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1/144th Braz Tupolev TU-144 Charger


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Interesting picture. Some of those fellas have dubious expressions.

I wonder if this was considered more, or less troublesome than the B-70 Landing gear. IIRC, the Russians had a lot of trouble coming up with a tyre that could perform across the entire operating spectrum without failing.

Thanks for the supplemental info.

david

Thanks guys, Pin interesting thoughts there, putting the two models side by side the Nitto does indeed look to be the correct size and yes the box does have 1/132nd scale printed on it........

I removed the nose and repositioned it in the drooped position which meant having to scratchbuild the cockpit windows and framing with Plasticard and acetate sheet. Also the exhaust pipes are wrong so I replaced them with nozzles from a couple of Minicraft TU 22 Backfire models.thus,

(Still needing window decals.....)

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Nice link Pin...the model is finished in the second Aeroflot scheme with darker blue stripes, red wingtips etc....looking at this something else I modded comes to mind on the model that I forgot to mention was that I shortened the length of the main gear struts as the kit stands too high at the rear out of the box!...

David, thanks!...the wings were indeed designed to flex as can be seen when the beast lands, the wing was designed with a high degree of anhedral as part of the required ogival/conical section designed for optimal performance across the entire speed envelope. Low speed capability and rough field performance were high on the design teams agenda..the wing was also constructed in four parts, the LERX then two sections of inner wing and the one piece outer sections...an extremely complex fuel management system had to be developed to deal with the shifting C of G as fuel burnt off.....it was actually a tremendous achievement largely forgotten over here and written off as a Concorde clone which it most certainly was not as it was faster, could fly higher, with more poassengers with a much greater range (several reasons why NASA chose it for their joint SST research)...it's Achelles heel was of course the inefficient fuel hungry engines...now if it had been fitted with a developed Olympus!!!

Yeah the gear is a work of art, pretty much like the XB-70-'s in that it rotates 90 degree to stand vertical then swings forward up into the narrow bay between the engines!!...the tyres must have got mighty warm in flight! :analintruder:

This photo shows it pretty well...

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Oh and David...

If you come back with any information then Captain Darling will pump you thoroughly in the debriefing room. . :analintruder:

Cheers..

Melchie...

Edited by David H
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Pin, thanks for that, now I've never seen that set before, wonder if any are still available as I have another two Nittos in the stash!!,

Sorry, when you say the wrong nacelles what do you mean...................as far as I can see they are pretty good for the one off prototype. (only real error is that the intake bifurcation should be further back in line with the gear)

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David,

True...number two in the line up looks KGB or political commissar and seems to be checking that the others all look suitably Communist for the photo................notice the obligatory man in white jacket on the left!...

Yep, apparently the gear was reliable and retraction failures were rare ( according to Aviapress tech info), there was a story about the Soviet team at the 1969 Paris airshow picking up pieces of rubber debris off the runway conveniently dropped by Concorde during the show, but this is probably just more Cold War propaganda... :whistle:

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That's another very nice build Andy, great stuff! I'd never realised before how different the wing planforms were between prototype & production - that's a significant change!

And I love your grainy outside shots - they look spot on for a period shot on 400ASA film....!!! :speak_cool:

K

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Thanks Keefy, yep the aircraft really were very different beasts...Tupolev were just not happy with the original design as the performance fell well below expectations. The production machine was a huge improvement just let down by the poor engines, (just like the Bison, Bounder, Badger, Blinder, etc, etc, etc...)....

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