Tupolev Tu-144 - the Soviet supersonic passenger liner

Tupolev Tu-144 - the Soviet supersonic passenger liner, Tupolev KB built in 1960. It is the first to take to the air and is one of two (along with the British-French "Concorde") supersonic liner types, used for commercial purposes. The first regular flight of the Tu-144 started on the Moscow-Alma-Ata route at the end of 1975. A ticket for a supersonic flight cost 68 rubles, while a ticket for an ordinary plane for this route cost 48 rubles. "Aeroflot" pilots flew these planes only as co-pilots, Tupolev KB pilots were always assigned as aircraft commanders. In total, about 50 flights were made and 3194 passengers were transported. Tu-144 liners had 11 First Class seats, apparently for special persons. During the entire short history of the plane, only 16 planes of this brand were built, which made a total of 2553 flights and the total flight time was 4110 hours. The commercial operation of this liner was short: it started in 1975 and ended in 1978. Flights were suspended due to their unprofitability. The Tu-144 competitor served much longer - until 2003.

A mid-sized model of a large airplane for the modeller of any experience. The detailing, compared to the previous Tu-154b-2, released by this publisher of the same scale, is simpler - there are no details of the pilots cockpit equipment, the undercarriage niche is also without details: only the niche, wheels and undercarriage legs), but the model requires more attention due to two aspects: it is white or very light in color and the cladding details are rather difficult to form. Therefore, the model should be glued carefully and try not to apply glue, where it is not needed. The model is painted in the colors of the sole user - "Aeroflot". Stocks of colors are available, but few. The graphic instruction is not very large, but good and informative, textual - only general provisions and assembly order with explanation of assembly of several elements in Russian, English, German and Polish languages.