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Zvezda Tupolev 204-100 Cubana 1:144


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I have a great affection for Russian (or Soviet) civil aircraft and the Tupolev 204 is no exception. Bearing a striking resemblance to the 757 (my girlfriend couldn’t tell the difference), the Tu-204 was poised to replace the Tu-154, but due to political and economic turmoil never became successful as Tupolev’s predecessors (although technically there was nothing wrong with the aircraft)

 

 I was planning to build the Rus-air version (also a very nice looking kit), but when Zvezda decided to release the Tu-204, I decided to build that version instead.

 

The kit by Zvezda is great (as always) and comes highly recommended. I wanted to build something else than the Red Wings version (you see that livery on Russian forums everywhere) and since I have never had a livery from South America, this seemed like a good opportunity to build something in the colours of Cubana. The decals come from 8a Decs, with some extra details from the Zvezda decal sheet. The cockpit decals are from PAS.

 

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You can find the (Dutch) build report here in case you're interested.

 

My next project will be either the Authentic airliners Convair 990 in the last Spantax livery, or the Rus-Air Antonov 24 in Aeorflot colours if that kit arrives sooner than expected.

 

At any rate, thanks for looking and hopefully see you next time!

Edited by Malair
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Lovely job Martijn, but then I expected nothing less! Looks like a simple build, were there any difficulties at all?

Is the kit as detailed as other Zvezda releases in terms of engine and undercarriage detail?

Are the cabin windows from 8a Decs too?

I see you're using a Noy's Miniatures taxiway baseboard, first time I've seen one on here, I think.

Really looking forward to your AA CV990 that'll be cool!

Cheers,

Ian

 

 

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Hi Ian,

 

Thanks! I had zero problems with this build (nice for a change). The undercarriage is as detailed as other Zvezda kits, but I found the engines to be a but less detailed.

 

Yes, the window decals are from 8a Decs as well.

 

5 minutes ago, Turbofan said:

I see you're using a Noy's Miniatures taxiway baseboard, first time I've seen one on here, I think.

 

Nope, I made this one myself, based on some pictures I bought from Shutterstock. I made all the other bases myself as well (you can find more on my A320 RFI thread).

 

7 minutes ago, Turbofan said:

Really looking forward to your AA CV990 that'll be cool!

 

I'm looking forward to building the kit as well. The AA kit is really, really great! Way better then the F-RSIN offering and that kit wasn't too bad already.

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2 hours ago, Malair said:

Nope, I made this one myself, based on some pictures I bought from Shutterstock. I made all the other bases myself as well (you can find more on my A320 RFI thread).

Ah, ok I see the difference now! It does look similar to this though.

https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/NM14435

Yes I always admire the bases in all your other builds, they help bring your models even more to life!

Cheers,

Ian

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4 minutes ago, Turbofan said:

 It does look similar to this though. https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/NM14435

More than that I think, it's the same picture! (although I scaled it differently on purpose because at some airports the lines are as thick as the front wheels of an avarge airliner, and I thought it looked more impressive that way. On hindight I might have overdone it a little. Either that or the printing company overscaled it :p).

 

FYI, you can find the original stockphoto here: https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-airfield-marking-on-taxiway-is-heading-to-runway-134523255.html

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Very nice indeed Martijn. That's a lovely model in an attractive livery. I really like your understated weathering on the wings

 

You and I seem to be sort of shadowing each other just now. You're planning a RusAir IL-18 which I've just finished and I'm planning a Zvezda Tu-204 which you've just finished. That's definitely a bit spooky :hmmm: 

 

To make it even more of a coincidence I will also be using 8A Decals, their Air Koryo sheet which looks excellent and has a very nice photo-real windscreen.

 

It's good to hear that the build was problem-free. Thanks for the link to your build thread. I don't speak Dutch but the photos are very helpful and I know enough German to understand quite a lot of the text. If I get stuck I'll pm you for a translation!

 

Thanks for sharing and best regards

 

Dave G

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Thanks guys!

 

On 28/04/2019 at 23:23, Skodadriver said:

You and I seem to be sort of shadowing each other just now. You're planning a RusAir IL-18 which I've just finished and I'm planning a Zvezda Tu-204 which you've just finished. That's definitely a bit spooky :hmmm: 

To make it even more of a coincidence I will also be using 8A Decals, their Air Koryo sheet which looks excellent and has a very nice photo-real windscreen.

That is eerie indeed!

 

You will enjoy the building the Tu-204 kit. I'm looking forward to your results, especially with the Air Koryo livery. One thing to note though is that the decals are designed for the Rus-Air kit (at least my Cubana decals were), so you might have some fit issue's when applying them on the Zvezda kit.

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Thanks Martijn. The Air Koryo instructions say that the decals are designed for the Zvezda kit and there is a little Zvezda logo so hopefully the fit will be fine. It will be a while before the model appears, probably towards the end of the year.

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  • 5 months later...

Very very nice, is defiantly a mix of 757 and A321 but with longer engines, nose looks defiantly Airbus  

 

Lovely work and great base, I always think a good base sets of a model when photographing it, and yours is very realistic after all when we make the models we work to make them as accurate as possible

 

Regards

 

Paul 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks for the nice words guys and thanks to Dave especially.

 

On 26/10/2019 at 09:59, Paulaero said:

 I always think a good base sets of a model when photographing it, and yours is very realistic after all when we make the models we work to make them as accurate as possible

 

The bases on these pictures are custom printed posters, but they still tend to bulge over time. I recently had one printed on forex and although it's much more expensive, wow does that look great (see my recent Convair 990 and AN-74 build for the newly printed bases on Forex). I will have different bases printed on forex as well in the future.

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