Tupolev Tu-144D supersonic airliner

[Sven J]

Hi all,

(I don't really know where to put this  - "Special Themes" or "Scale Modeling" -  so if it's wrong here, please let me know... )

LEGO’s new Concorde is a fine set overall, but it has, in my opinion, some flaws which compromise its looks.So  I had to decide whether to modify it or to build something different… and, as I prefer the more "brutal" appearance of the Concorde’s Soviet counterpart anyway, I chose the latter.

The prototype
The Tu-144 was the first commercial supersonic aircraft, its maiden flight taking place two months before the Concorde took off. Nevertheless, the Tu-144 is often regarded as much inferior to the Concorde, but that’s not the full story.
Commercial passenger flights were only offered for a few months, that's true, but it was due to changing political circumstances rather than for technical reasons that the Tu-144 was finally withdrawn from passenger service.
Indeed there were some technical issues (as perhaps with every completely new aircraft), but they most probably would have been solved had not the Soviet authorities lost interest in supersonic commercial aviation and thus ordered not only commercial flights, but the whole development programme to be terminated in 1983.
And yet, while the first production variant Tu-144S was hampered by its inefficient Kuznetsov engines, the improved Tu-144D version (with Kolesov engines) had performance figures almost on par with the Concorde. Consequently, it was a Tu-144D (CCCP-77114, disguised as "aircraft 101" for unclear reasons) that set 13 official world records for speed and altitude with given payloads in July 1983, just after the cancellation of the Tu-144 programme had been announced.

(For those of you who have a deeper interest in this matter: Yefim Gordon, Dimitriy Komissarov, Vladimir Rigmant - Tupolev Tu-144, The Soviet Supersonic Airliner. A very good reading about the Tu-114’s design, development and the political affairs behind it)

The model
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of its above-mentioned flights, my model bears the registration and "101" titles of the world record plane. I was originally motivated to design it by ungern 666’s Tu-144 sketch on Rebrickable, but, apart from some inspirations I took regarding the tail section, it has evolved into a completely different scale model.
The plane consists of approx. 1900 parts an weighs ca. 1.3 kg.
The "droop nose“, canards, rudders (yes, two) and elevons are moveable. While the landing gear is not retractable (I prefer a true-to-scale look over functions), it can be replaced with parts for the closed landing gear bay doors.
Also, the tail cone can be replaced with a sub-model assembly showing the deployed brake parachutes.

Unfortunately, at the moment there's only one photo of the completed model, which has a crudely photoshopped grey background. More pictures will follow as soon as I have found a sufficiently large, neutral, real background...

Thanks for stopping by!

Kind regards,
Sven

Edited November 21, 2023 by Sven J

[Rogue Redcoat]

Wow, I'm very impressed the colors and the shape look great 

Edited November 22, 2023 by Rogue Redcoat

[TimMaes]

Hi, 

Im seriously intrested in building this. Do you have any idea how it would compare to the concorde in scale? 

I wish to put it next to mine.

 

Thanks!

[Sven J]

Thank you @Rogue Redcoat and @TimMaes!

1 hour ago, TimMaes said:

Im seriously intrested in building this. Do you have any idea how it would compare to the concorde in scale? 

It's about 3/4 of the Concorde's size, so probably it wouldn't look too great to have both planes side by side.
If you wish to build the Tu-144 anyway, the Stud.io file is available for free on Rebrickable now.

[TimMaes]

Any plans on upscaling? I also wonder why the cockpit glass and nose cone glass are green.

Im also thinking about a display stand, but no idea how I would start that.

[Sven J]

4 hours ago, TimMaes said:

Any plans on upscaling?

No, sorry. It would become too big for the available space in my apartment.

4 hours ago, TimMaes said:

I also wonder why the cockpit glass and nose cone glass are green. 

Simply because the specific parts don't exist in transparent colours, and besides they are green in the drawings in my reference book, too...

4 hours ago, TimMaes said:

Im also thinking about a display stand, but no idea how I would start that.

I'm planning to suspend the model from the ceiling, so I never bothered how to build such an item.

[TimMaes]

Thanks for the reply, ill post some pictures when I have constucted the TU 144

[Sven J]

@TimMaes I'm looking forward to seeing your version!
Be prepared for hefty price tags for some parts, if you don't already have them in store, though...
If you have any questions during the building process (e.g. regarding the rubber band suspension for the hinged nose), you can contact me by PN.

[Shiva]

Nice build :)

[Sven J]

Thank you  @Shiva!

[Sven J]

On 11/21/2023 at 6:52 PM, Sven J said:

More pictures will follow as soon as I have found a sufficiently large, neutral, real background...

Well, the background arrived last week, so here we go:

"Aircraft 101" aka CCCP-77114 is ready for the next record-breaking flight:

Taxiing to the runway...

In "cruise configuration" with raised nose, retracted canards and wingtips bent upwards by their own lift:

And finally, back on the ground.
Neither the Tu-144S with Kuznetsov engines nor the Tu-144D with Kolesov turbofans had thrust reversers. Thus, on wet or slippery runways, both versions had to rely on brake parachutes which were stored in a container within the hinged tail cone:

So this project is finished.
What's coming next? Well, having build the fastest civilian Soviet airplane now, maybe one of the slowest would be a nice counterpart...

Edited December 9, 2023 by Sven J

[Shiva]

Very nice to see those photos. A big thank you! :)

Slowest? Could that be Antonov An-2?

[Sven J]

2 hours ago, Shiva said:

Slowest? Could that be Antonov An-2?

Yes, that's what I'm thinking of.

[Shiva]

Nice, very nice!!!

[Sven J]

It took quite some time, but finally the Tu-144 found its place under the ceiling of my study:

(For those of you who haven't already noticed: Here's another Soviet airplane... )

Best regards,
Sven

[Pisces no Aphrodite]

The model is good, but the plane itself is a cheap copy of the Concorde

Edited January 29 by Pisces no Aphrodite

[Sven J]

18 minutes ago, Pisces no Aphrodite said:

but the plane itself is a cheap copy of the Concorde

Did you read my initial post?

The story of the "Concorde copy" is a legend invented by some journalists in the 1970s, the true story is much more complex.

Nevertheless: I'm happy that you like my model. 😉

[Leninizator Monofack]

Nice model, you could also try for Su-47 Berkut :)

[Sven J]

@Leninizator Monofack Thank you for your appreciation. Regarding you proposal, however, I'm afraid, but I don't design fighter planes, as I have absolutely zero interest in them.

[Leninizator Monofack]

48 minutes ago, Sven J said:

@Leninizator Monofack Thank you for your appreciation. Regarding you proposal, however, I'm afraid, but I don't design fighter planes, as I have absolutely zero interest in them.

Oh, sorry, I did not know that.

If that is the case, what about Jak-41?

[Sven J]

2 hours ago, Leninizator Monofack said:

what about Jak-41

Isn't that a fighter plane, too?

I'd love to build DC-3 PH-PBA "Prinses Amalia" (the former personal aircraft of Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands), which - beautifully restored - is now operated by DDA Classic Airlines. But up to now, I have no idea how to do that at 1/70 or 1/80 scale.

[Leninizator Monofack]

13 hours ago, Sven J said:

Isn't that a fighter plane, too?

I'd love to build DC-3 PH-PBA "Prinses Amalia" (the former personal aircraft of Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands), which - beautifully restored - is now operated by DDA Classic Airlines. But up to now, I have no idea how to do that at 1/70 or 1/80 scale.

:D :D :D gee, yes, it is - I had to be somewhat not in the right mind, I know you said you do not do fighter jets, sorry once again, my bad. Although too old-style for me, but still classic DC-3 would be cool too. ;-)