DMC

Hi Mike, You might try this. I’ve used for canopy’s, small widows, etc. No haze no craz. There’s a blob of it on the canopy, stays clear. Not sure how it would hold up under a load though. Available on that auction site. Cheers Dennis

Thank, Jackman, enjoyed that clip — very neat work — and, as suggested, did mute the sound. Using Milliput is indeed a popular method of filling airliner windows. I had intended to do it on an Airfix 727 but what little I had was way past its sell buy date and took days to cure. Rather than buy more, I tried using styrene and found it easy enough so I’ll stick with that method. Cheers, and thanks again for the link. Dennis Airfix 727-200

Engines are almost done so I thought i’d take a break and tackle the cabin windows. The usual strip styrene backing — .020 — and rectangular strip for the plugs. Eighty-eight windows on the port side. Each one takes a 1.5mm plug, after finishing, 2 mm before. Theoretically, I should need only need 20cm per side, with some left over. Theoretically, that is. Doesn’t take long to do a side, before finishing. A little Mr Surfacer will fill in any gaps if the strip isn’t a good fit. Angled clippers work best as the strip would interfere with the straight-on type. Thanks for your interest. Dennis

I’ve done quite a lot of modelling since I enlisted in BM, scratch building, plunge moulding and the like. But I have done precious little painting and decaling, however, which it seems to me airliner modelling is mostly about. I have an antique Badger 150 that I bought back in the middle ‘80s and I’ve been getting reacquainted with over the last few days. Acrylics are my chosen medium for their quick dry and easy clean up. And Vallejo my brand of choice. I’ve used aluminium over Tamiya rattle-can primer on the kit engines and am pretty pleased with the results — top right — but still need a lot of practice in getting the correct paint/thinner mix. Vallejo Model Air is supposed to be airbrush ready but I add a few drops of thinner as well as drying retarder. I thought I had the cowl rings faired into the cowlings okay but with the aluminium paint on them I saw that they needed a little more work. The fans were were supposed to be a drop fit into the sleeve but after a few attempts — difficult to seat correctly —I realised another approach was needed. I cemented a length of rod into the fan back and sharpened the free end. The pointed end fits into the exhaust cone and the fan is centred in the sleeve. Scribed one of the engines — into the paint only — but I’m not sure about doing them all. The scribing is fine enough but I handled this one before the paint had really cured and it shows. More practice needed obviously but I’ll get there eventually. Thanks for your interest. Dennis

Okay then, the Heller 1/125 kit: a little bigger than the Revell one. About 8cm longer in fact. Except for the break in the fuselage it looks like an enlarged version of Revell’s. Well it would wouldn’t. It it is multi-coloured though. White fuselage, blue wings and grey for the engines and smaller bits. Don’t imagine they are all that way as the one in the French build — above — looks to be all grey. One modeller gave his a very negative review saying it was loaded with sink marks, short shots and flash. I found two very small sink marks, no short shots and only a little flash on a few of the smaller bits. No scribing, however, but very fine raised panel lines. And plenty of those. Tom did some re-scribing on his but if I ever get around to taking this one on I’ll stick with the raised lines and save myself a lot of headaches. All in all an okay kit I think. Certainly worth the £8+ I paid for it. Thanks for your interest. Dennis

I use super glue very sparingly; I don’t care for the fumes. Can you imagine filling 60+ windows with super glue? Certainly a health hazard. Milliput will work but I don’t like fillers either, I prefer working with styrene. Cheers Dennis

The Revell 727 has the same slightly indented windows. I made a jig to cut the plugs the same size. The pencil line is to make sure I got them the right way ‘round. Really quick and easy. I’ll use AA decals. Can’t imagine drilling them out and getting them all the same size and shape. Good of luck with whatever method you choose. Dennis

Yes please, Tom. I seem to be going through a 747 phase and it would be a big help. Decals will no doubt be a problem. I was hoping to stay with BA or BOAC but no luck unless I’ve overlooked something. Perhaps I can get something resized? Dennis

...or maybe not. Opinions seem to vary with some liking it and some saying it’s the worst ever. It’s the same kit for either modeller so who’s right? Anyway, while working on the engines of the Revell version I’d bought, and browsing the auction site, I made a BIN purchase of the kit at a giveaway price just to have a look for myself. From photos I’v seen I know the fuselage is in four pieces and the engines need a little work but everything else about the kit seems to be well detailed and reasonably accurate. Tom Probert did some work on one in an airliner GB back in ‘16 and Tom doesn’t usually waste time on duff kits. I expect the kit in the post tomorrow so there’ll be the Big Reveal. Decals will no doubt be a problem as haven’t found any yet in that scale. I’ll find Tom’s build and one by a French modeller and edit them in later. Thanks for your interest. Dennis http://fighters.forumactif.com/t39311-boeing-747-air-france-heller-1-125

Very nice! My favourite whirlybird. Dennis

Well almost anyway. The whole point of this exercise was to make the painting and assembling of the engines a little easier. Took quite a lot of fettling but I think they turned out ok. They can be painted up completely and then assembled by just touching a bit of cement around the unpainted sleeve and cowl. However, I see that I’m going to have to up my pre-painting preparation, especially with NMF finishes, if I’m even going to come close to some of the results I’ve seen over on RFI. Every scratch is glaringly obvious. Also will need to realig and close the gap around the cowl ring. Needs repainting also. Not or sure about scribing any panel lines. I have an a4 size reference blow-up of a jt9d and the cowl separation lines aren’t much more than hairline cracks. Still, they would maybe look too smooth without a little scribing. I’ll have to mull that one over some more. Thanks for your interest. Dennis

Thanks for clearing that up for me, Ray. Here’s me thinking that at least one 747 kit out there had the RR engines. Or at least a reasonable facsimile. As I shy away from resin, nothing for it then but scratch building if I want a set of the early RRs. No fear! Nice work on the Airfix kit. Not completely sure how the reversers work on the JT9 and am wondering if I’ve left something out on mine? $5! A steal Cheers Dennis

Thanks Dave and Ray. Thanks for the photos, Dave. I see the difference now. Actually, what I was wondering was whether I could salvage the RR engines off of an inexpensive Airfix, or Revell, 747 kit and mate them to an early Revell 747 P&W issue. However, looking over what’s on offer on the auction site I see there are no bargin 747 kits to be had. Indeed, a few vendors are asking up to £60 for the Airfix kits. Who buys them at that price if they are rubbish? The BraZ engines look very nice but I prefer to work with styrene. The P&Ws for the 747 kit I’m working on now are coming along very nicely and I should have a couple of photos soon. Thanks again guys, Dennis

Are they even close to RRs? Apparently, most of the kit is ‘pants’ but I was wondering if the engines can be salvaged with a little tweaking. Thanks for your interest. Dennis

Thanks, Dave. I made the vacuum forming rig out of a gift box I bought in a shop named the “Works”. They stock books, cards and craft stuff. That sort of place. The perforated metal I bought on eBay. It fit exactly on the box. Perfect size for small stuff. Part three: so, now the ring cowl. Also tried to plunge mould this but, even with .060 styrene, it was too thin. Ended up punching out .040 x2 and .030 rings and sandwiching them together. Turned them to the correct shape to fit the cowling and insert. Turned out pretty good. Only three more to go. Thanks for your interest. Dennis