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Last year, after advice and suggestions from BM airliner cognoscenti I took a punt on a rather battered looking Revell 747/Shuttle combination. To my surprise and relief both the 747 and the Shuttle were both intact with only the decals in a sad shape. It was the 747 that I was interested in but after working on it for a while I couldn’t help but have a closer look at the Shuttle. I go back to the first launch on April ‘81 and remember the media’s concern about the integrity of the tiles and what would happen if they failed and so on. I followed most every launch for years after that until they became almost routine, and I stress “almost”. The other day I had reason to look into the box that the Shuttle was in and took it out. I had done a little work on it before putting it away last year and couldn’t resist, only because it was there on the bench in front of me you understand, doing a little more work on it. I’v taken a few photos and you have an interest in the Shuttle or maybe even have built one you might want to have a look. After studying many reference photos the first thing I did was attempt to make improvements on the main engine exhausts. The kit ones are stepped and the connection to the rear bulkhead didn’t match up with what I’d seen in the photos. So I removed the dome and replaced it with a concave disc backed up with another disc. Not visible in the photo are the rings around the plunge moulded exhaust cone. The pods for the OMS (?) seemed a little blunt to me so I carved a mould and tried vacuum forming replacements. I didn’t like the way they turned out so had a go a reshaping the kit ones. Very thick they were and I think the last one on the lower right is an improvement. I also tried depicting the thermal blanket pads with thin polymer clay. Not very good. Here I have raised the bulkhead a little and strengthened the bay sidewall with a length of styrene. Thanks for looking in. All comments, suggestions and your Shuttle build photos more than welcome. I’m spread pretty thin with WIPs but I enjoyed working on the Shuttle and will probably carry on with doing so from time to time. Dennis No doubt this will need a bit of editing later.

I’ll be posting any work I’ve done on the 727, VC10’s-10 or 747 under the “On the Apron” title rather than start a separate thread for each airliner build. It’s been a pretty slow month as far as modelling goes but I have managed to get a good start on the 747 P&Ws. It was recommended that I get the BraZ RRs to replace the P&Ws but I like working with styrene so I thought I’d see if I could clean up the kit offerings first. Much of the painting has to be done before the casing/cowlings can be cemented together. That little locator peg is a nuisance to fit the turbine onto so I’ve worked out how I could cement the cowling halves together and insert the turbine body in from the front. Making the business of painting easier. First, however, I turned down the central part — it tapers to the rear a bit — by chucking it in a drill and thinning it down a little to increase the gap between the cowling and turbine. I have a couple of additional photos to add to this thread but for some reason Village Photos won’t let me insert text between the photos and can get confusing so I’ll them in a bit. Thanks for your interest. Dennis