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1/48 Petlyakov Pe-2: Soviet pawn star


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Well, after that I was distracted by a kit on the shelf of impending doom: a Bf110G-2 which I have now finished. In celebration, I went to the St Ives Model Show today and was, as usual, stunned at some of the displays. The Trumpeter German railway locomotives were well represented, including one enormous display incorporating the locomotive, some flak guns, two tanks on low-loaders, and a railway gun! There were a lot of splendid AFVs with crew, too, and my son has asked me to build him a tank, so I guess that's what's going to be up next. I did get some random "bargains", including my first ever airliner (S&M's Vickers Viscount), two ancient Tamiya 1/100 kits (a Beagle and an A-6 Intruder), and a Trumpeter 1/72 Beagle for good measure.

But with all that excitement out of the way, it's back to the bomb bay. Getting the four bombs to fit was rather tricky, and it then turns out that the upper two are invisible once built.

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And with the fuselage closed up to test the fit.

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Not much to see for an evening's work! I used Humbrol paint on the bombs, and it seems to have a slightly glossy finish. I'll decal and then try out some of the new matt varnish that I acquired today (Mig's Lucky Varnish, which has had some mixed reviews).

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Work on the interior has continued, and I think it's finally there. Here's the starboard cockpit:

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And I decided to add some of Eduard's finest. This is the Brassin set that covers the two UBT MGs in the dorsal and ventral positions:

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I am particularly looking forward to parts R15, which look easy to handle...

 

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  • amblypygid changed the title to 1/48 Petlyakov Pe-2: Soviet pawn star

Thanks, Christer. Having tested the fuselage fit (not quite as good as it was before I started putting plastic inside, but not bad), the cockpit area looks like it'll be quite visible, so I'm going to put some washes down on that area to bring out the detail a bit more. It's certainly busy, and all those little red levers make it quite colourful. I'm going to leave the final construction as late as possible, and those Brassin guns are going to be just about the last sub-assembly to go in. Last night I went back to the wings and started on the u/c. That looks sturdy enough to withstand handling during painting, so I'm less worried about that than the guns.

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It's taken a while to get an even half-acceptable photo of the main u/c assembly. Turns out that my phone camera focusses best when there's an orange background (better than yellow or white, anyway). I guess contrast may play a role? Anyway, here it is. I painted the main grey base using Humbrol acrylics, which seem to have a satin sheen that I don't like much.

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Looks a lot better in r/l at a quarter of the size, but it gives an idea of how nicely Zvezda have moulded this (and the engineering makes it a cinch to get everything in the right position and aligned.)

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Rather tardy in catching up with progress here Chris but a pleasure delayed in all truth looking at the quality of your work. Lovely results on a well-formed kit by all accounts!

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11 hours ago, TheBaron said:

Rather tardy in catching up with progress here Chris but a pleasure delayed in all truth looking at the quality of your work. Lovely results on a well-formed kit by all accounts!

Thanks, El Barone! I am deeply impressed by the quality of the kit, esp. given the price. I love assembling, and this kit is one big assembly process. Certainly makes me keen to build the other Zvezda moulds in my stash (all of which are Revell reboxes), and I'm eyeing up some of their Lavochkin fighters in 1/48.

 

 

8 hours ago, Gorby said:

I might be a little late with this, but it is possible to fit the main undercarriage at the end - which makes painting the aircraft easier.

I think it is, and I'm pretty sure I've read reviews where the reviewer has done that. However, I don't think it'll be too hard to mask around.

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I''m hedging my bets, or guaranteeing that I'm doing some of it the hard way. The port wing has the u/c installed, but I'll put the u/c in the starboard wing after paint.  What else? I finally sealed the fuselage halves, at which point parts started falling out of the cockpit. Pretty close to paint, now, just some exterior detail to add and the remaining transparencies. The starboard wing is glued on, but the port wing is not as yet.

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That last photo reminded me that fitting the engine was one of the most difficult and frustrating modelling jobs I have every done. Don't want to worry you, it may have been that I was having an 'off' day.

That machine gun looks very vulnerable.

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11 hours ago, Gorby said:

That last photo reminded me that fitting the engine was one of the most difficult and frustrating modelling jobs I have every done. Don't want to worry you, it may have been that I was having an 'off' day.

 

I've test-fitted it, Gorby; you're right: it's not the easiest fit. It goes into the nacelle, but I'm not yet sure whether it goes far enough to fit the frame. It'll take a while to get that far; once I've finished masking the transparencies, it'll go into the airbrushing queue, but a/b time will be scarce for the next few weeks, I think.

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