This is a replica of the fist Soviet all-metal plane ever. One of the first Soviet passenger planes. And the second plane designed by Andrey Nikolaevich Tupolev, a famous Soviet aircraft designer. He was my namesake, because my name is Andrey Nikolayevich too:) Just a beautiful and sophisticated plane! Finally, I’m a fan of old aircraft.So, I had quite a bunch of good reasons to build a semi-replica…Scale: 1:10. I used what I considered my traditional ceiling-ruler-adhesive-tape technology featuring plastic reinforcement. A sort of nano-project with the use of all so rare materials:)Here are pics that show the building process. And a couple of comments.





I glued in reinforcement, which I had cut out of a plastic ruler, and lined the nose section with glass for equipment.





I made hings out of paperclips and pieces of aluminum cans.





Cocktail tubes serve as guides for pull rods.





The layer of glass in the nose section.









The frame and angle braces of the landing gear are made of bamboo sticks.



Horns are made from a plastic angle.















For a more true-to-life appearance I covered the wheels with thin plastic. Looks almost great!

















Let the pilot test it. Looks like he feels well in there :)





My dummy engine.



Here is the three-cylinder "Donkey":).

This is the output product...

I all but forgot about this one..



Takeoff weight:

Wingspan: 1000 mm.Length: 750 mm.Weight: 515 g.



Well, what was the end of it? Strangely enough, it didn’t fly well enough. Yes, it is a high-wing plane built according to a classical scheme… What could have gone wrong? When I push on the throttle, it wing-rocks; release throttle – it goes smooth and steady. You can see that in the video. I did a 20% alignment, but it was ditto. Could that have been due to the beautiful and sophisticated landing gear? Those are actually two little wings getting into the prop stream. Haven’t quite figured it out so far. Any ideas? I’ll be happy to listen to my hobbymates’ advice and suggestions.Let’s think it over and teach it to fly properly!Thanks for reading.Yours faithfully,Andrey Plaxin Senior