WIP: 1/72 Buran Space Shuttle

[Astrazoic]

And so it begins. A year or so back, I got my hands on the 1/72 Buran shuttle kit from Amodel. It's a so-so kit, but nothing I can't handle. A significant amount of work is required to get this thing to look good, and details available about this spacecraft are not exactly prolific. On the other hand, I have several contacts in the industry that have proven helpful in tracking down line drawings and photos.

I will cover the vehicle with tiles in the same manner I used for my 1/72 Discovery. Interestingly, the process should be simpler because there were not as many strangely-shaped tiles on Buran as there are on U.S. shuttles. Also, I will have the landing gears down for this vehicle, and those will require substantial work.

The decals suck. I will need to commission someone to do these, or maybe I will break down and get the necessary equipment to make my own.

First up - Cockpit. The kit's is unacceptable, so I will scratchbuild it. Photos in a bit.

Onward!

[crowe-t]

This sounds like an exciting build! After seeing the work you put into your 1/72 Discovery I can't wait to see how this one comes out.

[K2Pete]

I've been toying with the idea of building a Revellogram Shuttle into a Buran ... so this is gonna be a lot of fun to watch.

I hope this thread'll be "image intensive" Phil.

Pete

[Jay Chladek]

I've been tempted to get the Buran Analog from A-Model and turn it into a Buran on an Energia. In fact I was hoping A-Model might do it by now, but nothing as of yet. As such, I will also be watching this thread with interest. Here is a little something to get you into the mood:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gjubQ7SB8I

[spellbinder99]

There is a surprising amount of pictures available of the Buran if you do a little digging into the Energya site image files. I have the Buran/VM-T combo kit which has the same basic fuselage and wings molding but no undercarriage, fin or engine detail but for all that it appears to be pretty accurate in shape and overall "looks".

Start here:

http://www.buran.ru/images/jpg/

http://www.buran.ru/images/gif/

The cockpit detail provided seems to match available images quite well so I will be using it but I guess it is all down to individual tastes.

The funny thing is that though the Buran LOOKS like a US Shuttle, it really does not match up at all in detail or contour.

Cheers

Tony

[Flankerman]

I have the Amodel Buran - so I'll be watching this build with interest.....

I took these photo of a mockup of the Buran cockpit at the Central House of Aviation in Moscow - if they're of any use....

The real thing has K-36 ejection seats....

I'd be interested in a set of decals if you get round to creating some - plus details of how you do the tiles.......

Ken

[Astrazoic]

Thanks for the references. It's funny, because I've been using those two images as a reference, as they both come very close to the real thing. The best resources seem to be located here (the links Tony has provided) - excellent high-resolution photos of the actual spacecraft, as opposed to various flight test articles: http://www.buran.ru/htm/foto2.htm.

I have made excellent headway on the cockpit. I will have a photo of the buildup shortly.

Jay - thanks for the video. I had not seen that before.

Edited December 14, 2010 by Astrazoic

[Jay Chladek]

Found it!

I forgot I had a site bookmarked with some excellent shots of the Buran Analog in Germany. The photographer did a full walkaround of the ship and you could spend DAYS looking at these images!

http://www.primeportal.net/space/howard_mason/buran/

For a non-space rated testbed just used to do the landing approach studies with, the Soviets really crammed a lot of detail into their Analog, right down to the hinged engine intake covers for the intended Buran with the higher cross range capability (using engines to stretch the glide after reentry). The other details match up with the Buran flight article rather well and it seems except for the jet engines, the only other major difference the Analog had was a longer nose gear strut, presumably to give the wings some positive lift for takeoff. This should get you almost all the Buran information you are looking for.

Edited December 14, 2010 by Jay Chladek

[Astrazoic]

Jesus. That does qualify as a mother load. Thanks, Jay.

[spaceflightengineer]

Which are the "strangely-shaped" TPS tiles on our orbiters that you are referring to, if you don't mind pointing thing them out?

Thanks!

Bruce P.

And so it begins. A year or so back, I got my hands on the 1/72 Buran shuttle kit from Amodel. It's a so-so kit, but nothing I can't handle. A significant amount of work is required to get this thing to look good, and details available about this spacecraft are not exactly prolific. On the other hand, I have several contacts in the industry that have proven helpful in tracking down line drawings and photos.

I will cover the vehicle with tiles in the same manner I used for my 1/72 Discovery. Interestingly, the process should be simpler because there were not as many strangely-shaped tiles on Buran as there are on U.S. shuttles. Also, I will have the landing gears down for this vehicle, and those will require substantial work.

The decals suck. I will need to commission someone to do these, or maybe I will break down and get the necessary equipment to make my own.

First up - Cockpit. The kit's is unacceptable, so I will scratchbuild it. Photos in a bit.

Onward!

[Astrazoic]

There are many, many strangely-shaped tiles on the U.S. shuttles, mostly located around compound curves, which is logical. However, the Soviet shuttle seems to have been almost entirely covered in rectangular tiles, though in some places, particularly around doors, panels and such, there are odd shaped tiles.

I have completed the cockpit, which is completely scratchbuilt and almost entirely conjecture, though I did use some reference photos like the ones above. For instance, I did add the bulk of instruments along the centerline, something that is an evident departure from US shuttles, the latter of which to not have instrumentation cluttering this area. The cockpit windows and overhead systems will be added in a week or so, then buttoned up, sealed and sanded flush with the hull. I will then add RCS cones, boxes for the gears and assorted plastic parts before setting off to add the tiles in the same manner I did for the 1/72 Shuttle Discovery I built a while ago.

The objective for the cockpit, since most of it won't be seen in detail, is to suggest controls and colors, and this seemed best handled by gluing a variety of photoetch spare cockpit details wherever it made aesthetic sense.

http://www.astrazoic.com/Buran1.jpg

http://www.astrazoic.com/Buran2.jpg

http://www.astrazoic.com/Buran3.jpg

http://www.astrazoic.com/Buran4.jpg

Edited January 2, 2011 by Astrazoic

[crowe-t]

Phil, Excellent work on the cockpit so far!

[Berkut]

That is scratchbuilt?!?! Wow, most excellent.

Any in progress pics? I am curious how you scratched all those panells, and how you painted them.

PS: Since you have done so much work on the cockpit already, why not use aftermarked K-36 seats?

Edited January 2, 2011 by Berkut

[Astrazoic]

Thanks.

The panels are all random photoetch bits from my scrounge box. I thought about resin aftermarket seats, but decided against ording stuff. I just used the seats from the kit and added a few plastic bits to them. The objective was to provide a sense of shape and color when you look through the windows - sadly, one won't see all that much in terms of detail. I will do a better job of photographing in-progress steps. I realized I need to take photos more or less at the point when I planned buttoning up the cockpit <_<

Edited January 7, 2011 by Astrazoic

[Astrazoic]

Made a bit more progress during the week. I detailed the cockpit hull section and inserted the windows, which are polished on the inside. I then installed the assembly, puttied and sanded flush with fuselage.

http://www.astrazoic.com/Buran5.jpg

http://www.astrazoic.com/Buran6.jpg

http://www.astrazoic.com/Buran9_op_640x694.jpg

You can also see that I installed the forward RCS pod. The kit supplies three parts for this, plus a bunch of crappy plugs for the nozzles. Instead, I sanded the hull pieces after aseembly, then more or less filled it with Milliput. I stuck a sharpened pencil in each opening to creat a nozzle-like shape, being careful to address the direction for pitch. The black is due to the graphite pencil I used - graphite ensures the putty doesn't stick as I shape the nozzles. The assembly dried overnight, then I installed in fuselage and puttied. Sanding comes next.

http://www.astrazoic.com/Buran7.jpg

http://www.astrazoic.com/Buran8_op_640x570.jpg

Edited January 13, 2011 by Astrazoic

[Jay Chladek]

Did you get that pencil technique from me or did I get it from you? I remember doing exactly the same thing on my Moonraker model (sharpened pencil, pressed into milliput to get the right RCS nozzle shapes). I guess great minds think alike. :)

Looking good as always. Are you doing this model as an orbital Buran or as the Analog?

Edited January 13, 2011 by Jay Chladek

[richter111]

Great idea! I would have never thought of that

[Astrazoic]

Jay - not sure. We probably came up with the idea independently. I built the Shuttle model in 2006, followed by two years of on-again off-again detailing and tiling. Ugh.

I am building the orbital version that flew in 1988 as it appeared immediately after landing. These means a significant amount of weathering (much more so than a US Shuttle). The aft end was pretty nicely coated with soot, which was apparently easy to clean off. Not sure where the soot came from, though.

[Jay Chladek]

Jay - not sure. We probably came up with the idea independently. I built the Shuttle model in 2006, followed by two years of on-again off-again detailing and tiling. Ugh.

I am building the orbital version that flew in 1988 as it appeared immediately after landing. These means a significant amount of weathering (much more so than a US Shuttle). The aft end was pretty nicely coated with soot, which was apparently easy to clean off. Not sure where the soot came from, though.

The tops of the elevons at least on the right side got a bit scorched as that one youtube video I linked too earlier on has a nice camera pass under the right side elevon and showing the very scorched appearance top-side (brown black). I heard rumors that the Buran had a burn through back there, although naturally the Soviets never let on about it. Who knows if the stuff did clean off as they could have replaced the most seriously damaged tiles. But even the US orbiters seem to have some capability of being cleaned on the LRSI tiles and AFRSI blankets (although over time some permanent staining does seem to occur).

Edited January 14, 2011 by Jay Chladek

[Astrazoic]

You can tell it rubbed off easily in photos that followed safing of the vehicle and return to the hanger. Finger marks are apparent around access panels and disturbed areas are apparent on the elevons from where workers apparently sought leverage. It's possible there was burn through, but I imagine the tiles just got cooked. Some tiles on US Shuttles tend to have that light brown tint to them, and the black ones get much lighter after even one use. The soot may have been from exhaust gasses, but I really have no idea. In any case, I will be replicating this mess...

[jockdeboer]

Phil, as usual, you are scary good!

[HowardM]

Glad you found my images helpful.

I have put off building the A-model Buran-Analog due to the need to massively reshape all the engines to reflect reality, and the challenges of matching up the gear bays. Need to clear the M-50 off the desk first.

Howard Mason

[MarkD]

I'm planning to get a model of Buran as well.

Phil will you be adding the tiles onto your Buran model?

Here is a good reference on Buran http://www.buran.ru/images/jpg/3d-bur05.jpg

Edited February 19, 2011 by MarkD

[HOLMES]

Phil

I like your scratchbuilt cockpit and it is simply very good indeed...

The work on the Buran is completely inspiring..GREAT looking model so far and NEAT work too..very impeccably detailed...

So how come I missed this...

Looking forward to more updates , or have you finished this and it is posted elsehwere.

HOLMES