[650REDHAIR]

I volunteered for an Air Force museum and even non-operational/replica parts were expensive and hard to find for aircraft. I would imagine getting this certified/flyable would cost nearly as much as the purchase price when the dust settles.

[anigbrowl]

Seems like a 3d printing niche opportunity.

[TylerE]

Not really. It would NEVER be certified for US commercial operations as the US FAA does not have a reciprocal airworthyness agreement with the Soviets[1]. FAA certification - required for commercial use (but not experimental, which is how old warbirds are generally operated these days) would take years and probably $100M+, fi the FAA would ever even consider it.

[1] Ironically, we DO have such an agreement with Poland, so in some cases (but not the TU-95), aircraft built in Poland have a path towards approval for US ops that those built elsewhere in the USSR wouldn't have.

[anigbrowl]

Oh sorry - it was the bit about non-operational/replica parts that caught my eye. I agree that even the best laser sintering is probably way below the mechanical tolerances required for aeronautics applications, but it seems like it would be a great way to build models and do things like engine cutaways etc.

[wwosik]

Ekhm, let me correct that slip: " in Poland [...] elsewhere in the USSR". Poland was fortunately never part of the USSR and hopefully never becomes even in USSR 2.0