Zvezda Tu-154M first impressions

[PetrOs]

Hello

I just fetched the brand new Zvezda's 1/144 Tupolev Tu-154M kit, and I am impressed! Looks like the best detailed Airliner kit I ever build or have in my stash (well, a few I built). The only drawback - the parts (except the clear ones) are loose in the box, and the decals too! I cant find any moulding defects, and the level of detail is just great, with very fine engraved lines. The decals look ok.

It has three paint schemes included:

1) RA-85665, belonging to the soviet aerospace training center

2) RA-85760, Aeroflot (Modern), with a nice silver/blue/red livery

3) CCCP-85663, Aeroflot (USSR), in a classic color scheme, and exactly the same aircraft which I "flew" as a kid! (In 1989 (or 1990, not sure) when I was 8 or 9 years old my parents flew from Leningrad to the Crimean peninsula with me for summer vacation, and we sat in the very first row in the plane (all-touristic). In the middle of the flight a flight attendant girl invited a "nice kid" to visit the cockpit, and the pilot let me seat at his lap and hold the controls for some 10 minutes. My parents have a black-and-white photo of us near that aircraft, and it is exactly the 85663!). The scheme I am going to build, needless to say

I am going to push this build directly on the table, pausing the Fiat C.R.42 build now on the table. I just had a large wish to build an airliner, so I fetched three today (Tu-154M, and 2 revell ones, Super Constellation L1049G and a Bombardier Challenger CL604)

Edited August 15, 2008 by PetrOs

[keefr22]

Sounds good!! Any pics??

Keef

[general melchett]

Definitely one I'm interested in ...

[stringbag]

Must get myself a couple of these!!!

[dswoofie]

Any chance of posting us some pics of the sprues, all and some detailed ones please! I'm really interested in this kit and it'd be nice to see exactly what you get in the box!

Karl.

[PetrOs]

I went on building this one directly after my post, and the fit is good to very good.

I have painted the fuselage halves exterior white and attached the window transparencies from inside (this way i just mask the strip with windows and spray the top seam, instead of individual masking). Windows fit tight but very good. I also assemled the middle engine air intake and the nozzle, as well as the front wheel bay. Also very good fit. Being cautious, I added 50 grams of lead in the nose (using old tyre balance weights) instead of 20 listed in the assembly. After that I closed the fuselage. The fit is quite good, but I needed to chop off all the locating pins to achieve it. You still would need some filler around it. I also assembled the wings and dry-attached them to the fuselage. Fit is fantastic, tight and filler-less, except that you need to sand some 0.3 mm off the front edge of one wing at the root. The T-stabilizer also fits very good, with hair-thin lines. Such a filler-less fit allows you to paint the metallic wings and tail, and white-gray fuselage separately, and then just add them together. Side engines also went together very well, with no visible seams after a few polishing stick sweeps. In fact, its virtually ready for painting job!

[PetrOs]

Any chance of posting us some pics of the sprues, all and some detailed ones please! I'm really interested in this kit and it'd be nice to see exactly what you get in the box!

Karl.

Well, Im sorry here... I did not take the sprue photos before rushing to build it...

However, I am toying an idea to get a second (today he had 2 such kits on the shelf) one from my dealer tomorrow (with 13 euro only as price its easy)...

But generally you get:

3 sprues in gray plastic: one holding the fuselage, one - wing upper parts and wheels, one - wing lower parts, engines and the T-tail.

1 sprue in hard transparent plastic.- holding the "airfix-style" inflight stand.

1 sprue with softer, rather flexible, non-fragile transparent plastic, with the window inserts, cockpit glazing, landing lights and some optional windows for the "space" version.

one sheet of instructions and one large decal sheet

Edited August 6, 2008 by PetrOs

[keefr22]

(with 13 euro only as price its easy)...

I thought that we'd be paying a lot more than that in the UK, but Hannants have it listed at £10.50!! Bargain!! (especially with the Welsh Models kits now being over £35 )

Can you post any pictures of your build as it progresses??

Keef

[PetrOs]

I thought that we'd be paying a lot more than that in the UK, but Hannants have it listed at £10.50!! Bargain!! (especially with the Welsh Models kits now being over £35 )

Can you post any pictures of your build as it progresses??

Keef

I will take photos before resuming the work on friday or saturday.... now I cant take photos as the liquid putty is drying, and tomorrow i have a beer garden meeting in the evening, so coming home around midnight...

[keefr22]

and tomorrow i have a beer garden meeting in the evening, so coming home around midnight...

Ah, now that's much more important!! Enjoy!!

Keef

[Mandrake]

Some good sprueshots here: http://aviamodel.ucoz.ru/forum/13-137-6

[PetrOs]

Oh well, I thought it'd be brutal to make you wait, guys

Here is the original

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Aeroflot/Tu...next_id=1309871

Here is my current progress - waiting for sanding. Wings, engines, etc are only stuck in.

Large Version

Large photo of engravings:

Large photo of engravings

Top view

[general melchett]

Right that's it , credit card prepare yourself

Blimey I thought my worktop was a mess !!!!!

Andy

Edited August 7, 2008 by general melchett

[PetrOs]

Right that's it , credit card prepare yourself

Blimey I thought my worktop was a mess !!!!!

Andy

Hehe, well, its usually better in my case - i cleanup table completely after each project... but here i paused a project in an advanced phase to do this build

[keefr22]

Thanks Petros!! That looks great!!

A couple (or more) of those will be on final approach to my cupboard soon!!!

Thanks again for posting the pics!

Keef

[eng]

Superb, might be having myself one of these baby's as well!!!

Bought a Zvezda Mil-8T off evil-bay the other day for £5 inc postage and had intended to hack it up for a wee project and very nearly didn't because I was so impressed with the part count and quality! I believe there's quite a few of Zvezda's kits that are actually quite hot.

Look forward to more pic's of this one!

Eng

[PetrOs]

As the photo of the original one shows it in Manchester, I have picked up a Minicraft Boeing 757-200 and AHS decals Air 2000... also based at Manchester at the same time.. looks like an airport diorama for me!

[keefr22]

As the photo of the original one shows it in Manchester, I have picked up a Minicraft Boeing 757-200 and AHS decals Air 2000... also based at Manchester at the same time.. looks like an airport diorama for me!

I hope someone does Balkan decals for it, as they operated these into Cardiff until a year or so ago. To get up early on a Sunday morning & go & stand on finals for runway 30 watching the horizon for the distinctive smoke trails to appear, then watch the jet get bigger & bigger & move about in the turbulence over the sea until it thundered overhead about 100 ft up as it crossed the fence was an experience never to forget!! And the take off was pretty spectacular too...!!

One of the last 'proper' airliners in service!!

Keef

[stringbag]

I hope someone does Balkan decals for it, as they operated these into Cardiff until a year or so ago. To get up early on a Sunday morning & go & stand on finals for runway 30 watching the horizon for the distinctive smoke trails to appear, then watch the jet get bigger & bigger & move about in the turbulence over the sea until it thundered overhead about 100 ft up as it crossed the fence was an experience never to forget!! And the take off was pretty spectacular too...!!

One of the last 'proper' airliners in service!!

Keef

There is a Balkan option in the Welsh Models kit and the decals are a work of art. I'm sure that someone here might have a set spare if they have chosen the Aeroflot option.

Might be worth asking.

Chris.

[keefr22]

There is a Balkan option in the Welsh Models kit and the decals are a work of art. I'm sure that someone here might have a set spare if they have chosen the Aeroflot option.

Might be worth asking.

Chris.

Cheers Chris,

I shall do that when I get the kit!

Thanks

Keith

[Jennings Heilig]

There is a Balkan option in the Welsh Models kit and the decals are a work of art. I'm sure that someone here might have a set spare if they have chosen the Aeroflot option.

Might be worth asking.

Chris.

Thanks for that complement - I did that decal art many years ago. However, don't count on the Welsh decals fitting the Zvezda kit. There are major differences. I know for sure the cabin windows are wrong (I only had photos to work from back then), as are the doors.

I plan on doing some new decals for the Zvezda kit sometime soon. Probably some non-airline as well as some colorful airliner types.

Cheers,

J

[stringbag]

Thanks for that complement - I did that decal art many years ago. However, don't count on the Welsh decals fitting the Zvezda kit. There are major differences. I know for sure the cabin windows are wrong (I only had photos to work from back then), as are the doors.

I plan on doing some new decals for the Zvezda kit sometime soon. Probably some non-airline as well as some colorful airliner types.

Cheers,

J

Hi J.

I may be wrong of course, but I would think that the red and green flashes of the Balkan scheme would fit quite well on the new kit as they are located well away from the window areas and the kit glazing would not be affected. The door outlines could easily be adapted to fit the Zveda kit.

and as soon as I get hold of the new kit I will check it out.

If you decide to do some more decals for this subject, how about Samara Airlines and Via airways.?

All the best.

Chris.

[keefr22]

Hi J.

I may be wrong of course, but I would think that the red and green flashes of the Balkan scheme would fit quite well on the new kit as they are located well away from the window areas and the kit glazing would not be affected. The door outlines could easily be adapted to fit the Zveda kit.

and as soon as I get hold of the new kit I will check it out.

If you decide to do some more decals for this subject, how about Samara Airlines and Via airways.?

All the best.

Chris.

Ah sorry Chris, it was getting late last night & I was thinking of the wrong scheme! It's the latest multi colour Balkan Holidays one I'm after. Any chance J ??!!

Keef

Edit - looking at my pics of it, it's only really the fuselage titles & registrations needed really. Apart from a lot of Tamiya masking tape & patience that is !!!

Edited August 8, 2008 by keefr22

[stringbag]

Ah sorry Chris, it was getting late last night & I was thinking of the wrong scheme! It's the latest multi colour Balkan Holidays one I'm after. Any chance J ??!!

Keef

Edit - looking at my pics of it, it's only really the fuselage titles & registrations needed really. Apart from a lot of Tamiya masking tape & patience that is !!!

I know the one you mean. A bit too sudden for my taste is that.

[PetrOs]

ATTENTION! The decal colors run when reacting with the decal setting solution!!

I just started putting the decals onto the model, and after applying the port-side window strips I put some Mr.Mark Softer upon them. Well, I better would not, or more careful at least! The blue color of the decals was dissolved, and some drops of the light blue colored softer ran onto the white fuselage leaving some marks. Also some blue "traces" on the white parts of the decal formed... Not too critical but some retouching would be needed...