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1/72 Tupolev Tu-22M3 "Backfire" by Trumpeter


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Still trying to get most of the bay details right. Luckily I stumbled upon yet another video showing the area while it was loaded with free fall bombs for some Syrian mission. 

 

The finished racks were shown with photos earlier (a year ago...) but just like everything else those links are dead and gone.

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Some completely scratch-built details for the bays according to reference photos.

vIYwrRk.jpg

Another view still without weathering.

64cU1ui.jpg

 

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24 minutes ago, Mr Matt Foley said:

Jan did you do all of the riveting? Or does the Trumpy kit come with them? I want to build one of these someday.

 

Yes and no. I've gone through most of the prominent ones though and added a lot more where they are most visible - like the intakes. The original riveting is way too uniform in size and shape and doesn't stand out from the fasteners. They all look the same. So, typical Trumpeter.

 

I would never build another. :D  On the other hand, since the Backfire arguably is one of my all time favourites, I just have to pull through with this despite everything that has happened during these years. 

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51 minutes ago, janman said:

 

Yes and no. I've gone through most of the prominent ones though and added a lot more where they are most visible - like the intakes. The original riveting is way too uniform in size and shape and doesn't stand out from the fasteners. They all look the same. So, typical Trumpeter.

 

I would never build another. :D  On the other hand, since the Backfire arguably is one of my all time favourites, I just have to pull through with this despite everything that has happened during these years. 

 

Thanks for the response. The detail work looks awesome and I agree the Backfire is indeed a favorite. I was awed by seeing it in person, especially those engines  which look large enough for an adult sized person to stand up inside of.

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3 hours ago, Mr Matt Foley said:

 

Thanks for the response. The detail work looks awesome and I agree the Backfire is indeed a favorite. I was awed by seeing it in person, especially those engines  which look large enough for an adult sized person to stand up inside of.

WORD.

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20 hours ago, Aigore said:

I'm happy you persevered and continued taking pictures.....it is a fantastic build and I'd hate to miss anything!

Thanks, guys! It was only a couple of weeks ago that I finally registered in to another photo hosting site. Loosing the PB links on my WIPs really drained my mojo for a long time! I've been building models during that time though and even finished something but more of that later.

 

Now some real progress after yesterday's status report! The bombs. The bomb bay is now loaded with 18 FAB-250s. There would be room for more of course, but even this does the trick in my opinion. When I purchased them (all the way from Australia!), the AM resin FABs seemed to be sold out everywhere so I managed to get hold of only two sets. They constitute the lowest and the most visible layer and are worth every Australian dollar. If you manage to find  them,  go get  them! The rest are modified from the kit bombs. 

 

Seems some realignment is needed for one or two. Here we go:

WHbttGN.jpg

Edited by janman
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Small suggestion: rather than trying to replace all the images in every post, just upload all your Backfire build photos in a gallery, and link to it in the first post.  That way we still get to see all your great WIP shots, and you save hours of time laboriously editing all your posts.

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That is a very worthy suggestion, Mike and I might just do it. 

 

I *wasn't * going restore anything. ☺️  But I've had this feeling that after all this work - and all these years - the finished model just can't pop up from some sort of vacuum. 

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2 hours ago, janman said:

That is a very worthy suggestion, Mike and I might just do it. 

 

I *wasn't * going restore anything. ☺️  But I've had this feeling that after all this work - and all these years - the finished model just can't pop up from some sort of vacuum. 

 

Absolutely. I go back to builds all the time to get inspiration or use the build as a guide for corrections etc. I hate Photobucket. I've lost all of that reference material!

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Mate,this lady is better and better from one post to another!

The Backfire is my preferred Soviet bomber of all time ( and maybe THE preferred bombardier worldwide),I don't know why,but the forward fuselage remember me a swan,maybe the color scheme.

And you deserve the merits to rappresent its beauty in full swing!

 

Gianni

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My plan would be to keep the other MLG door open. I already shut the other one after some minor fiddling with the fit. I would take there's nothing that would be preventing it? The fuselage part of the gear well is pretty nicely done by Trumpeter (one can clearly see the designers had some good references and/or access for the gear wells but absolutely nothing for the bomb bay...) and for the sake of drama I would like to keep it visible. I repainted the well and the door with a yellowish tan colour which seems to be one of the colour options used there. Some hydraulics added for the bomb bay door. Bad foto...

bgwoTYS.jpg

 

I also added a fuel dump pipe between the engines. It was made of suitable metal pipe.

PwYhW5h.jpg

Edited by janman
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I'm glad most of the detail parts are pretty much finished and just waiting for the final assembly. That is after I had finally checked the actual fit of the gear actuators. The main ones were totally fictional functional wise (already corrected earlier), but also had to be shortened heavily.

 

The front well was too deep and after I had lowered the gear well ceiling, some alteration had to be done for the front gear and its actuator as well. Now everything finally fits! 

 

The MLG with the actuator. Ready to be glued on!

ezny4mA.jpg

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Research and Trumpeter - like oil and water.

 

As far as I remember I had been looking at the pitot probes with certain suspicion right from the start but as they had been years in a little box with other smaller parts I hadn't done anythingthing for them. Until now. 

 

They really are another great example of Trumpeter's lazy-a** research. The kit parts seen below and a reference shot from scalemodels.ru behind tell more than thousand words. Since the original part doesn't have anything to offer even as a starting point I scratched new ones from styrene sheet, stretched sprue and metal rod. Still need some shaping though.

 

uywtwAE.jpg

Edited by janman
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On 30.3.2018 at 2:34 AM, Sebastijan said:

always liked your attention to details, mate!

 Thanks, Seb! I really appreciate it. It's the attention to those small details that still possess a significant value on the look of the finished model that really do it for me. Some people might overlook such precision, but for me that's maybe even more important than a slightly wrong wingspan or some basically invisible contour or shape mistake on a kit. I very much do appreciate dimensional accuracy, but it's the details that make a model stand out.

 

Exactly that I tried with the control yokes which come from the Neomega resin pit set. Adding blue "Ty" text in 1/72 for the yoke hub was beyond my skills - or eyes. But at least we have something blue there! ☺️

aQb5MeN.jpg

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