November 1, 2019 The next 17th DiSHow-2019 virtual poster competition has started.

Preliminary schedule of competitive and out-of-competition publications:
Monday - out-of-competition works;
Tuesday-Friday - competitive works;
Saturday-Sunday - free days.

Depending on the number of works submitted for the competition, the schedule may change. A big request to the authors to closely monitor the publication of their works and check the nomination of published works. If you have any questions, please contact the administration immediately.

Good luck to all!

Tu-154M
Star 1:144
Eugeny Knupfer aka Koshker

view photos in a separate window
view photos in lightbox mode

To a strange monastery with your own samovar

This model was not in my plans. Moreover, except for my childhood adventures with the unforgettable Plasticart and a couple of started but long-abandoned projects, I have never made models of civil aircraft in 144th scale. But a recent discussion on a website opened my eyes to a curious problem that I had not previously suspected existed. The impetus for this discussion was given by the article, the author of which expressed some thoughts about the current state of this trend in modeling, namely, about its well-known stagnation - poor detailing, the absence of transparent glazing, unthinkable for a model of a military aircraft, idealized, devoid of nuances coloring - all this is for some reason very characteristic for many models of airliners in 144th scale.

The answer to this provocative statement, of course, was not long in coming and boiled down to something like this: GA-144 is a very special genre of aviation modeling with its own established laws, requiring a different approach and evaluated according to special criteria. Timid question "why?" remained unanswered, instead a recommendation was given not to go into someone else's monastery with your charter, as well as in Tula with your own, you know, samovar. Unless, for some reason, the notorious pig snout in the Kalash row was not extracted from the arsenal of proverbs and sayings, but over time this was partly corrected.

Well, a monastery with a strict charter is, in fact, a very good metaphor in this context. As, however, and Tula - the world capital of samovar building - however, in the era of electric kettles. But fortunately, our hobby is not a monastery, and it is not regulated by any statutes. And the only law of any modeling genre, in my opinion, is to make the model as realistic and spectacular as our skill and available technologies allow us. But, of course, these are just words. I tried to move from words to deeds, namely, to build a model of a civilian liner in the same way as I would build any other model, without regard to laws and canons.

So - Tu-154 from Zvezda. As is often the case, the model looks great in the box, but in the process of working on it bright image dims somewhat. So, the castings are quite high quality, but the plastic itself is not very pleasant to work with - it is too soft, which makes it difficult to process. The most noticeable defect in the castings is that all four halves of the wings are moved, fortunately, in opposite directions, so that the problem is solved by itself when gluing the halves. The stitching is relatively neat, but still I would like it to be a little deeper and less blurry - if you walk a little on the surface with sandpaper, the stitching will disappear. A walk just makes sense, since the surface of the model is not smooth, with a noticeable shagreen. A big plus of the model is the presence of transparent glazing, but it is molded from a very strange material that I have never seen before - a flexible, elastic plastic similar to polyethylene. Small parts, in particular the chassis, turned out well, they can be used for assembly out of the box, but for a more ambitious project it is better to redo it. Docking of parts does not cause much enthusiasm - a lot needs to be thoroughly customized, puttied and sanded. In a word, from this set without much effort you can assemble a very good model. But, as the famous movie hero said, it is better, of course, to suffer.

However, even before the start of the assembly, the question arose about the choice of color. After going through several options, I settled on the colors of the Aeroflot-Don airline with the usual Aeroflot scheme - white top, gray bottom, blue stripes along the windows and on the engines. A decal with this livery was found in the catalog of the Russian company Acsensio, and was kindly bought for me by my colleague Alexander aka Sanchez, for which I once again express my deep gratitude to him.

Alas. Having never met a civil aviation aftermarket before, I was completely unprepared for the quality of this decal. Its main drawback is the strongest uneven color shift, reaching 0.25 mm in places and making, in particular, window stripes completely unusable. Almost all color elements are unclear, vague and decorated with a large raster of the printer. And most importantly - the thickness of the substrate of this decal is literally amazing. The resulting stepping stone would be practically invincible.

Realizing that transferring this decal to the model simply means ruining it, I decided to deal with the painting problem on two fronts at once: firstly, to minimize the use of decals by using stencils for large elements, and secondly, to print all other elements in the best quality. Alexey aka AlexR provided me with invaluable help in this, who kindly printed several copies of the decal for me on a laser printer and on an ALPS printer that allows printing in white. The decals were drawn by me in Adobe Illustrator, based on the Acsensio decal. Raster, of course, is also present on these decals - this is a necessary evil. laser printers– but in general this decal is much better, and most importantly, it does not have a thick backing.

"Work on the model, as usual, begins with the interior..." This standard phrase, however, will not work here, since there is no interior at all, which, frankly, I am even a little glad about (whether this is correct is a separate question, it may very well be that some rudimentary interior was still worth doing). Work began with the refinement of the surface of the model. I tweaked the stitching a bit, making it deeper and thinner, which was tricky due to the already mentioned softness of the plastic (try cutting through the rubber!). In addition, I rolled the riveting where it is most clearly visible in the photographs. Looking ahead, I note that only the deepest riveting survived the painting - where I did not press hard enough on the gear, the rivet rows were buried under a layer of paint. The aerodynamic ridges on the wing and its trailing edges were ground down for scaled thickness, and transparent lights were made on the wingtips from epoxy resin(already after the resin hardened, I noticed that I mixed up the location of the red and green bulbs).

The question of the need to simulate transparent glazing, which is completely wild in relation to any model of a military aircraft, as you know, is seriously discussed when it comes to GA models, and, as far as I can tell, at the moment there is a consensus on the complete uselessness and even harmfulness of transparent elements. I, as is already clear, fundamentally disagree with this. It is not even worth talking about the glazing of the cockpit - its imitation is no more difficult than the imitation of the lantern of some Hurricane in the 72nd scale, and just as necessary. As for the portholes, it is, of course, not so easy to make them transparent and at the same time copy-like. This does not mean at all that attempts should be abandoned and content with deliberately unrealistic decals.

The Star model, as already mentioned, includes all the necessary transparent elements, but they need significant improvement. The portholes are well fitted to the holes in the fuselage; if desired, they can probably even be installed without glue, on friction. However, due to some general "blurring" of the transparent castings, the edges of the windows are noticeably rounded, which should lead to a deep gap between the openings in the fuselage and the windows.

The problem was solved in the following way. To begin with, I reduced the thickness of the fuselage from the inside, as a result of which the windows protruded slightly outwards. This allowed me, without gluing the windows, but only inserting them on friction, sanding and polishing them flush with the fuselage, thus obtaining an almost perfect fit.

The engines, especially their rear end with the Star, are extremely simplified and require serious rework. The nozzle was machined from a brass tube, the outer part was modified to the best of its ability, in particular, the reverse flaps were given a large-scale thickness. The resulting parts were cast in resin in duplicate.

The VNA blades also had to be made again - what Zvezda suggests looks rough, and the number of blades is wrong. For this, cyanoacrylate was glued onto a plastic base. paper disk with printed radial lines. On these lines were pasted the blades themselves, cut from white acetate film for printers. The blades were made a little longer than necessary so that they could be neatly trimmed around the perimeter of the disc. The resulting openwork design, of course, did not allow doing this because of its fragility, so it was necessary to copy it in resin. The first master found eternal rest in silicone, in which I added too little catalyst, wanting to delay the curing time and give the bubbles trying to get stuck between the shoulder blades more time to leave the silicone. The bubbles really came out great, but the silicone didn't harden at all. had to do new master, from which the successful form was removed. The second master shared the fate of the first, not having survived the extraction from silicone, but it didn’t matter anymore - a mold was obtained, into which the part was cast from a homogeneous, durable material. The casting was cut around the perimeter, fitted and, in turn, copied in resin in two copies.

Zvezda's wheels also turned out to be somewhat simplified, and I decided to refine them by making separate wheels for them, which, among other things, greatly facilitates coloring. Having removed the central part of one front and one main wheel, and thus leaving only the tire, I machined new disks using sprues and a brass tube, after which I removed the silicone mold from the received parts and cast the required number of copies.

The time has come for the next stage of the fight against transparent glazing, namely, painting the windows, or rather the part of the fuselage adjacent to them. At the beginning, I considered the following options. Firstly, it was possible to simply use the decal - the decal drawn by me and printed by Alexey included blue stripes, but I was not sure that I could translate them accurately enough. Secondly, it was possible to inflate the blue stripes through the stencil, masking the portholes (by this time I had already figured out how to make masks). And finally, thirdly, again inflate the strips through the stencil, but even before the windows are glued into the fuselage (and, accordingly, before gluing its halves). On reflection, I came to the conclusion that the third option is likely to give the most accurate result. This decision dictated the sequence of further actions. Without gluing the fuselage, but only grabbing it with duct tape, I installed the wings and engines, filling and sanding the seams. Then, pulling the fuselage apart, I blew white paint on its halves around the windows, glued masks from 3M transparent adhesive tape and inflated the blue stripes, after which I glued the windows and glued the fuselage, having previously masked the painted part.

For cockpit glazing, I first planned to use a part from the kit, destroying only the rough, swollen cover. Alas, I never managed to properly sand and polish the strange soft plastic, on which even an accidental pressure with a fingernail leaves a depression. I had to squeeze out the glazing from a transparent material from some kind of packaging, using the glazing from the set as a punch, filled from the inside with polyurethane resin for rigidity. The finished part was glued and masked with adhesive tape, after which I started painting.

Due to the fact that I did not think well enough about the sequence of applying colors, the coloring process turned out to be more complicated than necessary, with repeated removal and application of masks. First, the white and gray parts were painted with the appropriate Vallejo colors using the usual preshading (base color / lines and spots of gray / a translucent layer of the base color), then the leading edges of the wings and stabilizers, air intakes and nozzles were blown out with the appropriate shades of Alclad "a, after which the tips were blown out in red.Then, with masking tape, the remaining parts of the blue stripes on the fuselage and engines, as well as a two-color emblem on the fin were applied.The removal of the masks was not without surprises - trying to save small items surfaces, I almost everywhere abandoned the primer, which led to poor adhesion of the paint and its breakdowns in several places. The problem is annoying, but fixable. In addition, I quickly forgot about it, discovering something worse - the seam on the fuselage from the bottom in front of it parted. This was caused, on the one hand, by insufficiently strong bonding (I used cyanoacrylate), and, on the other hand, by too soft plastic, which sags from too much hand pressure. I had to glue, putty, sand and repaint this part of the fuselage, after which the work again went according to plan.

The painted model was varnished with Future, and I must say that this operation still causes me some difficulties. I've tried applying both with a brush and with an airbrush - the former seems to be the preferred option, but requires great care to avoid streaks. After that, the entire model was treated with sandpaper 3200 and 4000.

Washing was done only in places - in my opinion, the lines of the paneling stood out quite well with preshading, and only in some lines (hatches, ailerons, slats, elevators and rudders) a mixture of Future and Vallejo gray paint was applied to slightly enhance the effect of depth.

It's time to apply the decals - a stage that I, to be honest, expected with some apprehension. The decals were printed by Alexey on paper with an adhesive layer, but without a transparent backing. They must be covered with a transparent varnish, which forms a transparent film that allows you to translate the decal. An excellent product called MicroScale's Liquid Decal Film, specially designed for this purpose, is best suited for this. It is applied to the decal with a brush and forms the thinnest, even, elastic film. Due to the thinness of this film, translation of the decal requires great care, and many times I mentally thanked Alexey for printing several copies - more than once or twice the translated element was torn or stuck together. But, being transferred to the model and moistened with Micro Sol liquid of the same MicroScale company, the transparent film simply disappears. Some difficulties arose with the logo on the keel. Its main part was previously inflated through a stencil, but the circle was used from the decal, and it was applied in parts, with adjustment in place, which turned out to be very difficult.

I decided to make the final coat semi-glossy, which, in my opinion, best conveys general impression from the surface of a real aircraft. On the other hand, I wanted to leave the portholes glossy. Masks were needed to achieve this effect. I made them in the following way.

First, even before assembling the fuselage, I made a "master" of one window mask - I cut it in the shape of a window from sheet plastic, which was previously given a rounding of the same diameter as that of the fuselage. A leg was glued to the resulting mask. Then I made six resin copies of this mask and, inserting them into the windows in the fuselage, connected them with a common bridge.

From the resulting structure, several silicone molds were removed, into which masks were cast from polyurethane rubber (a resin that resembles silicone after curing). Some difficulty was caused by the choice of glue with which the mask was supposed to be held on the model - everything that I tried, after removing the mask, remained much more readily on the model than on the mask and was removed extremely poorly. But in the end, I came across the perfect tool - Vallejo Camouflage Liquid. This liquid is interesting in that after curing it becomes sticky, but at the same time it is perfectly removed from any surface. With its help, the masks were glued to the fuselage and after blowing with a thin layer of semi-matt varnish (Future with a small addition of Vallejo Satin) they were removed without leaving the slightest trace. The resulting effect of brilliant portholes on a semi-matt background satisfied me on the whole - a rare case for me when new technology works the first time.

All the best, colleagues!

My next model. This time - the legendary liner Tu-154B, the model of which was published in the magazine paper modeling, № 065.
Developer - Artur Ryumin.

There is a lot of information on this liner, but still let me quote an article written by Dmitry Kolesnikov and published in the M-Hobby magazine No. 1, 2000. It is written more than exhaustively.

A couple of times I was lucky enough to watch the planes take off, standing at the very edge of the runway. The purely technical, modeling interest was supplemented by a new, exclusively emotional, impression from this, in general, ordinary process. Here, pressing down with a whistle and a roar, dousing the exhaust with black mustaches, Tu-134 somehow jumps into the sky like a hooligan. Grumpily lamenting, shifting on the overworked paws of the chassis, the old man Il-18 carefully climbs up. The hunched-up Il-76, baring its teeth with the silly grin of the navigational cockpit, looks creepy. On the pointed muzzle of the plump IL-86, a sour expression of disgust was frozen at the fact that he was again forced to take off from the ground - he really comes off at the very end of the strip. Tu-154 takes off flawlessly elegant.

Designed thirty-two years ago, the car still looks more beautiful and more powerful than modern airliners of the era of computer design, which made Tu, Boeing and Airbuses the same. And how much do we know about the plane on which almost every inhabitant of our country flew (and another 20 years, God forbid, it will fly!), Because not one domestic airliner carried as many passengers as the "Carcass"?
Requirements to draft design, ordered by the firms of Ilyushin, Antonov and Tupolev, at first seemed absolutely contradictory: high economic efficiency on routes from 500 to 3500 km, the speed of the Tu-104, the capacity is one and a half times more, and at the same time the possibility of using airfields with short - 2300 m - lanes and low strength of the runway and taxiways. Tupolev won the project competition, and in 1965 the team led by S.E. Jaeger began to develop an aircraft, called the Tu-154.
Complexity terms of reference aggravated by the fact that it was at that time that the revision of the Airworthiness Standards began and brought them to the level of the global ones. In other words, it was necessary to design an aircraft that would meet criteria not yet documented.
A.N. Tupolev and S.M. Jaeger went for broke: the project included technologies and calculations, in fact, of tomorrow.
For the first time in domestic civil aviation, it was decided to use a deliberately excessive thrust-to-weight ratio. As life has shown, this decision turned into a high level of safety and: fuel economy - engines in cruising flight operate at reduced modes. It was not easy to create a wing effective both at high (up to M = 0.88) and at low speeds; a landing gear that allows the 90-ton liner to be operated at existing airfields with a low-strength coating, an automatic onboard control system (ABSU) that provides automatic landing approach, a hydraulic control system divided into three independent channels. The technologists of plant No. 18 in the city of Kuibyshev (now Samara) had to suffer, mastering new methods of strengthening materials. Not everything went smoothly: the wing, designed for 30,000 flight hours, cracked after several thousand hours. This problem turned into a redesign of the wing, a change in its manufacturing technology. I had to replace the wings on more than a hundred previously built cars. It also required changes in alignment, automation of the control of the mechanization of the wing and stabilizer, and an increase in the reliability of the ABSU.
The first flight took place on October 3, 1968 (commander Yu.V. Sukhov), and since 1970, mass production of the Tu-154 (No. 85006 - 85055), with NK-8-2 engines, began. On February 9, 1972, the crew of the Vnukovo Aviation Enterprise, the leader in the development of the machine, completed the first flight with passengers on the route Moscow - Mineral water(board No. 85016, crew commander E.I. Bagmut).
In 1974, the first modification appeared - Tu-154A (No. 85056 - 85119) with engines NK-8-2U and automatic control wing mechanization and stabilizer. Outwardly, "Ashki" were distinguished by a more "well-fed" stabilizer fairing (due to the installation of the antenna of the Mikron radio station). The above problems with the strength of the wing forced already in 1975 to move on to the next modification - Tu-154B (No. 85120-85225). On "Bashki", an additional fuel tank appeared. emergency exits in the tail of the second cabin, emergency hatches over the wing became the same. maximum takeoff weight increased to 98 tons. ABSU-154-2 was certified according to ICAO category II. Previously produced vehicles were gradually refined to the Tu-154B modification, and some of the aircraft were converted into a cargo version (a cargo hatch was cut into the left side, and cargo devices were mounted in the salons, removing the seats). These machines (No. 85019, 85037, 85060, 85062, 85063, 85081, 85084) were named Tu-154S.
Further modifications of the Tu-154B-1 (No. 85226-85294) and Tu-154B-2 (No. 85295-85605) concerned mainly the fuel system units, air conditioning system, electrical equipment and chassis. Outwardly, they differed slightly.
In addition, some of the overhauled Tu-154Bs were modified according to the B-1 and B-2 types. In general, external differences such as hatches, air intakes for the cooling system of generators and hydraulic systems, lamps for illuminating emergency ladders, etc. depend not so much on the modification, but on the factory series and the depth of overhauls.
In 1982, under the leadership of A.S. Shengardt, who replaced S.M. Yeger as Chief Designer, on the basis of Tu-154B-2 No. 85317, a deep modification was created - Tu-154M. In fact, the changes affected all parts of the aircraft, from the D-30-KU-154-II engine to the shape of the tail fuselage. The wing received an additional influx and new fairings, the flaps became double-slotted instead of three-slotted ones (but an intermediate extension angle of 36 ° was added, between 28 ° and 45 °), the slat became solid, and the stabilizer area increased. The skin has become smoother, with sealed seams, and the number of overlap joints has decreased. APU TA-6 "moved" closer to the nose, the air intake flap moved to the "bottom" of the rear fuselage, and the nozzle covered by the flaps was on the starboard side near the base of the keel. At first glance, the "emka" is distinguished by engine nacelles with external thrust reverse doors and, almost always, a dirty tail (the result of such a reverse). But fuel consumption decreased by 15-20%, which, with improved aerodynamics, increased the total economic efficiency of the car by almost 30%.
By the way, Tu-154M No. 85317 can still be seen at the MAKS air shows. Until now, the car not only flies, but also participates in test programs for processing new control systems.
Serial production of the Tu-154M began in 1984 (No. 85606 and above). The only exception to this numbering is Tu-154B-2 No. 85804, registered under this number after returning them to the Czech Republic, where the car with OK-LCS registration served the government of this country. Its serial number is 517. Other aircraft returned from foreign operation are registered under "native" numbers. By the way, the compliance of the serial number with the registration number covers all modifications of the Tu-154, except for the Tu-154M. The first serial "emka" with serial number 701 was registered with number 85606. The latest cars at the moment, built in 1998-1999. and equipped with avionics manufactured by Western firms, received the official name Tu-154-100.
Of the other modifications that are not related to the main task - the transportation of passengers - the most famous is the car No. 85035 (Tu-155) with an engine running on liquid hydrogen.
Tu-154s were used for training cosmonauts, working out the control systems of the Buran reusable spacecraft. Several boards equipped with special communications are operated by government detachment No. 235. An interesting fact: for many years the current head of our government has been flying a Tu-154M with the ominous number 85666. Isn't this the reason for the frequent change of prime ministers?

However, let's finish a cursory inspection of the Tu-154 modifications and proceed to a description of the design of the most numerous of the "sisters" of the Tu-154 family - the Tu-154B-2.
Tu-154 B-2 is an all-metal cantilever monoplane with a low swept wing, swept T-tail and three NK-8-2U engines located in the tail section. The fuselage is semi-monocoque, consisting of three main parts. The bow (up to 19 frames) and the middle part (up to 66 frames) are sealed. They house the pilot's cabin, the front technical compartment, the niche of the front landing gear, the front and middle luggage compartments, passenger compartments. Toilets (front and rear), pantry-kitchen and wardrobes. In front of the bow to the fuselage, the antennas of the Thunderstorm radar and DISS (Doppler ground speed and drift angle meter) are attached, covered with radio-transparent fairings.
From below, to frames No. 41, 46 and 49, a center section with caisson tanks is docked. The tail, non-pressurized part of the fuselage is separated by a pressure bulkhead (No. 67 and 67A) with a titanium fire wall. In the tail section there is engine No. 2 with an S-shaped air channel, APU TA-6, hydraulic system units, a rear technical compartment and a rear trunk. Engines No. 1 and No. 3 are docked to the tail section on horizontal pylons (frames No. 67 and No. 71) and a keel. Access to engine No. 2 is through the hoods in the lower part of the fuselage between frames No. 74 and No. 83.
The longitudinal set of the fuselage consists of stringers connected to the frames with fittings or directly through the skin. Three-layer glazing. Passenger windows (including windows of emergency doors and hatches) are equipped with light-protective curtains made of green or brown plexiglass on the inside. Curtains move up on windows and down on doors. The upper canopy windows of the cockpit are equipped with sliding shields made of green plexiglass.
On the left side are the front and rear (main) passenger doors, emergency hatches (with access to the wing) and the rear emergency door. On the starboard side there is a front emergency door and a service door (in the buffet-kitchen area), through which the catering is usually loaded. Emergency hatches and a rear emergency door are located symmetrically on both sides. In addition, the hatches of all three luggage compartments are located in the lower part of the fuselage on the right side. The hatch of the middle luggage compartment is combined with the wing fairing.
Wing - three-spar, coffered design with sheathing of duralumin panels. On the leading edge there is a removable air-heated toe and a two-section electrically heated slat. Three-slotted flaps and ailerons are located at the rear of the wing. There are three sections of spoilers in front of the flaps: the outer aileron-spoilers work together with the ailerons, the middle ones serve as air brakes at all speeds and altitudes, and the inner ones open only on the ground and are blocked by limit switches that break the control circuit of the inner spoilers when the shock absorbers of the main landing gear are not compressed.
Structurally, the wing is made of a center section and two detachable parts of the wing (POC). In the center section and OCHK placed fuel tanks that can hold 39750 kg of fuel TS-1 or similar.
The POTS ends with an end fairing, in which the antennas of the "friend or foe" identification system and wing ANOs are mounted. The tail white ANO in a miniature fairing is installed under the nozzle of the second engine. Pulse-type flashing lights are located on the stabilizer fairing and on the "bottom" of the tail section of the fuselage, and the lower light is shifted to the right of the axis of symmetry.
Retractable headlights, two in the center section, two in front of the front landing gear niche and two additional ones (they are also taxiing) are mounted directly on the front landing gear.
The tail unit is type-setting, with honeycomb filling (hello to the film "Crew" - there the flight engineer crawls through the keel. However, in this famous film "with regards" almost everything that happens with the miserable 85131). Highly important point: Tu-154, it seems, is the only domestic passenger aircraft that does not have aerodynamic trimmers, their absence on the drawing is not a mistake. The trimming effect is achieved by moving the spring loaders by a special MET mechanism, simulating the load on the steering surfaces.
At the ends of the stabilizer, the exhaust slots of the hot air heating system of the toe are distinguished by a characteristic dust coating. Similar devices are also located in the form of grilles on the lower surface of the center section (heating of the wing toe) and in the form of oval holes behind the annular fairings of the engine air intakes: on the side - on the sides and below, on the middle - on the right, only 3 windows per engine. Dust deposits are also noticeable at the exhaust valves of the air conditioning system (4 windows on the starboard side) and behind the pipes of the turbo-coolers (in the lower front part of the center section). In the root part of the wing on the leading edge - oval air intakes VVR - air-to-air radiators. VVR outlet on the top panel of the central wing.
Chassis - tricycle, with reinforced tides cast racks. The nose strut with swivel wheels is vertical, retractable downstream with a folding strut. Most of the niche is covered with shutters that open during cleaning and release.
The main racks are tricky. They have double depreciation: axial and shock-absorbing strut. Under load, the struts settle and move back (relative to the main hinge), so the aircraft, filled with fuel and passengers, sort of "crouches" slightly on the tail, and the struts are distinctly tilted. Three-axle bogies are folded back during cleaning and in the retracted position are in the chassis gondolas "upside down".

Characteristic features of interest to modellers are embossed reinforcing strips around the covers of luggage hatches and doors - service and rear passenger, as well as a large number of rivets with lenticular and semicircular heads.
On the center section, dotted lines-arrows are applied with black paint, indicating to passengers the direction from the emergency hatches to the trailing edge of the wing. A certain complexity will be caused by the attachment of the slats and, especially, the flaps: the three parts of the flap - the deflector, the flap and the tail move back and down along the retractable rails, forming three profiled slots.

Dmitry Kolesnik

The author expresses his heartfelt gratitude to Vnukovo Airlines and personally to Yu.M. Sytnik; A.N. Starostin ( The educational center Academy of Civil Aviation); Ya. Zhukovsky and M. Bezmen for their help in preparing this material.

I immediately decided to depict the carcass for myself in the livery of the Soviet Aeroflot, precisely in the heyday of this aircraft.

To implement the idea, a set from Zvezda was purchased - the best that is currently available for the manufacture of the Tu-154M in 144th scale. The set is widely known and does not need a separate presentation.

During the construction, I planned to correct the most important, noticeable inaccuracies and flaws in this set. The first thing I fixed was to grind off the fairing of the pipelines of the third hydraulic system on the keel, which was brought to the outer side after the disaster 85656 near Irkutsk in 1994, and since I was building a board from the times of the USSR, accordingly, I did not have this fairing yet. In this photo it will be clear which fairing we are talking about (circled in red) - I am quoting a photo from the site scalemodels-tu154.ru because I myself did not photograph the original view on my model (hereinafter all the photos will be exclusively mine)

The second thing I noticed was the stabilizers. I quote from the site scalemodels-tu154.ru:
"The angle of installation of the stabilizer should be -3 degrees to the fuselage horizontal line (GFR), and not -1.5, as in the model. This is how M-ka differs from B-shki, even visual modifications of aircraft can be determined by looking at their tails."
Therefore, I corrected this moment. I did this by slightly deepening the stabilizer seat, and puttyed the step formed on top.

I gave a more regular shape to the rail fairings on the wings with a needle file and skins. Polystyrene was used to remove the step between the wing and fairing.

I drilled places for landing lights, radio altimeter antennas. I drilled 3 holes on each engine - discharges of hot air for heating the air intakes (circled in yellow); I made BANO on the wings and flashing beacons from a transparent sprue; from a piece of plastic, the air intake for blowing the generator of engine No. 2; added a couple of missing stitching lines; whittled down the gutter above the emergency door on the starboard side. The fairing of the fairing lock of the second trunk in the box was given a little oversized, so I had to file it a little (circled in red)

Shortened the front chassis niche. To do this, I inserted a piece of plastic. Chassis doors made of polystyrene.

The landing gear legs are given in a set with uncompressed shock absorbers, so only a completely empty, unfilled machine with dismantled engines can stand. In this regard, I shortened the landing gear - removed these parts (circled in red)

For strength, I inserted pieces of a medical needle into the main racks. The front strut was shortened as follows:

Primed with gray Tamiya Surface Primerl Fine, painted and varnished with Tamiya acrylics - white XF-2; gray interfered with XF-1 and XF-2; the color of the landing gear and engine cowlings interfered with white, yellow and brown paint by eye; tire color XF-69; metal elements X-10 and X-11. Lucky used the X-22, X-35 and XF-86.

Portholes on the model were filled with Akanovsky water-based glue (a kind of analogue of crystal l clear). I shake the jar, take glue on the tip of a thin brush and lower it into the porthole, so that the opening is covered with this thick liquid, if necessary, add more glue. At first the glue is cloudy, then with drying it becomes completely transparent.

The decals of Zvezda turned out to be misshapen in some places. Referring to the photo of the prototype, you can see the absence of two emergency exits on the starboard side.

I got out of this situation as follows: the box contains emergency exits for the new Aeroflot painting option, so I actually took these doors, and picked up the white elements from pieces of other decals.

The last thing I noticed with the decals was the inscription "USSR" on the bottom of the fenders. The inscription "USSR" is given inseparably and is suggested by the instruction to be inserted between the rail fairings, but in those photographs that I found, where the Tu-154 is from below, it can be seen that the inscription "USSR" is not between the rails, but goes right along them, so I cut the inscription and translated it in parts.

Another important detail is the engine nozzles. In the set, they are given in a very simplified and non-scale manner. I grinded out of the box and made my own from plain paper, rolled it into rings and soaked it with superglue for hardness.



I made an air intake for blowing the generator of engine No. 2 from a piece of the wingtip in the version for the new Aeroflot. I deliberately left this case for now, because it would be inconvenient to put a decal on top of it.



I did not make the cover of the cockpit lantern with a decal, but painted it separately in blue (mixed by eye from XF-8 and X-3). Chassis wheels were painted using masks from KV-models. The wash was done with gouache with "fairy"

The model was built as part of the Tu-154 Group Build on the airliner.models.org website, in which it won a prize. Detailed construction of the model on the forum can be viewed here.