1/72 Tu-143 Reys

[Scruffy]

Got these going on, need to at least finish one by June...….



These were recently released by Clear Prop Models from Ukraine, and are quite nice and complete little kits,



Typical short run kit, but very nicely done and quite well detailed and thought out.



Very complete decal sheet with markings for 4 aircraft, photo etched parts, and a turned brass pitot, and clear lower nose sections for two versions.



Grabbed this out of the bookcase for reference.....I'm old(skool), still like a good reference book to look through.

[LyleW]

New to me all around! Neat.

[Scruffy]

Thank you Lyle

[Stikpusher]

Looks like something out of Thunderbirds!

[Scruffy]

Ok, the plan is to make one of each version from the kits, and if I can find it, use the left over kit parts and decals on a real limited homemade resin kit to make the third version of the vehicle. From the kits I will make one with two still cameras in the nose and one with three movie cameras in the nose. One of these will be on its transport dolly, and one will be on its stubbly little landing gear The third one, using the resin kit if I can find it will have a nose with no cameras that is used for radiation sniffing, and this one will have one of the kit supplied boosters added, but that one will come last, first I will deal with the two kit versions.



The kit comes with a complete intake duct, so this was assembled, the one on the right also has had the end trued up and walls thinned out so the engine face will slip into place.



While the intake duct was being worked on, I added the exhaust cones to opening in the fuselage, and held the fuselage halves together while the glue set to male sure the maintained the correct alignment.



The engine faces were also painted, not that they will ever be seen once they are glued into place, but hey ho, just in case there they are

[KennyX]

[Stuart]

Wow! Looks really interesting!

[Scruffy]

Thanks guys, appreciate it.



The intake duct fitted into the fuselage, very ingenious and the fit is almost perfect.



The fuselage together, the fit was very good, and the upper and lower wing assembled. The wing insert needed some sanding to get the best fit (remember, short run kit), but it fit together pretty well. Some of the panel lines needed to be rescribed after but not a big deal really.



The aft fuselage and wing assembled. A couple swipes of the sanding stick to adjust the length of the fuselage section molded to the wing to match the opening in the fuselage and the fit was pretty much bang on.

Very happy with how this is fitting together so far.

[BlackSheep214]

Hmmm... never seen or heard of them. Unmanned Aerial rockets, huh? What is their purpose? To take photos? How do they land safely? Are there landing gears on them or do they deploy parachutes?

I love seeing unusual kits not seldom seen and built.

[Stikpusher]

I just looked this thing up. It is an older system. I guess the closest US equivalent was the Ryan Firebee drone.