Cutting Edge Modelworks

1/72 Tu-4 (B-29) Kong Jiang-1 Chinese AWACS Conversion Kit

Product # CEC72032 for $42.99 for Academy/Minicraft kit

Product Article by Steve Bamford on Aug 18 2006

 

 

 

These new resin set from Cutting Edge Modelworks will permit you to change to the standard B-29 kit to the Soviet copy of the B-29 with the Chinese AWACS radar dish mounted above the mid-fuselage.  

The story of the Tu-4 (B-29) Kong Jiang-1 Chinese AWACS is one of the odder stories to emerge from the Cold War.  During the later stages of WW2, the Soviet Union was keen to develope long range bombers after seeing the success of the USAF B-29 raids over Japan.  Stalin ordered the development of a comparable bomber.  In 1945, three B-29's were forced to land in Soviet territory due to emergencies and the Soviets seized the USAF B-29's.  The bombers were copied and reverse engineered by Tupolev and produced as the Tu-4.  In total 847 Tu-4s were built in the Soviet Union by the time production ended in 1952, with some going to China during the later 1950s.  In 1977 some of these aircraft in China were converted to an AWACS-type aircraft using '843' radar.

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This Tu-4 Bull (B-29) Chinese AWACS/AEW Conversion for the Academy/Minicraft B-29 or KB-29 kit. This huge set contains the parts necessary to convert the B-29 to the Soviet-built Tu-4 Bull, as modified by the PLAAF to use the large AI-20K turboprop engines and a huge AWACS radome mounted above the mid-fuselage. This is a HUGE set, and it includes the decals! This model is sure to be the center of your collection--an "eye magnet" for everybody who ever sees it!

 

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This is not a small set....as you can see there is a large amount of parts and considering what you get the price is a good deal.  The supports for the radar dome are made of white metal for added strength.

The 2 pages of instructions walk you through this project and helps you keep organized and avoid problems during the conversion.  This set is for advanced modellers, but with care and patience a skilled modeller could pull this project off.  

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Resin casting is of a very high quality and all the detail is very well done with no air bubbles.  This new resin set from Cutting Edge Modelworks will permit modelers to go wild and build this wildly large eye-catching aircraft.

Below are photos of this amazing Chinese aircraft.

Steve

I would like to thank Cutting Edge Modelworks for providing me with this review sample.

Photos and text © by Steve Bamford


Chinese PLA TU-4 Bull

These photos were taken by Henry Ng

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Photos directly below were taken taken at the Beijing Air Museum

The 7 photos directly below were taken by Henry Ng

 

Photos and text © by Henry Ng