Big Beautiful Bat

A stunning 1/48 Tu-2T

- Francisco Lomenzo

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.