Begemot 1/72
Tu-160 Blackjack

Begemot Decals is an interesting decal company from Rostov-on-Don, Russia that offers a nice array of markings for Russian-built aircraft. In this release, they've hit the motherlode, a decal set just in time for the Trumpeter 1/72 Tu-160 Blackjack (though I believe these were originally targeted for the A-Model release of the same subject).

There are 15 aircraft covered in this set:

• Tu-160, Bort 33, 184 Guards Heavy Bomber Aerial Regiment (HBAR), Prikuli AB, Ukraine, early 1990s
• Tu-160, Bort 06, 121 Guards HBAR, Engels AB, Russia, 1995, 'Ilya Muromets'
• Tu-160, Bort 14, 184 HBAR, Poltava AB, Ukraine, Sep 1994
• Tu-160, Bort 05, 121 Guards HBAR, Engels AB, Russia, Aug 1999, 'Alexander Golovanov'
• Tu-160, Bort 01, 121 Guards HBAR, Engels AB, Russia, 2003, 'Mikhail Gromov'
• Tu-160, Bort 04, 121 Guards HBAR, Zhukovsky, MAKS 2005, 'Ivan Yarygin'
• Tu-160, Bort 03, 121 Guards HBAR, Engels AB, Russia, 2005, 'Pavel Taran'
• Tu-160, Bort 07, 121 Guards HBAR, Engels AB, Russia, 2005, 'Alexander Molodchij'
• Tu-160, Bort 02, 121 Guards HBAR, Engels AB, Russia, 2004, 'Vasiliy Reshetnikov'
• Tu-160, Bort 16, 121 Guards HBAR, Engels AB, Russia, 2004, 'Alexey Plokhov'
• Tu-160, Bort 10, 121 Guards HBAR, Engels AB, Russia, 2005, 'Vladimir Sudets'
• Tu-160, Bort 11, 121 Guards HBAR, Engels AB, Russia, 2005, 'Vasiliy Senko'
• Tu-160, Bort 12, 121 Guards HBAR, Engels AB, Russia, 2005, 'Alexander Novikov'
• Tu-160, Bort 17, 121 Guards HBAR, Engels AB, Russia, 2005, 'Valeriy Chkalov
• Tu-160, Bort 18, 121 Guards HBAR, Engels AB, Russia, 2005

The decal printing is perfectly in register. The instructions are printed on two large sheets that provide not only decal placement for each aircraft, but also a nice color reference for each aircraft as well. Decals include the distinctive aircraft markings as well as Soviet, Russian, and Ukrainian national markings. Begemot also provides a separate decal set for all of the maintenance stenciling for the airframe and weapons.

This set is definitely recommended!

For more information about this set and the other releases from Begemot Decals, visit their website at http://www.begemotdecals.ru. You can find this set and others in the series from either FlightDecs or Hannants.

My sincere thanks to Begemot Decals for this review sample!