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Mark's TU-95MS "Bear H"


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When I think of Wings and things of the Red Star the first thing that comes into my head is the Cold War and Tu-95 Bears probing Western Airspace with NATO fighters flying close escort.

With that in mind I would like to build a diorama showing a TU-95MS "Bear H" flying and being escorted by a US Navy F-14.

To save space I'm going to build them in 1:144 scale. The Bear will be the Trumpeter and the F-14 will be Revell.

Pics to follow once I've sorted my computer out.

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Great idea Mark

except of course it should be an 892NAS Phantom scrambled from Ark Royal /Leuchars :lol:

Love the Bear so looking forward to this project :D

will nicely complement your Gulf War build

If you know of a 1:144 RN Kit I'd prefer to do that or I was considering a Tornado F-3 but thought that might be a little late for the time period in question.

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OK I've got the Bear Kit now so here are the sprue shots.

There are quite a few parts, especially for a kit in this scale. I'm not usually a fan of trumpeters bix art but I really like this one.

One thing that really strikes me is the long slender fuselage. See how long it isa before I break off that in flight refueling probe!

Bear001.jpg

Bear002.jpg

Bear003.jpg

Bear004.jpg

Bear005.jpg

Bear006.jpg

I''ve started the F-14 as well so I've snipped off the parts of the sprue and placed them together for a size comparison.

Bear007.jpg

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Mark: Your project will be great.... the two a/c flying togeather is SO Cold War....

Cheers,

ggc

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This should look great! But I think you should ditch the Turkey & go for a Tonka!! F-3's entered service in 1986, so it'd be well within the rules!

The Trumpy kit looks very nice in your pics. I was undecided whether to pick one up in Telford. Wish I had now!!

Looking forward to progress (whichever fighter you go with!)

Keef

(PS don't forget the Ruskie gunner in the rear turret holding up the latest copy of Playboy! - they always seemed to have one in the photos brought back after the intercepts!)

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  • 4 weeks later...
This should look great! But I think you should ditch the Turkey & go for a Tonka!! F-3's entered service in 1986, so it'd be well within the rules!

The Trumpy kit looks very nice in your pics. I was undecided whether to pick one up in Telford. Wish I had now!!

Looking forward to progress (whichever fighter you go with!)

Keef

(PS don't forget the Ruskie gunner in the rear turret holding up the latest copy of Playboy! - they always seemed to have one in the photos brought back after the intercepts!)

I may do that. I've started the F-14 now but if I get time I might do a Tonka and have them interchangable. I have the Dragon F.3 with the 56 Sqn Markings so would need to source some earlier markings if I were to do this.

I've made a bit more progress. The F-14 has its main components together now and I have painted the Intakes and interior.

Bear008.jpg

I have assembled the Bear's Wings and painted the interior. I couldn't believe how long the inboard nacelles are. The fit isn't fantastic and some filler and sanding will be required.

Bear010.jpg

Bear009.jpg

I have some prieser figures so I might be able to do a crew.

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  • 4 weeks later...

The F-14 has been assembled now fit has been generally very good with just a little filler here and there on a couple of gaps.

To support the Brass rod stand I drilled a hole in the underside of the F-14 that was larger than required and I inserted a length of plastic tubing for extra support.

This is how a Russian Tail Gunner might see the F-14

Bear011.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

As the deadline approaches I need to do more work on this and actually try and complete a group build on time for once.

Heres some more progress. The Bear Airframe is now complete.

Bear013.jpg

For the side windows I thought they looked a bit thick so to mak it blend in better I decided to stick them in back to front.

Bear012.jpg

I then Sanded them flush with the fuselage and polished them with a flexfile.

Bear014.jpg

The undercarriage doors are not designed to be used in the closed position and will take some filling to get them looking flush.

Bear015.jpg

I've started modiying a couple of Prieser figs for the F-14 Crew. This guy is going to be the F-14 RIO his hands are in the perfct position to be holding up a playboy centrefold to show the Bear crew.

Bear016.jpg

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  • 1 month later...
Hi Mark

any progress on this one or have you been distracted by 1/144 centrefolds

now that will make you go blind :lol:

(just don't ask me how i know :S)

Sorry about the lack of updates. I haven't had a lot of modelling time recently and any I have had seems to have gone into my Airfix 1:24 Mossie. Talk about one Extreme end of the scale to the other.

I have done some work on the bear this weekend. It is now flying on it's stick now and i have applied a load of filler to close all the gaps. It's not a great fitting kit. More pics to follow later today when I get back from my ride out to the coast.

Does anyone know where I might be able to get som elow vis decals for this Tomcat. The kit decals and any sheets that are currently available only have the special schemes and I'd like to do a standard low viz one.

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