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TopDrawings 70 – Petlyakov Pe-2 (9788366148208) Kagero Publishing via Casemate UK The Pe-2 was designed by Vladimir Petlyakov while he languished in prison for supposedly delaying another project, and turned out to be a useful light bomber that lent itself well to adaptation for different tasks and structural improvement, so became a mainstay of the Soviet Air Force. It had some advanced features for a pre-war design, with a pair of turbocharged engines and pressurised cockpit amongst other novelties for the time. We have kits in the smaller scales from a few manufacturers due to the relative obscurity of the type outside of the former Soviet Union, but we certainly have more now than we used to from the likes of Zvezda (with Eduard reboxing) in 1:48, Hobby Boss in 1:72 to name two of the more modern toolings. The TopDrawings series majors on scale plans, which is the main thrust, but also includes a little background information, some pertinent profiles, and often a bonus of decals or masks targeted at the subject matter in hand. With this edition, you get a set of canopy masks for both the kits mentioned above. The book is written in English on the left of the page, with Czech on the right, which translates to top and bottom for the captions to the various drawings within. The book itself is bound in a card cover and has 24 pages, with the rear cover devoted to additional profiles of a Series 359 airframe and two loose A3 sheets printed on both sides with plans of the 110th series. The first half of the plans show the variants from the prototype with a full length canopy, Series 110, differing nose glazing types, 83 series, 115th series, 205th series and the 359 series that is shown on the rear cover. After this the example profiles are printed on four pages in colour, augmented by the aforementioned two on the rear cover. After the break there is another set of plans of the Pe-2 with radial engines, the UT trainer variant with two separate cockpits, the upgraded Pe-3 BIS heavy fighter, the Pe-2 fighter, plus more views of the prototype VI-100 and the 110th series. The final three pages show side profiles with the changes between them visible, and the solitary wooden-tailed 115th series picked out with a captioned arrow. Throughout the book, there are numerous smaller diagrams that show cross-sections of the fuselage, landing gear arrangement, prop profiles, canopies, instrument panels, fuel tanks, weapons and engines. Conclusion These books are essential for the modeller that enjoys comparing their models against scale plans, and wants them to be as accurate as possible, with the print a nice bonus that has drama and poignancy at the same time. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Pe-2 UBT Guns (648372) 1:48 Eduard Brassin We reviewed Eduard's reboxing of the Zvezda Pe.2 multi-role aircraft in January of this year here, and this set provides a detail improvement to the rear gunner's turret that sits prominently at the aft end of the canopy and in the belly of the beast pointing rearwards. As usual with Eduard's resin sets, they arrive in the familiar Brassin clamshell box, with the resin parts safely cocooned on dark grey foam inserts, and the instructions sandwiched between the two halves, doubling as the header card. This isn't just a barrel set, but includes the mounting and ammo storage as well, replacing the whole assembly that slots into the turret before closure, and depicting the complex mount and ammo feed from the big box mag that rests above it for the belly gun. There are many resin and Photo-Etch (PE) parts included, and some of them are quite fine, so careful handling is a must. The turret gun retains just the gun mount frame, which is adjusted to fit a more realistic attachment for the gun, and the belly gun uses the kit ammo box as the meat between the PE sandwich to give it improved detail, with both receiving a new resin "dump bag" for the spent brass cartridges from their respective weapons. Overall a substantial improvement in finesse and detail over the kit assemblies. Review sample courtesy of