Scott Garard

Phil, It's a fairing for the satellite based Wi-Fi antennae array called Ku-Band. Explanation and close-up photo with the fairing removed here (scroll down a bit) : https://thepointsguy.com/2015/11/how-in-flight-wi-fi-works/ Scott.

With my recent family health and work situations (and related loss of mojo), this was soon doomed never to make the deadline. (Haven't even glued the fuselage together!) Oh well, I guess there is always the WIP & RFI forums... Another Airliner GB would be nice too.

Nothing yet Ray. Life has been keeping me pre-occupied of late. I was in Sydney the previous week as Dad had a quadruple-bypass (he came through it very well for a 75 year old). Back at work, I've been focused on mastering the ground handling procedures for the Qatar Airways 777. You've got to be part Load Supervisor, part Load Controller, part Movement Controller and computer savvy. Needless to say, some fellas are having a tough time getting their head around it all. It's quite involved just to handle 1 or 2 baggage containers! Any other airline must be a cinch by comparison - I know our 767s were...

I found this: https://books.google.com.au/books?id=F7I1C1K4eOwC&pg=PA104&lpg=PA104&dq=de+havilland+dove+propeller+diameter&source=bl&ots=jC8wL93pah&sig=b9jzAf4IWRS7e1T-YY9ZIkHm0dg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj2qdGjxObZAhXos1QKHWx7CpQ4ChDoAQgpMAI#v=onepage&q=de havilland dove propeller diameter&f=false which states 7½ feet. I don't think it changed with the Riley conversion.

Sorry Robin, but nope! You would have to modify a 172 kit.

It is not one of Heller's best airliner kits. I bought one a few years ago now, and after taking it home and looking it over, I took it back and exchanged it for something else. From memory, Heller's DC-10 kit (and decals) generally lack detail and has a few little shape issues. Here's what one guy is doing to fix up his example: https://www.flickr.com/photos/34441469@N07/sets/72157625964744410/with/5411536905/ Cheers!

Sorry Cristian, I can't tell for certain from the picture. You would have to get one to find out.

Cristian, No, I haven't used them. I have designed a few decals myself for a local producer here in Australia, so I merely examined the Ascensio sheet to determine how they depicted certain livery elements. (Masks for the blue tail, optional masks or decals for the blue titles, etc)

OK, getting started... There are 2 shortcomings of the Minicraft 737 kits, namely: 1) there is an alignment pin and socket visible in the engine inlet. 2) there is no main gear bay - you can see into the empty fuselage cavity. So, to fix the engine inlet, simply sand off the offending pin and socket using a small motor tool and fill the ejector pin marks. Here's a "Before & After" shot... To fix the missing main gear bay, I used some thin plasticine-type stuff pressed into the fuselage half cavity, then traced the shape to get the right contour for making my own main gear bay box. I then used these template shapes to cut plastic card pieces and glued them together. I have a few Minicraft 737s in the stash, so I'll get a colleague to make me some resin copies before I progress...

The white-on-grey parts are paint masks. As the blue tail needs to be painted, the white logo is provided as a mask. If you don't fancy trying to match your blue paint to the blue fuselage titles decal, then there is an optional mask for that too. A -300ER is externally identical to a -300. The differences are internal - mainly an extra fuel tank and some structural strengthening for the heavier weight.

It has appeared in Hannants "Future Releases" section... https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/ROD334 Cheers!

Here's hoping that Amodel follow up their J31/32 with a J41! Only other options are the 1/72 Welsh vac/resin or the 1/72 Space Models resin blank (travel agency style).

The old Revell kit depicts the early engine variant of the series 10 & 15. The "splitter" was part of an external guide system for the thrust reverser cascades to run on. You can see it clearly here on the #2 engine: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/93/68/58/936858ddec6129825fdadc0d03e821bf.jpg A subsequent redesign eliminated them leaving the smooth conical exhaust instead that became the standard configuration from the series 30 onwards. The series 10 and 15 were retrofitted with them later on.

Yes.

Found a video animation of the Krueger Flaps - deployment sequence at the start and retraction towards the end: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LDLnLchkJE Cheers!