MPM's 1/48 Pe-2(1941)/Pe-3
By Chris Banyai-Riepl
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Just when I thought I was done looking at 1/48 Petlyakov kits, along comes another. This makes the third release from MPM in the Pe-2/Pe-3 series, and with this one you can now make the late version Pe-2 or the Pe-3. Since the majority of the parts are the same as those in the other releases, I'll just direct you to the build article on the MPM Pe-2 and the comparison First Look between the HiPM Pe-2 and MPM Pe-2UT kits and give an overview of the different parts.
In resin you get the underbelly gun pack for the Pe-3 and the cockpit parts for both the 1941 Pe-2 and Pe-3. You'll end up with lots of leftover parts in this kit, including some unused resin parts, and you'll definitely want to decide which version you're going to build early on, as the instructions do a good job of telling you what you need to do for each type, and each decal choice has different things that need to be done. If you stray away from the kit decals and into the realm of other Pe-2(1941)/Pe-3s, you're on your own.
The decals are nicely done and offer four choices. The first one is a Soviet Pe-3bis finished in two shades of gray over blue. Nothing but stars are on this one, but the interesting colors makes it a bit different. The second choice is a Pe-2(1941) finished in a winter scheme. The base colors are green over blue, with a temporary white camouflage applied in such a way as to leave thin green tiger stripes on the fuselage & wings. A black "8" is on the rudder, otherwise the only markings are the stars. The last two choices are both Finnish examples, one being a Pe-2(1941) and the other being a Pe-3bis. Both are finished in black and green over blue-gray, with the standard Finnish roundels in the usual places. The decals are printed by Propagteam and are in excellent register, with good color matching.