Tu 22M2 'Backfire' 1/72 scale

[yak face]

Heres my latest build, the 1/72 ESCI Tupolev Tu22M2 'Backfire'. I picked this monster up at cosford 2 years ago for £15 and have finally got round to doing it. Its a bit of a beast, being a very large aircraft , so the model is about 2 foot long, and ive still no idea where im going to put it!! Its not a bad kit ,having recessed panel lines, but at the time it was produced details of the aircraft were very limited so there are a few areas to alter/improve- the cockpit hatches need rescribing and the undercarriage doors need to be cut down a bit. I tried pre shading again and i think it worked ,at least on the uppersurfaces, which i sprayed with vallejo game colour wolf grey.The KH 22 anti ship missile is huge! ive taken a shot next to a macchi mc202 folgore of the same scale to show the size of it! Heres a link to a fantastic low pass of a later tu22m3 version by some crazy russian pilot, its just such an impressive beast !

anyway here are the pics- i struggled to get decent pics cause of the size of it and had to improvise with a bedsheet for the background, some were with flash and some without, have a gander ,comments criticisms welcome (and any tips for my photography!!) spasibo! tonyView attachment 41002

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[andyrobs]

Hi Tony, thats a cracking build mate, a very impressive beast, 5 stars from me mate

Cheers, Andrew

 

[papa 695]

Great build there Tony and the preshadings worked a treat on that beast

 

[mossiepilot]

Beautiful build Tony.

5 stars.

Tony.

 

[Vaughan]

Tony Great build nice work with the panel lines.

Vaughan

 

[Gern]

Really nicely done Tony! ***** for that one.

As you've gotta find some space to put this, why don't you make it a good space? Then you'd have room for a Blackjack or a Bear. They're both available in 1/72 so it's not like I'm asking you to build summat REALLY big!

Gern

 

[yak face]

Cheers dave, ive actually got a tu 22 'blinder 'on the production line at the mo, its about the same size as this one but theres a lot more surgery involved!! Talking of big stuff, i was tempted by a 1/48 b58 Hustler on e-bay the other day but I resisted!!!! I would love a bear or blackjack but theyre so pricey ,maybe ill get the 1/144 versions ,, cheers tony

 

[yak face]

Well it was a squeeze ,but with a bit of re-organising and a few removals ive managed to get the backfire in the cabinet ,on the 1/72 soviet shelf. Trouble is theres no room for anything else now,so ill have to maybe add another shelf (or move the stash in the bottom!!) tony

View attachment 41168

 

[Dave W]

Nice Backfire Tony.Looks huge next to your other models!.

 

[yak face]

Cheers dave, yes its a big bugger isnt it?! im just starting a Tu 22 Blinder and thats about the same size so god knows where thats going to go!! cheers tony

 

[papa 695]

Looks like another cabinet is needed

 

[colin m]

Very nice Tony,

The aircraft has some nice lines, and what a beast.

Colin M.......

 

[AJay]

Great build! The pre-shading's worked a treat. I always seem to lose most of mine. 5*****

 

[yak face]

Great build! The pre-shading's worked a treat. I always seem to lose most of mine. 5*****

Me too alex! this is the first time ive got it to work. What i did different this time is ,instead of spraying the whole thing with light coats ,I tried lightly filling in the centre of each panel and avoiding spraying over any panel lines, i think it worked better for me. Every other time ive tried it i seemed to put too much paint on and completely covered up any shading. cheers tony

 

[treyzx10r]

Tony that came out very sweet,love the remote cannon in the rear .5star job for sure

 

[AJay]

Tony, thanks, I'll give that a try next time.

By the way, the tail turret that Trey mentioned is very interesting on an aircraft like this. I can't imagine it would be practical..... I assume it would be remote controlled by the pilot?

 

[yak face]

The soviets were very fond of these remote cannons, quite a few of their aircraft had them on the tail.They would have been radar controlled and operated by the WSO/ radar operator/navigator.I had to modify the kit ones quite a bit as originally they had no shroud / blanking plates and were only single . Maybe the russians fascination with remote turrets originated with the unlicenced copy of the b29 superfortress (tupolev tu4) that had them! Heres a link Russian B-29 Clone The TU-4 Story, by Wayland Mayo, Page 10 cheers tony