Kit: No. 01601
Scale: 1/72
Manufacturer: Trumpeter, distributed by Stevens International, P.O. Box 126, Magnolia, NJ 08049, 856-435-1555
Price: $106.95
Comments: Injection-molded, 207 parts, decals
Pros: Great exterior detail, separate control surfaces, accurate shapes and dimensions
Cons: Major joints need to be filled and sanded, Spartan cockpit, empty bomb bay
The Tupolev Tu-95 "Bear" is the only successful swept-wing, turpoprop-powered bomber in history. It rivals Boeing's B-52, as it too entered service in the mid-1950s and continues today.
It started out as a long-range heavy bomber and can now carry 16 AS-15 long-range cruise missiles attached to a rotary launcher inside the weapons bay. The Bear H is a late-production variant of the long-lived Tu-95/-142 Bear family and is still in service with the Russian Federation, the Ukraine, and India.
Trumpeter's Bear H is a welcome addition to the world of 1/72 scale kits. Unlike recent 1/72 Bear kits, Trumpeter's is all-injection-molded - no vacuum-formed or resin parts to slow things down. The parts are molded in light-gray and clear styrene with shallow, but nicely recessed panel lines.
My sample had no flash, but parts cleanup was needed because the injection gates are molded on the inside edges of most parts. There were also some mold blemishes on the propeller hubs.
Trumpeter molded the Bear's long, slender fuselage in quarters - front and rear sections each in left and right halves. The rear sections include the vertical stabilizer. The long seams and the circumferential joint behind the wing present filling challenges. The recessed panel lines of the front and rear sections don't line up.
Because of the model's large size, it is put together as subassemblies instead of the traditional assembly sequence. This was an advantage, since I had to do some filling and sanding on the engine nacelles before attaching the wings to the fuselage. More filling is required at the wing/ fuselage joints. The fit problems and resultant filling eliminated some of the shallow recessed panel lines.
There are no optional parts, but the flaps are molded separately from the wing and are designed to slide along their tracks glued inside the wings. I couldn't get them to work very well, so I left them in the stowed position. All the other control surfaces are molded separately but are not hinged.
The model's heavy-duty landing gear system is well-detailed, and each main truck has 22 parts. The wheel well interiors are well-detailed for the scale.
The counter-rotating propellers are nice, too. I decided to glue my props on and left out the thin rings (part No. E9) that help the props turn. They would have reduced the bonding area for the glue, and you can't tell they're missing.
Assembly is straightforward, but it's a good idea to dry-fit everything before gluing. The cockpit is Spartan, but you won't see much through the tiny windows anyway. Don't forget to insert a lot of nose weight, because this Bear is tail-heavy.
The kit includes separate weapons bay doors, but the center fuselage interior is vacant. Perhaps Trumpeter is making it easier for an aftermarket company to step in with an insert.
The 12 pages of well-illustrated instructions are supplemented by a full-color decal-and-paint guide to show markings for Russian and Ukrainian Bears. The recommended colors are coded to Gunze Sangyo Mr. Color enamels, which are not easy to find in the United States.
I consulted my references to determine the shades of bare aluminum. I used SnJ Aluminum Spray Metal and powder; Testor Metalizer burnt metal, titanium, gunmetal, exhaust, and then small areas of gloss white, light ghost gray, flat black, and aircraft gray. You can't see much of the cockpit's Soviet interior blue green.
I marked my Bear as the Russian Federation Tu-95MS seen on a goodwill tour at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, in 1992. The thin, well-printed decals went on easily.
The model measures accurately based on dimensions in Yefim Gordon's Tupolev Tu-95/-142 Bear - Russia's Intercontinental-Range Heavy Bomber (Aerofax).
My Bear took about 27 hours to assemble, polish, and paint. If you want the seams perfect and the sanded-away panel lines re-engraved, plan on doubling that time. I recommend Trumpeter's big Bear to any modelers with at least intermediate skills.
David P. Anderson