mitchem

Minor setback when I realised that I didn't have enough metallic paint for the engines, and what I did have, looked like it was well past its shelf-life ! 🙄 Off to do some internet shopping and as I couldn't find a retailer that had all three of the colours that I wanted, I ended up buying some other stuff that I didn't really need. To top it all, the bottle of polished aluminium that I wanted to start with still hasn't arrived. 🥴 Anyway - time to focus on the tailplanes. I had previously inserted some brass tubing through the rear fuselage, with the intention of using slightly narrower tubing to strengthen the join. It's going take some adjusting but it looks like it could work, as long as I don't over-complicate things: Messing about with more masks: The kit does provide etched handles for the passenger doors, but these won't be fitted until later on. In the meantime, the indentations in the doors need to be painted so I designed some masks for these. As I'm planning on painting the wing escape route, I designed masks for those too If you look close enough, you'll see the mask that I made for the narrow white strip that runs below the curved part of the cheatline. This narrow strip will run around the front of the fuselage but not down the length to the tail. After a splash of paint and the addition of some dark grey panel liner: (I'm pretty sure that the black escape arrows won't survive the process of attaching the wing to the fuselage! 😁) ...and just because I'm impatient, I needed to mock the thing up for motivational purposes (Don't panic - none of the horizontal bits have been glued to the fuselage) ...All I need now is for the polished aluminium to turn up.... mike

I'm afraid that progress on the 737 has slowed down after getting distracted with another build. (Stay tuned as I'm hoping to reveal both completed builds at the same time !) In the meantime, I have drilled out the door portholes and painted out the door surrounds The next step is to start painting the engines, and once they have been completed, it will be time to join the wings to the fuselage. Before that can happen, the cheatline and white components of the scheme are going to have to be buried under masking tape. It could be the last time you see these guys for some time I ended the day off by printing out four sets of decals to complete the markings. (My home-made decals are printed out using an inkjet printer, and based on past experiences, I know how fragile they can be - always good to have spares available 😀 ) Thanks for looking. mike

Well done for rescuing it and doing a great job in the process! 👍👍 Nothing wrong with wheels up. mike

Watching with interest @tMikha I have a couple of Zvezda versions tucked away with markings for the early scheme of Aeroflot (1970's). Remember seeing one on the ramp at Lisbon airport before it headed off across the Atlantic on its way to Havanna. It sure left a lasting impression on a 12 year old from Central Africa ! mike

Many thanks @TheyJammedKenny!. Worth remembering as I just happen to have one of these buried in the attic : Cheers Keith. Just wish I could build them as fast as Ken (I'm sure he's using Superglue again in spite of doctor's orders... 😀) Thanks Alex - me too ! mike

Well, a bit of a momentous occasion this weekend after a near disaster. To say that I struggled with the port "tail to cheatline" masking and painting, would be an understatement ! Let's just say that at one point, I had to sand portions of the coloured stripes back to the white base before re-masking and repainting - Not nice. Three days later, the symmetry was there, or thereabouts : I also blended in the tops of the engines into the wings, applied the wing tip lights after drilling them out and painting green and red, and painted a couple of door frames using my homemade masks : I think I can put the green, yellow and red paints away now 👍 mike

Hi @kev67 Apologies for the delay in responding. Some time ago, I bought a Silhouette cutter and some sheets of vinyl masking. After a bit lot of messing about on the computer, I taught myself how to design and make masks to meet specific needs. With regards to the window frames, I've started here by placing a window mask on a sheet of black plastic : The cheatline would then be airbrushed over this (red in this case) : Once the paint has dried, another mask is applied on top (Need to be very careful to try and ensure that the frame gap is the same width all the way around the window) : Airbrush silver over the masks : ...and when everything is dry, carefully remove both masks : Repeat as many times as you need 😁 : mike

S'truth ! Talk about a silk purse. 👍👍 mike

I love watching a plan come together. 👍👍 mike

I know that I am biased, but allow me to be the first to say that this is an absolute stunner ! 👍👍 Bookmarked for when I eventually get around to building one, two, three of my own. Many thanks mike

Spent some time sorting out the landing lights this weekend in between home maintenance.... Drilled out the apertures and made some lenses out of thin plastic card, bare metal foil and gloss varnish. The housing profile was also made out of this plastic card, but when it came down to it, this was a bit of a waste of time. The lenses were glued to a portion of the backing plate before being installed through the wing root. The clear kit part was then glued onto the front of the aperture with superglue, before sanding it back into shape, buffing it and then adding a lick of Gauzy shine enhancer. Same done on the starboard wing before temporarily taping them onto the fuselage. When I get around to gluing the wings on permanently, the join could be a bit of a problem. I have an idea on how to solve this, but I'm still some distance away from this step. mike

...and after that brief interlude regarding the flight crew, it's back to the build ! Thanks for the advice once again @TheyJammedKenny!. Drilling and building is going to be the way forward. mike

Thanks for the suggestion Graham, but I don't think it would be fair of me to ask "63" to stand behind the control column for the duration of the flight 🤣 mike

I'm liking the thought process....but try finding female flight crew in 1/72 😁

Loving your hangar space Ray ! 😁 mike

Thanks Keith. Instructions duly found and work has been started on fitting the engines and flap-track fairings to the wings. Many thanks to @TheyJammedKenny! for his advice on the unwanted bumps under the wings. After sanding them off completely, I glued the engines on and held them in place over night with clamps. At the same time, the two halves of each flap track fairing were glued together before being cleaned up and added to the wings. Hardly any filler was required to blend the items in, so for me, this was almost a "hole in one" !... ...I say almost because the tops of the engine fairings need a bit more attention : I need to ensure that there is no seam line on the wing leading edges, as well as coming up with a plan for the landings lights. As luck would have it, Xtracolor Boeing Grey has come back into stock, so all is looking good. mike

Excellent build and finish John. 👍👍 You’re trying your hardest to tempt me out of retirement… 😁 mike

Excellent work as usual 👍👍 ...and as for the colour scheme - absolute classic ! mike

Just catching up on civvy stuff after being lured over to the dark side recently. Brilliant job Dave 👍👍 mike (Thinking of pulling something down from the loft, but only to lower the standards 😀)

😱 The anticipation of seeing this in the RFI section is killing me ! 👍👍 mike

Not too sure how I missed this Alex. Looks sharp for a vintage kit, but that's probably down to your skill set 👍👍 Brings back memories of collecting airline adverts from Time magazine in the late 70s. I remember one of the airlines highlighting the fact that the central engine is about the same size as a DC-3. mike

Enjoying the Photoshop work Matt. The modelling / paint work is pretty inspirational too. 👍👍 mike

Starboard cheatline done..........following numerous touch ups here and there. Not 100% accurate, but it's as good as it's going to get. The curvature of the rear fuselage is a lot more complicated than the 1/144 Airfix kit ! 😀 You get a better view of the curvature from the front end. Of course viewing it from all angles while masking didn't help. Bumps under the wings have been sanded off and the engines have been temporarily taped to the wings.....before taping the wings to the fuselage. Next step is to finish off the port tail to cheatline join before ripping the house apart to find the kit instructions. Been absolute ages since I glued anything together on this build. mike

Nice job. 👍👍 I vaguely remember building the Zvezda Tu-154 in the "new" Aeroflot colours and it wasn't an an easy scheme to get right. mike

Took the decals for a test drive and had a go at tidying up the fuselage sides by painting window frames using individual masks. There is no easy way to do this and the cheatline is going to have to have the masking residue polished out. The good news is that you can see through the fuselage and the homemade passenger seats make the interior look busy. I need to finish off the window frames aft of the Emergency exit before drumming up the courage to tackle the fin / cheatline join. mike