SB-2. A tale of two Tus...

[AdrianMF]

I’ve had a FROG Katyushka in my stash for ages. One of those kits you get out periodically, take a look and put back again quickly!

I do like the work tray box though - I wonder why they never caught on?

 

ICM do an SB-2. I was struck by the kit engineering and bought one:

 

The idea of this build is to make the ICM kit and see if I can’t salvage the FROG one alongside it. The ICM is one of their older kits - it isn’t as sharp as their Po-2 but it’s still very impressive. The wings and ailerons take a bit of work to get sorted (on the right):

 

Here’s what made me get one. You start building the airframe with the centre section:

 

Then add more bits:

And suddenly you’ve got a detailed cockpit, bomb bay and wheel wells:

 

Although I suspect that there are some throttles and other bits needed in the cockpit. The nose and tail follow the same pattern of building up separately before sticking it all together.

[Stew Dapple]

Good start Adrian, I've always liked the SB-2, it puts me in mind of the Blenheim in some ways  The consensus seems to suggest that the ICM kit is perhaps not the easiest of kits to build, so best of luck  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[Pete in Lincs]

Another Frog kit that I never got around to buying. I'l tag along in my fur hat. (it's chilly this morning).

The tray boxes never sat flat unless weighted down with paint bottles (Yep, Airfix paint in those days, a bit cheaper than Humbrol tins).

They were good for building on the dining room table, and scooping everything inside when when the dinner call came though.

Hopefully all the painted bits were nearly dry at that stage!

[TheBaron]

8 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

Although I suspect that there are some throttles and other bits needed in the cockpit.

The kind of wild speculation that we've come to know and love in your builds Adrian.

[AdrianMF]

5 hours ago, Stew Dapple said:

puts me in mind of the Blenheim in some ways

Sadly, it was very like the Blenheim - brilliant in the late 1930s, a death trap by the early 1940s..

 

5 hours ago, Stew Dapple said:

ICM kit is perhaps not the easiest of kits to build

Genuinely, one of the things that stopped me building the Airfix Whitley was everyone saying how well it fitted! I’ve got my sandpaper at the ready and an excuse if it looks a bit wonky at the end

 

1 hour ago, Pete in Lincs said:

They were good for building on the dining room table, and scooping everything inside when when the dinner call came though.

You have nailed it for eight year old me Pete! Although in my parents’ house, boys with enamel on their fingers weren’t allowed past the kitchen...

 

57 minutes ago, TheBaron said:

wild speculation

Actually it looks like the inside of a skip behind a plumbers merchants. The perils of t’interweb.

[Marklo]

I’m pretty sure I had the frog kit as a kid but I don’t remember if I ever completed it. Looking at the ICM sprues  I kept wondering where the fuselage had gone, interesting engineering.

 

ICMs looking good so far, but you know we’re all here to see you make something of the Frog  

Edited February 28, 2021 by Marklo

[AdrianMF]

A bit of washy goodness to bring out the detail:

 

And then start assembling the front half of the cockpit on the back of the nose section:

 

I've spent half the day whittling all the parts and it’s very satisfying watching them suddenly fit together when you remove the right little lump of plastic.

 

2 hours ago, Marklo said:

we’re all here to see you make something of the Frog

The Frog one will get a turn when I’ve got this fuselage together - I need to see what I’ve built!
 

 

[AdrianMF]

Interior complete and waiting for the wash to dry before assembling:

 

I can add the control column later - it will be less faff than trying to get it past the instrument panel when I glue the nose on.

 

While I am waiting I am going to see if I can get brushed feathered edges with Mig Ammo paints...

[AdrianMF]

Hmmm, the FROG fuselage seems to be a little longer than the ICM:

[AdrianMF]

Well, I wrestled the ICM fuselage together (it fits nicely) and did a comparison to the FROG. Side view:

 

Definitely a family resemblance! Plan view:

 
 

Oh dear! The FROG kit starts off wide and gets even wider by the time it gets to the rear gunner’s canopy.

 

I am reviewing my options but I definitely see a very large file in my future...

 

[JWM]

Adrian, very nice joke!  .

Apart it, I am a bit surprised that Frog looks not that much differently from ICM, it means that the drawings for SB-2 in Frog company were perhaps  more accurate than those for Miles Master or Baltimore ...(for example) .

In my school days I did Frog SB-2 is SCW colors (this was mine first machine from Spain). Some time ago I have pimped it a bit up together with second my school time SCW subject - the Do 17. They are here, so they are very old builds repainted (and with filled gaps) nostalgic for me:

So I look with interest that you took those two SB kits. In stash I have the ICM kit along with MPM kit of variant with M103 engines. Maybe one I will turn to a trainer, Tupolev USB (what a name, making search in net very difficult...) 

Regards

J-W

 

[AdrianMF]

Apart from the cowlings and the length of the nose, I don’t think the Baltimore is too bad.

The SB-2 is pretty good for a 1969 Western model of a WW2 Soviet aeroplane of which there were no surviving airframes. 

 

Regards,

Adrian

[AdrianMF]

Well, I didn’t use a file in the end but I hacked out the observer’s compartment:

 

And then cut a thin wedge so I can squeeze the fuselage together to make the observer’s compartment narrower:

That’s how much I removed:

 

I’ve put alternating plastic tabs across the bottom to replace the now-excised locating pins and I will leave it to dry until morning.

[Stew Dapple]

Ah now that's the kind of plastic-mangling we expected to see  

 

The ICM's coming along nicely, and even the Frog doesn't look too bad, as you note, especially given the limited research opportunities of the time.

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[AdrianMF]

4 hours ago, Stew Dapple said:

Ah now that's the kind of plastic-mangling we expected to see  

Er, thanks Stew! Sometimes I feel like I got into modelling wanting to play Hamlet, but people only  turn up to watch when I’m playing a psycho Killer Klown in a B-movie!

 

Still, I’m having fun! Tabs trimmed and clamps applied, and both cockpits are now 10mm wide:

(Rear cockpit was 13mm before)

 

I will be putting a bent wire tie in where the clamp is to take some of the stress out of the joint, and I might put a wing spar in to help with alignment.

 

The nose is still 2mm too wide, more than the thickness of the plastic, but I might be able to take some width out of the bottom join and then sand the shoulders where the plastic is conveniently thicker. It’s almost like FROG planned it that way!

 

 

[CedB]

I'm in! Can't miss some Adrian kit bashing  

[AdrianMF]

6 hours ago, CedB said:

Can't miss some Adrian kit bashing

There’s gonna be plenty to go round on this one...

 

I sanded down the front some more and opened up the cockpit by thinning the sills to preserve the 10mm width and now the nose is the right width too:

 

This also sorts out the sweep back of the wings because wing root is parallel to the centreline again. And I’ve seen worse fuselage underside seams straight out of the box:

 

Although they are raised and will get lost in the sanding frenzy, the FROG fuselage panel lines seem very accurate.

[EdIt: I’ve just realised that I can simply shorten the nose by 2mm or so to make the FROG agree with the ICM and that will remove the taper under the fuselage and give me the same height opening.]

[roginoz]

That's some pretty effective and successful plastic mangling, @AdrianMF, the two fuzzes could have come from the same kit....... with a bit of imagination.......

[Kari Lumppio]

Hello!

 

This is highly interesting for me. A guy I trust very much in these things says the Frog SB is quite accurate in shape and dimensions. Apparently they had Czechoslovakian factory drawings etc. available back then via some East European modellers. Caveat, just a rumour.

 

Not all modern Russian SB drawings are correct even if they look good.

 

Cheers,

Kari

[AdrianMF]

5 hours ago, Kari Lumppio said:

Frog SB is quite accurate

It doesn’t look too bad at all. I will take a couple of mm off the nose but otherwise all I’ve done is reduce the width a bit.

 

Anyhow, I’ve added enough detail to keep me happy through a canopy, so the next stage will be paint and closing the fuselage:

[edit*2: I think post image is back]

[bigbadbadge]

Good to see one of your Frog builds they are always fascinating.

Great work so far.

Chris 

[AdrianMF]

8 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

one of your Frog builds

At least this time I’m not building the FROG one and leaving the nice kit in the stash!

 

[The Tomohawk Kid]

Frog's best box top art in my opinion.

 

I'll tag along if you don't mind, as I have 5/6 of the ICM SB-2 (in its various guises) on the to do list/pile.

 

Tommo.

[Hamden]

 

An interesting project, not seen too many SB2 built so will follow along if I may/

 

        Stay safe           Roger

[AdrianMF]

 

1 hour ago, The Tomohawk Kid said:

Frog's best box top art in my opinion.

Plenty of action and great composition indeed, but the tanks look like post-war T-54s, not Tigers...

 

1 hour ago, Hamden said:

not seen too many SB2 built

Not FROG’s finest moment in terms of buildability - the range was very variable in that respect.
 

Painted, ready to close up: