Einar Posted June 17, 2022 Share Posted June 17, 2022 (edited) The Tu-144 was the world's first commercial supersonic aircraft when its prototype was introduced on the 31 December 1968, just two months before its rival, the British-French Concorde. It had an average service altitude of 16,000 meters and cruise speed of around 2,200 kmh. The Tu-144 was in operation from 1968 to 1999 during which a total of 16 planes were manufactured. Having a max speed that exceeded that of the Concorde also caused a nasty problem for the passengers since the noise level inside the cabin measured 90–95 dB on average. Unlike the Concorde the Tu-144 could only sustain supersonic speeds using afterburners. Despite the its nickname "Konkordski" the Tu-144 had quite a few differences in comparison with its rival, the most notable of which were the canard wings behind the cockpit that increased the lift in low speeds. The plane was some 4 meters longer and the wing span 3 meters wider compared to the Concorde. The average seating capacity was about 30 places more than the Concorde. At the Paris Air Show on 3 June 1973, the Tu-144 suffered a fatal accident when the first Tu-144 production airliner (reg 77102) crashed. At the end of the officially approved demonstration flight the aircraft entered a very steep climb before making a violent downwards turn. As it tried to recover the the port wing failed and the plane crashed destroying 15 houses and killing all six people on board and eight more on the ground. A popular Soviet theory for the crash was that the Tu-144 tried to avoid a French Mirage chase-plane that was attempting to photograph its canards, which were very advanced for the time. I bought the ICM Tu-144 kit when it was introduced in 2011 but for some reason I didn't start to build it at that time. When I finally decided to start the project I immediately saw that the decals were badly yellowed and despite the sun light treatment I gave them the problem didn't disappear. Moreover, the kit's windows were holes (which I usually don't like). So, I filled them and since the kit didn't have cabin or cockpit decals I ordered new ones from Nazca (that were for the very plane that crashed in Paris). I liked the elegant livery of the lost plane and for that reason and in memory of the tragic crash I chose to have those decals for my model. The kit itself is of high quality. The molding of the parts is crisp and well-detailed. There are even static wicks in the wings and rudder even if they are out of scale in my opinion. (so, I decided to leave them out) In the assembly I didn't have any special problems. The structure of the landing gears is a bit complicated but there are detailed instructions how to build them. I painted the white parts with Tamiya Fine Surface primer and and the grey underside with Mr Surfacer1000 primer. I coated the areas with Tamiya Gloss spray varnish. For the many details I used Vallejo and Humbrol paints. Birds of a feather (almost) Edited June 17, 2022 by Einar 35 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smudge Posted June 17, 2022 Share Posted June 17, 2022 Very nice. And looks great next to the Concorde 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HL-10 Posted June 17, 2022 Share Posted June 17, 2022 That is very nice! And it does look good beside Concorde Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Einar Posted June 17, 2022 Author Share Posted June 17, 2022 53 minutes ago, Smudge said: Very nice. And looks great next to the Concorde Thanks Smudge! Einar 13 minutes ago, HL-10 said: That is very nice! And it does look good beside Concorde Thank you! Einar 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vesa Jussila Posted June 17, 2022 Share Posted June 17, 2022 Looks good. Interesting history and one plane that I need to add my collection. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Einar Posted June 17, 2022 Author Share Posted June 17, 2022 2 minutes ago, Vesa Jussila said: Looks good. Interesting history and one plane that I need to add my collection. Kiitos /thanks Vesa! Einar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GiampieroSilvestri Posted June 17, 2022 Share Posted June 17, 2022 Beautiful Tupolev Tu-144! Saluti Giampiero 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Mc Posted June 17, 2022 Share Posted June 17, 2022 Lovely pairing. I have an ambition to do something similar. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Einar Posted June 17, 2022 Author Share Posted June 17, 2022 1 hour ago, Eric Mc said: Lovely pairing. I have an ambition to do something similar. Thanks Eric! Einar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Einar Posted June 17, 2022 Author Share Posted June 17, 2022 1 hour ago, GiampieroSilvestri said: Beautiful Tupolev Tu-144! Saluti Giampiero Grazie mille! Einar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pantherhawk27263 Posted June 17, 2022 Share Posted June 17, 2022 Excellent job, she's a beauty. Although, when next to the Concorde we can see who the REAL beauty is..... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Einar Posted June 17, 2022 Author Share Posted June 17, 2022 25 minutes ago, Pantherhawk27263 said: Excellent job, she's a beauty. Although, when next to the Concorde we can see who the REAL beauty is..... Thanks a lot!..and you're quite right! Cheers Einar 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex1978 Posted June 17, 2022 Share Posted June 17, 2022 Another superb build Einar. The TU-144 has a more agressive look compared to the Concorde,which makes it more interesting in my opinion. I had built the ICM kit some years ago,when the decals were still nice. But they were very fragile and teared apard in many places. My result was not as good as yours then,and my TU-144 has long gone since. I have still one more ICM and the Revell repack in my stash,the Revell version has a great decal sheet. For the other ,I bought the livery that the TU-144 had,when it took part in some research with NASA back in 1996. Cant remember what kind of research it was but its story can be found online. Thanks for sharing Alex 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skodadriver Posted June 17, 2022 Share Posted June 17, 2022 Excellent work as always Einar. I didn't realise the Tu-144 was so much bigger than Concorde! Dave G 🇺🇦 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Einar Posted June 17, 2022 Author Share Posted June 17, 2022 2 hours ago, Alex1978 said: Another superb build Einar. The TU-144 has a more agressive look compared to the Concorde,which makes it more interesting in my opinion. I had built the ICM kit some years ago,when the decals were still nice. But they were very fragile and teared apard in many places. My result was not as good as yours then,and my TU-144 has long gone since. I have still one more ICM and the Revell repack in my stash,the Revell version has a great decal sheet. For the other ,I bought the livery that the TU-144 had,when it took part in some research with NASA back in 1996. Cant remember what kind of research it was but its story can be found online. Thanks for sharing Alex Thank you very much for your comments Alex! Cheers Einar 1 hour ago, Skodadriver said: Excellent work as always Einar. I didn't realise the Tu-144 was so much bigger than Concorde! Dave G 🇺🇦 Thank you Dave! Einar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMCS Posted June 17, 2022 Share Posted June 17, 2022 Brilliant work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted June 17, 2022 Share Posted June 17, 2022 Love it, thanks for showing Concorde along with it for comparison!! supersonic 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Einar Posted June 18, 2022 Author Share Posted June 18, 2022 8 hours ago, RMCS said: Brilliant work Thank you! Einar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Einar Posted June 18, 2022 Author Share Posted June 18, 2022 8 hours ago, exdraken said: Love it, thanks for showing Concorde along with it for comparison!! supersonic Thank you! Einar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tMikha Posted June 18, 2022 Share Posted June 18, 2022 Stunning model! Both TU-144 and Concorde are great machines that proved 50 years ago that people are able to achieve supersonic passenger flights! (not taking into account economy side) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Einar Posted June 18, 2022 Author Share Posted June 18, 2022 45 minutes ago, tMikha said: Stunning model! Both TU-144 and Concorde are great machines that proved 50 years ago that people are able to achieve supersonic passenger flights! (not taking into account economy side) Thank you tMikha! I fully agree with you👍 Einar 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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