Minicraft 1/144 B757-212 (Singapore Airlines)

[Mark]

Very cool indeed!

[EricP]

Mini-update, had not done much in the last few weeks. I'd like to blame my CO2 regulator which conked out on me after about 15 years (instead of being able to regulate pressure across a pretty broad range, from "Hurricane" to "Baby's Breath", I now get 2 states ... "On" and "Off" ) ... but I cannot do that as I also have a micro-valve on my airbrush quick-release that does the same thing.

After the last update, what I'd done was to putty the gaps left after I got the wings attached at the right angle:

Tamiya's putty, applied with a putty tool that I picked up recently in a hobby shop in Taipei, and smoothed with nail polish remover on a q-tip (a lot of q-tips, actually), did the trick. This pic is halfway through the smoothing process:

I next looked at the engines ... the aircraft I intend to build uses PW2000s, so as I had mentioned, I mail-ordered a set of Bra.Z engines from Hannants.

They come with very good detail, though there are some tiny air bubbles, nothing a coat of Mr Surfacer will not fix:

However, given the fact that this kit is not all that accurate, I also looked at the resin engines that came with the Welsh kit:

Simplified detail (e.g. solid exhaust outlets), but I like the fan faces better. Compared side-by-side:

I'll use the Welsh engines, and drill out the hot section exhaust.

I also gave the model a coat of Mr Surfacer 1000 (out of a jar, thinned with Mr Color Levelling Thinner, I think it's just the regular thinner with a bit of retarder):

After that's dried and checked for issues, I masked the wings and put on several coats of Tamiya acrylic white, thinned with Mr Color Leveling Thinner again:

Next step is to put on the flap track fairings and fit the engines before they all get a coat of Canadian Voodoo Grey, then the livery.

[Kev1n]

looking nice....see? I said you could fix it

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

Its looking more like a 757.... without engines that is.

Nice work

[Antony Robertson]

Coming along nicely.

Antony

[EricP]

Quick update, no pics, unfortunately. Been a bit slow going on this, held back by work and home stuff, e.g. this weekend I set up a couple of IP cameras and a Digital Video Recorder that can hold 24x7 CCTV footage for a month, plus a mirrored RAID box to store precious photos of the kids taken since they were born. Plus images from airliner spotting trips

Also had a few issues with the build ...

After the last update, I masked the fuselage to spray the wings Canadian Voodoo Grey, then masked the wings to spray grey coroguard, and it turned out that I had not cleaned the mold release off as well as I should have ... when I gently pulled the Tamiya tape off, a few chunks of paint came off all the way to bare plastic. So I had to carefully mask and spray where the bits ripped out.

The fuselage needed some sanding down (got a bit heavy handed with the white spray), so I re-sprayed some areas that had grey showing through.

The engines are built and got an initial coat of Canadian Voodoo Grey, I sprayed it on without a primer to see how well it works, so far it's "sticking".

The GB's over Dec 30th, but I only have about 1.5 weeks' building time left due to vacations, so I'd better get a move on.

[EricP]

More progress ... first, I mummified the fuselage, and shot several coats of yellow. You can't really tell where the masked bits are as the tape's about the same color:

Next, selective patches were removed, and the just-sprayed yellow bits masked, and dark blue sprayed on ... this is just before the airbrush went into action:

Once the blue had dried a bit, about 30 min, the masking tape was carefully removed, et voila!

It's far from done, but anyone care to guess the livery? As far as I know, there are no decals made for it in 1/144 scale (or any other scale for that matter), considering that only 4 aircraft went into service ... registrations ending in K, L, M and N!

The flap track fairings / canoes went on at this time as well, I left them off as I didn't want to mask around them for the Coroguard.

[Kev1n]

singapore airlines

[EricP]

Good guess, kev1n ... I guess my avatar is a dead giveaway. I thought I'd do something funky with this as it's not that accurate, and I'm not using the Guido decals on it. Good place to use the Welsh engines that are not as detailed as the Bra.Z ones.

I've masked the leading edge slats as well as some overspray spots that I need to touch up, and gave them a thin coat of Future/Klear to prevent paint bleed. Should be able to shoot the silver tomorrow.

[Kev1n]

It wasn't your avvy or a guess - I know the colours and that SQ used the 757

looks nice...making a good job out of a poor kit

[EricP]

I won't be able to finish this, I'm afraid ... I can rush it, but I'll likely just mess it up (more).

At this point, it looks like this:

Markings (a bit undersized) are from a Hasegawa A300 kit (1:200 scale!).Fuselage stripes were masked and painted as previously posted, and the tail decal applied on the yellow tail. After that's dried, I put on a layer of Future, and when that's dried as well, I masked the logo with a masking fluid.

BTW, too late, I realized that I have a set of decals (maybe Flightpath) for a 1:144 Singapore Airlines A300/A310 that would have worked better for this ... c'est la vie.

Then it sat for a week and a half while I went on vacation, and when I came back, I masked the fuselage and airbrushed dark blue (Tamiya X-3 Royal Blue) over the tail. After the paint cured (overnight), I carefully peeled off the masking fluid and it was pretty much spot on, with only minor touch-ups needed.

I also put on the fuselage titles (again from the Hasegawa decal), and windshield decal (NOT from the Hasegawa decal ... I took part of the Welsh Models Royal Air Maroc decal sheet for this).

Wheels were put on cocktail sticks and airbrushed Matt Aluminum

And this is a pic of the rest of the bits that need to go on ...

I still need to drill the resin engines for pins to attach to the wings, paint the tyres, and attach the various bits and bobs.

Fuselage windows will come from the outlines in the Welsh decal sheet (that long strip in the pic just below the fuselage)... I'll need to count windows to ensure I get them correct, as well as the doors (likely to come from the Hasegawa decal again, they're in the right colors) ... I'm just missing one emergency exit door per side, so I may need to cannibalize another Hasegawa A300 kit just for that one, or attempt to mask and spray the outline.

Rushing to complete it will not be good, it's a hobby after all. I'm also planning to use pins for the undercarriage to make them removable, so that storage will be easier (those spindly gear legs will snap easily in a moving box).

With the moderators' indulgence, I'd like to move this to KUTA ... given a few more weeks, I'll be able to finish it.

And thanks to all who are reading this thread, particularly those who have contributed ideas and encouragement, this has been a fun GB even though I could not finish it in time.

[stringbag]

You've made a cracking job on this one Eric.

Hope you get around to finishing it soon.

Chris.