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I'm going to build the AMP 1/144 kit of NASA's Boeing 747SP flying observatory 'SOFIA' (Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy). SOFIA was a highly modified ex-United Airlines 747SP with a large telescope added to the rear fuselage. Here's the kit: It's the ex-Eastern Express 747SP (which was also tooled in Ukraine) with a new fuselage and new sprues for the telescope and the cavity it sits in. Quite a nice looking decal sheet although it's a shame there's no windscreen decal, and it would have been helpful if they'd given us a separate blue stripe for the bit of the cheat line that goes over the door. There are also vinyl masks and a couple of 3D printed components for the telescope. Also available at a much more reasonable price than the Eastern Express kits ever were! I'll be building it with the door open and the telescope on show - it would be a waste not to. I've made a start - assembled the cockpit parts and cleaned up the fuselage - I'll post photos when I've made a little more progress. more soon Julian

You can download your own from https://nasa3d.arc.nasa.gov/detail/sofia and use free 3D modeling software like Tinkercad https://www.tinkercad.com/users/3tumeDMjZAj to customize and ready it to print. I took NASA's 3D files in .stl format and uploaded to Tinkercad to add in the flight deck details and chop it up to fit the 115mm x 65mm x 155mm print area on my Anycubic Photon S 3D resin printer. Each set of parts took about an hour and a half to two hours to print. The only items left to print now are the main wings. I parked it next to my 1/72 MPC/Fun Dimensions Eagle Transporter kit for size reference, I am also printing parts for the Eagle like I wanted to do when I was a kid back in 1975. There definitely will be a fair amount of cleanup on this one!

Here's my Boeing 747SP, built as NASA's SOFIA airborne observatory, using the AMP 1/144 kit, just completed in the Made In Ukraine group build. The build thread is here. The kit is the Eastern Express kit with a modified fuselage and additional parts for the telescope and associated doors, bulkheads and so on. There's also a bit of PE and pre-cut vinyl masks. It was a fun build but not without its problems - I've summarised them in the my last post in the build thread. thanks for looking Julian

Today I received the brand new Eastern Express Kit of the Boeing 747SP Taking a look at the sprues,all looks very nice and neat with fine engraved panellines. Detail is also quite high,it even features a full cockpit,although not much will be seen through the small windows. The windos are designed as section with part of the roof,so if the fit is well,I might consider not glueing that part on to offer a better look inside the cockpit. We will see if thats going to work. As it is the case with the new Eastern Express kits of late,detail,accuracy is very good and fit of the parts is also quite nice,just make sure all parts are carefully cleaned and sanded before assembly,these are still short run productions. So dont expect Tamyia or Revell airliner quality,study and follow the instructions well and the build should be a smooth one. I built some of the new Eastern Express kits,such as the Boeing 717 (MD-95) for example and it was a nice and fun build wich resulted in a very nice model. The decalset,here Korean Airlines,is a laserprint,so every subject has to be cut out individually.The printing quality is good with everything in register and all parts look sharp. I am undecided if I will use this set or buy aftermarket decals for this build,I had the "SOFIA" version in mind actually but also the Korean Air is nice. I actually planned to buy at least 4 747SP kits but given the high price of one (roughly 90 USD),I probably have to cut it down to just another example )-: Before I start the build,here are some pictures of the box and content. Stay tuned... (Note...the cat is NOT included in the kit... ) Wheels and wheel bays,unfortunately EE still divides the wheels in 2 pieces... engine mountings engine parts and more wheels... tail cone example of the instructions... paint and decal guide and decal sets

As I mentioned,and as it can be read through a link in my WIP of the -SP,some negative critics were given,shortly after the kits release. Here the link to the WIP Well,for those of you,who did not follow my build,I can assure you that nothing of those mentioned problems showed up. I checked and cross-checked all 747 kits with drawings provided and it only showed that Eastern Express researched their subject very well. The 747SP kit is,in my humble opinion,probably the most accurate injection moulded 747 kit available in 1/144. How it compares to the resin counterpart from Authentic Airliners,I cant say because I do not own one and have not seen one either.But I assume there wont be many differences shapewise. The build itself was more or less straight from the box,just some hydraulic cables were added to the already very well detailed landing gear. The fit overall was very good throughout,carefull cleaning and sanding of the mating surfaces is recommended,then everything fits together very well. Very little puttying and sanding was required on the fuselage. The wingbox fits almost perfect into the fuselage. The installation of the landing gear was the most troublesome part of the build. To get all wheels touch the ground isnt so easy,but thats something that comes with almost every 747 kit. I would recommend though to remove the locators for the wing landing gear in the gearboxes of the wing.They seem a tad to high and keep the center main gear off the ground...ask me how I know😉. It was a fiddly task to remove them after all was glued together and painted.So sanding them away before glueing the wing halves together will save a lot of trouble. The rest is no problem,just carefully read the instructions. The instructions are the weakest part of the kit.The sprues contain only letters and the parts are not numbered. Every sprue with their respective parts layout is in a diagram on the instruction sheet. You will have to make out every part needed via the diagram. I chose Aerolineas Argentinas because its a very attractive livery and the airline was a regular visitor at Zurich airport for many years. Originally,I ordered that decal set from f-dcal,but for some reason,since mid december I received no news/update/ money or even a reply to my emails. Thankfully Ray from 26 Decals was a big help and provided me one of his decal sets,designed esp. for the EE kit. They fit perfectly and are nice to use. A big thanks again to Ray 👏👍👍👍,otherwise this build would have been stalled infinite,or the whole model repainted. Paints used for this build are from Gunze (white,some metallic shades)and Testors (engine cowlings,voodoo grey for the wings.) The coroguard panels are a mix of Tamyia metallic grey mixed with light grey. My conclusion; Pros; Very accurate mouldings Only injection moulded 747SP Highly detailed Very good fit of parts Decals are also nice,if one wishes to use the kit provided ones Cons. Very high priced Instructions Over engineered in some places (less is more) Highly recommended kit for those who wish to have a 747SP in their collection and who dont fancy resin or vac formed kits. I hope I tempted some to get one of these kits😊😉 Enogh text,here some photos Enjoy

My first Vac-Form kit I have build.And only for the reason that it is the only Boeing 747SP kit available,except the resin kit from Authentic Airliners. The build was challenging as I had no experience with Vac-Form kits,but I managed to get it eventually together. While working on this kit for almost 1 year,I came up with the idea to make an In-Flight diaorma,which I thought would be a nice way of displaying it. For my first ever Boeing 747SP I wanted a special and nice scheme,I had Air Mauritius,South African Airways and Air Namibia in my mind. Air Mauritius decals I couldn't find and the only South African Airways markings I found where the new ones.But I wanted my -SP to have a cheatline and the Air Namibia scheme is very attractive. The decal set comes from f-dcal and is of the usual good quality,application though showed some size discrepancies,it was a tad too long.Nevertheless I managed to get it on the Jumbo. For the display stand I took another wooden board from my tv-table as I had no use for it anyway.The size was right too. I airbrushed it with different shades of brown and green to simulate sand and trees,and painted on a river with some side arms to give more depth. After that was done and dry,I used cotton balls to create "clouds". As I also wanted to create contrails,I drilled small holes in the cones of the engines hot sections and superglued thin wires in.On those I applied white glue and pasted thin pieces of cotton balls on it.I know,the contrails are appearing behind the wings,but as to hide somehow the wire I already put some thin pieces at the end of the hot sections. The model itself sits on a transparent plastic tube. For being my very first vac-form kit and also the first in-flight display like that,I am quite happy with the outcome,although the model has some flaws. I don't know if I ever will build another Vac-Form kit again,as I am more the plastic-modeller,but it was a nice and interesting experience. The only problem I have now is...where to put this diorama ? Here now the Air Namibia Boeing 747SP on its way to Windhoek.Have a nice flight I hope you like it Note:No cats included, as they are not able to "fly"...

I only met SOFIA a few days ago, while watching a TV documentary, and I immediately feel in love. Pretty girl, isn't she? More info here: https://www.sofia.usra.edu/ and here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratospheric_Observatory_for_Infrared_Astronomy I am closely following John Hagmann's build in the March 1994 issue of Fine Scale Modeler, using the Revell 747-100 kit (or better, the carrier from the 747/schuttle box) and I already cut the fuselage and made a plug to join the centre section to the tail one. However, I think that the fin's leading edge angle to the vertical is a little off in the kit. Can someone point me to a *good* side view of the 747sp? The several ones that I have are only approximate, and one even refers 45º which is clearly too much judging from photos. Or am I wrong? A few pics of the work already done, more to follow in a WIP thread: The two front parts are now yet glued, but they are joined with tabs. I will glue them only after re-profiling the wing fairing. Thanks in advance for any help. Comments about any potential problems welcome! Carlos