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Back in the year 2000,Revell USA released their ancient Boeing 707 kit as Boeing 720. The first issue dates back to 1964,as they released it as KC-135 Tanker/Transport. Since then the kit appeared in many different airline markings,none of which of course resembled the real thing. Revell's 707 comes, if anything, closest to a 707-120. For this project,I decided to try to modify the kit as good as possible to produce a 720. The fuselage was shortened in front and behind the wings,counting the recessed cabin windows,compared to the real thing. Some slight adjustments were unavoidable to get the fuselage segments seamlessly back together. So there is a 2mm discrepancy in length to its 1/139 scale. But its as close as possible you can get with that kit. The main gear wheels I replaced with wheels from a Revell 747-100. They have the same size to the kit parts but are far more better detailed + the original wheels suffered from poor moulding. The cockpit was replaced with a DACO canopy to correct the front section. The kit features just window holes and looks completely off.Some later releases had a clear window part and there the shape was quite right. The rest of the kit was built OOB. The most challenging part was the painting,esp. the wings. Research on the net showed many different color patterns on the 720,even on United aircrafts,so I picked what I thought looked the most interesting. The silver/white on the fuselage was done with masks.I copied the decals and used the paper copies as layout pattern. The cheatline decal is printed with the blue,white and gold as one unit. I remembered from an earlier attempt to build this kit,that the white is not opaque. So here I decided to trim away the white parts. As I had shortened the fuselage,the decals had to be trimmed as well. I used first the copies to find out where to cut and create the correct layout. That worked out well and only slight touch ups were needed Paints are my usual brands,Gunze,Tamyia,Testors. Its not 100% accurate but I am quite pleased with the outcome. For a more accurate Boeing 720,there is the Roden kit. It was an interesting and fun build,despite its issues I like those Revell 707 wanabees Something new for the photoshoot...the runway is from the Hawk/Round 2 Comet kit Alex

This might have been discussed on here before but I couldn't find much on the topic. If it was well discussed, send me there and I'll delete this. What are the differences with the Ertl 707 kits and the Heller ones? Not counting the tanker option. I just know the Heller is a 300 series with the larger wing. I'd like to make a 720 or a very production airliner from whichever is closest. I can get JT3C-6 engines for the 720. Were these kit parts on one of them? What are the key visable differences for each version?

Here is the Roden Boeing 720B finished as G-BCBA, a former American Airlines aircraft operated by Invicta International in the summer of 1974. G-BCBA seems to have been the only jet to carry Invicta’s full red and black livery. The model was inspired by reading “Take Off to Touchdown” by Malcolm Finnis, a fascinating book highly recommended to anyone with an interest in second-level British airlines and the lives of those who worked for them. To digress for a moment, the book also contains a thorough debunking of the official report into the 1973 Basel Vanguard crash which blamed Invicta’s pilots. The author argues a persuasive case that the accident happened because of problems with the airport’s navigation aids rather than errors by the crew. Since the pilots died and the aircraft had no CVR they were convenient scapegoats. Well worth a read for anyone interested in that tragic event. Getting back to G-BCBA, this was my first build of the Roden kit and it didn’t give me any major problems although I was surprised by the amount of filling at the wing roots. I knew the fit of the engine pylons to the wings was poor so I attached these before painting and managed to achieve decent joints but at the expense of fiddly and awkward masking complicated by G-BCBA having unusual grey pylons. I replaced the over-sized and inaccurate nose wheels with a pair found in the spares box, possibly from a Revell B767. I also added plastic rod pegs to strengthen the rather precarious joint between the tailplanes and the fuselage. Otherwise the build was OOB. White paint is Halfords. The lower fuselage was noticeably darker than normal Boeing Gray and I used Halfords Ford Polar Grey because I had a can handy. Natural metal is mainly AK Interactive Aluminium plus some rattle can silvers, a little Rub’n’Buff and a touch of MiG Polished Metal. Coroguard is a home brew of Humbrol 11 and 128 mixed by eye (probably about 1:5). The grey forward sections on the upper wings (which don’t show up well in the photos) is Revell 374 sprayed on to clear decal film. Some aluminium decal completed the ensemble. Decals are by 26 with an Authentic Airliners windscreen. Although the decals are accurate and a good fit on the model I found considerable care was needed with the red ink which was very “fragile” - easily scratched and prone to flaking if I looked at it the wrong way. It didn’t help that the red is a difficult colour to touch up and a few areas of G-BCBA don’t really bear close inspection, particularly around the fin. If I was building the model again I would spray the fin with a circle masked for the logo. Thanks for looking and as always constructive criticism is welcome. Dave G

My first flight was in 1973 in a Boeing 720 and I was very scared. The following year I was on a 720B and by then I liked it. Well I have wanted to build these planes ever since then and now the time has come. I once had bought a 720 from Welsh models but never got around to build it bu now I used the stabilizers from it on the 720B build. But the problem is that I now have two planes that are missing engines. The Roden JT3C are to big and the 720B need some JT3D engines. For the JT3C I am trying to combine the pylons from Roden with the nacelles from Welsh Model. I need to add some plastic to the bottom of the pylons. I have to use some Revell engines for the JT3D but I'm not sure how to proceed. I tried to reshape an old engine (on the right) but I feel that the "bulge" is to thin. Perhaps I should try to make it larger or just forget about it and use the engines as they are.

I've been on a bit of a go-slow with my model building recently, so I'm pleased to finally announce the arrival of Flight ET720 from Addis Ababa : This is my take on Roden's Boeing 720B kit - warts and all - but finished off with Ethiopian Airlines markings from 26Decals (Sheet 144-615). and here it is with a friend from Abidjan Thanks for looking. Time to head off back to Addis. Regards mike