madcow Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 Hi all, I have an Academy B-29A sitting on my stash for a while now. Apart from red stars and a rivet hole, what would I need to change to make it as a Soviet Tu-4? I've heard the turrets are different, the engine covers might have to be removed, but I'm not sure about this. I know information about the Tu-4 is a bit scarce, but maybe someone did this before. TIA, Ricardo P.S. - I'm not talking about the Tu-4 "Bull", the Chinese AWACS conversion. Just a regular Tu-4. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nightiemission Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 Markings and turrets are the only visual differences. The turrets were two gun turrets each with a pair of(I think!)23MMs, assume the tail also had a pair of 23s. Hope This Helps, Terry Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jennings Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 FWIW, the Soviet Air Force continued to operate both of its flyable B-29s well into the 1950s, albeit not as bombers, but rather as testbeds. The Yefim Gordon book on the Tu-4 is a great reference on just about everything you'd ever want to know on the Tu-4 and family. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
madcow Posted December 11, 2011 Author Share Posted December 11, 2011 Thanks for the help, guys. I'm checking the Academy manual and all turrets seem to be 2 gun turrets, except for the tail turret, which has 3 barrels. Also, if I'm correct, the Tu-4 barrels on the fuselage are a bit longer than the ones on the B-29. Basically, I need to use longer barrels for the fuselage turrets, adapt the tail turret to a 2-barrel configuration and find me some red stars and numbers. Am I missing something? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jennings Posted December 11, 2011 Share Posted December 11, 2011 Not all Tu-4s had the same radar bulge o the belly as B-29s. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Flankerman Posted December 11, 2011 Share Posted December 11, 2011 (edited) It may not be 100% correct, but all I did was fit bigger 23mm cannon barrels...... (early Tu-4s had 20mm cannon - 4 x barbettes + 3 in tail turret - later variants had 2 X 23mm cannon in each barbette and tail turret) The Tu-4 had ASh-73TK radials in place of the Wright R-3350 so the shape might differ slightly - as well as the exhausts... Some panel lines might also be different - but in 1/72 scale, the changes are neglible - unless you are a rivet counter Here's the real thing at Monino..... Ken PS - I can concur with Jennings - the Red Star book on the Tu-4 is a good reference PPS - The Tu-4 IS the 'Bull' .... here's the Chinese drone-carrying variant just for completeness..... Edited December 11, 2011 by Flankerman Quote Link to post Share on other sites
madcow Posted December 11, 2011 Author Share Posted December 11, 2011 Hi Ken, nice looking Tu-4 you got there. You're right about the "Bull", my mistake. So basically, I can just replace the cannons by a bigger barrel and that's pretty much it. I'm not a rivet counter and if I start worrying too much with the very little details, I end up with an unassembled kit in the box. Ricardo Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Steve N Posted December 11, 2011 Share Posted December 11, 2011 if I start worrying too much with the very little details, I end up with an unassembled kit in the box. ..which perfectly describes why I have countless "started" kits in The Stash! SN Quote Link to post Share on other sites
madcow Posted December 11, 2011 Author Share Posted December 11, 2011 Same here, Steve... I have kits "waiting" until I find the perfect god-knows-what so I can build them. Meh.......... Ricardo Quote Link to post Share on other sites
057 Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 the most visible differences from B-29 except engines, gun turrets, superchargers without cowling, are also - wheels, radars, antennas. here is big walk-around of monino's tu-4: http://walkarounds.scalemodels.ru/w/walkarounds/avia/before_1950/tu-4/ here i am trying to do the same, - to convert academy b-29 to tu-4 in 1/72 scale: http://scalemodels.ru/modules/forum/viewtopic_t_29330_start_20.html Quote Link to post Share on other sites
famvburg Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Some eastern European outfit at one time sold the Academy kit as a Tu-4. I saw one on eBay once & I think Aviapress(?) had them on their site back when. I saw a rewiew somewhere online once & it WAS a re-boxed Academy B-29. How the heck can you tell the difference in a .50 cal barrel & a 23mm barrel in 1/72???? I have Academy B-29s marked as both USSR & PRC Tu-4s, as well as a couple of the Airfix B-29s I converted to the PRC turbo prop drone controller & AWACS (before the CE conversion was available. I prefer the Academy kit tho. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jennings Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 The Russian 23mm barrels are considerably longer than a Browning .50 cal barrel. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Flankerman Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 (edited) Some eastern European outfit at one time sold the Academy kit as a Tu-4. I saw one on eBay once & I think Aviapress(?) had them on their site back when. I saw a rewiew somewhere online once & it WAS a re-boxed Academy B-29. How the heck can you tell the difference in a .50 cal barrel & a 23mm barrel in 1/72???? I have Academy B-29s marked as both USSR & PRC Tu-4s, as well as a couple of the Airfix B-29s I converted to the PRC turbo prop drone controller & AWACS (before the CE conversion was available. I prefer the Academy kit tho. The 'eastern European outfit' was Modelist My Tu-4 (see post #6) is made from the Modelist kit - a re-boxing of the Academy B-29. Apart from the red stars decal sheet, there were no other changes - I added the 23mm cannons myself. Ken Edited February 10, 2012 by Flankerman Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Big Kohona Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 the most visible differences from B-29 except engines, gun turrets, superchargers without cowling, are also - wheels, radars, antennas. here is big walk-around of monino's tu-4: http://walkarounds.s...fore_1950/tu-4/ here i am trying to do the same, - to convert academy b-29 to tu-4 in 1/72 scale: http://scalemodels.r...0_start_20.html Very impressive! I can't read a lick of what's printed on the website in your link, but the pictures certainly speak for themselves. Can you tell us more about the bits that were made based on the cad drawings? Are they your own making or is there a company making those and are they available for purchase? Thanks! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
057 Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 (edited) Very impressive! I can't read a lick of what's printed on the website in your link, but the pictures certainly speak for themselves. Can you tell us more about the bits that were made based on the cad drawings? Are they your own making or is there a company making those and are they available for purchase? Thanks! I'm trying now to do diorama with later tu-4 (1956-1957-th), so I've made 3d-models of parts, that I need to convert b-29 kit to later tu-4, and to make it more detalized, - (turrets, engines, exausts, radars, gunsights, and other... maybe will do wheel bays), and sent them to printing in 3d-printer, now some of them were sent to copy in resin (for example there need 72 engine cylinders to one plane model) . As for selling them as aftermarket kits, - I couldn't do resin copies by myself so it is no sense for me to sell them. However I talk with some one company, maybe they will do just turbo-supercharges and bays for them, (b-29/tu-4 is not very popular plane among modelists unfortunately)... P.S. sorry for my English. Edited February 13, 2012 by 057 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ross blackford Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 (edited) :D, 057 those parts are beautiful. It's a great pity you can't mould and market them yourself. I'd be a buyer for when I convert my Academy B-29 to a Tu-4. I'll be watching this build with interest to see what changes you make and how it turns out. All the best with the build and the resin cast parts. , Ross. Edited for typos; I think I need a new keyboard, some of the keys are doing what they should. Either that or I'll have to give it a good clean including removing all the keys and cleaning down inside them. Edited February 13, 2012 by ross blackford Quote Link to post Share on other sites
057 Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 (edited) Here some photos of new TU-4 update sets for 1/72 academy b-29 kit by Olimp Resin Accessories: engine on a stand and gun turrets(gun turrets will be issued in December) http://scalemodels.ru/news/5534-Olimp-Models-Group-novinki-nojabrja-dekabrja-2012.html Edited November 24, 2012 by 057 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Shawn M Posted November 26, 2012 Share Posted November 26, 2012 I just bought the TU-4 boxing for spares, if you want the TU4 parts, PM me. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
057 Posted May 24, 2013 Share Posted May 24, 2013 (edited) A large photo shooting with 160 photos including interior and top views of monino's tu-4 http://igor113.livejournal.com/368363.html Edited May 24, 2013 by 057 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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