Mike J. Idacavage Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 The Tupolev Tu-143 Reys (Reys = Flight) is a short range (60 - 70 km) unmanned Soviet tactical reconnaissance drone used by the Soviet military and its Allies in the 1970s and 1980s. Currently Russia appears to be using these as target drones while North Korea and the Ukraine are using them operationally. While doing some background research on this drone, I came across an embarrassing incident for the Russians when one of their Tu-143 Reys crash-landed in the yard of a nursery school in Prague! As the Czechs were friendly at the time, the Russians had some s'plaining to do as to why they were operating a short range recon drone over their friendly hosts. :whistle:/>/> I will be starting with the Decarli kit of the Tu-143: Here's what comes with the kit: As I am well underway in another GB here on ARC, I will move this along as modeling time allows. Have fun modeling! Mike :cheers:/>/> Quote Link to post Share on other sites
yardbird78 Posted August 26, 2016 Share Posted August 26, 2016 That kit seems to have a small number of parts, so the build should go rather quickly. Those red stripes could be a challenge if you do it like the box art. Darwin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike J. Idacavage Posted August 26, 2016 Author Share Posted August 26, 2016 Hi Darwin Yup, those red stripes will be a challenge with this model. After pouring over a bunch of photos of the Tu-143 Reys, most if not all of the ones I have seen have the red stripes. It looks like this is the typical operational scheme, so I'll get a good lesson in detail painting! I suspect that the kit will take longer for me to build than it might appear from the parts count. There are some molding problems and pinholes in the resin that suggest it will require a few sessions of filler/sanding. The resin is a bit soft and scratches easy so this might be a problem during assembly. I am also now planning on scratch building the trailer as the main part really suffers from pinholes and a few of the little pieces are broken anyway. We will see how this goes! Have fun modeling Mike :cheers:/> Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sebastijan Posted August 26, 2016 Share Posted August 26, 2016 Can't wait to see this one finished. A few years ago I was volunteering at one of the Czech aviation museums and we had Tu-143 on display, together with a transport/launch truck. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike J. Idacavage Posted August 27, 2016 Author Share Posted August 27, 2016 Wow Sebastijan, that is very cool!! I have seen some photos of the Tu-143 in it's launch truck and that is very impressive. This would be an interesting kit for one of the armor modeling companies such as Dragon or Trumpeter. Hopefully, my build will look like the Tu-143 that you remember. Have fun modeling! Mike :cheers:/> Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike J. Idacavage Posted September 2, 2016 Author Share Posted September 2, 2016 Let the games begin! When I cut the main fuselage off the resin pour stub, the bottom of the aircraft had some large, flat areas where the fuselage should be more circular. As I needed to start to fill in the pinholes, my first step is to use Apoxie Putty and reform the bottom of the fuselage. Here's the fuselage after the putty is dry but before sanding. Nothing too exciting yet! Have fun modeling Mike :cheers:/>/> Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike J. Idacavage Posted October 18, 2016 Author Share Posted October 18, 2016 Time to get this build rejuvenated! I have been away from my bench for most of the past month or so, so I don't have a lot of progress to report. Here's how the bottom of the drone looks after numerous putty sessions. I decided to fill in the landing gear bays with putty as I'll have the vehicle sitting on a trailer (more on that later). Â Â Â Have fun modeling! Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike J. Idacavage Posted October 25, 2016 Author Share Posted October 25, 2016 (edited) Let's backtrack a little and cover the trailer that I plan on using. A multipart resin trailer does come with the kit but it would be a real challenge to build. The straight (?) pieces used for the main body and axle supports had a lot of pinholes in them. I also had one of the axle supports broken off when I received the kit as they are thin and fragile. I decided to scratch build my own trailer using a few parts from the kit. The main pieces are plastic rod that I glued together and then puttied to duplicate the weld area. I added a small piece from the spare parts box as a hitch. The axle/wheel supports are cut from thin plastic strip and you can see them on the green mat. The wheels and Tu-143 support pieces are cleaned up parts from the kit. The small yellow circle is one of four paint masks I punched out for covering the wheel hubs when I paint the tires.   Here are the small axle support pieces with some axles added using plastic rod. BTW, the kit has you gluing the wheels directly to the small support strips. Can't see how that would work in real life!   Here is how the parts looked assembled. It is on to the paint booth for the trailer.  Have fun modeling Mike Edited October 25, 2016 by Mike J. Idacavage Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike J. Idacavage Posted November 9, 2016 Author Share Posted November 9, 2016 Back to the Tu 143. Like a lot medium quality of resin castings, I am having fun with multiple rounds of putty, sanding, washing. priming and repeat. It is moving along so here is the drone that is almost fully assembled during this phase: Â Â Â Â Have fun modeling Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
yardbird78 Posted November 12, 2016 Share Posted November 12, 2016 This is coming along nicely. I especially like what you have done with the transport trailer.  Darwin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike J. Idacavage Posted November 21, 2016 Author Share Posted November 21, 2016 Well, it is the proverbial "1 step forward and 2 steps backward" for this project! I was trucking along and gave the drone a final primer coat. It looked good as you can see in this photo:   Then it is off to give it the final light gray color coat. I used the Humbrol light gray recommended in the instructions and it came out a gray green. Yuck! I had spent some time stirring the Humbrol pot but evidently it was not enough. Perhaps I can overcoat it with a thin coat of a different light gray? Before I did that step I decided to rescribe a few panel lines that were disappearing. Bad idea! I managed to snap of the thin rudder and also one of the wigs while rescribing it.  Ah well, such is life!  I decided to reboot this project and have stripped off most of the paint from the model and wing, rudder. I have now glued them back on and after some sanding/rescribing/etc. I will start the paint process over again. At least I have a month to go!  Have fun modeling Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
yardbird78 Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 Sorry to hear about the setbacks on your project. Hang in there and keep after it.  Darwin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike J. Idacavage Posted November 29, 2016 Author Share Posted November 29, 2016 Thanks for the encouragement! While I am doing the rework on the drone, I finished the trailer for the Tu 143 along with the base. The base looks a little over-weathered in the photos but the weathering looks a bit better to the eye. Â Â Â Â Have fun modeling! Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike J. Idacavage Posted December 6, 2016 Author Share Posted December 6, 2016 I am back on track with some progress to report on the drone. I repaired the broken pieces, cleaned up the seems and reprimed the model. It looked passable, so I gave it an overall coat of Soviet light gray from an old tin of White Ensign Models paint. It does not look a lot different than the Mr Surfacer gray primer! (it is a bit lighter and does match the photos reasonably well). Â Â Â Â Â Now it is on to painting the red stripes! I plan on doing this in small sections so this step will take some time. Have fun modeling Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
yardbird78 Posted December 9, 2016 Share Posted December 9, 2016 Glad to see that you have this model back on track. Â Darwin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Silenoz Posted December 9, 2016 Share Posted December 9, 2016 wonder how you will do the striping. If you have a large red decal, you can cut fine stripes with two sharp knives and a spacer between them Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike J. Idacavage Posted December 10, 2016 Author Share Posted December 10, 2016 My plan is to go old school and paint the stripes on. It will be an exercise in masking but I am a little more comfortable going this route rather than getting a red decal to match and then consistently cutting and applying them to a 3D surface. I will post some in progress shots when I have something to show. At least I have another 3 weeks in this GB to complete the process!!!  Have fun modeling Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike J. Idacavage Posted December 18, 2016 Author Share Posted December 18, 2016 Now to add some color to the drone. Here's how it looks after some of the red striping and other sections have been added. I am painting a few areas/stripes at a time and then moving on after that section dries. It is a bit slow but hopefully it will allow steady progress. Â Â Â Have fun modeling! Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Grandboof Posted December 19, 2016 Share Posted December 19, 2016 Nice work Martin H Quote Link to post Share on other sites
yardbird78 Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 Those red areas certainly make it stand out a lot more than just the plain gray.  Darwin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike J. Idacavage Posted December 23, 2016 Author Share Posted December 23, 2016 Well, I hit another little speedbump as I race towards the finish line. This was not totally unexpected as I was not confident that I would be able to pull off the masking of the red stripes/areas without at least some problems. I managed to get a bit of bleed of the red paint on the right side and bottom with some of the red paint spray going where it should not be.   I was using a low tack masking tape in some areas and this tape managed to lift at the wrong time. Not a major problem as I will now mask off the red stripes and touch up the problem gray areas. Just another learning experience in the life of a modeler!     Have fun modeling! Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
yardbird78 Posted December 25, 2016 Share Posted December 25, 2016 I wonder if any of those things in real life have had the cameras replaced with a warhead of some type?  Darwin  Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike J. Idacavage Posted December 25, 2016 Author Share Posted December 25, 2016 Hi Darwin  Good question! As far as my internet research shows, the Tu 143 Reys has only been used as a recon drone. It appears to have been optimized for the reconnaissance role so perhaps it is not very efficient as a weapon? Later variants have been used as target drones and a recent variant under development does carry a weapon pylon.  Have fun modeling Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike J. Idacavage Posted December 27, 2016 Author Share Posted December 27, 2016 I can almost see the finish line for my GB! I now have the Tu 143 paint job cleaned up. I have also added the small canards/fins at the front of the fuselage and the model is wearing a gloss clear coat in anticipation of adding the decals. Here's what it looks like as we enter the final week of this GB: Â Â Â Hopefully, the next post from me will be the one with the photos of the completed model late this week. Have fun modeling Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Stefan buysse Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 Looks great! I like what you did with the cart.  Cheers, Stefan. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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