 NG Models produced the mould samples for its Tu-154s back in April 2022 and May's announcements included the first release using the M version of the mould, which I reveiwed last September. Since then output on the 154 moulds, which have admittedly required some modifications, has been distinctly lacklustre - a casualty it seems of lots of modern 777s and A350s. Even the small number of releases that have been produced have followed a similar pattern to the Tu-204 releases whereby they have not necessarily featured operators from the type's heyday but have instead focused on later more recent examples. It is hard nowadays to find an extant Tu-154 to make but NG have managed it with this release, which at least includes some interesting add-ons. FORMAT Each review is to split into three key areas:
MOULD  Rather than produce a regular line of Tu-154s NG has until now produced or announced only 4 models in the 9 months the mould has been active. Of these only the first model pre-dates the year 2000, only two represent airline operated examples and somehow two are active military examples. I can't say I'm impressed with these choices but this PLAAF example does gives NG the opportunity to demonstrate once again their willingness to play with their moulds.  The base Tu-154M mould used here is excellent but not faultless. The nose and cockpit shape on this mould are near perfect, plus it comes with the large right sided aerial just aft of the cockpit. This beautiful shaping continues along the rest of the fuselage, which of course is totally seamless, even where the vertical stabiliser joins the roof.  NG resolved issues with the nosegear size and the gear assembly and door are well proportioned and detailed. The maingear is very fine and well sized. It connects to the large underwing gear pods, which have the correct squared off profile of the Tu-154M compared to the rounder pods of the B-2. Pleasingly since the Aeroflot example I reviewed NG have added the small maingear doors to the mould.  Above: The maingear has had the small maingear doors added. Nice! At the wings NG have crafted the only accurate Tu-154M wing in 400 scale. The wings attach firmly and tightly to the fuselage. There is also a lot of fine flap detailing and really nice boundary layer fences.  The shape of the wing of the M is diagnostic has it has a double-kinked leading edge and longer flap track fairings that push beyond the rear wing margin. The wing is a work of art aside from that the wingtips should be lower. In fact, this is the biggest issue with the mould. It doesn't show the downward feel to the wings it ought to.  The Soloviev engines of the M version are noticeably chunkier than those of the B-2 and have the distinctive clamshell reversers. One of the previous criticisms of the mould was that they appeared to be mounted slightly too high with the pylons joining at the midpoint rather than more towards the top as they should. I think they do but it is by a very small margin.  The exhaust of the no 2 engine is accurate including the curved fillet down to the nozzle. Unlike the other Tu-154 moulds in 400 scale the exhaust is not a separate piece to the rest of the fuselage.  Of course, this airframe has been heavily modified to feature various lumps and bumps and aerials not present on a standard 154. These enable it to fulfil an Electronic Countermeasures role. This includes two extra aerials forward, a large long belly fairing and two smaller fairings aft of the wing.  The shape of the additional fairings is excellent and they all attach to the fuselage tightly with no obvious seams. The only drawback is that the long primary belly fairing is smooth on the model whereas on the real aircraft it has some panelling and raised details not present on the model.   I am not put off this Tu-154 mould by the wingtip height as this is so much better than any other available 400 scale version it almost feels silly to mention it. Even so, I would like to see this aspect modified. That is really the only criticism of the mould I can make that is worth docking points for. SCORE - 9 PAINT & LIVERY  This aircraft was, in 1993, the last Tu-154 delivered to China United Airlines. CUA at the time was the Air Force's airline and flew scheduled civil services from the Beijing Nanyaun airport as well as military flights. Nowadays CUA is a proper airline owned by Shanghai Airlines but the Tu-154s it owned have all moved to the People's Liberation Army Air Force and stil wear a version of the old CUA 1990s livery.  It is an attractive scheme with the triple cheatline flowing up onto the tail beneath the required Chinese flag. The red and blue colours being ised here match nicely.  Positionally everything looks good, better than good actually. The fine detailing around the cockpit where the cheatline breaks and fits with the anti-glare looks excellent. Small detailed elements like the reg on the nosegear doors are present and the large reg on the engines uses the correct blocky squared off font. SCORE - 10 PRINTING & QUALITY CONTROL  The printing on this model is very tidy and up to the usual high NG standards. There isn't perhaps as much fine line detailing as on some other moulds as the mould itself has an unusual level of fine etched detailing on the wings, which shows the flaps, slats and ailerons well. It helps that the painting on the wings is lightly applied and doesn't hide the detailing.  As I mentioned in the mould section the main ECM belly pod lacks the detailing moulded in so it would be nice to have it at least printed on. It isn't, which is a missed opportunity.  Even with all the additional components added to the base Tu-154M mould this model is well built aside from a minor scuff mark on the starboard side of the ECM pod. SCORE - 9 CONCLUSION This model technically falls outside of my collection criteria, as I don't usually collect military models, however the additional parts made it a lot more enticing and frankly the lack of Tu-154 releases has made me eager to buy almost any produced. I still admit I would have preferred this release to be an airline model but I can't fault the finished article. It shows once again that NG are willing to make modifications to their moulds for one-off models but does leave the question open as to where the series of PSA L-1011s with the belly fairings are! Oh well I guess NG can't be over everything at once. FINAL SCORE - 28/30 
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorI'm Richard Stretton an aviation enthusiast and major collector of 400 scale models. On this page I take a detailed look at new releases. This site is free. Please donate to keep it going.
|
RSS Feed