Big Beautiful Bat
Scale Aircraft Modelling|September 2021
A stunning 1/48 Tu-2T
Francisco Lomenzo
Big Beautiful Bat

Tupolev Tu-2T Soviet Torpedo Bomber

Kit No: B48003

Scale: 1/48

Type: Injection molded plastic

Manufacturer: Xuntong Model

Fast, heavily armed, robust, and popular with its crews, the Tu-2 was produced from1941 to 1948 with between 2,200 and 3000 built according to various sources. Initially designed as a counter to the Ju-88, It really found its role as a medium bomber, but was always second behind the Pe-2 in mass production. With a crew of four it was powered by two Shvetsov Ash-82FN 1850hp engines that gave it a maximum speed of 328mph, a service ceiling of 30,000ft, and a range of 1260 miles. Armed with two fixed 20mm cannon in the wings, and three 12.7mm defensive machine guns it could carry a bomb load of 3300lb internally or 5000lb externally. NATO assigned it the reporting name ‘Bat’.

The Tu-2 was retired from Soviet frontline service by 1950 but was also flown by several client air forces for somewhat longer - China only retired their last ones in the early ‘80s. It was also used as a torpedo bomber and found an important role post-war as a testbed for many Soviet jet turbine projects. The Tu-2T torpedo bomber variant was used post-war in small numbers by the Soviet AVMF (Naval Aviation), China, Bulgaria, and Poland.

Chinese manufacturer Xuntong’s kit was released in 2012, with three versions eventually available: An early three-bladed propeller variant; a late four-bladed one, and the torpedo bomber. I built the latter version.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة September 2021 من Scale Aircraft Modelling.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة September 2021 من Scale Aircraft Modelling.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

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