Saturday, June 14, 2014

Buran 3D Model - Part 1

Recently, I've been reading "Energiya-Buran The Soviet Space Shuttle" by Bart Hendrickx and I've always thought that the two orbiters were almost identical. Well, I was wrong, as I've discovered when I started to 'alter' my standard 3D model of the US Orbiter to look like the Soviet orbiter Buran.

The main differences I could tell before I started to create the 3D model was that the Soviet Orbiter has the nose gear further from the nose, no OMS pods and the lack of main engines. After a an hour of modelling, I started to notice more  and more differences that you can't really tell from photographs.



  • The wings on the Soviet Orbiter are slightly more forward.
  • The wing profile and leading edge is completely different, compare to the US Orbiter
  • The after the payload section on the US Orbiter, the rear section extends out slightly, on Soviet Orbiter, the 'rear' stays almost in line with the payload section.
I'll probably notice more differences as I add more details.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Buran is my favourite spacecraft! I really hope I can fly this thing in the new game...
The main difference is that buran can carry more payload up and down, carry more crew and land automatically if pilot is injured.

Unknown said...

I knew about the increased cargo capability, what I didn't know was the amount of differences in the physical shape.