White metal
Nice to see that HB supplies metal inserts for the undercarriage legs with detailed plastic parts that wrap around these metal items; this should help the model stand correctly and bear the weight. If you add loads of weapons and nose weight you’ll need the metal!
Photo etch (PE) too
A small fret is included that looks like it has the HUD support plus some other fine details.
Tyres
These are supplied in the now common rubber/vinyl and are separate to the hubs that makes the whole painting process simpler and quicker. I’ve done a piece including videos on preparing and using these types of tyres in your SMN Techniques Bank, so take a look if you want to know more.
I know some modellers hate these items but personally I think by just sanding them they come up really well and just need a little pastel dust to create a very realistic appearance.
Instructions and decals
Classic fold-out booklet with good colour reference to five different manufacturer paint ranges.
A separate all-colour chart is included for the weapons and another for the painting guide.
The decals are well printed and have good colour saturation and are in register. They are also good quality, looking more like Cartograf than their own so should work well in practice. Decals are provided for the instrument panel although I think it will look better painted – your call.
To sum up
This really does look like an impressive model and I know Dave C is looking forward to the build that’ll start soon in SMN. Depending on when you read these words that build will either be about to start, in progress (Aircraft-Build Now) or finished (Aircraft-Finished Now-Hobby Boss).
The quality of what’s on offer is high with good levels of detail across the board. If you like big aircraft models (although this one isn’t ludicrous, just ‘quite’ big :) ) and Russian types at that, then you’ll love this one. The shape looks good overall and perfectly fine to me, despite the usual gripers out there and I suspect the model as supplied will do very well for most modellers.
Here’s my summary…
Geoff C.
SMN Quick summary Star rating out of 5
| FEATURE | STAR RATING (out of five) |
|---|---|
| Quality of moulding | **** |
| Accuracy | **** |
| Instructions | **** |
| Decals | ***** |
| Level of detail | **** |
| Subject choice | ***** |
| Overall | **** |