These new resin set from
Cutting
Edge Modelworks will permit you to change to the standard B-29 kit to the
Soviet copy of the B-29 with the Chinese AWACS radar dish mounted
above the mid-fuselage.
The story of the
Tu-4 (B-29) Kong Jiang-1 Chinese AWACS is one of the odder stories to emerge
from the Cold War. During the later stages of WW2, the Soviet Union was
keen to develope long range bombers after seeing the success of the USAF B-29
raids over Japan. Stalin
ordered the development of a comparable bomber. In 1945, three B-29's were
forced to land in Soviet territory due to emergencies and the Soviets seized the
USAF B-29's. The bombers were copied and reverse engineered by Tupolev and
produced as the Tu-4. In total 847 Tu-4s were built in the Soviet Union by the time production ended in
1952,
with some going to China during the later 1950s. In 1977 some of these
aircraft in China were converted to an AWACS-type aircraft using '843' radar.
This Tu-4
Bull (B-29) Chinese AWACS/AEW Conversion for the Academy/Minicraft B-29 or KB-29
kit. This huge set contains the parts necessary to convert the B-29 to the
Soviet-built Tu-4 Bull, as modified by the PLAAF to use the large AI-20K
turboprop engines and a huge AWACS radome mounted above the mid-fuselage. This
is a HUGE set, and it includes the decals! This model is sure to be the center
of your collection--an "eye magnet" for everybody who ever sees it!
This is not a small
set....as you can see there is a large amount of parts and considering what you
get the price is a good deal. The supports for the radar dome are made of
white metal for added strength.
The 2 pages of
instructions walk you through this project and helps you keep organized and
avoid problems during the conversion. This set is for advanced modellers,
but with care and patience a skilled modeller could pull this project
off.
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on image below to see larger image |
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Resin casting
is of a very high quality and all the detail is very well done with no air
bubbles. This
new resin set from Cutting
Edge Modelworks will permit modelers to go wild and build this wildly large
eye-catching aircraft.
Below are photos
of this amazing Chinese aircraft.
Steve
I would like to
thank Cutting Edge
Modelworks for providing me with this review sample.
Photos and text © by Steve
Bamford
Chinese PLA
TU-4 Bull
These photos were
taken by Henry Ng
(click on the image
below to load the full size photo)
(use your back button
to return to this page after viewing full size photo)
Photos directly
below were taken taken at the Beijing Air Museum
The 7 photos directly below were
taken by
Henry Ng
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