-
It’s Only Gotta Work Once

A cynical phrase, but perfectly true – if you are talking about kamikaze planes, nuclear bombers, or interceptors. The occasions upon which they are used to fulfil their dire fates are such that they only need to work the one time – but that needs to be done with a degree of success. No kamikaze…
-
Petlyakov Pe-8 – Part Seven – One Of A Hundred

No, I’m wrong. One of 93. The Soviets only made 93 of this bomber. They made them with three different engines, and experimented with the rest of the structure as well. One was used as a trans-oceanic transport to deliver Molotov to the UK and the USA…but the rest were used in penny packets for…
-
Petlyakov Pe-8 – Part Six – Squeeze Me, Baby!

I feel like I’m going to split. The central bomb bay section of the Pe-8 dictates the spread of the fuselage. Had I not included the interior, and just decided to join the fuselage halves without cutting the bomb bay, all this post would not have happened. As it is, it did. as much as…
-
Petlyakov Pe-8 – Part Five – A Wing And Several Prayers

I am never so nervous as when I see a plastic model aircraft with a multiple-part wing. I don’t mean a top and bottom – that’s normal. I mean a top and bottom outer, top and bottom inner, internal brace, wheel well, separate nacelles, and no cementing tabs. Add two gun positions and it starts…
-
Petlyakov Pe-8 – Part Four – The Puzzle…

If you did not want me to do it, why did you provide the parts? I address this to the Amodel engineers who moulded a complete interior bomb bay and 250kg bomb load, and then left the fuselage doors moulded shut. Not shut with a line to score and pop out – completely moulded in…
-
Petlyakov Pe-8 – Part Three – Stein’s Bomb Dump

And if that title doesn’t get me on an FBI list, nothing will. The explosives you see in the heading page are Soviet 250kg types – roughly equivalent to a British or American 500 pounder…though I don’t know if the fillings had equal explosive power. They will be attached to the bomb bay former and…
-
Petlyakov Pe-8 – Part Two – Well, No Escaping It…

Sooner or later I was going to have to start the kit. The box had to be opened and the sprue trees taken out. All 870 of them…The AS truck had already been built as part of a Soviet airfield but the main monster remained. Amodels are flashy mouldings., and slightly friable plastic. Many of…
-
Petlyakov Pe-8 – Part One – Metro’s Bargains

Metro Models In Melbourne have a sale every now and again – chiefly the models that have sat in dusty neglect on their shelves. I take advantage, as I am also dusty and sit on a shelf much of the time… In this case the original price was some $ 60 and they applied a…
-
Getting Away With It

Note: I did not write ” cleanly ” at the end there. There are always consequences. A friend has speculated that a mathematical formula should be worked out to tell our spouses how much the new kit has cost. I applaud a scientific mind and sense of honesty and will mention it in his eulogy.…

