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Eastern Express and RusAir airliner kits


PetrOs

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Hello

I just ordered some 1/144 russian airliner kits from Russia. The subjects are great, but I have never seen these kits in the west for sale or reviewed, so it is a "cat in the bag" buy from me.. One is resin, rest in injection plastic.. I am searching for experiences, etc with these kits, if someone has them...

RusAir Tupolev Tu-134 Aeroflot Legends (resin)

Eastern Express Il-96-400T Atlant-Soyuz Cargo

Eastern Express Tupolev Tu-334

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have the Il-96M kit.

I'm working on it right now.

Fit is good, quality is good also.

Fuselage plastic is thick. No locator pins. The Horizontal stabs. needed to be sanded alot to fit.

Where did you find the Tu-334 kit?

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I have the Il-96M kit.

I'm working on it right now.

Fit is good, quality is good also.

Fuselage plastic is thick. No locator pins. The Horizontal stabs. needed to be sanded alot to fit.

Where did you find the Tu-334 kit?

Sounds good ;)

I got both (Il-96T Atlant-Soyuz Cargo + better decal sheet from PAS, Tu-334 factory colors), as well as RusAir resin Tu-134 from RusAir, Russia. In fact, its my first attempt to get a kit from Russia delivered here... the money is transferred, but it is already about 1.5 weeks underways... However, the snail mail in Russia is always ultrasnail, with a large risk of the stuff getting stolen ;(

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Sounds good ;) I hope the 334 is also ok. The RusAir resin stuff is highly praised in Russia, but is barely known outside of it, so I hope the praises are true ;)

But first I want to see both decal sheets, from EE and from PAS-Decals before I make a decision which one I'll use.

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Fair enough.

If you are a big Il-96 fan and don't want to wait to see if any other company will make the -96, then this is for you.

The dry fit I did showed not problems, a little gap at the wing/fuselage connection, but nothing putty can't fix.

You can see the decals on skunk-labworks.com under kits, Eastern Express and also under decals, PAS decals.

Have fun and can't wait to see pics. :)

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I ordered both from the RusAir/PAS Decals. I know the owner of that company on a russian forum, and as I wanted to order the RusAir Tu-134, I asked him whether he can get me both EE kits too, and he could.

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A postman just came and brought me my package! Of course, I stopped working (at home office) and went on to unpack it.
RusAir Tu-134A kit is THE DAMN ULTIMATE BEST CANDY RESIN KIT I have ever seen! I would never have imagined that a resin kit can be so FANTASTIC!
It is moulded in a high pressure injection resin, and the mould is absolutely flawless. Except for removing the casting blocks/wafers which are hold very thin and fine, and in easy-to-access places, no work seem to be necessary! It looks like no filler will be needed at all, at least as long as I could test the wing-fuselage and stabiliser-fin joint. The only "physical" option is a glazed nose for a navigator cabin or a solid nose for a radar. You also get a huge amount of decals spread on 5 sheets. The two largest ones handle the paint schemes - Aeroflot USSR, Aeroflot Russia old, Aeroflot Modern, and UTAir. Alot of stencils, 2 styles of windows (black and grey), 3 styles of glazing, alot of doors, hatches, etc. These bear the Begemot sign, who printed these. Another small decal sheet carries the tail flags for the modern Aeroflot. Two other carry alot of digits for the reg numbers, in both soviet "rounded" and modern "cornered" fonts.
http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/1/8/6/0581681.jpg
http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/6/6/4/0497466.jpg
http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/6/8/0/1306086.jpg
http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/0/9/4/1343490.jpg

Two Eastern Express kits are also inside, and a PAS-Decals sheet for Il-96

Tupolev Tu-334 - well, it is a mixed feeling. All parts have ALOT of flash, some are broken loose in the bag, and I know the fit is owful from the other guys, but well, no problem for me here. Detailing looks nice. Decals are a bit simplistic, with no stencils. Only the prototype is covered. These look well however.
http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/2/1/6/1255612.jpg


The Il-96-400T Freighter. Well, alot of flash, but OK wink.png The windows are OWFULLY WRONG for the passenger version, but I need to fill them for a freighter, anyways! Transparency is matte, but I'll use it only as a filler for the opening. Wheels and landing gear are useless, but they are virtually identical to a Il-86. Or I might go for a inflight version, never did that! I got both the kit's decals and PAS decals, both for the same, very colorful aircraft, RA-96102. Some items look better on the kit's sheet, some on the PAS decals. In fact, the only trouble of PAS are the horisontal or diagonal lines in the door stencils, which are not well printed.
http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/0/9/4/1248490.jpg

Edited by Shar2
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Yep! Loads of flash, gear is bad, but I'm making a nice wooden stand for it anyway. I think I might have found a -334.

PAS does 334 decals, BTW.

Well, I just fetched yet another Il-86 from Revell as a "donor" for the landing gear for the 96 today, just saw a "SALE all down 50%" label on a toy shop and walked in. ;)

And the 334 decals are ok, I'll add some stencils from my spares box and it'll do it. The prototype had little of those, anyways.

But the RusAir Tu-134 gets the priority. Will finish the BAC 1-11 tomorrow and it'll join the Avro RJ85 on the table.

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How big is the -334?

Its a small regional jet, a replacement for the Tu-134, and in fact much shorter then it (as the seating in 134 is 4 per row and in 334 is 6 per row, roughly same max capacity). Length is 22cm, and its approximately the size of BAC-1-11 on my work table.

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  • 7 years later...

Just to add that the Tu-134A is the same shape as the Eastern Express injection moulded kit of the same subj. The EE tooling, if I remember correctly, was farmed out to several other brands like FLY/AZ and even to a big UK decal name who sold it with its branded decals. The Zvezda Tu-134A is much more faithful to the original and an altogether finer product, though we are talking relatively minor differences.

Rus Air and PAS Models are basically one and the same outfit. A handful of lads into airliner modelling, out to share their models and make some petty cash. They work with Eastern Express and sometimes with others, like Zvezda. Thus, the Zvezda Il-62M is the same shape as the Rus Air Il-62M, but with windows and other gubbins added -- Rus Air/PAS Models developed the original 3d master and sold it to Zvezda. They also do plenty of decals for Russian and other airlines. Associated "garage" names include AWM Models -- maker of astoundingly good resin jewels like the Tu-104 and An-12.

The feather in Rus Air/PAS's cap is a very advanced resin casting technology that gives thin-walled hollow items others can only dream of. Essentially, you have an injection moulded kit, but one made of resin. Even window apertures (yes, I know...) are present in most kits. Sadly, they do sometimes slip-up and rush things. The Caravelle is a complete copy of the Airfix with a minor improvement to the nose. The A310 fuselage nose appears to be adapted from a resin A300-600 fuselage that another maker has had on sale for ten years-odd now. The Boeing 717-200 (that DC-9-50-ish thing with fat engines) is an Airfix kit with a Minicraft nose, and the Milliput snakes they used to plug the windows up are faithfully reproduced in the resin :)

EE is a relatively old outfit. They initially released some ex-FROG kits like the 707 and the 1/96 Britannia. The Tu-334 is one of their earlierst "own" kits and was widely available in UK shops like Modelzone in the early 1990s. Sadly, the real machine (a Fokker 100/70-ish analogue) failed to enter service. Another old kit of theirs is a landing-gearless Il-96-300 that was also all over the UK in the early-mid 90s, alongside their An-74 kit. They have released some relative jewels lately, like the Il-18 (Il-20, -38, et cetera). The TriStar, which I have still to clap eyes (and fingers!) on, looks like a copy of the Otaki kit, with some improvements (I hope)... Well, someone had to do it, after 40 years! Sadly, they balance their jewels with inexcusable duds like the 777-300, 757 and diverse 737 marks (all of those seeiming *very*close* to the heroic efforts of a US maker who first came to prominence in the late 90s).

Still, the more, the merrier :)

Edited by skippiebg
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Just a couple of brief additions to Skippiebg's comments.

I am about to apply decals to a Rus-Air Yak-42 and it's been one of the most enjoyable kits I've ever built. Barring disasters it should be in RFI in the next couple of months.

In my experience Rus-Air kits are more finely moulded/cast than PAS kits although there isn't usually much to choose. I've never seen a Rus-Air kit with open windows but they do turn up in PAS kits although weirdly you sometimes get open (or openable) cabin windows and a solid cockpit. The ATR-72 is an example.

EE's standards may have improved recently but it will be a long time before I forgive them for the A318. Not only is it one of the worst-moulded kits I've ever seen but it's also a rip-off of the Revell A319/320 to the point that once you've cleaned them up many of the EE parts are interchangeable with the Revell ones. It's a disgrace that this piece of junk is on the market at £21.60 when you can buy a Revell A319 for £13.50 or less, do your own conversion and end up with a better result. If I have the choice between a resin kit from Rus-Air/PAS and an injection kit from EE it will be the resin every time.

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I'm sure the resin kits are of better quality than the EE injection molded one, but I don't have any experience with full resin kits. Also I'd like to modify the standard airframe a bit and adding styrene bits to a plastic model is a lot easier in my opinion.

The resin kit is also a lot more expensive (although you get a lot more for your money).

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Well, it's never too late to gain experience. Plus, the point of PAS resin kits is, they're like polystyrene. Okay, you have no location pins mostly, but the rest is just like polystyrene. And you can quite easily sand-off or build-up bits, except you have to use epoxy glue (or cyano, but that's too fierce and fast for me). And, what with the rouble plunging, their prices are mostly in £20 territory -- well equal to (or under) Airfix/Revell, and half what you'd pay for a Minicraft nowadays.

As to EE quality, it varies, but not like in the 40-60 percent range. More like the 20 to 95 percent range. With nothing in between...

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....

The resin kit is also a lot more expensive (although you get a lot more for your money).

Eastern Express Yak-42 (injection) - £21; Rus-Air Yak-42 (resin) - RUB1990 = £16.99

Zvezda IL-62M (injection) - £23.99; Rus-Air IL-62 or IL-62M (resin) - RUB1990 = £16.99

You're never going to get any experience with a resin kit unless you try one. Remember the Chinese saying that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step :winkgrin:

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Actually, the EE Il-96-300 is RUB850, while the Pas one is RUB3300, but I see what you mean.

You're right about the experience part. I've always wanted to build a Hungarian Airlines Tu-154, but there aren't any good injection molded 54B's around. Maybe it's time to order a resin one. :)

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  • 1 month later...

I've just ventured from larger scales back to 1/144 and am in the process of getting together a few kits of Soviet airliners with the plan to build governmental subjects.

The kits I've got together are the Zvezda IL-62, TU-154 & TU-134 and have started producing the artwork to print my own decals.

I'm also planning convert the Trumpeter IL-76D into an IL-76-MD-M and am after a set of four PS-90A-76 engines.

I found a set on the A.M.U.R.Reaver website, but after contacting them I was informed that they no longer produce them.

Does anyone know where I might be able to get a set from?

Many thanks

XVTonker

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