Zvezda 1/144 Tu-154M

 The Tu-154 was built to fulfill an Aeroflot requirement for a jetliner to replace the An-10, Tu-104, and Il-18 aircraft on domestic and international routes.   Though superfically of the same planform as the Boeing 727 and Hawker Siddeley Trident, the Tu-154 was built to the particular requirements of Soviet service, and was capable of operating from unimproved runways and in severe Arctic weather.   The prototype first flew in 1968, and the first Tu-154s entered service in 1972 with Aeroflot.

In 1982, the improved Tu-154M was introduced.  The Ms replaced the fuel-thirsty Kuznetsov NK-8 turbofans  with more powerful and fuel-efficient Soloviev D-30KU engines, with larger nacelles and an enlarged center inlet with a characteristic "hump" when viewed in profile.   The aircraft entered airline service in 1984, and was produced until 2006, with a number of deliveries to Warsaw Pact airlines and other nations friendly to the Soviet Union and Russia as well as Aeroflot.    So many Tu-154s were built for Aeroflot that by the 1980s Tu-154s were flying over half of all seat-miles for the Soviet carrier--more seat miles than the entire fleet for United, then the West's largest airline.

With the breakup of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, many Tu-154s went to new operators, and many of the over 900 Tu-154s built continue in service, mostly in Russia, the former Soviet republics, Cuba, and Iran.  

Zvezda announced this kit back in 2007, and then left modelers waiting for over a year until finally releasing the kit in August of 2008.  Until now the only viable options for modeling the Tu-154 in 1/144th scale were the Welsh Models multimedia kits of the Tu-154B and Tu-154M (Welsh is still the only option to accurately model the earlier Tu-154B).   

Molding is excellent, with finely engraved detail throughout.   The fuselage is molded in the traditional manner, with open cabin windows and a clear windshield.  Clear parts also include a display stand.  There is no interior detail, but none would be seen through the small cockpit and cabin windows in any case.  Landing gear is petitely molded and finely detailed.  A full S-duct intake trunk is included for the center engine, which is a first for any trijet airliner model in any scale, and a most welcome feature!  Both intakes and exhausts are one-piece moldings, which will eliminate seam work in this area.

The kit also includes the extended wingtips and under fuselage clear parts for the one-off Tu-154-LK1, utilized as a cosmonaut trainer.  The window ports are flashed over, and will need to be opened up for this version. 

Dry fitting of the major parts reveals good fit, so this model should go together nicely!

 Decals

Three aircraft are included; links go to photographs of the actual aircraft on Airliners.net

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Aeroflot/Tupolev-Tu-154M/1319381/M/  TU-154M, CCCP-85663, Aeroflot 1980s livery

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Aeroflot---Russian/Tupolev-Tu-154M/1271104/M/  Tu-154M, RA-85760, Aeroflot current livery

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Yuri-A-Gagarin/Tupolev-Tu-154M-LK-1/1400386/M/  Tu-154M-LK-1, RA-85665, Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center

The decals are well printed, but the colors are too dark for the Gagarin aircraft, and the shading on the tail logo for the current Aeroflot aircraft is not nearly as subtly rendered on the decal sheet as it is on the real aircraft.  It's a pity, but that leaves the Aeroflot 1980s aircraft as the only fully accurate option on the sheet!  Fortunately, plenty of decals are on the way for this airliner, so there will be better decal options available for this kit very soon.   

 It's about time some of the bread-and-butter types of Soviet-era commercial aviation are being kitted.  This is an excellent effort, and with the low price, I can see myself building more than a few of these kits.  Highly recommended.

October 2008