Russian Pe-3 Bis, Russia's first use of radar for a night fighter

[Night Fighter Nut]

Ok guys, my attempt to build what would be a Russian night fighter.
A Pe-3 with Gneis 2 radar.
1/48 scale made by Special hobby.

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

According to the write up in the directions, Moscow Aircraft Plant No. 39 and it's chief designer were ordered to to develop a fighter version of the Pe-2 aircraft. The Pe-3 was one of the first Soviet airplanes to carry radar. The first Soviet radars (Gneis 2) were so heavy that it could only be carried by a plane of the Pe-2/-3 category. Pe-3 equipped with the radar served in air defense units of Moscow district. They were in action with both Soviet naval and air defense units and a total of 360 of all varients were used in combat right up to the last days of the war.

 

[Jayl]

Interesting plane, I look forward to following your build of it.

 

[jjp_nl]

That's an interesting subject! Never knew the Ruskis were on to this Radar stuff too at this time. One of these forgotten episodes of the war.

 

[vikingBerserker]

Very cool choice.

 

[Wurger]

Yep... good luck!!!

 

[Airframes]

Should be a good one, looking forward to the build.

 

[Matt308]

And I've always liked that airframe.

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

Thanks all, I'm still doing research on this plane. Internal view is a mystery but I figure given the originality of Soviet Russia, it should look a whole lot like a Pe-2 interior. Either way I could use some help in this area. I don't like to take for granted that the model company got it right. I'm also working on the color scheme. I've been able to identify the colors somewhat. They are suppose to be these.

 

[Lucky13]

I'll be folowing this one, got this myself.....

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

Ok, here are a couple of pix from the instructions to give an idea what this will look like. The first difference I noticed what the flat nose. Still trying to find other pictures of these plane or even some example of seat belts for the VVS planes. I'm scratch building mine.
Did get a start on the plane. The pilot's seat and rear of the office.

 

[Wayne Little]

Not bad at all!

 

[Airframes]

Certainly look good.

 

[vikingBerserker]

I might actually have some info on this, I'll check tonight when I get home.

 

[Wurger]

The P-3Bis with the radar was similar to the P-2 with the same device.

Here you are a couple of shots. Believing in captions these two fist are for P-2 and the last one for P-3 with the Gneis radar.

 

[vikingBerserker]

The pics I had were the same as Waynes. There were several other's of the Pe-3's but it showed nothing of the radar.

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

The P-3Bis with the radar was similar to the P-2 with the same device.

Here you are a couple of shots. Believing in captions these two fist are for P-2 and the last one for P-3 with the Gneis radar.

Thanks Wojtek my friend, based off of what I've been able to find out about the Pe-2 and Pe-3, I believe all three of those planes are Pe-3's. This is very helpful as I've not been able to find many photos of the Pe-3 much less ones with the radar on them. The biggest problem I have is figuring out how the spot under the nose looks. I can not trust the plans as they took a generic plane drawing and showed the color scheme, which is different than the plane in the build instructions. Those photos help to narrow this down. At least my chances on getting it right improve.

Thanks David for looking. You wouldn't happen to have any shots of the interior do you?

 

[vikingBerserker]

I have not had any luck yet, but I will keep on looking.

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

Thanks David.
Well I have been able to do more work today on this plane. Mostly I just scratch built the seat belts and foot straps along with part of another seat in the back of the office. Any pointers would be helpful... I used Wojtek method of seatbelt making. I think it came out pretty nice.

 

[vikingBerserker]

That really looks pretty good!

I have had ZERO luck with any interior shots, I only have a few of the Pe-2 and I do not know enough about them if they were simular enough to help.