Review

This offering from Zvezda arrives in an end opening carton, that then contains a flip top cardboard tray that has 2 bags containing the sprues, a Ziploc bag containing the decals and clear sprue, a stand is loose inside the box, as are the assembly and finishing instructions. The first thing that I would like to say about the model, is that despite being 1/144th scale the size is quite impressive. 

The model has a very reasonably detailed cockpit for the scale, that I feel will be more than pleasing considering  what can be seen through the glazing.  a wing brace extends through the width of the fuselage, and then extends a small distance to support the wings, which hopefully should prevent sagging and provide a good fit between the wings and fuselage. 

The undercarriage if you wish to utilise it is reasonably detailed for a model of this scale. The only concern I would have about using the undercarriage is that I think there is a risk of it being a tail sitter. The four engines nacelles are well detailed, especially the inner nacelle on each side and the contra-rotating propellers will finish the detail off a treat. If you take a look at the images provided you can see the very good yet subtle panel lines that for me make it so visually appealing.

The stand provided in this product is a generic stand, but it has a nice smooth shape to it and looks a reasonably professional stand for displaying the model. 4 finishing options are included for the model, these are:

TU-95 MS “Krasnoyarsk”, of the Russian air forces long range aviation 2018

TU-95 MS “Samara”, of the Russian air forces long range aviation, MAKS-2009 Air Show, Zhukovsky, August 2009

TU-95 MS “Samara” of the Russian air forces long range aviation, 2014

TU-95 MS “Dubna” of the Russian air forces long range aviation, 2015

Conclusion

Any modeller who has concerns about Zvezda products in the present day where quality is concerned is worrying needlessly. The bulky mouldings seen in the 70s are long gone and we now have mouldings of a quality that is typical of any modelling company at the present time. Despite being 144th scale, I believe this will be a very pleasing addition to any collection due to an impressive size for the scale.