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Red Hurricane Tupolev Tu-14 Bosun A new kit from a new Russian limited-run manufacturer, the Tu-14 comprises just 42 parts moulded in thick white plastic with raised panel detail very reminiscent of KP kits. As with most limited run kits, the sprue gates are fairly thick and the component parts require careful rubbing down - particularly along the mating surfaces. There is also quite a lot of flash present - some of it quite thick in places. Despite the quality of the moulding, the kit is accurate - at least according to the two different sets of drawings I consulted - both in Russian magazines. Mir Aviatsiya issue 2/95 has an 11-page article on the development of the Tu-14 with photographs and side views showing the different variants. An interesting 'family tree' shows the evolution of Tupolev bombers from the wartime Tu-2 via the various one-off prototypes to the different branches that led to the production Tu-14 and Tu-16 bombers. A large pull-out drawing in 1;72 scale gives both side views, top and bottom plans and front and rear views plus cross-sections and larger cutaways of the fuselage and engine nacelles with all the parts identified - albeit in Cyrillic ! The other reference is the magazine M-Hobby - issue number 5 of 1995. This has an 8-page article with photographs and sketches of the pilots, bombardiers and tail gunners stations plus sketches of the instrument panels. A colour page has a photo of a crew member fastening his leather helmet strap and a colour plate of a naval version with a single-colour upper surface camouflage - of which more later. The accompanying 1:72 scale pull-out drawing is not as comprehensive as Mir Aviatsiya's but it does include sketches of the ejection seats and a three-colour upper surface camouflage pattern complete with the names of the colours (in Cyrillic) - but not their F.S. Numbers. Back to the kit. I purchased mine from the owner of Red Hurricane at the IPMS UK Nationals in October 1997. He had just arrived from Moscow and had the component parts of the kit in separate plastic bags, from which he extracted various sprues to make up a complete set. My purchase therefore had no box, a simple sketch showing the parts layout and the clear parts - the canopy, tail gun position and nose cone as vacforms. The decal sheet was included and the asking price was a very reasonable 6.50 UK Pounds - so I bought two ! I have since seen the kit released via the model trade in its very colourful cardboard box - which is professionally done - and I understand that the clear parts are now injection moulded (LHI note: no, unfortunately they aren't). I can't comment on this release because I don't have it, but the component parts are the same (apart from the clear parts). The price however has more than doubled from what I paid - so I leave it to you to judge whether it is worth the asking price Construction. Red Hurricane provide a floor, instrument panel and rudimentary seat for the cockpit, but nothing else, so it is a matter of scratch-building if you want any more detail. I added a few plastic card 'boxes', a rear bulkhead and a control column to the pilots cockpit and a floor and seat to the rear gunners compartment. The nose area got the same treatment, with bulkhead, floor, boxes and a seat - nothing too difficult but just enough to give a 'busy' appearance. In this respect the kit is more like a simple vacform - you have to add the interior detail. The mating surfaces of the fuselage require sanding down for a good fit and this applies to all the parts - treat it as a vacform and you won't go far wrong. Add as much weight to the nose area as you can - I didn't and had to stuff weight in through the nose opening later on. A two-part wheel well is provided, but it has is no interior detail.
The wings are in three parts for the upper surface - a centre section and two outer panels, while the lower surface consists of four parts - two outer and two inner panels. The joints on the upper and lower outer panels overlap for added strength. The engine nacelles are each in two halves with a separate intake cap. There is no detail in the large wheel wells and all the parts need lots of rubbing down and adjusting to fit. Lots of filler was needed to blend all the joints in - particularly around the engine nacelle to wing joints.
The completed wing assembly fits into a recess in the upper fuselage and I had to do a lot of cutting, filing and packing to get a good fit that was true when viewed from the front. The whole wing to fuselage joint also required a lot of filler. Photos 1, 2 & 3
The horizontal tailplanes are moulded in upper and lower halves each side and need the addition of a plastic rod or wire spar to attach them to the fin - there are no tabs. The undercarriage components are provided in the kit - but they are a bit crude. I used the noseleg parts, carefully cleaned up and joined together with superglue and a pin for strength, but I scratch-built the mainlegs from tube and rod to which I added the kit wheels - see Photo 4.
Glazing The kit glazing was provided in my kit as vacforms - which is great for the canopy and tail gunners position, but the nose area is another matter. The mouldings are reasonably clear and the canopy and tail gunners parts can be used as supplied, but because the vacforms are so thin and the fact that the nose glazing is moulded in upper and lower halves, it proved impossible to fix the two components together - and I did try !! The only solution was to mould my own replacment nose cone as a single part, so I cut a profile shape of the nose glazing from plastic card using the drawings as a guide. I also cut two plan view half-profiles and cemented them all to a circular piece of plastic card the same diameter as the fuselage where the nosecone meets the metal. I now had a part that fitted to the fuselage and was of the corrcct shape when viewed from the top and side. The plan and side profiles formed a cross when viewed from the front. The gaps between the profile sections was filled with scraps of plastic and finally with Milliput which was shaped to the nose contours whilst still wet. Once the milliput had dried, it was carved and sanded to the final shape and used to plug-mould a new nosecone from clear acetate - see Photo 5.
Once glued in place, the clear nosecone was blended into the fuselage with filler. I assume that with injection moulded clear components in the 'production' release, this scratch-building will not be necessary (LHI note: unfortunately there are no injection moulded parts with the production release of the Tu-14)? Painting. I am not sure what the new instructions say about painting but the drawings in M-Hobby show a three-tone upper surface camouflage pattern with pale blue undersides. However the colour profile in the same magazine shows a Naval Aviation Tu-14 with a single green/grey upper surface with pale blue undersides - the same as used on Beriev Be-6 flying boats, so I decided to paint my model in that scheme. I used Humbrol 149 Matt Dark Green, which looked like a good match to the colour plate, for the upper surfaces and Niche Marketing's Soviet Pale Blue for the undersides
Strips of clear decal film were painted in these two colours and this was used to add the framework to the clear glazing. The eight white-outlined red stars and side number 12 came from the spares box. Photos 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11.
Conclusion. Whilst not in the same league as a Hasegawa or Tamiya kit, Red Hurricane's Tu-14 makes up into an accurate replica of an important torpedo bomber that deserves a place in any representative collection of Soviet aircraft. It needs lots of work to make an acceptable model - but that's what modelling is all about and the manufacturers are to be applauded for their enterprise and deserve all the encouragement we can give them! I can't wait for their promised Tu-16 Badger! Ken Duffey December 1998 (Text and all photos are the copyright of Ken Duffey and may not be used in form without his express prior permission)
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