Trumpeter’s 1/72 Tupelov Tu-95MS Bear H

The Kit

This is plastic that I have long been awaiting, as have many other modelers. While the DML/Dragon 1/200 and Revell 1/144 kits satisfied the Bear desire for a bit, there still was a longing for a 1/72 injection-molded kit. When I heard that Trumpeter was coming out with a Bear in 1/72 I hoped the rumors were true. When this giant box from Stevens International showed up on the doorstep I was more than a little excited. Opening the box up and gazing at the plastic inside left me with one fact: this is a HUGE plane! Sizing in at around 27 inches both in length and wingspan, this is one model that will take up lots of shelf space.

You get a handful of light gray sprues and one clear sprue, with a total of 171 parts. The fuselage is split into right and left halves as well as a fore and aft section, for a total of four pieces. The interior is somewhat basic, with a simple floor and seats, but once the fuselage is together and the canopy on not much will be seen. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some resin details for this kit in the near future. The tail section in particular, with its gunner’s stations, could really benefit from some super-detailing sets.

Looking to the flying surfaces, these wings look like they go on forever. There’s the usual upper and lower split, but one nice thing that Trumpeter has done with this kit is molding ribs on the inside of the wings. This will help keep the wings from bending and twisting once the model is finished, which is a nice touch. The wings also feature separate flaps and ailerons, allowing you to position these as you see fit. The same goes for the rudder and elevators, a welcome sight in this day of one-piece wings and tails.

The engine nacelles are nice, but when held up separately they really become impressive. The inner nacelle is longer than a P-51! The counter-rotating propeller arrangement is well done and the finished nacelles should fit firmly against the wing. This is a good thing as the main gear is incorporated with the inner nacelles and will need to support this big model.

Speaking of which, you’ll need to stock up on lead weights for this kit. There’s a lot of plastic behind the main gear, and not much in front of it. Luckily there’s plenty of room in that fuselage to pack in all sorts of weight, so there shouldn’t be any problems with a tail-sitter here. The landing gear itself is quite well done and captures the sturdy look of the original.

The decal sheet is small, but then again there wasn’t much in the way of markings on Bears. Two options are included, one Russian and one Ukrainian. The painting diagram is in full color and covers an 11x17 sheet of paper. This is a very nice addition as it clearly shows all the different colorations for the various antenna covers and wing panels. A fair bit of masking is in order here. The decals look to be thin and in excellent register and should give no problems.

Conclusion

Finally we have an injection-molded Tu-95 in 1/72 and thankfully it is a nicely done kit. The sheer size of it makes it an impressive model, but the level of detail and quality of molding puts it on par with what we’re seeing from Hasegawa these days. Expect to see further variants of this plane in the future, as Trumpeter has announced a Tu-142 as well.

My heartfelt thanks to Stevens International for this review sample. Expect to see this kit in your local hobby shops sometime this month.