The Energia-Buran combination, the Russian version of the space shuttle, is one of the great "What If..." stories of aerospace history. Built after the U.S. shuttle, Buran incorporated a number of improvements. It was launched into space a grand total of once. It was unmanned, and made a flawless entry and landing. Similarly, the Energia booster was a massive launch vehicle. Two of them were launched. One put a Soviet military payload, Polyus, into orbit, while the next and last launch carried Buran. But it was the tail end of the Cold War and the Russians couldn't afford to keep the program going, and the remaining vehicles fell into disrepair.

This model is built in card. In 1/96th scale, it is almost two feet tall. It is a kitbash of two models; most of it came from a card model designed by Leo Cherkashyn and is available at the website of the Lower Hudson Valley Challenger Center, at http://jleslie48.com/. Parts of the boosters and other bits and pieces were taken from an as-yet unpublished model of the Energia designed by Ton Noteboom.

Most of the model was printed out on 65-pound paper, but several different weights and colors were used, depending upon the application. To replicate the corrugated sections of the core stage (the intertank and the lower part of the core stage) I used a white corrugated paper I found at an art supply store. I also used a silver metallic paper (also found at the art supply store) for the engine nozzles on the core stage and boosters. Numerous pieces of detailing was added, as per reference photos and drawings I had collected.

Image: Left side

Image: Shuttle nose

Image: Tail end