--Originally Posted 12/30/07--

Some progress and some (pretty well off-topic) background to this build. Firstly, with the help of Don Czech I knocked out (what I think are) suitable replacements for the rotten "clear" parts which came with this kit:


Click on Image to EnlargeThe making of these parts is described in detail in our "Clear Thermoplastic" thread here. Stay tuned for details on how they ultimately cleaned up, fit, and looked, etc..

Meantime, I ran across two dusty, old books - the source of my very first interest in the Tupolev SB-3 - which I want to show you:


Click on Image to EnlargeThis is what I was reading (and re-reading, over and over) when I was about 8 years old. And in particular, studying - and trying to learn to draw from - the pictures, of which Martin Caidin's "Ragged, Rugged Warriors" (be still, my corny heart! ) provided the following, tantalizing glimpse of the Tupolev bomber:


Click on Image to EnlargeI did not remember he called it "SB-3" - nor even now do I know if this was just a typo or factual error (of which this book is chock full). However I never forgot what it looked like - or at least, as much of it as I could see here (and in another, equally incomplete line-drawing elsewhere in this book).

I also didn't remember this was an "Official US Navy Photo" - nor do I have any idea why the Navy would have been at an inland Chinese airfield to take this photo. In any case, this is the plane - its features (what are visible here, anyway) matching my SB-3 kit exactly.

And apparently in fact "naval-related"; from the day this photo was taken which started my entire interest, some 40-plus years ago, in the first place! (Scary… )

Cheers,

-Matty