Yesterday I picked up Zvezda's 1/144 Tupolev Tu-134 and thought I'd give you folks a bit of a look at the kit.
Good impressions started in the packaging. Zvezda seems to be using a good strong box with the art on a slip cover. I think it's a great idea and would like to see more companies packaging this way:
The parts come on three sprues, plus a two part stand:
Outside of the sprues, the kit contains a straightforward and clear instruction sheet and a set of nice looking decals to cover Soviet and post soviet Aeroflot schemes:
The model looks well engineered and thought out and includes options for both glass and solid nosed variants. Where it really shines is in the finesse of some of the finer parts like the engine faces and landing gear assemblies:
The engine turbine and exhaust faces are nice and deep and will likely look fantastic with a dark base coat and some dry brushing applied to them.
My big reservation about the kit is in the landing gear. The detail is lovely, but so finely done that I actually have concerns about it's ability to hold up the finished model
Some pluses, to my mind:
Outside of the nose options, the underfuselage radome is provided as a separate part. Not all Tu-134s had that radome and it's good to have the option of leaving it off if need be.
The three small galley windows near the aft fuselage are separate parts, but all have a nice tab on one side to hold some adhesive. I think this is quite a thoughtful touch on Zvezda's part, not all manufacturers do that with small individual windows.
Zvezda have made some good decisions in regards to what details to simplify for the scale and which to put more attention to. While the kit has nothing to speak of in the way of cockpit detail, the aforementioned landing gears and engine face details are almost lavish for a kit of this size and scale.
Downsides, if you care to see them that way:
Other than my reservations about the strength of the landing gear; I would call Zvezda's lack of offering the cabin windows as a decal option a slight downside. Some people say that looks toy like, but I think some of the clear cabin windows in some kits can look equally toy like. It would be good to have an option there.
The optional stand would be a great way to take the kit's weight off the landing gear, but if you wanted to try modeling the kit with landing gear in mid rotation, you're in for some work as Zvezda has molded several of the gear bay doors closed as they would be seen if the aircraft was parked. As such, you'd need to open up those areas of the kit and scratchbuild some bays and bay doors.
My kit came with an extra set of decals as sort of a promotion for the Czech market. The decals have the Bilek name on them and are printed by Boa, who do some lovely decals. The sheet covers four Czechoslovak Airlines machines from the "OK Jet" tail art era and offers fuselage striping with and without windows printed on:
At this time, I don't see the sheet available on it's own from either Bilek or Boa, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time before one or the other of them do offer it for separate purchase.
Overall, I quite like what I see in this kit. It's clear leg up in several ways over the AZ kit of a year or two ago. I'm looking forward to starting mine.
