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First released from Matchbox in 1990 with American Airlines and Iberia decals,this one is a Revell re release from 1998,this time with a very nice and,for its scale,detailed decal sheet,I guess it was done by Liveries Unlimited. I had this kit on my wishlist for a long time but the Matchbox boxing,if found on certain auction sites,is offered only for ridiculous prices . I found the Revell version for a bargain and started the build soon after reception. Given its tiny scale,the shape is pretty good and it even has fine recessed panel lines. Some details are missing,like the small fences on the wing leading edges and the fairings on the engine reversers. I scratchbuilt them with Evergreen plastic. The engine in/ and outlets were redone also with evergreen plastic to have even and round openings and no visible seam. This was a bit tedious to achieve but it improves the look. Unfortunately the windscreen was missing,so I had to use some plastic sprues to fill the hole,the putty and sanding the cockpit back to shape. The recessed cabin windows were filled as well. Painted with Gunze white surface primer 1000,gloss coated with Gunze premium clear. Metallics are Gunze super metallics chrome silver,aluminium and steel the greys are Gunze grey 315 for the wings and tailplanes and Gunze grey primer for the corogards. The decals were still good to use,only the cabin window decals tended to break apart and had to be realligned carefully. It was a bit more work than expected but its a fine model nonetheless given its tiny scale. Matchbox had also the DC-10,Boeing 747 and the 737 in their range but all in different scales. Nice little kits but the original boxings are now way overpriced. I would love to build more of those but the lack of decals on the aftermarket makes it more or less impossible. Cheers Alex

Time to start something new and different. This is to help me cope with corona virus, corvid-19, wuhan, china virus or whatever you want to call it. Frankly I am quite angry about the whole thing and I will keep my angry thoughts for my wife and kids who have had a gut full me wanting to push the big red button. It is even illegal for me to go and take star pictures even at this location https://www.google.com/maps/@-28.8704918,152.7450645,479m/data=!3m1!1e3 (right click - open link in new tab). There is a cattle yard along Richmond Range Road at the center of the map. Only one car has previously passed me at this site and the only other critters that would know I am there are the wild dogs and some cows. There is no TV here either. Every time the idiot box is on you here about corona virus. GROWL Why would I want to build this, well it is going to be a Moa build with toilet, toilet roll, hand basin, passenger seating and anything Moa would add to a model, you get the idea. Am I biting off more than I can chew? YES, if I don't put myself out I won't learn. ENOUGH grizzling here are some of the bits in the kit. The kit is made up of Resin and white metal parts Thanks for stopping by and having a peek. Stephen, trying to cope. Wife NOT coping with Stephen ( wife wrote this) I know the rest of the world has got a very bad dose of this and my heart goes out to you all. Australia has so far gotten away very lightly with only 70 deaths. My Protest.... I will NOT buy anything made in china

I've always seen the Pan Am Boeing 747 as THE classic airliner. However I'm not that aware of all the small diferences between the various subversions of the 747, so I'm not sure which version to buy if I want to build a Pan Am plane. I know it has to be an earlier version, but which one? I've been looking at the REVELL 1/144 04863 SPACE SHUTTLE & BOEING 747 as it is a 747-121 (I think). Could that be used? Cheers and thanks in advance Hans J

Afternoon folks. My two favourite airliners are the 747 and Concorde but for years I have struggled to do a decent job on 1:144 kits with most of them now having been binned off! So last summer I decided I needed to have another go and take more time at getting it right. I had already bought the Revell 747-400 and the Zvezda 747-8 but I didn't want to go Lufthansa on both so started to loom around for other schemes. As luck would have it someone was selling the Landor decals on Ebay so I bought hose and cracked on with the Revell kit. It is as it is so any errors are mine but I am pleased with the result although it is far far from perfect! The kit itself is pretty awful and I hope one day Zvezda will do a version of the 400 as I enjoyed building the 747 8. As regards the Zvezda kit that was an easier build and the engines are excellent. Of course there are not many users of the 8 but I happened to be on the Draw Decal site a few months ago and noticed the Pan Am 747-800 FLIGHT OF FANCY decals and immediately I ordered them! I love the Pan Am scheme and will get more of these to do other airliners in the future. These decals went on well broadly speaking although the blue colour is a little patchy but this may well be how I applied them as I hadn't worked with these kinds of decals before. I used Halfords appliance white for the Pan Am and Revell and Xtracolor enamels for the Landor scheme. I will do some better pictures at the weekend so bare with these! chris

Hi civil aircraft enthusiasts I'm going to build an early 747. It is next up after I've finished my Zero. It has to be a Pan Am with three upper deck windows - they were the ones I saw in the late '70s as a child. They blew me away. I loved Pan Am and I loved 747s. I've wanted to build this for a long time but it wasn't until I had to spend an additional couple of quid at Hannants to get free postage that I bought the 26decals http://www.26decals.com/STS44107-Pan-Am-late-Boeing-747-121-screen-printed-decal. The next day I went to my LHS and bought the Revell 747 SCA/Shuttle kit and ordered the Extratech detailing set for Revell 747s http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/EX14423. Turned out to be an expensive way of avoiding Hannants postage charges The decals arrived today. They look lovely and I'm pleased that the instructions provide some livery advice. BUT, I open this thread to all who can offer advice because this will be the first proper civil aircraft I've ever built and I want to do a good job of it. Any hints and tips will be greatly appreciated. I have some questions: -26decals call for natural metal finish. Which would be most appropriate? I want to use one of the Alclad shades but I don't know which one would be best. This http://www.austinsms.org/Alclad-Lacquer-Metal-Finishes.phptells me there are 17 shades of NMF. I'd like something shiny, very lightly weathered. 105 Polished Aluminium? I don't know. -26decals call for Corogard. Never heard of it. What is this Corogard of which they speak and what shade might best represent it? -I can deal with gloss white and gloss Boeing grey. 26decals kindly provide an xtracolor code (X301) for the grey. I've never used xtracolor before so when I put in my order to Hannants I need to buy xtracolor thinner. I'm good with that. Part of me wants to use the actual window apertures - there aren't any clear styrene parts for the windows so this will be tricky. I am not sure that glue 'n' glaze will be suitable - I don't want uneven concave windows. Can anyone offer advice (or a good link) on how decent flush clear windows might be achieved? I know nothing! I am happy to mask and paint the blue strip along the windows but do not know what would be the most appropriate shade of blue or the order window making and blue painting should be done - I definitely don't want to have to mask a bazillion windows - unless there is a relatively straightforward way of doing it. It might be best to fill the windows and use the decals, but it wouldn't feel right to me. I would really appreciate any advice on these issues. Best wishes Danyel

Summer in Australia seems finally to be over and I'm ready to get back into building. The change in season happily coincides with this group build, which already has some great-looking projects underway. I'm going to build a Boeing 314 Pan Am Clipper in 1/144 from the Minicraft kit. I am thinking about my prototype. There are two particularly famous 314s. The Dixie Clipper, NC 18605, carried Franklin Roosevelt to Casablanca in January, 1943. The other -- and what to call it depends on when you're referring to -- made the first circumnavigation of the Earth by a commercial airliner in revenue service. I didn't know the story, so I will relate it here. In short, NC18602, the California Clipper, was in the air at the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. On arrival in Auckland, Pan Am ordered the crew to proceed home the long way -- to New York via Australia, South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Brazil -- after stripping identifying marks from their aircraft. They made it about a month later, and Pan Am renamed the aircraft the Pacific Clipper (and also re-registered it NC18609), apparently to agree with newpaper stories. I'm thinking about how to finish this kit. There are three options: Out-of-the-box: The kit includes decals showing NC18609 and Pacific Clipper -- after the big flight, in other words. The upper-wing registration mark is unfortunately integrated with the international-orange region that Clippers had on their upper surfaces -- a feature I would prefer to paint. Mid-flight: With the markings removed or painted over. I don't know how it was done, but it could make for an interesting depiction. On arrival in Auckland: Designated NC18602 and California Clipper. I don't have decals for this. If I knew how to do figures and dioramas, I'd show Captain Ford on his mobile phone, getting the big surprise from headquarters. Here's the boxtop: Here's where I am already, after only an hour of work: The kit seems to be fitting really well, considering that this is apparently a reworked Airfix kit from the 1960s. These aircraft were natural metal, right, not painted silver? Thanks for looking. Some links: Wikipedia In Search of an Icon