Aeroflot Tupolev TU-144S - the one that crashed in Paris in 1973 - ICM 1/144 + Braz Decals

[Gimme Shelter]

Brought back to life and finally completed from having being sat on the shelf of doom since 2018, here is my attempt to model Aeroflot's ill-fated CCCP-77102 that crashed at the 1973 Paris Air Show killing all 6 crew on board and 8 of the local Goussainville town residents.

 

This is the ICM 1/144 kit with Braz Models decals for CCCP-77102 (451). An awkward kit to build, challenging and fiddly to the last. The Braz decals were of superb quality but extremely brittle. 

 

I've deliberately modelled her to reflect the canards deployed for take off and the rear undercarriage in the process of folding and twisting up into the engine nacelles which I thought might add a touch to this rather unique shaped Russian attempt to win the world over in the passenger SST race back in the early 70's.

 

Starting with a picture of the actual aircraft, showing the rear undercarriage in the process of folding inwards for storage in the engine nacelle centre section.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Farmerboy]

Remember it well, tragic day, great model though and an excellent posed stand, good job!

[SAT69]

Well done. I'm amazed at folks who can take a fiddly kit and make a masterpiece out of it.

[Alpha Delta 210]

Stunning and imaginative model!

[bryanm]

Great tribute to a sad day.

[Vesa Jussila]

I like also how you present this model. And in general impressive finish.

[bissyboat]

Neat and tidy build. Great tribute in rememberance to a very tragic accident. ⚓👍

[exdraken]

Very nice, great job!

[Mark Oddy]

An unusual subject masterfully built, really well done.

[eng]

Love this, very nice and the base is a great final touch

 

Eng

[Tomcat101]

Interesting model, nicely displayed. Well done.

[Eric Mc]

Great work. Looking forward to seeing it for real.

 

I have the ICM version of this in the stash and would like to build it in parallell with a Concorde and display it much like the pair at the Sibsheim Museum in Germany.

[woody37]

A great display and lovely built model

 

[Bertie McBoatface]

That pose is both funny, because it looks like the aircraft is playing leapfrog, and tragic because it evokes the Paris crash. Very nice work and a memorable display.

[Gimme Shelter]

On 11/2/2023 at 5:28 PM, Bertie McBoatface said:

That pose is both funny, because it looks like the aircraft is playing leapfrog, and tragic because it evokes the Paris crash. Very nice work and a memorable display.

Many thanks for taking the time to comment - my father took me to the airshow so this diorama has a personal touch, for the wrong reasons

[Gimme Shelter]

On 11/2/2023 at 9:44 AM, Eric Mc said:

Great work. Looking forward to seeing it for real.

 

I have the ICM version of this in the stash and would like to build it in parallell with a Concorde and display it much like the pair at the Sibsheim Museum in Germany.

Yep Eric, this is the ICM version, Revell borrowed the moulds for a while and then ICM continued to manufacture from them. I think Braz Models was also involved somewhere in the process too - they offer all the different engine varriants as aftermarket parts and a superb wing profile correction kit. You'll catch up with it on our table at the nationals this coming weekend.

[Adam Poultney]

Fantastic build. Love what you've done with the landing great. 

 

If I may rivet count a bit here, 77102 should have the wingtip extension. Blame for the error lies with ICM as it seems they have misidentified that feature as an exclusive feature of the Tu144D when in fact some of the earlier Tu144S aircraft featured them; I'm not convinced the alternative tips in the D kit are correct anyway. Doesn't in any way detract from this fantastic model though.

1 minute ago, Gimme Shelter said:

Yep Eric, this is the ICM version, Revell borrowed the moulds for a while and then ICM continued to manufacture from them. I think Braz Models was also involved somewhere in the process too - they offer all the different engine varriants as aftermarket parts and a superb wing profile correction kit. You'll catch up with it on our table at the nationals this coming weekend.

I belive the Braz models version is an entirely separate tooling 

[Gimme Shelter]

On 11/1/2023 at 4:48 PM, Mark Oddy said:

An unusual subject masterfully built, really well done.

Many thanks - at first glance, the kit looks fairly simple and straight forward, but like the Revell and Airfix 1/144 Concordes, its the join of that long delta wing edge up against the fuselage that gets you working, and the wing underside joins - the kit turns quickly into a major filling and sanding venture. I had to refer back to my WIP pictures and reminded myself that the fuselage halves kept collapsing in on themselves too - I recall using some tubing inserts to keep the correct profile of the fuselage so that the longer wing edges left minimal gaps for filling.

[Gimme Shelter]

5 minutes ago, Adam Poultney said:

Fantastic build. Love what you've done with the landing great. 

 

If I may rivet count a bit here, 77102 should have the wingtip extension. Blame for the error lies with ICM as it seems they have misidentified that feature as an exclusive feature of the Tu144D when in fact some of the earlier Tu144S aircraft featured them; I'm not convinced the alternative tips in the D kit are correct anyway. Doesn't in any way detract from this fantastic model though.

I belive the Braz models version is an entirely separate tooling 

That's a very good point you make there as I noted from the very specific aircraft profile illustration and decal guide provided by Braz, that the outline of the 77102 variant wings did not match what the kits wings looked like - so thank you for pointing that out, it makes sense now.

[Pete in a shed]

Beautifully modelled and posed Tu-144.

Pete

[F-32]

Love it, that's a great build