cathasatail Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 Good afternoon everyone! First of all something needs clearing up, the vulcan build will not be proceding in the immediate future due to my realisation that I had made the whole thing wrong, I won't go into detail but I will consider that practice for scratchbuilding :| Anyway, let us begin on this build! I came across this large kit at the Cosford model show, only a few days ago, and as it happens I had purchased a book on the Tupolev Tu-22 "Blinder" as I am very interested in "the other side's" technology and aircraft. While the Tu22 may not have been the most prolific aircraft in the Soviet arsenal-due to the high landing speed and relative obscelence after the development of the Tu22M. So what do I plan to do with this kit? Well, I would like to have one side as a standard "out of the box build" with the other half containing pieces that have been cut away to reveal sections of the engine/payload bay/cockpits and nose section. The key feature that I would love to implement is the downward-firing ejection seats that would be wound up into the cockpits before taking off. I am always open to any suggestions and tips that anyone wants to incorporate into the build and will do my best to try and do this with a decent level of quality although I will apologise if I don't do particular features of this aircraft-I model for my own enjoyment, I am sure you all understand. Alas! Some photos shall follow: The box The book... The downward firing ejector seats-not suited to low level operations More to come! Sam 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robvulcan Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 I will be watching this one , love the blinder and hope to learn more about russian beasts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonehammer Posted April 17, 2015 Share Posted April 17, 2015 Your project sounds interesting. Off the top of my head, the two things to watch out the most on this kit are: the fuselage it's too short, but it's easy to make a plug between the two existing sections, and the engines are too far apart, which is harder to correct. Also the engine pods themselves require some surgery to be faithful to the original. Feel free to make what you want of this info, I'll be following your progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cathasatail Posted April 18, 2015 Author Share Posted April 18, 2015 (edited) Good morning everyone! Thanks for the interest so far Right, task for today is finsihing off the ejection seats and getting some detail into that tiny cockpit. So, what has been done so far? Well, the pretty basic ejectoin seats that came with the kit have been spruced up and painted with a generic Soviet light blue colour which seemed a decent comprimise between the various pictures I have seen (some show dark and some show very light blue). I have added a headrest, arm protectors(not sure...) and foot rests which although I would have loved to make them, the proper bucket shaped foot rests-on this scale working with that kind of detail is a bit beyond my scope. Also note the ejetion handles made from a bit of wire. Ejection seats-to do: To complete these seats I need to get the various straps and webbing added to the seat, as well as picking out the head rest in red and the ejection handles in a standard yellow and black colour. PLEASE NOTE: I know that these seats are not accurate representations of the actual Soviet ejector seats found on the Blinder and I once again apologise-I am doing them as rough approximations. Thanks again, Sam Edited April 18, 2015 by cathasatail 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
general melchett Posted April 18, 2015 Share Posted April 18, 2015 Hi Sam...good luck fella !, well this isn't designed to put you off as such but there really isn't a lot of the kit that's accurate, quite understandable given the limited data available at the time. I have an ongoing project if you're interested that has tried to address the majority of issues. Obviously most people wont choose to do everything I outline here, it's up to you as you must have fun doing it. I'm building mine along with a few very knowledgeable guys over on the Russian Scalemodels.ru site who have a wealth of info on Soviet types, (just so happens to be my favourite Soviet aircraft too, so I want to get it right !), Basically, Nose..... is OK for the K/KD/KPD missile carrying versions, no good for anything else, (Iraq and Libya didn't use this variant so I'm not sure why decals are included for these !)! Cockpit......fiction, in fact the weapons officer sits facing backwards so I scratch-built the whole interior. You can't see a whole lot in there but the guy facing rearwards is quite obvious. Fuselage....... too short between the cockpit and wing leading edge, (sorry can't recall the exact amount in mm's)...There is a set available from L&M Resin that addresses this, along with a new nose for the earlier versions and tail planes with corrected shape. but unfortunately that is slightly too long ! I modified the set a little as it really does improve the look of the kit which just appears way too stubby if left as is, the blinder is a very long slender beast, (kind of like comparing a Boeing 747-SP to a 747-200) Wings...... chord too deep in the inner area, falps missing the two prominent slots, wing tips need the wash out at the tips where the counter weight pods are too small, (I just heated the tips and bent them gently until they conformed).. The boundary layer fences are too narrow, I cut them off and replaced with card. The outer wing area is too wide and needs cutting back quite a bit and new ailerons need to be made up.There is a slight kink in the trailing edge, just make it out in my second photo) Engines....... look better if fitted the other way around to instructions, but still too long and have missing ancillary equipment fairings.I replaced the nozzles with a pair from an F-14. The stub pylons to hold the engines are pure fiction as they were fitted directly to the base of the fin. This area then needs to be filled, I used Milliput shaped to match the contours. Tail planes...incorrect in shape and too wide chord-wise, I just cut the kit part to new shape using plans but L&m do provide replacement parts. Also they are too far forward and need to be set further back. Tail canon...very basic and incorrect in shape so I scratch-built a new one. Tail fin......not too bad but needs re profiling of the fin tip and rudder needs re angling by 4 degrees. Undercarriage......I binned the whole thing and started from scratch using the Equipage rubber wheel and tyre set as the kit ones are way too small and in the wrong place. This is what it looks like at the moment, As I say you probably wont want to go this far with the kit but I hope it gives you and anyone else interested in modelling the blinder some idea of what's involved making it more accurate. Melchie.. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bear Paw Posted April 18, 2015 Share Posted April 18, 2015 Hi Sam, you have a lot of information there it will be interesting to see how you get on with this unusual type. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cathasatail Posted April 18, 2015 Author Share Posted April 18, 2015 (edited) Thanks all! Melchett, I wasn't aware that all variants had a rear facing weapons officer, I was relying upon the image that is in the book (see above) which shows all of the crew positions facing forwards. Just a thought for consideration. Regarding the fuselage being too short-not only am I woefully inexperienced to even attempt that, I am not overly concerned about it-as paraphrased above, I would rather make a model which looks good to my eye, whether or not it matches to the exact dimensions. Sorry. Seat updates to follow this afternoon, By for now! Sam EDIT: Actually, I just read that the rearwards facing ejection seats were fitted to all operational variants apart from the training variant-pictured above :| ooops! Sam Edited April 18, 2015 by cathasatail Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cathasatail Posted April 18, 2015 Author Share Posted April 18, 2015 (edited) Hi all, the seats are coming along and I thought I might just share this with you. Sam Edited April 18, 2015 by cathasatail Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
general melchett Posted April 18, 2015 Share Posted April 18, 2015 No problem Sam, just thought you might be interested in what's what with the kit. Yes, it's a bit misleading with the TU-22U layout being different to accommodate the instructor pilot.........good luck with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cathasatail Posted April 18, 2015 Author Share Posted April 18, 2015 Evening all! The seats are pretty much done. Work so far has progressed on the cockpit details, the nav cockpit front panel has been added and detailed. The "chute" to the cockpit from the entry doors is being worked on and will be detailed as is appropriate. Thanks for your continued interest. Sam 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cathasatail Posted April 19, 2015 Author Share Posted April 19, 2015 Hello everyone! I think that is the cockpit about done, scratchbuilt a decent bit of detail into the 3 crew positions and the only major thing to add is the pilot's yoke and throttles.I have started work on the cutaway engine nacelle with ribbing added to the fore portion of the engine nacelle. The plan from now on is to start on the mai fuselage, gear bays and weapons bays and then the wings and other control surfaces after that. Picture time!!! The cockpit section pretty much done: The pilot's cockpit: The radar operator's (airborne operator) cockpit: Nav/Bombardier's position: Thanks all, Sam 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cathasatail Posted April 20, 2015 Author Share Posted April 20, 2015 (edited) Hullo! Me again :3 Not much work has been done as I had planned due to school constraints-GCSE final exams in 3 weeks time you understand, nevertheless I have got the main radio antenna structure built up and "primed"-with a metallic humbrol paint. A bit of touching up has been done on the main cockpit sections and this should all be done and sealed up, by the very maximum at the end of this week. Picture timmmmeeee!!! A quick view of the radio antenna in-situ: And another: And finally, a quick mock-up of how all of this will look with the canopy on: Thank you for having a look! (Progress could be slow up unitl the second week of May, then building will esentially stop for about 2 months while the exams take place-I appreciate your understanding) Sam Edited April 20, 2015 by cathasatail 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cathasatail Posted May 2, 2015 Author Share Posted May 2, 2015 (edited) Good afternoon all! With only 1 week, 1 day and 7 hours to go until my first exams, this will probably be my last post for about a month and a half. Work has started on the engine, the main fuselage and nose cone has been glued together, the radar that has previously be shown has been mostly completed. Sorry about this update being a bit short. Sam Edited May 2, 2015 by cathasatail 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albatrozen Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 Hi! I hope You find my links usefull http://aviadejavu.ru/Site/Crafts/Craft20616.htm http://aviadejavu.ru/Site/Crafts/Craft20022.htm http://aviadejavu.ru/Site/Crafts/Craft20024.htm http://scalemodels.ru/articles/7177-Trumpeter-1-72-tu-22m3---izkorobka-dlinnoju-v-god.html http://walkarounds.scalemodels.ru/v/walkarounds/avia/after_1950/Tu-22M3_001/ http://walkarounds.scalemodels.ru/v/walkarounds/avia/after_1950/tu-22m0_1989-year/?g2_page=1 With any questions don't hasitate and ask in privat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cathasatail Posted May 2, 2015 Author Share Posted May 2, 2015 Hi! I hope You find my links usefull Oh wow! Thanks very much for those indeed! Just what I needed in terms of the engines Thanks ever so much, Sam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted May 8, 2015 Share Posted May 8, 2015 (edited) I don't know how I missed this build - I also love the looks of this beast, and I have a nearly-completed model that I'm redoing with the L&M resin set. I didn't know about the rearward-facing seat. That may have to stay as is. To be honest, it almost looks that if you could put the engines the other way around, they'd look more accurate. With mine I'd have to pry them off the pylons they are very solidly-glued to, so I'll have to cogitate on that one. The insert and the new nose do greatly improve the look. General, good to see you're doing your magic on this one, and Sam, good luck with your build. Regards, Jason P.S. Re-reading the good General's post, I see he had the same idea about the engines. And since the pylons are rubbish in terms of accuracy, I suppose it's time to get out the old sledgehammer and knock the engines off of them and redo the whole area. Edited May 8, 2015 by Learstang 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cathasatail Posted June 19, 2015 Author Share Posted June 19, 2015 Morning all, About 50 minutes ago I finished my final GCSE exam! Huzzah! So, this means that I now have a fabulous 8 or so weeks in which to model! In other words-work commences on this build once more, which is good for everyone (I can finally get this monstrosity off my shelf and some day hanging from the ceilling and secondly I can spend more time on here). So, work commences henceforth. Sam 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 Good to hear Sam! I shall continue following with interest. Regards, Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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