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Aeroflot TUPOLEV TU-144 in 1/144 - ICM Kit


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This is the ICM kit of Aeroflots TU144 in 1/144 scale. I have not done any research into the kits history, if the mouldings belong to a previous vendor or if they relate in anyway to Revell's version of the same - enlighten me please...

 

At face value, the kit looks OK for the price paid (£20). There are the normal delta wing join issues (if you have built Revells 1/144 Concorde or 1/72 monster you will know what I mean) and there are some nasty sink dips. The surface is finely scribed with crisp surface detail and the kit offers a nose up or nose down with canards extended option. The 2 fuselage halves are particularly flimsy and needed tubing added in between them stop them falling in on themselves while assembling. My pictures highlight the wing join issues; I have inserted some internal plasticard stripping where the fuel would have been stored to pack this out and have almost eradicated the problem.

 

I am not going to bust a blood vessel on this as the subject is not too much of an interest to me (we got it right with Concorde didn't we) and I am enjoying other civil things in 1/200 scale, however it is a nice distraction from my norm and the first Russian subject I have ever built. It is different and not often seen as a completed model. The subject really lacks the majestic curves of Concorde, and I get the feeling I am modelling an ugly troll who had a beautiful British (& part French)sister.

 

Intended to be modelled posed touching down with canards extended, I have made appropriate alterations to the wing ailerons.  
 

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I've got a couple of these from both ICM and Revell. It has some of the finest panel line detail I've ever seen.

The one thing that has stopped me building at least one has been solved by you!!! How to prevent the fuselage halves from falling in on themselves when joined - use a tube!! I think Braz models has a replacement wing insert to address the step between the two parts.

 

Following with interest, I've got Whif ideas about alternative colour schemes..

 

Jeff

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8 hours ago, Turbofan said:

Hi John,

Yes this is the same as the Revell repackaged one.

I shall be following your build to pick up some tips for when I start mine sometime in the future.

Cheers,

Ian

I thought that the Revell kit was a re-boxing of the Zveda kit and this was a totally different moulding. 

Probably got my wires crossed as usual.  :shrug:

Chris.

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I've been on a Tu-144 and Concorde kick recently so I'm very interested and excited to see this build. If you need any reference material I highly recommend this site, it's a great resource on the type with loads of walkarounds and other photos.

 

17 hours ago, Gimme Shelter said:

The subject really lacks the majestic curves of Concorde, and I get the feeling I am modelling an ugly troll who had a beautiful British (& part French)sister.

Well...part British and part French! 😇

 

6 hours ago, stringbag said:

I thought that the Revell kit was a re-boxing of the Zveda kit and this was a totally different moulding. 

Probably got my wires crossed as usual.  :shrug:

Chris.

I didn't even know Zvezda made one! As far as modern kits go I'm aware of the ICM kit in a couple of boxings and of Revell's reboxing of same with enough registration number decals to do all the production machines.

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2 hours ago, k5054nz said:

I've been on a Tu-144 and Concorde kick recently so I'm very interested and excited to see this build. If you need any reference material I highly recommend this site, it's a great resource on the type with loads of walkarounds and other photos.

 

Well...part British and part French! 😇

 

I didn't even know Zvezda made one! As far as modern kits go I'm aware of the ICM kit in a couple of boxings and of Revell's reboxing of same with enough registration number decals to do all the production machines.

Hi Zac

 

Thanks for your link for hints - I was unaware this build would spare such a fast response so I had better go into the potting shed where she has been stored for the last 2 weeks and put her out on the workshop bench and phot graph her - she got primed with the left overs I am afraid so the model lacks elegance at present

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Hi

 

For your benefit pinky coffeeboat, here is a photo I took for you earlier today in case it helps encourage you build your stashed kit. 18mm diameter tubing was used - if you PM me, I will post you my 3 used bits if need be.

 

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Had you guys not jumped on my WIP, this would have stayed in the potting shed (AKA - my Winter Spray & Prime Dept.) untouched for a few more weeks. I retrieved the bits back to the workshop to show you where things are

 

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And here is where it is - looking a bit like it has been left on a scrappers yard. The remnants of 3 rattle cans of primer were used to prime this beastie. One thing is for certain, I am going to build this kit with loving care, albeit at a slower pace to my preferred 1/200 Boeings. It now needs a good rub down before assembly and next paint stages.

 

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The 2 pictures below show the interior connecting pins which don't mate up. I noticed on a back posted forum build that another builder pointed this out but only after I came upon the problem. I used a small hand drill (I notice this was in one of my previous pictures) to drill the female holes out - I felt it important to use these M&F lugs as the backbone is flimsy and long - it would have been annoyingly difficult to get the fuselage top surface joint uniformly smooth while assembling without the use of the lugs.

 

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The kit lacks any interior cockpit detail and needs the inside of the nose cone sorting out as it will appear very hollow when the glass visor has been added.

 

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John

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I don't know the name of the footballer but he seems happy with the progress, even going as far as pointing out where the issues lie, very helpful!

 

That's a very kind offer for the spare tube but it'll be a long while before my Chargers have their turn on the work bench, but I'll subconsciously file the diameter for future use. Thank you.

 

Jeff

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I have been looking around on the web for details about what went on inside the TU144 nose cone - i.e. the view the pilots would have looking forward when the nose was raised. The kit is supplied with a clear insert for the glazed panel area however that will mean the interior of the nose will look like an empty cone. Not being sure how much will actually be visible when assembled and painted, I decided to make something that would overcome the empty cone problem but have no idea what the TU144 actually had going on upfront inside that area.

 

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I've been having a bit of a rub down on the primed surfaces too while the Mrs was out last night

 

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I am starting to get tempted into buying the photo etch set for this kit now that I have spent more time looking at the bland engine and underwing detail

 

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5 hours ago, Gimme Shelter said:

I have been looking around on the web for details about what went on inside the TU144 nose cone - i.e. the view the pilots would have looking forward when the nose was raised.

The website I linked to has the answer with a picture of 77110 at Ulyanovsk

cockpit10.jpg

Edited by k5054nz
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On 2/20/2019 at 7:55 AM, k5054nz said:

I didn't even know Zvezda made one!

Probably because it did not :) 

 

Please, don't call this beautiful aircraft Konkordski - sounds disgustingly like a nail on a glass scratch to my Russian ears!

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On ‎2‎/‎22‎/‎2019 at 5:09 PM, Sofusthecat said:

Why has the plane been primed with red primer? It will make painting it white rather time consuming.

 

Regards Toby

Hi Toby

 

A: ; because, they were the left overs of 3 tins I wanted to bin. Time consuming top coats will be the least of my problems assembling the kit, the Port and Starboard wing roots are wider than the fuselage halves so I will have to create a jig to force the wing tips slightly downwards while assembling the fuselage as this looks to force the wing roots inwards to match the fuselage width.

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On ‎2‎/‎21‎/‎2019 at 10:52 PM, Pin said:

Probably because it did not :) 

 

Please, don't call this beautiful aircraft Konkordski - sounds disgustingly like a nail on a glass scratch to my Russian ears!

It got call that by the original teams who had their Anglo French design and plans had been spied on and stolen by Russia so I am not going to change the past - Russia robbed our ideas and tried to copy and better it, and failed.

 

 

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1 hour ago, Gimme Shelter said:

Russia robbed our ideas and tried to copy and better it, and failed.

A320 is a copy of 737 and Tridend of 727. 

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20171018-the-soviet-unions-flawed-rival-to-concorde

 

Quote

Western observers, used to the perceived superiority of technology west of the Berlin Wall, believed that the only way the Soviet Union could have come up with the Tu-144 was through industrial espionage; the Tu-144 was dubbed ‘Concordski’, and regarded as an almost carbon copy of Concorde, though with a cruder Soviet finish.

The truth, says Kamisnki-Morrow, wasn’t quite so clear cut. “There is no doubt that Soviet thinking on the Tu-144 was heavily influenced by Concorde – the absence of a horizontal stabiliser [tail planes], for example, was a radical departure from previous Soviet designs.

“But other aspects, such as the engine configuration, were notably different. The Tu-144 also needed to be more rugged to cope with tougher operating conditions. Although espionage played a role in the Tu-144's development, the Soviets were still capable of exploring their own avenues to solve the multitude of technical problems thrown up by the project. The result was an aircraft which broadly resembled Concorde but which differed substantially in refinement and detail.”

 

Enough of that, good luck with your build.

 

 

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3 hours ago, Pin said:

A320 is a copy of 737 and Tridend of 727. 

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20171018-the-soviet-unions-flawed-rival-to-concorde

 

 

Enough of that, good luck with your build.

 

 

Ok Ok Alexey.

 

Without wanting to start another cold war between the East and West, or having to re-employ thousands of masons to brick up another boundary line wall, I have changed the title for all here . :wall:

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have been fiddling away at this between various other things going on in the workshop over the last week or so. The kits main parts are now assembled and filled / sanded in.

 

This would have been quite difficult had I not had some good strong clamps as the wings don't naturally want to sit in place when mated with the fuselage, and the engines were not a great fit either. Looking at the wing mounted engines, part of me now wishes I had opted and bought the resin nacelles but it is too late now and I had not intended to spend out on 3rd party extras from the onset. I may well need to invest in the white metal undercarriage set later on as the kit is intended to be posed rotating and I have a bad feeling about the strength of the plastic used for the rear undercarriage pillars.

 

Anyway, after fiddling around, here is the progress so far through to the lower white primer coating

 

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Having noted from other forum builds that have used the photo etch sets, there is a step/ledge at the front of the engine intakes where it meets the lower side of the wing. I chose to sand this area down to ensure a snug fit without having the use of a photoetch set

 

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The centre line joint and rear end of the centre wing roots now blended into the fuselage

 

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Another part of the kit which has previously raised concerns with other modellers, the forward wing root join which was very flimsy and likely to fall in on itself. I used super glue here mixed up with talc and then filler when dry

 

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Now that I am aware of what the inside of the nose cone looks like looking forward from the flight deck forward windows, I had to raise the shelf up so that it was flush with the joint that the clear part sits level to. Stacking this up with some scrap and then adding filler did the trick

 

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And now, sanded flat ready for the interior colour, and with its first base white primer, here it is

 

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I decanted Humbrol White Primer and used an airbrush to apply to the main airframe - the base white primer and as it now stands, put aside for a few more days

 

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Thanks for looking in

 

John

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