12/20/2023 0 Comments Buran shuttle interior![]() Instead, it was strapped to a heavy lifting rocket that itself used four extra external liquid-fueled boosters. Whereas the US Shuttle used two solid boosters to assist the main engines of the shuttle which were fuelled by an external fuel tank, the Buran itself didn’t really use its own engines to get into Space. The Soviet Shuttle worked differently to the US Shuttle. However, it wasn’t an exact copy, the Buran was actually better in some respects.Ī Buran atop the Antonov An-225 at the Le Bourget 1989 Air Show. It was fairly faithfully reproduced with Soviet tech as wind tunnels showed its shape was ideal - NASA had done the work. The Kremlin agreed to develop a shuttle of their own, just to be on the safe side.Ī Buran Space Shuttle sits on the launch pad.Īs a lot of information about the NASA Space Shuttle was available and unclassified, there is a blatant reason why the USSR Shuttle looks a lot like the US version. In theory, a shuttle type spacecraft could be used for highly versatile military operations, such as capturing enemy satellites and even delivering a nuclear strike faster than a conventional missile. The Soviets now had a motive to build a shuttle of their own. Secondly, the vast number of launches the shuttle was aiming to provide didn’t appear to have a stated purpose why did the US need the capability of the shuttle? The USSR watched with concern. Firstly, the Shuttle was supposed to be more affordable than the conventional rockets it would replace - but the information that the Soviets obtained clearly showed that the program would be far more expensive per launch. To the Soviets, the publicly stated goals of the NASA program just didn’t seem to make sense. Conjecture? Maybe, but the Soviet leadership had reason to be concerned. The massive 30-ton payload-to-orbit capacity of the craft and a 15-ton payload return capacity was an indication that the US would test and place laser weapons into orbit that could destroy enemy missiles. It's 1975 - the Soviets are becoming increasingly concerned that the new American Space Shuttle will be used as a space weapon. The next problem is finding a place for it.Footage of the Buran launching and landing. It was a time consuming build,also my first scratch build experience,but also interesting and fun. Revell's decal set offer the old livery but with new ukranian flag and registration. I used leftover parts from a Revell 747 SCA and Evergreen plasic tubes strenghtened with wire.Īs the AN-225 wore CCCP registry and the USSR flag back in 1989,I had to raid my decal and kit stash to find those bits and pieces to create the Combo as it appeared at the Paris Airshow in 89. Search for decent pictures was not easy and required a lot of time. The engines are airbrushed with Revell gloss white 04.Metallic parts are Gunze metallics.Īs I wanted to mount the Buran on top of the AN-225,I had to scratchbuild the suporting mounts. Here I used Revell gloss white from rattle cans for the all white fuselage,sprayed on my balcony.It was equally challenging. Revell's way of designing the kit makes a segmented build impossible.Įxcept the engines,the whole aircraft has to be build completely before painting,otherwise seams and gaps would be visible.ĭue to the dimensions,it was impossible for me to paint it with the airbrush as it doesnt fit in my paint cabin at all. The build of the giant AN-225 was also pretty straight forward.įit is good,the only problem is the construction of the model. Thats the only criticism I have on an otherwise great kit. ![]() The decal placement is also not shown clearly and some decals have to be guessed where they belong. No hints on colors on the instructions make painting the model correctly a tricky task. The only downturn of the otherwise top notch kit are the decal and paint instructions. The decals are superbly printed as well and are great to work with and fit perfectly on the model. I build the whole Buran in just one evening.painting and decalling it was another matter though □. I slightly modified the latter part to be removable to offer a view into the Shuttle. It offers 2 cargo door options,open (2 parts) or closed (1 part). The parts are crispily molded,no signs of flash or sinkmarks. The second issue features a large decal sheet with all markings and the distinctive paneldesign. When I saw that kit in my local modelshop,I had the idea of building it together with the Buran,as the AN-225 was origially planned for.Īrk Models recently released with the Buran their first own tooling and as its also in 1/144,I ordered it right away. Compared to the original release,it also features the old paint scheme. ![]()
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