The Little World

I am in several minds about detailing the insides of 1/72 scale aircraft.

On one hand it is a pain, but on the other it means an additional glance into the design – even if I am the only person who will ever see it. In the case of this Tupolev bomber, the open cockpit and gun positions mean that I absolutely have to follow instructions and give it decent insides.

This ICM kit follows a lot of the design philosophy of the Heller inter-war aircraft. If the fuselage is basically four slabs, they mould four flat sheets and you cement them together. There are formers inside that either help you keep things straight or throw out the geometry entirely. I took extra care to make them plumb and square and had very little fettling to do when it came time to close up.

The cockpit was quite complex but fortunately the Soviet bureau laid things out on square lines. It may have pushed through the air like a runaway freight train, but at least it was easy to slot together.