Tupolev Tu-2 AliExpress

AliExpress is such a weird place. Sellers there sell all the stuff you can imagine. I was surprised when I found out they sell military related "Legos" too. They have all kinds of copies (even I don't know if the set of this post is a copy or where it comes from) and I will show you some of them here and on the rest of my profiles (Instagram and Flickr that you can find in this blog).

Today you can find here a review of the Tupolev Tu-2 I bought. The price and the renders were too good to not give it a try. If you are interested you can find it for 10€ at AliExpress (depending on the seller its a bit more expensive or cheaper). First of all we will see what says Wikipedia about that bomber: The Tupolev Tu-2 was a twin-engine Soviet high-speed daylight and frontline bomber aircraft of World War II. The Tu-2 was tailored to meet a requirement for a high-speed bomber or dive-bomber, with a large internal bombload, and speed similar to that of a single-seat fighter. Designed to challenge the German Junkers Ju 88, the Tu-2 proved comparable, and was produced in torpedo, interceptor and reconnaissance versions. The Tu-2 was one of the outstanding combat aircraft of World War II and it played a key role in the Red Army's final offensives. 

Built from 1941 to 1948, the Tu-2 was the USSR's second most important twin-engine bomber (the first being the Pe-2). The design brought Andrei Tupolev back into favour after a period of detention. Crews were universally happy with their Tupolevs. Pilots could maneuver the aircraft like a fighter, it could survive heavy damage, and it was fast.^[3] The Tu-2 remained in service in the USSR until 1950.

Some surplus Tu-2s were provided to the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force for use in the Chinese Civil War. Some Chinese Tu-2s were shot down by United Nations airmen during the Korean War. In the 1958–1962 'counter-riot actions' in the 1959 Tibetan uprising in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau covering Qinghai, Tibet, southern Gansu, and western Sichuan, Chinese PLAAF Tu-2s took on the roles of ground-attack, reconnaissance and liaison. The Chinese Tu-2s were retired at the end of the 1970s.

Box with the small bags of parts like Lego sets

The box where it comes isnt too big and all comes so tight. Luckily only one piece seemed damaged in a corner (photo below).

You can see some damage

The instructions are easy to follow overall and the book is kinda similar to Lego ones but some images of it can be a bit confusing and you dont know too well the color of the parts and where exactly is their position.

The quality of the parts is pretty decent but you can feel they arent as good as Lego ones and well at the end that's normal. They are compatible with Lego ones. Some look weird but overal they are exact copies so you would struggle to say if it's original or copy parts. The colors between Lego and copy brands match in this set at least.

Parts of this set have "M38" instead of "LEGO".

Stickers are awful to be honest...

... just like the minifig that comes in the set. 

I don't know if some parts are original or they are Lego copies and I never saw original Lego ones. They look cool indeed like this red one. Perfect for a car gearbox shifter for example.

Some bombs (So simple as you can see)

The model finished is almost 29cm long, around 35cm wide and around 7cm tall. Here you can see a picture of the bomber finished.

My opinion about it is simple: Should you buy it ? Well if you like airplanes this one looks very cool and similar to the real one and for a very cheap price you have one you will build fast with no worries. For me the stuff you design yourself is better and I would never buy a tank but I'm not very interested in building planes so 10€ for one like this is a good deal ! (And I would rather buy this same plane 4 or 5 times instead of paying the same amount of money, 40-50€, for a book from Brickmania with their instructions or any other overrated kit lmao sorry). 

AliExpress sells BrickArms copies and stuff like that too but well I doubt I buy them since BrickArms is the best ever happened to this community and I'm not a traitor to replace them but anyway if you like and support this post I will show you another AliExpress set I got in January where I spent 15€ instead of the 75-100€ Lego one costs. Hope you liked the post guys. Here a video with some shots of the plane incluided some cool outdoor ones.