Petlyakov Pe-8

Zvezda, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

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Last year, Zvezda burst onto the 1/48 scale scene with an excellent Lavochkin La-5FN. This kit featured fine surface features, excellent detail and clever engineering.

Zvezda has now released a remarkable new model in 1/72 scale – the Petlyakov Pe-8.

The Soviet Union did not place great emphasis on strategic bomber, but even so they had a very impressive weapon for the task. The Petlyakov Pe-8 was a very large aircraft, with a wingspan of 25 feet more than the B-17 Flying Fortress, and being 3 feet longer. Its bomb load of up to 6,000 kg was also very useful.

Only 93 Pe-8s were produced, but they were used to good effect. The Pe-8 was one of the earliest aircraft to bomb Berlin (on 8 August, 1941), and the type was also used in the tactical role supporting Soviet campaigns at Kursk and Koenigsberg.

Zvezda’s 1/72 scale Petlaykov Pe-8 comprises 274 parts in grey injection moulded plastic and 31 parts in clear.

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Thumbnail panels:

The quality of the moulding is excellent. The surface is finished almost imperceptible texture (if you don’t like the effect, a light sanding with Micro Mesh cloths will buff the plastic to gloss), and panel lines are very fine, crisply recessed and perfectly consistent. There are a few sink marks here and there, but the quality of the moulding is generally very good indeed.

Detail matches this high standard, with a busy cockpit, structural features inside the wheel wells, manned machine gun positions in the rear of the inboard engine nacelles and a loaded bomb bay. The only inconsistent aspect is the featureless instrument panels with their decal dials.

Kit engineering is conventional, with locating pins and tabs to assist alignment. Those great big wings are secured with two large spars that feed through the fuselage – just like the real thing. Some cutting will be required, as alternate fuselage door and window positions are offered. These re all indicated by deeply recessed cutting lines on the inside of the fuselage which must be excised according to your preference (although only one option is suggested in this boxing).

All control surfaces and flaps are moulded in neutral positions, but they will be easy enough to cut from the plastic if you want to reposition them.

Five high-quality crew figures are also included.

Clear parts feature a jumble of heavy canopy frames. The quality of the clear plastic is also very good – clear, thin and free from distortion despite their relative complexity. Roll on, Eduard canopy masks!

Markings are supplied for a single aircraft in black, dark green and brown upper surfaces over light blue. Decals are flat in finish, opaque and in register.

Zvezda is re-establishing itself as a challenger to the mainstream Japanese and Eastern European model companies with its latest releases, and this new Pe-8 is another impressive offering.

The Pe-8 was finished in an interesting range of camouflage schemes, so we can only hope for a selection of after-market decal options.

At more than 300 parts, this kit is not for the beginner, but anyone who has built any other mainstream bomber kit should not have any real trouble building this.

Highly Recommended.