Turbofan

Hi Alex, Another great model! Love the gloss finish I'll have to try out the Gunze Aqueous Prime Gloss. Your work on the engines really makes a difference. Generally I'm not a fan of manufacturer liveries but I do like all the little airline logos! Keep up the good work boosting the airliner to military ratio here on RFI! Cheers, Ian

Thanks Sini! Thank you Alex, glad such a 747 fan as yourself likes it! Hi Stu, I only have experience converting the Zvezda 747-8 which is the passenger variant so can't comment on the -8f from Revell. An -8f would make a good place to start if you're building a-100/200 as you already have the shorter upper deck but there's more involved in a -100/200 conversion. Just measured my 747-400 and it's 460mm wide by 500mm long, so not much smaller than the A380! If you're looking for something more manageable the Zvezda 737-800 is a beautiful kit. Lots of livery options too. Cheers, Ian

Hi Ray, That's gorgeous! I love the A330 and it looks really nice in the Qantas livery. Those Hawkeye cockpit windscreens don't appear to fit very well though maybe an AA one would look better? Cheers, Ian

Hi Dennis, I've seen Matt has painted his nmf first then masked it off on his 747-400 but I always find masking tape severely marks any metal colour. It may depend on the masking tape perhaps. When I painted my Negus 747-100 https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235072809-1144-authentic-airliners-british-airways-boeing-747-100/ I painted everything white then the blue then nmf last of all to prevent having to mask it off and damaging the finish. Maybe test on a spare model first. Hope this helps! Cheers, Ian

Hi Alex, Well you have been busy recently! What a great collection, some slightly different liveries not seen everyday. I don't think I've ever seen a Condor A320 built OOB before. And it's very rare to see a PAL airliner let alone two! I like the colour mix Revell recommend for Etihad I think it looks close to the original. And thanks for the Sharklet tip I'll make note of that for future reference. Keep 'em coming! Cheers, Ian

Hi Dave, Got to agree with everyone else this is beautiful. I like the simple, yet original, livery. It's colourful and it's a pity they've dropped the blue belly. I too like to see the sealing strip on an A320 family model it's a feature many models don't include. I think it's about time I finished a baby 'bus as I don't think I've built one for 20 years! Couldn't agree more regarding never throwing spare decals away, I've lost count of the amount of times I've needed spares from my old used decal sheets! Cheers, Ian

Hi Alex, Well that's quite superb! You mentioned because of the complex design it wouldn't come out perfect but to be honest it looks pretty perfect to me! I've heard of TBdecals but never seen or used them so it's reassuring to know they're good quality. Glad you're back, I'm looking forward to your next models. Cheers, Ian

Hi Phil, Instead of using the printed card sheets, which might be a little too uniform and will need to be butt jointed everywhere, I would recommend you spray the baseboard with automotive grey primer and, to achieve the different tonal variations e.g. behind the 777, mist black, white, grey and brown over the baseboard. If you spray from further away and waft the can around you should be able to achieve quite a realistic tarmac finish. For the lighter coloured hardstandings use a lighter grey base. Obviously experiment on a spare sheet of wood to perfect the technique! White and yellow ground markings are easily drawn on with either a Uni Posca paint marker from eBay or a Windsor and Newton water colour paint marker these are readily available at The Range. Using a ruler or flexible curve you can draw any lines you need. For the grass area search for 'static grass' on eBay. It's easy to apply by sprinkling thickly, through a sieve, over wet green gloss paint then shaking the excess off once the paint has dried. If you mix in different shades it can look really realistic. Hope this helps! Cheers, Ian

Thanks Phil, realism is what I drive for! Hi Steve, I like that idea, my wife already thinks we have a model museum in the house! Thank you Neal, I generally don't do WIP's because I've normally got so many models on the go and some are in progress for years. This is an exception in that I started and finished it in only a couple of months and didn't work on anything else in between. Thank you! I found a number of pics with the jetway marks so I couldn't resist adding them and they're so easy to do! Cheers, Ian

Hi, Wow that is a beautiful 134! Superb weathering and I like how the Russian blue cockpit colour is just visible in some of the pics. Cheers, Ian

Hi Julian, Nice to see something a bit different. How did the decals perform? Strange that LN decals produce almost exclusively Scandinavian subjects then there's this random Vietnamese livery, weird. But very nice! Cheers, Ian

Thanks for all the comments I'm glad everyone likes it as much as me, I am pretty pleased with it. Wow Moa that's awesome, thank you! Hey Stu, just take it one step at a time and don't rush. It's more about using the right technique than anything. Looking forward to your A380, which livery are you planning? Thanks Graham! Cheers, it's not a very difficult conversion to do I think the work involved is easier than trying to correct the Revell -400 kit. Thanks Ray looking forward to your build are you going to convert a Zvezda kit? Thanks Alan. The weathering on the wings doesn't show up very well in the pics but I'm really pleased with the stains under the windows and the marks left but the jetways. They're easy to do with graphite from a very soft pencil and a Q-tip. I know what you mean Steve but there are still quite a few cargo haulers around though. Thank you Eamonn glad you like it! Cheers guys! To answer all those who would like to do this conversion it's best if I refer you to a thread on airlinercafe where I originally found all the info https://www.airlinercafe.com/forums.php?m=posts&p=41941#41941 The fuselage was shortened by 28mm in front of the wing and 10.5mm aft of the wing. The windows need to be filled as the -8 uses different shaped windows and the trailing edge of the main wing needs the curve taking out too. I keep forgetting to mention that! Dave, I'll have to photograph my Qantas 747-200 side by side with this one as a 'then and now'! I've got 5 747s now and am running out of space! Tom, I know what you mean about the sit of the engines on the Revell kit unfortunately I think the only way is to cut off the wings and remount them with the trailing edge a few mm lower! I agree with you on the weathering Paul less is, so very often, more! But sometimes it just doesn't show up on the photographs. Thanks John, which livery are you planning for your -400? I've got another Zvezda 747-8 in the stash which will be converted but I don't know if it will be a -200 or another -400 there are so many I'd love to model! Thank you Stephen, real's what I aim for! Thank you! Thanks Michael! Cheers Terry glad to exceed your expectations! Thank you Mike. I love adding all the little details, pitots, antennae, weathering etc. it really brings a model to life! Wow, thank you! How are you doing with your BPK 737 Mike? Thank you Vesa! There are still quite a few freighters knocking about though. Cheers Eric. I agree the Revell -400 isn't the best OOB and the work needed to correct it is far more than this conversion. No brainer really if you want a -400! Thank you! Thanks Chris, it's a really enjoyable conversion much like the Zvezda 777-300 to -200. Cheers, Ian

With all the 747-400 retirements at the moment I felt inspired to build my own tribute to the 'Queen of the Skies'. I had intended to build a BA example but as there are a couple in progress over in the WIP forum I decided to build another recently retired -400, Qantas. This is one of the few models I have built exclusively from beginning to end. I normally work on lots at the same time so the progress on this has been quite rapid for me! As the title says it is a conversion from the excellent Zvezda 747-8 to a -400. I think it's a fairly simple conversion and the best way to go if you want a -400. The work involves shortening the fuselage, removing the wingtips and replacing with winglets (I had some spare from a Revell kit), replacing the engines (again I had some spare RB211s from a Revell kit) and reshaping the flapjack fairings slightly. I thickened the intake trunking on the Revell engines as I felt they were too thin otherwise I think the engines are the best part of the Revell kit! Painting was fairly straightforward with the fuselage Halfords Appliance White, wings are Halfords Racking Grey with a custom mix of Humbrol Metalcote Aluminium and Gun Metal for the Coroguard and Metalcote Aluminium leading edges. The tail and rear fuselage is Humbrol 19 and engines are, again, Halfords Racking Grey. Decals are predominantly Draw Decal 44-747-74 which is for a P&W engined 747-400ER so there were a few little changes I had to make for the RR engined aircraft I was modelling. I designed and printed my own engine logos, registrations and aircraft name 'Fraser Island'. The Draw Decals performed superbly as expected as did the AA windows and windscreen decals I always use. I have weathered this one fairly heavily, you can see the marks from the jetways and dirt streaks below each window but most of the weathering isn't very obvious in the pics. Speaking of pics here they are. Thanks for looking, hope you like it and, as always, any comments or criticisms gratefully received. Cheers, Ian

Hi Berko, Nearly missed this! Superb build, crisp and sharp with some of the best weathering I've seen! Even though in my opinion your wings are too clean!! Have to agree with Dave and Paul regarding AA window decals they will really bring the model to life. They also do photo realistic landing lights too which are a nice touch.Cheers What are your upcoming builds? Cheers, Ian

Hi Ken, What a lovely job on this Dreamliner! Good job there are some extra graphics on the fuselage it'd be a bit plain otherwise. I have to agree with Dave about the AA windows once you start using them you'll never go back to plain grey ones. As John says I can't see any evidence of your paint problems either. You've done a great job of repairing it. I have had a similar problem with my current build, there were a number of areas of masking which peeled up the underlying white. Don't know why but sometimes these things just happen! I don't think there is anything wrong with your wing weathering but rather than buying specialist washes an easier way of weathering the wings is to draw along all the flap outlines with a sharp, soft pencil then simply run your finger backwards over the line and it'll smear just enough of the graphite to look like the dirt and oil streaks seen on airliner wings. Your model reminds me I haven't built a 787 yet, might have to dig one out of the stash! Looking forward to your upcoming Aer Lingus 1-11 and 737. White or green top livery? Cheers, Ian

Hi Alistair, Nice 'bus! I quite like this livery now but it has had to grow on me. Good to hear you were impressed with the detail decal I haven't got any of Werner's new detail sheets yet. Don't forget the natural metal fin leading edge, it's on the sheet! The grass is an improvement, is it a mat or did you sprinkle flock over wet gloss paint? I didn't know United operated their A320s into Gatwick🤣 What's next? Cheers, Ian

Hi Ray, I have made this exact model https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235020482-1144-roden-british-eagle-bristol-britannia-g-aovc/&tab=comments#comment-2705422 So yes that decal fits the Roden kit. With laser decals you are right you need to cut close to the image but most importantly because they are translucent and not opaque like silkscreen decals they need to be applied over a white background. This means you can't overlap them or place them over two different colours as the base colour will show through so very accurate masking is required. On the British Eagle Britannia the only tricky part is the white/bare metal demarcation which needs to be accurately masked to allow a thin white line below the red cheatline. The best way is to photocopy the decal and cut out the cheatline and tape it in place to guide you as to where to mask for the white/bare metal demarcation. Hope this helps. Looking forward to seeing your progress. Cheers, Ian

Hi Matt, Just catching up with your build and you're doing a grand job. I would recommend you fix the wings before painting the fuselage though as the leading edge, where it joins the wbf, needs to be a very smooth transition which the kit isn't as I recall. Also the kit wing to fuselage joint doesn't match with the change from the aluminium leading edge to BA blue on the actual aeroplane. Hope that makes sense! Another easy improvement is to thicken up the walls of the engine intakes. OOB they are far too thin, this is an easy job with some 1mm plastic sheet rolled into a tube and glued into the intake then faired in at the front with some Milliput. Looking forward to seeing more progress. Cheers, Ian

I have a set of spare Revell engines if they are of any use. Hi, A heads up about the Revell RR engines, the intake trunking could do with thickening up as it is a bit thin and flimsy looking. I have just lined the inside of the intake of mine with some rolled up .75mm plasticard and reshaped the intake rings with a rub round with some wet and dry and I think it's made the world of a difference. Cheers, Ian

Hi, Just to add my thoughts and experiences. I have done the Zvezda 747-8 to -200, -300 and am currently working on a -400 conversion and can recommend it to anyone. It isn't a particularly difficult conversion and most of what needs to be done is covered in this thread and on the Airlinercafe link above but there are a few extra things to be aware of. Firstly, the trailing edge is different on the -8 being gently curved in the area of the high speed aileron. Fortunately this is easy to change as it seems to be a radius they have added to the old wing so therefore just needs to be removed but then the underside needs to be thinned out. This view shows the -8 wing trailing edge nicely. http://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/130412144531-lufthansa747-8-wing.jpg And this of the -400 from a very similar viewpoint https://www.airliners.net/photo/Korean-Air/Boeing-747-4B5/5301421?qsp=eJwljUEKwjAQRe/y1xUiLRa6Uw%2BgCy8QkqEtVidMBjSU3t1p3D3eh/dXBH4rffVREmFAJi9hQoPkxb8yhhVPKh%2BWaIy%2B6w%2Bdc/s8sfLVK40sBUPrGmQWvRgjmj6HQEkp4u9vEkn2iXKo8dHOjgYk98poT%2BbjnNPia4PUzwu27QfdIjRz Secondly, the leading edge of the vertical stabilizer is different for earlier 747s. See this thread. https://www.airlinercafe.com/forums.php?m=posts&q=11378 Thirdly, the -8 does not have the 3 louvred vents on the underside of the WBF so these need to be either scratch built or represented with decals. For me the different airfoils are not noticeable neither is the size of the wheels. I believe converting the -8 to any of the earlier models, especially the -400 is the only way to get an accurate 747 unless you buy the Authentic Airliners kits but if you want as many 747s as me you'd need another mortgage to go down that route! Hope this helps, Cheers, Ian

Hi Adam, If you're happy with resin Authentic Airliners were planning one for this year. I don't know the current status of the project but I think it was due to be released at Telford in November. Sorry for hijacking your thread Ray! Cheers, Ian

Hi Phil, Looks like your maths is pretty good. According to Google Earth the pier is 179m long and 31m wide. You're good to go! Cheers, Ian

Hi Dave, Another beautiful model (and the 1-11 is nice too)! I had those Flightpath decals but passed them on a while back, kind of wished I hadn't now! As Paul says it's always nice to see detail like the antennae on an airliner. Interesting story about Lady du Pont, I wonder if she ever got to fly in 'her' plane. Out of interest were the AA cockpit decals smaller than the FP ones? I always feel AA are slightly undersized. Cheers, Ian

Hi Deano, Yes the Revell -100 would be fine there's some work being done on one in WIP at the moment which will give you some useful tips. Regarding the decals Welsh Models do that SAA livery for their 747sp but they have a deal to buy two sheets for a -200/300 for £13.40. http://www.welshmodels.co.uk/decals.html Hope this helps. Cheers, Ian

Hi Stu, How about an RAF Voyager!? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Airbus-A330-RAF-VOYAGER-Tanker-Decals-1-144-scale/124361144110?hash=item1cf480772e:g:A5EAAOSwAG9fHE9z Sorry to hijack your thread Alistair. Cheers, Ian