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My third full airliner build so far, and probably the first one that I'd be able to say went together as planned (more or less). The subject depicted is one of Cathay Pacific's B777-300ERs, registration B-KQY, an aircraft which I was on last July, which I snapped a few photos of and later used as references for this build. Anyways, on to the build itself - It was painted with just Tamiya acrylics and Mr. Base White. I used a ratio of 1 part XF-23 to 10 parts X-2 for the underside and engines, 1 part XF-23 to 8 parts X-2 for the stripe (though this turned out to be too dark so I overcoated it with X-2 later on) and 1 part XF-19 to 4 parts X-2 for the wings and engine pylons. For the decals, I printed my own and they were relatively easy to make as I had made them before for a 1/144 build and just had to resize them, change the registration and fix some of the previous issues of the decals (from experience), with some of the decals being used from the Hasegawa kit's ANA decals (which were plentiful and useful). The kit itself is very easy to build and simple as with all Hasegawa airliners; I find that the fit is better than on their B767 and the build went relatively well assembly-wise. Watch out for the fuselage seam and the connection from the wings to the fuselage though - The fuselage seam is difficult to deal with especially because it extends for the length of the entire fuselage, and the plastic slab on the wing that connects with the fuselage isn't enough to guarantee a good dihedral angle and is also weak as a connection point. Take your time to test fit that area, and use strong adhesives so that you can minimize the gap, or fit the wings on early into the build so you can fill in the seams left behind. It's a very easy build, though; I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a quick build or those who want to get into airliners and practice first before moving on to the bigger 1/144 kits. I'd also advise getting some aftermarket decals for the cockpit window or printing your own; The geometry on the Hasegawa clear part is off and so is the window decal provided with the kit. I decided to print my own and size it similarly to the Hasegawa decal which I think looks somewhat better than the kit decal. Now for the image spam: (My lightbox is pretty small, so a lot of the shots had to be highly cropped or have borders visible. Sorry about that) And as a bonus, a few pics I took of the real thing back in June: I definitely don't consider the build perfect (If anything, really, a close look at it reveals a plethora of flaws) - The nose decals distorted weirdly on me and some of the thick decal borders are visible, some of the X-22 used as a gloss coat left an orange peel finish and some of the door decals are off (To recreate the white door borders on Cathay Pacific's planes I adapted the decals that came with the Hasegawa ANA B777-300ER kit I was using and trimmed some of the door decals with white to fit; On others I had to make do with cutting tiny strips of white decals and lining them up on the door). This build was more of a test to see how well I can build a relatively simple airliners and test my abilities before moving on to bigger projects. It's also something nice to look at in the display case of die-casts and snap-fit models. Despite the flaws, I think it worked pretty well somehow..

Check out the new Zvezda 2015 catalogue http://scalemodels.ru/modules/news/img_8359_1419369777_Catalogue_2015_Cover_22_000021.jpg.html Can't wait!! Could a 757 and an MD-11 be a possibility now? Ian

Totally New: Air New Zealand B777-219ER 2013 Trademark scheme 1/144 and 1/200 RNZAF Sunderland MR Mk V 1950s / last scheme in 1/48 RNZAF Venom FB1 in 1/32 Now available in Digital format: Air NZ B737-200 NAS delivery and NAR interim schemes in 1/72, 144 and 200 Air NZ F27-500F NFD and NFE delivery schemes in 1/72 and 1/144 DC3s - Ministry of Transport, James Aviation (now in 2 schemes), and Pionair in 1/48, 72 and 144 Air National Dash8-100 in 1/72 and 144 Air Chathams and Air Freight NZ CV580s in /172 and 144 DC-3 Warbird ZK-DAK in 1/144 (previously only in 48 and 72) RNZAF UH-1D/H Iroquois – all schemes are now available in 1/35, 48, 72 and 144 RNZAF Bell 47-G Sioux – all 12 schemes now available in 1/32, 35, 48 and 72 RNZAF AESL Airtourer T6, CT-4B Airtrainer, CT-4E Airtrainer – all schemes now available in 1/16, 48 and 72 RNZAF 75th Anniversary supplementary decal sets – C130H in 1/48, 72, 144 and 200th and CT-4E in 1/48 and 72 RNZAF TAF P-51D Mustangs in 1/24, 32, 48, 72 and 144. All available through my website www.oldmodelsdecals.com John Oldmodels Decals

New from Oldmodels Decals are: Air New Zealand B777-319ER Pacific “waveless” scheme in 1/144 and 1/200 RNZAF DC-3 1960s scheme in 1/48, 1/72 and 1/144 RNZAF DC-3 1970s (final) scheme in 1/48, 1/72 and 1/144 RNZAF Venom FB1 in 1/32 These are all Digital format decals Newly re-released in Digital format (formerly available as Inkjet) are: In the civil range - all my Heron, Electra 10, Lodestar, DC6, B170, B1900C, B1900D, Goose, Widgeon, Otter and Avro 748 schemes plus the remaining 5 ATR72 schemes, 7 of the DC-3 schemes and 4 Dash8-100/300 schemes. In the military range DC6, RNZAF Venom FB1 (1/48 and 1/72) and all the Skyhawk schemes in 1/144. These can be seen / purchased on my website John Oldmodels Decals www.oldmodelsdecals.com