(DONE, pics pg 16/17) NATO Reporting name "Bull." Cuban Tu-4 Heavy Bomber

[TheChronicOne]

I've found myself in the midst of a conundrum!  Seeing that glorious tri-color paint job on the (sea fury?) and another mention of how cool it is I can't help but agree. That said, I'm still a big fan of the original two beautiful colors I had initially planned.

Perhaps I should create a poll and ask the community at large? For now, what do you all think? For this big ol' bomber, what colors suit you the best?





One thing I would (might?) change with the second one is switch the sky blue belly with the light gull grey such as comes with the first option.

I'm honestly considering making a Group Build Poll and letting the community decide! How fun would that be? A little bit of something new to shake things up and I think still abides the rules.

[zenrat]

Got any coloured pencils?
Print out a few 3 views of a B29 Tu4 and colour them in and then see what you think.

I'd be worried about having a poll and then at the end thinking "well that one won but I really wanted to do No.2..."
You can always paint something else in the other scheme later on.

[Snowtrooper]

Depends on what you want to achieve.

The original two colours is more subtle, aesthetically pleasing, and resembles other camo patterns.

The three-colour scheme with that blue so bright that it hurts the eyes... well, it's for added shock value. It's impossible to hide a B-29 Tu-4 at altitude anyway, so the next best thing is to blind the capitalist fighter pilots It's definitely the more original of the two.

[TheChronicOne]

Here's a solution... I was wanting to make an escort for the bomber anyway, so I can do the bomber in the original two tone and do the escort fighter in the three tone. 

There's still a ton of time left in the GB, I do believe, so I'll dip into the stash and see if I can come up with a soviet prop plane to do. 

 

[loupgarou]

The blue in that Sea Fury i truly garish. When I did visit Cuba, must have been in 2000, the aircraft, if it's the same, was painted in more "normal" colours.
Cubans must have repainted it with the paint they had available.

[TheChronicOne]

It's a love it or hate type of deal, for sure!

In my studies of late re: aircraft on display it would seem like this happens a lot and a good deal of planes sitting around are NOT painted true to their original (or in operation) paint schemes/colors. Seems it happens for a number of various reasons and it's a shame, really, because some stuff has become lost to history. Sometimes we get the history back in various ways, like finding an old gas cap (IAF S-199 on dispaly in Israel) and sometimes we don't..

In other news.....  I'm back at work on this. I have built the gun turrets and sorted a great many parts into various bags. Finally found what may be the first missing piece!! A little tiny strut type thing that probably goes with the gear assembly. I have one, but there is an empty space on the sprue right next to it. Didn't find it sitting loose anywhere. I didn't bother looking for it on the instructions. Maybe I'll get lucky and it goes to the nose gear so there's only *supposed* to be one!     I'll cross that bridge somewhere else... just thought I'd mention it.

Painted the bomb bay white and the ceiling insulation white. I also painted the rear cabin what I now call "Ruski-Blue" AKA the glorious blue interior color they use. I still need to paint the ceiling area for it, though.



I brought in my surplus clothes pins from the shop to use and I'm glad I did! I might switch the brain off and build the 16 bombs that comes with this using the pins as clamps. With that, I think I'll call it a day on this one.

Next conundrum has arisen, though! I'm not sure what color to paint the wheel wells and bomb bay doors. The Tu-4 in Russia seems to have these areas white or very light grey. Well, not sure about the bomb bay, but I can definitely see the gear doors. So, the belly and undersurfaces of this thing is going to be painted light aircraft grey that is nearly white so keeping that in mind I was thinking of painting them either the same color of grey or maybe blue?  Not sure if it would look weird or not.

Second option is to paint the gear doors same light grey but on the BOMB BAY doors, do vertical white and blue stripes akin to the Cuban flag. This has the potential to look either really cool, or really stupid. Wheel hubs are to be painted red. With some sort of combo in this fashion the three national colors could be used but I think I'm walking a line between "tacky" and "classy." I think I'll try the stripes ( plan to display this thing gears down on the tarmac with the bay doors open, by the way) and if I don't like 'em I'll just paint over them, no biggy! 

[sandiego89]

I think that a more subtle two tone is likely better for a large aircraft.  Bold multi-color can be tough to do well. 

[TheChronicOne]

I think that a more subtle two tone is likely better for a large aircraft.  Bold multi-color can be tough to do well. 

I concur... I'm going to roll with the two tone.  If I do the other, it will indeed be on a much smaller airplane!  Besides, the colors I'm going to use are really nice in my opinion. Two of my favorites, actually.. that lovely blue and nice dark green.  Imight actually go a slight touch ligther on the green... trying to get close to the colors on the MiG up there. Such nice shades!

[TheChronicOne]

A proper update! 

I've never even played one before and LOVE video gaming....... . .   I finally upgraded to the latest generation and bought a brand new factory sealed Playstation 4!!!  It arrived in the mail this morning!  Glorious!

That said, I opened it up and checked it to see if it was OK then set it down and start working on MODEL KITS!! 

It's just shy of 9PM and still I am working on kits. That's just how much fun I am having back in this beloved hobby.

Anyway, enough bloviating, I've been working on the bomber here. I got all the bombs put together which turned out to be quite the larger task than I imagined!  A grand total of 48 parts. No wonder the kits has 170+ parts when nearly 50 are all in the ordinance.   

These bomb parts are of crap quality. They consist of two halves then the fins glue on last. Well, the halves are different thicknesses and also different size all together. Also, they have guiding pins which force a misalignment. OK... so, after I filed away the burrs left from trimming I had to go back and grind off all the guiding pins. No probs. It was worth the effort although the end result is still lopsided bombs. I will not be filing and sanding away the seams on these. Too much trouble for something that will be out of eyeshot 99.999% of the time. Besides... CUBAN BOMBS were made this way!!  They're just going to explode anyway, so who cares how they LOOK!  It's all perfectly acceptable.



The thing in the middle is the blue gas tank that goes in the cockpit behind the captain's seat (see previous picture here in thread that I hope I didn't just image posting). I'm guessing it's O2 but perhaps it's a fire suppresion thing or...something.. hell I don't know(being the color it is I'm thinking O2) . Either way, it's made and painted and I'll glue it into the cockpit.

Next up I'll paint the bombs green and then I think I'll add a thin yellow stripe on them to add visual appeal.

Pretty soon I'll glue all this milarkey in then it will be time to divert from the instructions and get the wings figured out then glued to their respective fuselage halves.

Cheers!

[TheChronicOne]

More work done. For being what seems so simple, getting these bombs done takes a long time!!


Anyway, got them all painted the base green. I also painted the passage way and "walls" for it.




Here's an updated photo of my cockpit with the blue tank added:

[zenrat]

It's a king size thermos containing chilled mojitos for the flight crew.

[NARSES2]

Coming along well mate

[TheChronicOne]

It's a king size thermos containing chilled mojitos for the flight crew.

Damn right, now we're talking!!  And you know Castro is up there with something to drink. 

Coming along well mate

Thanks!! This has been one of the most enjoyable builds yet.  Quite a bit of work.. more than I have grown accustomed to, but hasn't been burdensome at all. I'm pretty anxious to see the end result.

I have to see if I can find a 1/72 Castro figure.   

[DogfighterZen]

Looking good...

[loupgarou]

Thanks!! This has been one of the most enjoyable builds yet.  Quite a bit of work.. more than I have grown accustomed to, but hasn't been burdensome at all. I'm pretty anxious to see the end result.

I have to see if I can find a 1/72 Castro figure.   

It's progressing very well! Even if it requires a lot of work.
A Castro figure would be nice. Atlantic had done long ago many series with various political figures and followers. Maybe they had done also Castro and barbudos, but those sets reach REALLY out-of-this-world prices.