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Titan Model Kits is reported working on a 1/48th (& 1/32nd ?) Tupolev Tu-22 "Blinder" kit. To be confirmed. Still looking for a reliable source. V.P.

Tupolev Tu-22M2 Backfire-B Anti-Ship Missile Carrier (144001) 1:144 Litaki Model Kit The Tupolev Tu-22M is a Soviet-era supersonic strategic bomber that has been in front line service with many current and former Soviet-aligned nations for over forty years in various guises. It was designed in the 1960s as a replacement to the original Tu-22 bomber, which had been found to be lacking in many areas very early in its career, the replacement design using a variable geometry configuration that was characteristic of that era, with engines buried in the tail to clean-up the aerodynamics. Supersonic speeds were attained thanks to a pair of hugely powerful Kuznetsov NK-22 afterburning turbofans that produced over 48,000lb of thrust each, starting with the M0 prototype and quickly switching to M1, split equally, totalling eighteen airframes. The M2 began production in 1972, with a range of improvements on the base design, bringing area-rule fuselage shaping, brand-new toughened landing gear design, and increasing the crew complement to four, commonly taking on the role of anti-shipping missile carriage due to its immense size and load capacity. Almost sixty of this type rolled off the production lines, some later upgraded with NK-23 engines that gave it extra power and speed, adding the suffix Ye to the designation. The M3 version replaced it on the production line, receiving new NK-25 engines that brought a substantial increase in power, new intakes that resembled those of the F-15 or Tornado, and a new turned-up radome in the nose, housing a new radar and navigation/attack system which significantly enhanced terrain-following capabilities. Top speed was substantially increased to mach 2, and its range was extended by around a third, The M-3 is also capable of deploying the Raduga KH-15 (AS-16 'Kickback') missile. Later attempts at upgrades had varied outcomes, some of them cancelled, while the M3M involved an almost complete rework of the avionics, a few of which have flown as prototypes, with more to come in due course. The Kit This is a new tooling from Litaki Model Kits, and it is some time since there has been a new kit of this type in this scale, a very long time, in fact. Litaki’s designer(s?) have taken great pains to correct the errors and weaknesses of previous kits, and have been forthcoming with details of their progress over recent months, the content of which has been quite impressive. The kit arrives in a reasonably small top-opening box with a painting of a Backfire-B climbing over clear sky and a maritime backdrop, wings spread wide for lower-speed handling. Inside the box are eleven sprues of greenish-grey styrene (think Dora Wings) in three re-sealable bags, a clear sprue, another bag containing two sheets of decals, two sheets of masks, and a Photo-Etch (PE) sheet with many small parts. The 3D printed exhausts are in a Ziploc bag, and the package is completed by the A5 portrait instruction booklet, which has colour covers, a separate A4 sheet for painting and decaling, plus an A4 glossy reproduction of the box art without all the practical clutter of the package, in case you’d like a print for your wall. Detail is excellent, reproducing the fine panel lines seen during development, clever moulding to give the flying surfaces a realistically thin trailing-edge, and clear parts that are delightfully clear, and continue the fine panel lines over the area that will be painted around the clear windscreens. Construction begins with the cockpit, which even at this scale is of a reasonable size, starting with the floor, into which two bulkheads and two centre consoles are inserted. The consoles are blank, but will be almost invisible at this scale, while the two instrument panels have decals to apply that give them detail that will possibly be seen by the avid viewer. The instrument panels are inserted with coamings, including an additional part behind the cockpit’s rear bulkhead, adding four seats into the crew spaces, noting that there are sink-marks in the base cushions that you may wish to fill if you feel they will be seen. The cockpit is trapped between the two forward fuselage halves along with the nose gear bay, which has detail moulded-in, and two inserts, one under the nose, the other behind the cockpit, whilst you are advised to place an undisclosed amount of weight in the nose to prevent a tail-sitter. There is adequate space in the radome, but you could also place more in the space behind the cockpit, which won’t be quite as effective due to the laws of physics, but should move the centre-of-gravity forward if needed. Building the rear fuselage begins with the exhausts, creating two trunks from detailed halves, and gluing them to a bulkhead that has rear fan blades moulded-in, and has PE afterburner rings added beforehand, using super glue (CA) to fix them in place. The intakes inner faces are built from the splitter-plate back, adding intake-ramps and two tapered parts to the top and bottom of both sides before attaching them to the sides of the forward fuselage. The lower fuselage has a pair of three-part main gear bay walls inserted on the inner edges of their cut-outs, completing the walls with four more parts, and fixing a curved section representing the ribbed outer skin of the intake trunk on the inner edges, and gluing an L-shaped section of trunk between the forward edge of the bay and the front of the part, fitting the lower rear fuselage and sides, then installing the exhaust trunking assembly and the upper fuselage, before bringing in the forward fuselage, completing it with a figure-8 fairing and the 3D printed exhaust cans at the rear, fixing those in place with some more CA. The swing-wings are each built from halves, having both the leading- and trailing-edges moulded into the upper halves, inserting the lowers into the remaining space, putting the two tail fin halves and the large fillet together, making up the rear cannon fairing and sensor housings from two halves to be joined to the fin later, and the elevators made from standard halves. The main planes are push-fitted to the pivots in the fuselage wing-glove fairing, trapping them in place with the upper fairing, and installing the outer intakes over the inner sections added earlier. The tail fin has a tip and the rear cannon fairing added, gluing the assembly into position on the raised lines between the exhausts, flipping the model over to add a pair of elevator root fairings underneath, and then slotting the elevators into position on a pair of lugs moulded into the fairings. By now the main gear wells are complete, the roof details supplied by mouldings on the inner face of the upper wing-gloves, painting them a metallic grey, a colour that is used throughout the rest of the landing gear assemblies. The nose gear leg is formed from two-part strut with integral A-frame, adding a retraction jack and detail part before fitting the two-part wheels at each end of the cross-axle. The main gear legs are substantial assemblies that are made from ten parts each, and are handed, with a captive bay door added to the outboard side, and an impressive six wheels fitted as three pairs to each bogey. A fairing is first installed under the wing, inserting the gear leg into the outer end of the bay, with a retraction jack to the inside, then hiding away much of the bay with a closed door that has an L-profile. The nose strut fits into its bay, and is joined by two side doors, plus another in front of the strut, installing a clear sensor bulge into the hole in front of the bay, using the masks to protect the windows during painting, and gluing a PE antenna into a tiny slot underneath, fitting more PE and styrene antennae along the underside of the fuselage, taking note of their orientation as necessary, by referring to the scrap diagram. The M2 was fitted with a twin-cannon remote rear turret under the tail, sliding two barrels into the rounded face, then installing it, a sensor above it, and a three-part assembly below it, referring to the enlarged scrap diagram if you need clarification. Two small blisters are slotted into recesses on the exhaust and tail fairings on both sides, completing work on the aft of the fuselage. The canopy is a large crystal-clear part that includes the windows and surrounding skin of the aircraft to make for a neater join with the fuselage, using the supplied vinyl masks to protect the clear parts during painting. Two small periscope-like fairings and a blade antenna are glued to recesses in the part after the seam has been dealt with, the last parts being PE fences for the ends of the wing glove fairings, following the additional drawings nearby if you need clarification. This photo has been manipulated to show up the cut lines, so it might look a little strange in some respects. There are nine auxiliary blow-in doors on each of the intake fairings that are supplied as decals to apply after painting, but there is also a pair of masks that will let the advanced modeller with steady hands engrave them with a suitably fine and extremely sharp scribing tool. It’s entirely up to you which route you choose, and the masks supplied for the task are of a thicker material that should help prevent mistakes. Weapons The Backfire-B’s raison d'être was as a missile truck to strike at important maritime assets, so the model would be incomplete without something to hang under it. There are two Kh-22 cruise missiles that are carried one under each wing, each one supplied as a body that’s made from two halves, plus forward and aft horizontal fins, an exhaust insert, a shallow forward fin and folded-over rear fin on the ventral spine of the missile, with a frontal view showing the completed assembly in position under the wing. Each one interfaces with the wing via a stubby pylon that has two anti-sway braces fitted in recesses before installation. Two alternative loads are included, the first being a quartet of Kh-15 missiles, the missile body moulded as a complete part, save for a slot that receives the dorsal spine, stabilised by three fins arranged equally around the rear of the missile, and suspended under the aircraft via pylons that differ between inner and outer stations. The final option has two Multiple Ejector Rails (MERs) for nine OFAB-250/270 iron bombs, arranged in three rows of three, supported on the rack by three pairs of adapters on the rails. They mount under the fuselage below the intake trunking, although it’s difficult to see how far back they are from a frontal profile. The back inner page of the instructions gives colour codes for the weapons, plus detail painting tips for the flying surfaces and the tail, including the location of the dielectric panels found in various locations. Markings There are five decal options on the sheet, three in historic Russian colours, and two depicting Ukrainian airframes that served with their Naval Aviation arm. From the box you can build one of the following: S.Nr.5701, Red 71, Ukrainian Naval Aviation, Kulbakino Air Base (Mykolaiv) S.Nr.5804, Red 73, Ukrainian Naval Aviation, Kulbakino Air Base (Mykolaiv) S.Nr.5701, Tail No. 71, Factory No.1357614, training Ukrainian personnel at Kulbakino Air Base (Mykolaiv). Scrapped in 2002 S.Nr.5804, Tail No. 73, Factory No.3358244, training Ukrainian personnel at Kulbakino Air Base (Mykolaiv). Scrapped in 2004 Red 70, Soviet Naval Aviation, Mongokhto (Kamenny Ruchey) Air Base. Crashed into sea killing crew in 1989 Decals are by Decograph, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion This new mould is excellent, and deservedly knocks the admittedly ancient competition in this scale into the proverbial cocked hat. It’s well-detailed, well-researched, and has been well-moulded, with comprehensive instructions that speak to the care that’s been lavished on the project. Very highly recommended. Available from UK importers, H G Hannants Ltd Review sample courtesy of

AWM Aviation Models (link) has just released 1/144th Tupolev Tu-22 "Blinder" polyurethan resin kits. Sources: http://www.pas-decals.ru/forum/barakholka/6029-modeli-awm-prodazha?start=27#36793 http://scalemodels.ru/news/14936-tu-22ud-i-tu-22kdm-1-144-AWM.html - ref. 40022 - Tupolev Tu-22KD/KDM "Blinder-B" - ref. - Tupolev Tu-22UD "Blinder-D" V.P.

Thanks Maks MikroMir is reported working on a 1/144 Tupolev Tu-22KD "Blinder-B" kit - ref. Source: http://www.greenmats.club/topic/967-анонсы-моделей-авиации-mikromir-официальная-тема-производителя/?do=findComment&comment=62413 3D render V.P.

Trumpeter is to release in 2018-2019 a 1/72nd Tu-22K "Blinder-B" kit - ref. 01695 Source: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=910355559123038&set=a.910355045789756 V.P.

With apologies to everyone in the other two GBs I'm currently involved in (KUTA and Grumman), this is the one I've really been looking forward to since the Airfix GB finished. I think it's because the three builds I've been contemplating - a Neptune MR.1, SAAF Turbo Dakota, and this - are all exactly the models I want to be building right now. So I'm starting with this one and may well get onto one of the other two before this GB ends. In any case, my plan is to do all three within the next 12 months, since they all fit multiple GBs in the next year. Which one to start with was a bit of a dilemma for a while, until I realised that the Tu-22KD fits the bill. I've been wanting to build this kit since I bought it, but also been procrastinating over it, and this GB is the kick I needed. So it's the Tu-22 first. It's not the most obvious maritime patrol aircraft to choose. But the Tu-22KD's main role was anti-shipping warfare - in WWIII its role would have been to attack carrier groups with the Kh-22 (aka AS-4 Kitchen) missile, with either a conventional or nuclear warhead (it occurs to me this could have been a good fit for the proposed armageddon GB) and in the cold war they apparently regularly practiced targeting carrier groups in the North Sea. It also ticks a lot of my boxes - a big, idiosyncratic Soviet design, and also one of those kind of cold war designs that seems to represent a transition between the early jets and modern aviation. Here's the kit, from Modelsvit in 1/72: It's pretty typical of a modern A Model/Modelsvit kit - quite nicely detailed, some nice surface detail in particular, and most definitely short run (e.g. no locating pins and a fuselage which comes broken down into more pieces than the likes of Airfix would have. But the likes of Airfix would never give us one of these). According to the box top there are 320 parts for the aircraft and 28 for the Kh-22, which I think comes with a trolley to display it separately but mine will be semi-recessed under the fuselage (a bit like a Soviet Blue Steel). And here's the aftermarket stuff I'm going to use - Barracudacast wheels and afterburners, Amigo resin intakes, decals from Authentic Decals (sadly the most interesting markings are for other versions though), and New Ware masks: Can't wait to get into it - roll on tomorrow!

Hello mates, not only old stuff no... this is my big new Shilo, quite hard work... but i love her...started on April 16, 2016, finished on October 17, 2017, 170 hrs...she is quite pimped and the real coke bottle took 40 hrs alone i added one picture, PJ Productions navigator forgot his scratchbuilt briefcase, omeio checkov, therefore hatch open by eduard crew chief, second Kh-22 under belly is a pimped Trumpeter Tu-22M3 one Cheers, Tom

Here's what you get for your money...... I have made a start on the ejection seats - 3 of them, with 13 parts per seat..... They are very accurate - and capture the look of the KT-? seats fitted to the Blinder..... Its just a pity they can't be seen once the fuselage is assembled.... (the seat looks better than this - honest! - the camera shows all the faults.) Here's a photo I took at Engels in 2007 - showing how good Modelsvit's seat is... A couple more photos of the instruction sheet here. Ken

Not as good a finish as Alesha's model - but I have finally finished.... my 1/72 scale Tu-22KD Blinder from the Ukrainian firm of Modelsvit. I've replaced the kit tail cannon with a tailcone mounting the SPS-100 'Reseda' active jamming system..... I also cut the bottom fuselage panel to show the three downward opening doors for the ejection seats (which are in the kit) I added straps and altered the footrests (the pilots and WSO seats are slightly different to the Navigators kit seat - thanks Gabor). The dragon decal is from Begemot (thanks Kotey!) - and I changed the bort number to 'Red 61' to reflect the tailcone changes and markings. The kit comes complete with a Kh-22 missile and its handling dolly..... The kit is a typical short-run kit and I had a few issues with the fully-detailed interior (which can't be seen on the finished model!) - but Modelsvit are to be commended for producing a scale model of such an important and iconic Soviet warplane. More photos and WIP pics here. WIP Thread is here Ken

The build is available to view in Work in Progress if anyone's interested, Esci get something of a bad reputation due to accuracy issues but aside from the decals( which were pretty atrotious) it went together nicely and I'm happy with how it turned out. There is a far better Modelsvit kit on the market which I may be doing at some point in the future. Sprayed with Humbrol 11 Silver and painted with tamiya acrylics, panel line wash done with Humbrol black enamel wash and metals weathered with humbrol washes and acrylics. Hope you like it, I'm certainly pleased with the result. Next build will probably be another 1/72 bomber. -Flash

So with my Vietnam GB Phantom finished I've waded into my next project. Recently I've been getting into Soviet aviation and combined it with my interest in Cold War Bombers with this Tu22, which I purchased on here about a month ago. I'm quite interested in the aircraft, which has got a futuristic, unusual look to it quite in contrast to earlier designs and so have decided to go ahead with it. I will be building it in the Soviet metallic finish (as opposed to the desert camo Libyan/Iraqi schemes which are in the Revell kit of the aircraft). Here's the kit and what I've done so far: Not sure why the word Bomber is in inverted commas: Unboxing: Decals a bit minimalist: So I made a start by assembling the wings and the tailfins: Required a fair bit of cleaning up where the mould attachments were on the leading edges but with clippers and a file you can hardly notice tailfins were a lot neater and the wings are nicely detailed- the sticking-out bits (to use the technical term) make it look a bit different to the usual more empty wings that you see. Lots of clamps used and some tamiya tape applied to the wing fuel tanks (I think they are) to keep them together while they're drying. Overall it's come together quite neatly though. I also assembled the cockpit which I will be painting in the Soviet cockpit green, and then primed it: The dashboards- not massively detailed but then again it's quite literally physically impossible to see when the aircraft is closed up as far as I can tell anyway (certainly in the case of the rear one): These will be black and I'll use some drybrushing and so on to bring out the dials, should look ok. I went out to buy some green paint for the cockpit today after doing this- it's not exactly a common color to have in your inventory. Now, back to it! -Flash (P.S. General 'The Legend' Melchett, famous bomber maestro, is as many of you know a great fan and expert of the Tu22 (why I don't know, it's a right ugly aircraft- JOKING!) so hopefully he'll be having a look at some point and if that doesn't put me under pressure I don't know what will)