printed with good saturation, zero carrier film and the tail tiger is beautifully done. Take care extracting any white markings as the backing sheet is quite pale.

Also take particular care cutting out the myriad stencils they are VERY crowded on the sheet - a little bit more space would make their removal less of a chore.

A mask sheet allows for the canopy panels and wheels to be sprayed cleanly.

In summary, this is an excellent launch kit from this new manufacturer.

If they continue in this manner then we are in a treat.

This kit comes highly recommended to those of you with an interest in the aeroplanes of some of the lesser-known air forces. 

Thanks to Litaki for the sample

Review Text & Images Copyright © 2025 by Graham Carter
Images Copyright © 2025 by Brett Green
Page Created 11 February, 2025
Last updated 11 February, 2025

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