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Tupolev Tu-204 / Tu-214 / Tu-234 in 1:400 Scale

Updated: June 2022
The Tupolev TU-204 was robbed off a TU-154 style production run by the collapse of the Soviet Union, which is a shame as it appears to be a decent aircraft broadly in line with Western contemporaries at the dawn of the 90s. In the end although the aircraft has had a 30-year production run only around 90 aircraft have been produced. As of 2019 only 14 aircraft remained in service.
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NG Models Tu-204s
The TU-204 obviously bears a resemblance to the Boeing 757, with which it is roughly analogous, however to my eye it is has a quite distinctive profile, which means it is hard to confuse with the US type. It may not have had the range of the 757 but in other respects seems to have been reasonably competitive, although no doubt constrained by its Russian engines. Certainly, when compared with other Soviet designs of a similar vintage like the IL-96 the TU-204 looks like it was a better bet.
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Panda Models Tu-204s
I think there can be little doubt that if the Soviet Union had of continued it would have been produced in large numbers and seen service with Aeroflot and other Warsaw Pact state airlines. As it was it was thrust into a decentralized Russian airline environment the type was acquired in small numbers by a variety of new Russian airlines, but its sales prospects were hamstrung by the collapse of the Russian economy and subsequent availability of Western aircraft with guaranteed support mechanisms.
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Panda Models Tu-204s
Following the disgraceful Russian invasion of Ukraine and the impact of the resulting sanctions there is talk of the Kazan Aviation Production Association (KAPO) restarting production of the Tu-214 version. It'll be interesting to see whether this ever bears fruit.

Tu-204 in 1:400 Scale

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Soloviev powered Cubana and Rolls Royce powered Air China and Mahan Air
It wasn't long ago that seeing a Tu-204 in 400 scale seemed highly unlikely and yet now within a couple of years there are two active moulds and another under development. This goes hand in hand with the resurgence in Soviet-era aircraft in 400 scale, which has seen new moulds for types such as the Tu-104, Tu-134, Tu-154 and Tu-204 plus the reappearance of others (IL-62, IL-86 and Tu-154).
Admittedly output on the new moulds has been a little slow but the Tu-204 variants are never likely to be massive sellers so I can understand why their releases are being dribbled out gradually. It does seem however that the new competition of having two moulds is having some impact on what is being made when.
Note that only NG Models has currently got moulds for both fuselage versions.

Tupolev Tu-204 Variants

There are two obvious fuselage lengths for Tu-204s but the type designations are a lot more complex than this due to the different production sites and development. It goes like this:
Long Body
Tu-204-100/200: The basic long body version certified in January 1995 and powered by Soloviev PS90 engines. The 200 series is just a heavier version with longer range. All Tu-204-100s were built by Tupolev and later Aviastar-SP at Ulyanovsk. Only one Tu-204-200 was built. These versions have 2 main doors and 2 smaller emergency doors on each side. Seating varies typically between 172-210.
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A Tu-204-100 - Note the small door ahead of the wing. Konstantin von Wedelstaedt (GFDL 1.2 or GFDL 1.2 ), via Wikimedia Commons
Tu-204-120/220: A version of the series 100/200 but with western avionics and Rolls-Royce RB211-535 engines.
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Tu-214: A renamed version of the Tu-204-200 built only by the Kazan Aircraft Production Association (KAPO) in Kazan. Structurally the only difference is the placement of the doors with the Tu-214 having a full size door on the left side just before the wing. So the Tu-214 has 3 main doors and 1 emergency door on each side.
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A Tu-214. Note the full size door ahead of the wing. aeroprints.com, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Short Body
Tu-204-300 / Tu-234: This version is about 6 metres shorter than the standard version trading payload for range. Seating varies between 142-156.
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A Tu-204-300 / Tu-234. Alexey Matevosyan, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Wishlists

I have previously written fairly comprehensive wishlists for the two body lengths of Tu-204. So far production has centred on non-Russian or cargo versions, which is something I really hope to see change in the future.

​Moulds (in date order)


​NG Models (2021)
Receiving the NG Models Tu-204 samples in April 2021 was genuinely a massive surprise and a very welcome one too. The samples were superb and I covered their details in the usual written posts and Youtube videos:
Releases to date have been rather limited and are as follows. Missing production numbers suggest release order has changed based perhaps on Panda production:
Both the moulds are close to perfect representations of the type and NG remain the only brand to make both a series 100 and series 300 mould. I have reviewed a couple of the early releases here:
Panda Models (2021)
Panda Models own Tupolev Tu-204 was announced in October 2021. There had been some rumours prior to this of a Panda Tu-204 and also a big fall out between Panda and NG Models with accusations of mould theft. The details remain obscure and probably are more to do with Panda losing access to a variety of moulds, some of which NG has now access to. The first completed production photos appeared at the end of October and I wrote about them here:
The mould is clearly different to the NG version but only recently have I acquired any of them as none of the first three fit my collection criteria and the subsequent pair of Aeroflots and pair of Aviastars didn't appear until about 6 months after they were announced. So far these have been the 7 releases:
Overall the mould is very similar to the NG models version, which is a good thing, but it does have differences especially in the nose shape and undercarriage height, which make it inferior. I would argue conversely that the winglet shape is better. I have reviewed the mould in detail here:
JC Wings (2022?)
JC Wings seem to have a lot of new moulds under design but it takes them a long time to get them into production and even when they do they barely announce them. The only evidence of a JC Wings Tu-204 was a shot that they leaked showing one along with their new A310 and several 200 scale moulds. This was back in September 2021 and nothing further has been heard. Given both NG and Panda have beaten them to it a third Tu-204 seems a little redundant but given the slow production rate so far you never know!
The Tu-204 is the lowest mould in the below photo: