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Titan Model Kits (TMK) is to release a 1/72nd Boeing B757-200 vacuform kit with 3D printed details Sources: https://www.facebook.com/TitanModelKits/posts/pfbid02sGdSgTdscPZWkAt3z6tpMFcxtUf2XjJ4KiziaqnHSbFAqYER7ycJ7PaPNTefSW7Nl https://www.facebook.com/TitanModelKits/posts/pfbid0V77pbKC13T1TAG5eUDk4iwGCt1GbJEw1p5edSeqq7Ds6ZRkPp6PwyvnAdYKw4favl V.P.

While I'm still trying to solve the problem with the Lufthansa DC-10 cockpit windows, I decided to start with my other kit that I had in my queue. In order to complete the complete line of Boeing passenger planes, I chose the Boeing 767 in the colors of the magnificent Brazilian airline Varig. The choice of VARIG started through a very strong link that I have with the airline and with Brazil itself: My grandparents emigrated from Portugal to Brazil in the 50's. They met there, got married and had children telling Portugal again already in the 1980's. On the trips they made from Rio de Janeiro to Oporto they chose Varig most of the times and even today, they always tell me how big, splendid and good the airline was in terms of service, quality and planes. Thanks to that and also thanks to my mother, my house is full of things from Varig. Cutlery, trays, blankets and more. Like TAP and Swissair, Varig is an airline that is in my heart, due to my connection with Brazil. An airline that unfortunately shouldn't have had the outcome it did. But turning now to the kit itself! I bought this kit on sale on eBay and with free shipping! I was quite satisfied however, a little suspicious that the kit is from Zvezda. Since I was a kid, I've been used to seeing Revell kits. That's why I always try to give preference to Revell, even knowing that most of the time the mold is not the best. The box is a normal Zvezda box, with the lid and the illustrations drawn, along with the classic box where the kit comes from, which is quite good and resistant and useful for storing things in the future! When I started assembling the kit I put the two main parts together and I was very surprised by the quality of the kit. The two pieces fit perfectly and at first glance everything looked in place. All the pieces have incredible lines and details that honestly left me with an excellent impression of Zvezda! For all kits to be so perfect, I started to have a favorite brand! The next step was to apply putty to all the windows as well as to make the necessary changes to the main fuselage. This Boeing 767 comes with the Aeroflot layout which consists of four doors at the front and four doors at the rear. It turns out that the Boeing 767 that I'm going to make, the PP-VPV has a different configuration: It has two doors at the front, four windows on the wings and two doors at the rear. I confess that I was very close to changing the plane to the -200 version. The 767-200 is an airplane that manages to have a very peculiar beauty. But after comparing the 767-200 and the 767-300 with the same painting (yes because Varig operated with both versions), I opted for the -300 version. Maybe one day I won't make a 767-200 with the colors of American or United Airlines The kit had such a good fitting, that the windows fit perfectly into the holes. Obviously, I putty and sanded everything and in the final result the entire surface was polished. I have to stress this one more time. The kit had such a good fitting, that I didn’t apply putty in the top and bottom. I just sanded it and then with the help of a scalpel I redid the lines I had erased with the sandpaper. It was a 1st time, not applying putty to cover bad fittings, which saved me a lot of time and patience! Zvezda you rock! After sanding and applying the wings (and those had to take a little plastic putty from Vallejo), I turned to the engines while the putty was not drying so I could sand again to apply the primer. I decided to follow the instructions and started with the low pressure turbine and nozzle area of the engines. After assembling (just to check the fit and shape of the engine), I noticed that this interior part would not be very visible. Anyway, I decided to apply a smoky color in order to simulate a little the metallic alloy already marked by the high temperatures there. Varig's 767 used to have General Electric CF6-80C2 engines. After that I decided to apply a primary white to reveal some imperfections as well as for the paint to adhere better when applying the final color. This afternoon I did it and left it to rest. Next time I will probably sand the imperfections a little and then start with the painting process!

EA-18G Growler Exhaust Nozzles (648804 for MENG) 1:48 Eduard Brassin Meng have broadened their F/A-18 range with their new EA-18G Growler in 1:48 recently, and you can find our review of the kit here. The detail on the kit is excellent, but you can always improve on the pinnacle of styrene engineering with resin. As is now usual with Eduard's smaller resin sets, they arrive in the new shallow Brassin cardboard box, with the resin parts safely cocooned in bags, and the instructions folded around acting as padding. Inside the box are six 3D printed parts on separate print bases, two of each part of the exhausts. The trunk is printed in darker resin, and has fluted outsides and ribbed interiors, one end slightly wider than the other in order to receive the combined engine rear and afterburner ring, which slides inside once everything is painted up. The final part to each exhaust is the nozzle, which the rear of the trunk slides into. The nozzle has extreme detail on the inside surfaces, and delicate layers on the tips, as well as the fine lines separating each petal from the other. Each exhaust is then slipped inside the rear of the kit as a drop-in replacement for the kit assemblies, beating them by a substantial margin in terms of detail. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

In 2021 Zvezda is to release a 1/144th Boeing B-757-200 kit - ref. 7032 Source: https://vk.com/zvezdamodels?z=photo-29859496_457589701%2Fwall-29859496_2617107 V.P.

F/A-18F & EA-18G Blocks 25+ (QD48243 for Meng) 1:48 Quinta Studios When Quinta’s innovative products first came to our attention, they caused quite a stir, as well they should. The replacement Instrument Panels and internal details are mind-boggling to look at, because we’re used to seeing simplified styrene instrument panels, or Photo-Etch Brass panels with either two layers of etch, or laminated parts that can be tricky to glue together, even though they are pre-painted for your ease. But decals? These aren’t your run-of-the-mill decals though, they’re 3D printed in many layers and colours on a flat carrier film, having as much in the way of elevation as is needed to complete a realistic panel printed in the correct colours, complete with shiny dial faces and metallic-effect hardware, and often including cushions and seat belts in the set. Each set arrives in a Ziploc bag with a folded instruction booklet protecting the decals, which are also separately bagged, so they should reach you in good condition. The pictorial instructions are printed on glossy paper, and are shown in full colour as befits the awesomeness of the sets, showing exactly where each part should go on the actual model, so there’s no confusion due to the “pictures speak a thousand words” maxim. Additional hints and instructions are also included, marking out parts needing bases, kit parts that are used or replaced and other useful tips. The technical instructions in the text-based, giving additional tips to the new user about maximising adhesion and preventing lift at the edges by wicking in super glue. Although you are advised to use Super Glue (CA) to attach the decals to the surface permanently, preparation is much the same as your standard decal, but you will need to remove any raised detail that would be underneath the location depicted in the instructions, and some new parts will need small backing panels or bases on which to apply the decal. A slim piece of sheet styrene would perform that task, and painting the edges a matching colour should minimise its appearance or turn it completely invisible. This set is patterned for the Meng kits of the type later than block 26, which you’ll need to look into yourself, as I’m clueless on that matter. The set comprises four sheets of decals, containing two beautifully detailed instrument panels with glossy MFD screens, side consoles with plenty of relief, sidewall inserts with cushioned black panels and document bags that have organic-looking creases printed-in, plus two full sets of seatbelts and an actuator loop between the pilot’s knees to get him out of there in an emergency. Conclusion The detail on the parts is incredible, even down to the infinitesimal switches, relief of the consoles, deep gloss in the MFDs and overall impressive crispness of the set. Any cockpit with a Quinta set installed really needs a crystal-clear or opened canopy to show off the details, which the Meng kits are able to provide straight from the box. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

CH-47D Chinook (81773) 1:48 Hobby Boss via Creative Models Ltd The CH-47 Chinook is a tandem rotor heavy lift helicopter, developed by Vertol and manufactured by Boeing Vertol since 1962. Its incredible longevity is testament to the quality, flexibility and robustness of the original design. Over 1,200 examples have been produced, and the type has seen frontline service in conflicts such as the Vietnam War, the Falklands Conflict in British service, both Gulf Wars and Afghanistan where its utility was so much in evidence that many airframes became worn out as a result. In its capacious loading area, the Chinook could lift a 24,000lb payload or carry anywhere between 33 and 55 troops. The CH-47D was fitted with more powerful engines than its predecessors, adding an additional 2,000lbs to its internal or external carriage capacity. It is often used to carry 105mm howitzers, associated equipment and crew, as well as the usual troop transport role, with improved avionics leading to a production run of just over 20 years, with moderate overseas sales, and served alongside the comparable MH-47D that was used primarily by Special Forces with in-flight refuelling capability amongst other alterations to suit its cloak-and-dagger role. The Kit This is a re-boxing of their 2021 tooling of the CH-47A with new parts to represent the improvements made to the airframe between initial variant and the late 70s upgrade. It arrives in their standard top-opening box with a painting of the aircraft on the front, plus some profiles and 3D CAD renderings on the sides. Inside the box are nine sprues in grey styrene, three clear sprues, a fret of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, decal sheet, instruction booklet in black and white, plus a colour painting guide printed on both sides of a glossy sheet of paper. Detail is good throughout, and if you have seen the original release, you’ll recognise many of the parts in the box. Construction begins weirdly with the fire extinguisher from the rear of the cockpit, which is mounted on an L-shaped base, then fixed in the rear of the cockpit floor on a pair of pegs, along with twin rudders, cyclic and collective sticks, then the main instrument panel with integrated centre console, all of which have white dial decals applied after painting. The seats have cushions added, a grab-handle on the top and a frame at the back, then they too are joined to the cab area of the interior floor, which is a very nicely detailed single part. There is a tunnel between the cockpit and load compartment, which is made up from a number of parts, the visible areas of which have diamond quilting engraved into the surface, plus equipment boxes on some of them. The completed sub-assembly is then joined to the floor aft of the raised crew area, and a door in the floor is also added from underneath. More racks of avionics are added in the tunnel between the two areas that will be visible from the load area, but notionally sectioned off by a pair of C-shaped rails. The fuselage halves both have quilting moulded into the insides, and the rear part also has raised ribbing, all of which is painted aircraft grey, and after they are joined together the circular side windows are installed from inside, with the choice of domed viewing ports for the rear two on each side. Two small PE grilles are also fitted inside the rear rotor tower, and some holes are cut out before the two halves are joined later. Another of those fire extinguishers is made up and glued into the rear of the port fuselage half, an L-shaped ribbed hose is inserted into the starboard cockpit, and another ribbed assembly is inserted into the rear rotor tower, then the fuselage is closed up around the interior, whilst adding the quilted roof as you close up. There are two powerful turbine engines turning the blades of the Chinook, and these are both made up with a pleasing amount of detail, including some PE grilles inserted from inside of the cowlings and forward filters along the way, which increases realism over the usual plastic rendition. The completed assemblies are fixed to the fuselage sides in recesses, and the additional fuel tanks are detailed with internal bulkheads and inserts before being glued to the side of the fuselage along with a long high-frequency rail antenna that runs down much of the length of the fuselage. The starboard side door at the front of the fuselage is also added, with the step and optional window panel fixed to the aperture by two hinges. The rear of the fuselage is open at the moment, until the rear tail is glued into position after detailing it with some small parts in preparation for the rear access ramp later. While the fuselage is inverted the underside is dotted with aerials, a tear-drop shaped fairing or front shackle, plus two more shackles further back, the optional floor hatch cover and a beacon just forward of the hatch. The front wheels are each two parts, applied to a T-shaped strut made from three parts each, and inserted into the cut-outs in the fuel tank sponsons, which have two covers with clear lights inserted. The rear wheels hang out of the back of the sponsons, and are suspended on horizontal struts with braces and a pivot to allow the wheels to swivel. More aerials are fixed to the underside, a small PE grille and two clear lights are attached to the rear of the rotor tower, and the load ramp is made up with a choice of two slightly different options. They share many of the same parts, but have a different lip to accommodate the two styles of fold-up sections, of which there are three in each option. With the detailed floor added to the top, it is joined to the fuselage and secured at the correct angle by adding a pair of stuts to the sides. To finish off the fuselage, the windscreen has a pair of holes drilled into it (carefully) to accept a pair of probes and two other small parts before it is glued onto the front of the cab. A long avionics tunnel stretches between the front and rear rotor towers on the D, locked in place by a series of pins and holes in the top of the fuselage, with a clear curved window in the front of the rear rotor tower. For a helicopter with twin rotors, the blades are a big part of its appeal, both from an aerodynamics point of view because it cancels out the torque of the single-rotor design that necessitates a tail-rotor, but also because they’re massive, broad and highly visible on the finished model, making the distinctive rotor-slap that garnered the Chinook the nickname ‘Wokka’ in some quarters. The two rotor sets are identical, starting with a tapered drive shaft onto which the various layers of the rotor-head lower are slid, with the three-blade boss laid onto the circular head to be joined by the blades, followed by the rotor-top that locks them in place. Each blade has the prototypical droop moulded-in, an insert under its root to thicken the area to scale, and has a small actuator for the pitch-control trapped between the two halves. The two blade units are dropped into the holes in the top of the rotor turrets and should be able to rotate unless you’ve made a mess with the glue. You may elect to leave them completely loose to ease transport if you take it to shows on occasion. The last two parts are the windscreen wipers, with a small inset diagram showing their correct location on the two sides of the front screen. Markings There are two decal options on the sheet, and in Hobby Boss’s usual style there’s little information about them, other than which decals goes where, and colours in Gunze codes. From the box you can build one of the following: The decals are well-enough printed to carry out the task, and consist mostly of stencils and walkway markings for the top of the fuselage, with a couple of US Army markings and the serials. The main differences are the yellow rotor tips and the tail codes. Conclusion Chinooks are great, and this is a well-detailed modern tooling of the type in my favourite scale. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Hi fellow modelers, Again a topic about a big 1:72 model from me, as you are used to This time it's not about a normal kit from my stash, but a 3D printing experiment with some scratchbuilding. I'm building 2 scale 1:72 NASA Boeing 747SP 'SOFIA' models. Yes, 2 models. And, very important, this is an experiment. These are not going to be award winning contest models, o no. I'm aware of that. This is not the quality of resin printed smooth models, so be warned. I'll tell you how it started. Part 1: SOFIA 1 A colleague and friend of mine, Erwin, has a PLA filament 3D printer at home and is experimenting with it. Toys for his kids, design lamps etc. So in 2020 I asked him to print a knob for my flight simulator. Perfect! The next day it was finished, and I began to think in scale modeling possibilities... He said there are a lot of freeware models on the internet, like planes and cars etc. He sent me this link and asked if I would like this model: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/print-your-own-3-d-sofia-model A 1:200 scale NASA B747SP SOFIA. I said well you can give it a try.. if it's not too much trouble to print. The next day he gave me just the printed nose section, to see if it was worth it. Not really.. I said: I would only like such a model in 1:72 scale, that would fit in my collection. Would that be possible? Erwin said no problem, I will enlarge the file for you and print just a part of the nose section. First see the result before printing a whole 1:72 model. In the meantime at home I took my 1:72 Skyland KLM Boeing 747-100 to compare the nose shape of this 1:200 747. Quite correct.. mm. What about converting this Skyland 747-100 into a 747SP..? I contacted a fellow Dutch modeler, VJ, who once succesfully converted a 1:144 747-200 into a 1:144 747SP for information about how to convert this. The fuselage of a 747SP is not just a shorter version of a 747 fuselage; especially the tail section and position of the wing root is different. (for those who are interested: https://modelbrouwers.nl/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=48324) These are some of his pictures he sent me: (credits VJ) Mm.. I will wait for the result of the printed 747 nose from Erwin. If I start to cut into the quite rare Skyland 747, and it would become too difficult, that would be an expensive mishap. Also, the NASA SOFIA has a distinguished tail shape compared to a normal 747SP: https://travelforaircraft.wordpress.com ... fia-write/ Due to the massive telescope and massive hatch it's not an easy job to scratchbuild something like that. No, I will wait patiently. In the meantime some information about the NASA SOFIA 747SP: (Source Wikipedia): The SOFIA aircraft is a modified Boeing 747SP widebody (serial number 21441, line number 306; registration N747NA; callsign NASA747). Boeing developed the SP or "Special Performance" version of the 747 for ultra long range flights, modifying the design of the 747-100 by removing sections of the fuselage and heavily modifying others to reduce weight, thus allowing the 747SP to fly higher, faster and farther non-stop than any other 747 model of the time. Boeing assigned serial number 21441 (line number 306) to the airframe that would eventually become SOFIA. The first flight of this aircraft was on April 25, 1977, and Boeing delivered the aircraft to Pan American World Airways on May 6, 1977. United Airlines purchased the plane on February 13, 1986, and the aircraft received a new aircraft registration, N145UA. The aircraft remained in service until December, 1995, when United Airlines placed the aircraft in storage near Las Vegas. On April 30, 1997, the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) purchased the aircraft for use as an airborne observatory. On October 27, 1997, NASA purchased the aircraft from USRA. Commencing work in 1998, Raytheon designed and installed a 5.5 m (18 ft) tall (arc length) by 4.1 m (13.5 ft) wide door in the aft left side of the aircraft's fuselage that can be opened in-flight to give the telescope access to the sky. The telescope is mounted in the aft end of the fuselage behind a pressurized bulkhead. The telescope's focal point is located at a science instruments suite in the pressurized, center section of the fuselage, requiring part of the telescope to pass through the pressure bulkhead. In the center of the aircraft is the mission control and science operations section, while the forward section hosts the education and public outreach area. The open fuselage has no significant influence on the aerodynamics and flight qualities of the airplane. https://airwaysmag.com/nasa-conclude-b747sp-sofia/ A few days later Erwin gave me the first enlarged 1:72 SOFIA parts, the nose + upper deck section. He took spare filament rolls for this experiment, in this case transparent filament. He showed me pictures of the printing process: I was happily surprised about the result! Looks quite nice. I asked him to print some more parts, so next part was the lower nose section with the interior: I say let's give it a go! He said the costs were negligible, so he started to divide the 1;200 model into enlarged printable parts. Again with spare filament in 'happy' colors the next parts arrived: Wow... As you can see not so perfect as I thought.. The engines are straight from Minecraft, a lot of angled and out of shape forms on these parts.. mm. -The tail has a nice layer structure on the outside -The upper nose section has a sharp angle under the windows -The engines and pylons are way out of shape and way too big, these need to be reshaped. Ok, I will start collecting sanding paper, filler and super glue again. Let's give this project a try. I first removed all the excess material from the parts and after that a dry fit, to see how a 1:72 747SP looks like: Quite impressive! I started sanding. With sanding paper P60 (real rough). What do you think... almost no result! This PLA is like titanium or something. And the harder I sand, heat comes through the sanding paper so it becomes irritating to my fingertips. And the PLA starts to smell and becomes soft with hard sanding, so this is a problem.. Also you keep seeing the angled structure on the parts. Mm. Meanwhile I contacted Ben Sweezey from V1 Decals, who enlarged his Iron Maiden Ed Force One 1:144 decal sheet for me when I was building my 1:72 Ed Force One. I asked him the same question to do this for his 1:144 NASA SOFIA decal sheet, and yes, 3 weeks later I had the 1:72 decal sheet for SOFIA. Looks good, nice work and thanks Ben ! On Flightradar I saw that SOFIA was conducting observer flights from Germany, where she was at that time for an earlier overhaul. Some extra information: (source: dsi.uni-stuttgart.de): "SOFIA is a joint project of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The Deutsches SOFIA Institut (DSI) at the University of Stuttgart coordinates the scientific operations on the German side. The American scientific operations are planned by the NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) and the Universities Space Research Association (USRA). Flight tests and flight operations are led by the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) to the north of Los Angeles. The NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) to the south of San Francisco conducts the scientific research flights. To facilitate smooth telescope operations, the majority of DSI employees are continuously posted on site in California." Hence the American / German flag on the fuselage of SOFIA. I also asked Erwin if he could find a printable 1:72 Boeing 747 landing gear; it would be nice to put her on wheels as I have no stand for this big model. He found something, and after a few days he came up with these: After removing the excess material very carefully: The wheels were very mashed up somehow, so he printed a better set: Looks great. Hopefully this quite fragile gear will hold the massive PLA SOFIA model.. Next the Minecraft engines, I just don't want these blobs under the wings. Look at this: Out of the question. I need other better looking JTD9D's. Erwin and I searched the internet and finally found a perfectly detailed drawing, which he converted to a printable file: Perfect! So he printed the first engine: With separate inner cowling and fanblades: Look the blob on the left and the almost real JTD9D on the right: After that he printed the other 3 engines, in a again another color: Great, this will make SOFIA look much better! Back to the fuselage parts. After hours of sanding it looks like the angled surface has mostly disappeared. I took spray filler and applied some first layers: Too bad, still visible. Also the sharp angle in the nose under the cockpit windows needs attention. I decided to glue the main parts of the lower body as they need to be sanded and smoothed in 1 shape finally. I took the industrial superglue and bonded the parts: The model is getting quite heavy, all these parts are massive! Now the interior is in 1 piece, I added some 1:72 figures to see how this will look when I make a detachable upper fuselage: Nice! I would like to add a detailed interior to the SOFIA. I will give that a try. I copied the decals for a dry fit, as these decals are originally made to fit the 1:144 Eastern Express Boeing 747SP kit and not a 'home-made' enlarged 1:72 747SP: I filled the window gaps in the model as the decals will replace these faulty placed holes with correct shaped and placed windows: First the cockpit windows: And the fuselage decals: It will fit, no problem. I filled the massive gaps between the fuselage parts and added extra filler to the angled wing roots, ready for sanding a smooth shape With all these projects of big kits my days of little and fine sanding are over.. Time to fill up that angle in the nose section also: After the sanding I applied several layers of white primer spray.. ..but still visible angled surfaces. Time to add more fille, and do some more sanding. The Minecraft-like tail needed special filler attention too. I applied a thick layer of filler. A lot of sanding in this project, but I'm getting used to it! But looking at this model, with it's rough structure and incorrect shapes it will not be a real beauty... So I told Erwin this, and this was the start of my second project: Part 2: SOFIA 2 During building SOFIA 1 I began to like the 'little' 747SP with it's distinguished appearance. The 747 was and is my favorite airliner, and I realized that if I wanted an easier to build and better looking 747SP model, I had to search for another printable model. So Erwin started searching the internet, and behold, there was another freeware printable 747SP file: Again in 1:200 scale, but this looked already better and smoother than the NASA freeware version. Erwin started to enlarge this version in 1:72 scale, and divided it in printable parts, 19 in total. This time he used black PET filament, no PLA. And so project SOFIA 2 began to take shape: He sent me the first fuselage pictures: This 747SP looks much better!! He gave me the fuselage parts, and the rest of the parts were in the making. I taped the fuselage parts together: And compared her with SOFIA 1: Then I started sanding the nose section, this went better: After the rough sanding, I used some finer sanding paper: Better quality this PET filament, with filler applied it will look smoother. During this sanding process I started thinking what version to make of this normal 747SP. I wanted something matching with SOFIA 1, as this is a duo build. I started searching the Internet on the history of SOFIA, and found this picture: https://www.flickr.com/photos/steelhead2010/50922079036 This was SOFIA before her convertion into the NASA version. She was a written off United Airlines SP, and NASA bought her from the scrapyard to start taking test flights to see if it was possible to convert her into a flying space observatory. As you can see, a normal looking 747SP with extra NASA decals on her original UA outfit. So, if this is possible, this will be a unique duo build of 2 SOFIA versions. Hence the name SOFIA 2 for this second project. Back to SOFIA 1. I cut of the Minecraft engines, but the wings are kind of hollow so that left some nasty looking gaps in the wings. I filled the gaps with pieces of Plasticard and applied filler, and sanded the wings as smooth as possible. The wingparts of the fuselage have an angle in it, very hard to sand that smooth... Meanwhile Erwin gave me the rest of the SOFIA 2 printed parts. The wings: and the tail parts: The engines from the SOFIA 2 look very much like the self designed JTD9D's from SOFIA 1: And SOFIA 2 comes with a stand: I compared both the engine sets in size: Mm. The engines from SOFIA 2 are equal in length to a Skyland 747-400 engines: And the self designed JT9D's are smaller compared to the Skyland 747-400: But the 747-400 has CFM65 engines, so it's ok with me. The tails of both SOFIA models: Very different. SOFIA 2 has a shift in the wing surface: Erwin says this happened during the printing process. Well ok, it is what it is. If there comes a reprint of this model this can be corrected. SOFIA 2 also needs a lot of sanding, here the main wing surfaces: And finally the smoother sanding: Also the engines: I glued the tail parts together and added filler in the gaps: SOFIA 2 is a real tail sitter, because she has a hollow fuselage but the tail parts all together is too much weight in the rear. Even on the stand, so she kept tipping over backwards. I added noseweight just the way I did to my 2 Antonov models: I made a Plasticard rib with M10 bolts and nuts: I glued the rib into the nose section: No more tipping over, problem fixed. I started to glue the fuselage parts together: a 1:72 figure for scale: I applied filler and sanded smooth: Next some layers of spray filler: And also on SOFIA 2, the print structure keeps being visible.. But, SOFIA 2 gets more layers of primer and gloss paint so I think this problem will be solved. It's already a huge difference in shape and quality compared to SOFIA 1: SOFIA 2 comes with a stand, which is great as I don't want 2 gearless 747 models which are resting on their engines. SOFIA 1 doesn't have this opening in the fuselage so I added that myself: It fits. So I asked Erwin to print a second stand for SOFIA 1. The wings of SOFIA 2 are detachable, and hollow which makes the connection between fuselage and wings very weak. I added balsa supports in the wings to make them sturdy: That's better. Here a duo picture of both fuselages, SOFIA 2 has her first layer of grey primer which already makes her smoother: The wings of SOFIA 1 can't be made detachable; too less surface for connecting pins or something, so time to glue the wing parts together: You can also see that neon orange and fluor-green base colors are bad choices for painting.. After several layers of grey and white it still green and orange. Here with the detachable upper surface parts on the stand: Again, a clearly visible difference in quality and shape. I looked at the interior of SOFIA 1 after applying several layers of spray filler and primer, and came to the conclusion that the interior is very rough and out of scale also. As this is a unique opportunity to add a detailed interior to a special 747 in 1:72 scale, I decided to start a new scratchbuilt interior. So time to remove the Minecraft block-seats and interior: After that, I made a floor of Plasticard: I ordered 1:72 resin airliner seats from HaHen, a very friendly person who added spare seats for free (Cheers HaHen!): After close inspection these seats are a little too small in 1:72 scale.. But never mind, always better than the Minecraft block seats! I searched the spare box with PE parts from a friend of mine, Perry (who made the An-225 flag) and sorted these PE parts for use in the interior and for the telescope. The telescope will be difficult to scratchbuild, as it's a complicated 'mess' of all kinds of parts and wiring etc. But we will see. So I started building the interior. First the seats, which are too small and too low. So I made chair legs from Plasticard rod: I removed the cylinder inside the back of the fuselage, which supposed to represent the telescope: Nice.. a project in a project. As I decided to remove the interior, I also need to remove the rough wrong shaped windows on the inside: And some old support PLA walls: I applied Plasticard sheet for a smooth interior: I rebuilt the kitchen module: And the removable computer desk units: And the room beneath the telescope (for making rotating movements during observatory flights): So, this last picture was taken in April 2022. After that I decided to participate in the WME2022 contest with my 1:72 Antonov An-225, so I needed my spare time to finish that project. Now I have time to pick up this duo build project again, so I think I will go on with these builds after the summer. I will finish these 2 SOFIA's! To be continued..

Hi, I just finished my TUI Germany 737-8 Max. Was definitely one of my quickest builds ever as I think I did the whole plane within 4 weeks from start to finish. Upon holidays in beautiful Madeira where we actually took Tuifly on our way towards there I saw a TUI 737-8 Max there and realised how cool it actually looks in that livery, IMO the livery is rather underrated. So I spontaneously had the idea of building one for the time after the holidays with a Max that was previously destined to be an Icelandair in my collection. Also had the beautiful TUI 757 of Ian Woodard as an inspiration that I once saw here. The decals are from DRAW decals for the livery and they are excellent, really opaque and the carrier film basically disappears once they are dried. Windows and details are from Authentic Airliners. All blues are painted. The light blue was kind of tricky, as all light blue I could find were rather too cyan, so I ended up mixing Mr. Hobby 45 with quite some red (to make it less cyan) and also some white. For the tail colour and winglets the same mix + even more white. The dark blue is Tamiya X-3. There's acutally a decal for the dark blue part, but it would be against my personal modelling values to not paint it and I guess it would never look really good as the area is too large and complex for a decal. I imagined the painting tricky with its curves and getting both sides look the same, but with a small "trick" (that others used before) it was much easier than I thought. I took a real photo that was mroe or less exactly side on. I then resized the shot to the same size as the model on Photoshop and printed it twice (mirrored it for the other side). I cut the light blue part out on paper and put it on the plane with masking tape. I used certain reference points above or under the doors and then drew lines with a pencil on both sides upon the white plane and then its about using flexible masking tape. For the dark blue part one already has this as a reference so this isnt hard anymore. Overall I am really satisfied. The kit is excellent and easy to build. The only downpoint is that a Max has 4 distinctive features compared to a normal 737NG. The larger engines, the different winglets, the APU-section that is 787 style AND the much higher front gear. Yet the Zvezda only has the normal front gear of 737 NG, where I feel that already on the rregula -700 or -800 kit it sits a bit too low (or likely the nose door gears are just too large). Personally I felt the front didnt look like a proper Max anymore. So I used some spares that I had to make it 2mm higher. But yeah with knowing that (I wasnt aware) one can easily make it higher, in the end some polysterene would also do the trick. For the pitots on front I used some Microdisin photoetched parts. Generally these sets arent really worth buying for me as I always end up only using veeery few parts of it, but I thought it was a cool feature. The finish was done done with Tamyia X-22 and then a pass of Mr Hobby's GX-112 to protect it from UV light (although of course other than for those photos it wont see the sun) and some Tamyia polishing compound. Enough said (likely even too much ;-), here are the photos. Thanks for looking, appreciate any comments. Julien

This will be my entry, though I am unsure at this stage whether it will be an A, B or C model. I depends on what sort of photos I can find for reference. The box Contents, yes 2 kits! There is also an Airfix boxed Sentry (minus the E-3D specific parts) in there in the lighter plastic Kit decal sheet Aftermarket decals for the build, the VM Decals sheet allows any serial inthe USAF fleet to be built. The Wolfpak sheet has the correct colour tilting, so I will use those and cherry pick from the other sheet for other markings. And finally the aftermarket, soe is for KC-135s but usable on the 707/E-3 If I go a wheels up build ( which I an contemplating) them half the extras won't be used.

This is the Matchbox 747 kit in 1/390 scale. I’ve built this kit in the Revell boxing / Air Canada scene in the past and it makes for a surprisingly good looking model despite the small scale. The only thing that lets it down is the undercarriage. So, this one will be ‘in flight’ on a makeshift stand made from an acrylic rod and one of the always useful and cheap shadow box frames from Jobbycraft. Going for the BA livery of course although I’ll pick up one of the Revell kits and do the Air Canada version in the future… … Providing the decals hold up! I think they will. Yellowing a bit but otherwise seem ok. And this is the Revell version I did and sadly destroyed moving it upstairs. Hopefully this one avoids such an unfortunate demise. Good luck with your builds everyone!

This model was a summer love. In July I've bought it to an old guy for just 10€. It was my perfect shot to build a 737 for my collection with the colors of my beloved TAP Air Portugal. In mind that I didn't finished my VARIG yet (and also my DC-10 from Lufthansa), I decided not to loose this opportunity and since it was an easy one to do I've started to do it, since I was alone in town because of the summer holidays. Knowing by hand decals for this plane existed, I've also order them from V1 Decals from Canada. Ben was really helpful and they arrived in one week! As you can see the picture from above, TAP's painting from the 80's/90's is very simple: White with a silver belly. And here is the guy! CE-TEO delivered brand new for TAP in July '83 and seen here in the beautiful Zürich Airport in May '95. This will be the exact plane I will do because it was the only registration available. So hands on work! In a first glimpse, the model looked very easy to do, without much detail. The two parts of the wings were very easy to attach to each other, among cabin and cargo doors. As usual, I've also puttied the windows in order to have that smooth surface to decals sit later on. I first sanded it and later on putty and after it got dried time to sand again. At the first look on this picture after the first sanding part there weren't much gaps on it. After applying the putty in the fuselage and sand it, I've attached the wings and the cockpit windows. Funny fact they broke in two pieces in my hand with the glue on the kit already. So I needed to do it in parts and in the end everything worked out very well. Due to this I needed to also put a bit of plastic putty on the cockpit gap and once again sand. And sand again. The airplane looked way more robust by now and the independent wing parts that alone looked very basic and out of shape started to gain some nice look as a whole now. I put the fuselage a bit aside and I've went to the elevators. Since they had a little gap between them and the fuselage, I've sanded a bit the part that attach them onto the fuselage and after that voila. No more gaps. I've painted them with a light grey (Vallejo 71 046). By the pictures this one was the most similar to the original color. After the grey got dried, I've masked them and I've painted the leading edges with a chromatic color just like I've saw on the pictures! I will repeat the process on the center belly as well in the wings. But first, I will apply the first layer of primary and then moving to the final paintings!

AeroModL (https://www.aeromodl.com/) is to release a family of 1/72 Boeing B737 resin kits. Source: https://www.aeromodl.com/our-kits - B737-200 - https://www.aeromodl.com/our-kits/b732 - B737-300 - https://www.aeromodl.com/our-kits/mjqqfo6l2467lywyb9fqnr18vwc8d3-hyj3x - B737-400 - https://www.aeromodl.com/our-kits/mjqqfo6l2467lywyb9fqnr18vwc8d3 - B737-500 - https://www.aeromodl.com/our-kits/mjqqfo6l2467lywyb9fqnr18vwc8d3-hyj3x-h9ddw V.P.

F/A-18F Super Hornet Update Sets (for Meng LS-013) 1:48 Eduard Meng’s second Super Hornet of at least three is the two-seat -F, and it’s another great kit. Eduard's new range of sets are here to improve on the kit detail in the usual modular manner. Get what you want for the areas you want to be more of a focal point. As usual with Eduard's Photo-Etch (PE) and Mask sets, they arrive in a flat resealable package, with a white backing card protecting the contents and the instructions that are sandwiched between. Upgrade Set (491253) Two frets are included, one nickel-plated and pre-painted, the other bare brass. A complete set of new layered instrument panels with layered MFD panels, sidewalls and side consoles with added levers for both cockpits are in full colour, with a partial floor skin and rudder pedals for the front; sidewall skins; HUD with acetate film glazing; rear deck details; windscreen hoop insert and canopy interior details that include hooks and rear-view mirrors for the interior. Externally, there are hinge parts for many of the gear bay doors plus a complete laminated replacement of the largest nose bay door; a highly detailed crew access ladder with scale-thickness doors; hosing for the main and nose gear legs; a box for inside the nose gear bay; a full set of skins for the pylon contact-points, which should come in handy, as other than fuel and practice rounds modern jets often fly with empty pylons. Seatbelts STEEL (FE1254) These belts are Photo-Etch (PE) steel, and because of their strength they can be etched from thinner material, which improves realism and flexibility in one sitting. Coupled with the new painting method that adds perceived extra depth to the buckles and other furniture by shading, they are more realistic looking and will drape better than regular brass PE. As well as the two sets of crew belts, you also get a set of the pull-handles between the pilot's knees that gets him out of there in case of an emergency, the anti-flail leg straps, and a number of stencil placards for the sides of the headboxes and seats. Masks (EX840) Supplied on a sheet of yellow kabuki tape, these pre-cut masks supply you with a full set of masks for the canopy, with compound curved handled by using frame hugging masks, while the highly curved gaps are in-filled with either liquid mask or offcuts from the background tape. In addition, you get a set of hub/tyre masks for all the wheels, allowing you to cut the demarcation perfectly with little effort. Masks Tface (EX841) Supplied on two sheets of yellow kabuki tape, these pre-cut masks supply you with everything above, but also give you another set of canopy masks tailored to fit the interior of the glazing so that you can paint the interior and give your model that extra bit of realism. Review sample courtesy of

Jet2 757-200 & 737-800 1/144 I'm currently working on a diorama for Newcastle Airport but as I've progressed with that I've neglected to add my aircraft builds as part of my work in progress. These 2 examples will be of the same Jet2 livery and will be Newcastle regulars. Although Newcastle has a heavy Jet2 presence the classic 737-300s have gone and also the aging 757-200s. However ignoring the current disruption the 757 does make an appearance for New York trips and various other charter flights normally positioned from Leeds Bradford or Manchester. I don't have a specific registration for the 737 but the 757 will be G-LSAB which has been newcastle based and includes winglets. It also has the same metallic finish as the 737 fleet as some of the 757's have an older gray paintjob. The Revell kit has error such as a mighty set of super sized winglets so for the cheap price the Zvezda kit is a no brainer. It's obviously been covered before but the kit is beautifully detailed and snaps together really well. It also has alternative winglet options such as the non-winglet tips found commonly on the classics (and some NGs) and the alternative scimitar type found on the TUI NG's. one small problem is the cockpit glass doesn't blend well with the fuselage. To overcome this I used superglue over the surface which once dried allowed me to blend the 2 surfaces smoothly. Some unnecessary mini sections to add that come part of this kit, make sure you've got a good eye and a pair of tweezers. This piece I actually dropped and lost but luckily I had a spare! The 757 options are limited. I've went with the Minicraft C-32 kit and the braz conversion. Zvezda need to hurry up and bring out the 757 tool, I'd imagine it's going to be popular You can see from the minicraft build that it's not quite right. It's not abysmal but the tail is too square, the cockpit window area is angled incorrectly and there's almost a hump (a bit like the 777 rest area) just above and behind the cockpit. Some of the bodywork detail is nicely scribed and the parts actually fit together well. the nose is fine but the cockpit window is too far forward The tail is too wide, this is made obvious if you look at the width at the top conversions always get messy remove the link inside the fuselage, the braz piece won't sit right otherwise. You have to watch out because some parts of the circumference the plastic goes from thick to wafer thin. I found it was wise to leave some excess resin on the front bottom of the tail to fit in a hole in the fuselage, this way the tail is more secure when superglued to the base a good comparison the kit includes the giant wing tabs which can be a pain. If you lucky enough for them to fit then it's wise to keep them on otherwise they are not going to be very secure. As covered before this kit as a issue with the undercarriage where one set sits higher than the other, unfortunately this means inevitably you may have to hack the tabs off one wing and try and level it with the other wing, this will create a nasty gap but is necessary to have the thing sit on it's wheels. If your doing it in flight then you'll probably get away with the wing tabs and the position of the wings I got some winglets imported from the US (at an extortionate price). They are extremely fragile and have a tab that fits on the top half of the wing. Sadly the lower portion of the wing does not fit on well as a result and a lot of sanding and thinning of the wing is required. I actually bought the zvezda 737 after this and I live with regret as it would have been easier to modify the spare scimitar winglets for the 757, they are a very similar size and shape. they include a nice little trailing strobe light as mentioned before the repositioning of the wing creates a gap. too big for filler or milliput. I admit I nicked this idea from somebody else's fine minicraft build but it is basically just spare sprue (from this kit) plus lots of polystyrene cement allows for a nice plastic pace. don't inhale this stuff! drys as plastic and makes the wing less likely to snap off fairings added under the wing and starting to look like the mighty 757 Another major problem is the plyons, as you can see it has the engines pointing nearly 45 degrees up. This is important....don't sand them to the correct shape which is what I stupidly did. just hold the plyon at both ends a bend the plastic (gently) till it straightens out and sits level on the wing. I did this with plyon no2 and it's perfect, unfortunately no1 needs completely reshaped with milliput. oops. final thing to add is a couple of VHF antennas, they are barely noticeable on the real thing but I wanted a little detail added to the top of the fuselage As mentioned this is part of my airport diorama and both planes will sit on the apron in front of the building

My scale model airliner build portfolio basically serves as a Cathay Pacific advertisement at this point, and this one is no exception lol. Subject - Cathay Pacific Boeing B777-300ER (B-KQY) The Boeing B777 was designed as a widebody long-haul aircraft designed as a replacement to aging B747s. Having been the first airliner fully designed with CAD, as well as Boeing’s first airliner to fully use fly-by-wire controls, it represented a quantum leap in airliner efficiency. Cathay Pacific Airways is the flag carrier of Hong Kong, offering passenger and cargo flights to international destinations around the world. It is considered one of the world’s largest and most prestigious airlines. The airline was heavily involved in the development of the B777, even becoming the recipient of the first prototype and the launch customer of the -300 variant. Cathay Pacific continues to use the type heavily in medium and long-haul routes, and is one of its largest operators. The aircraft depicted is B-KQY, one of CX's newer 777s that I was on twice, one from an FCO-HKG flight and on another in an HKG-MNL flight. The fact that I've built this same aircraft multiple times before made it easier to make the decals and copy the window layouts. B-KQY now seems to reside in storage along with other CX aircraft at Alice Springs, Australia for obvious pandemic-related reasons. Build I was originally planning to build this as an Emirates bird but a few days into the project made me decide that the CX livery was too good to pass up. I actually built Cathay 777s in the same livery before, one in 1/144 (B-KPK) and one in 1/200 (also B-KQY) but neither project really left me satisfied with the end result. Years after, and having accumulated what I hoped was enough modelling experience, I decided to tackle the 777 again one more time, partly as a gauge for how much I've improved. This was painted with mostly Armored Komodo lacquer paints and the paint mixtures were eyeballed with various so unfortunately I don't have a proper formula to give. Gloss was with GX112 polished with Tamiya and Novus polishing compounds and micromesh. Decals were a combination of 26Decals from the Emirates decal sheet I bought for the initial Emirates livery I wanted to do and Cathay Pacific decals designed and printed by myself with inkjet decal paper. Everything else is out of the box, short of the wi-fi dome I 3d printed. Kit - Zvezda 1/144 Boeing B777-300ER Going into it, I was expecting to be met with fit issues and seams given my experience with the similarly tooled Revell kit, so I was pleasantly surprised that the Zvezda kit went together easily and without too much fuss. If I had to talk about anything that could have been done better, the breakdown of the fuselage and wings makes it so that the belly is attached to the wing assembly. This makes it difficult to assemble and do polishing work on the wings, and also means that if you wanted to leave the wings off until after painting and decaling, you would have to sand, fill and repaint at the seam. I really liked Revell's engineering approach to their A350 and A380 wings wherein the wings can be left off until the end, and it would be nice if Zvezda did the same. It isn't really relevant in my case because 26decals included almost all the decals necessary for a 777, but Zvezda's inclusion of decals in this kit is very lackluster and misses out on a lot of big details. If you are buying an aftermarket set of decals for this kit, better to make sure that the set you buy includes 777 stencils or buy those separately. Decals This is the first time I've used 26decals, and although I had to pay a huge premium for the Emirates decals that I never used anyway, the other decals went down really well and the borders are practically invisible once applied. They're very thin though so extra care needs to be taken in applying them as it is easy to rip or fold them accidentally. - Overall, this build turned out to be a lot more enjoyable than I was expecting, and I'm happy to be able to do justice to this aircraft once and for all, with the end result being a Cathay 777 that I can feel satisfied with. Thanks for looking, feedback and comments are appreciated!

Hi all. After a while I will do a new wip thread. I started the Modelcollect B-52H a few weeks ago. That´s where it should go... 60-0058 B-52H 410th Bomb Wing, K.I.Sawyer AFB, RAF Marham 5-6-79 by Stuart Freer - Touchdown Aviation, auf Flickr Started with the most typical detail of the BUFF, the stressed skin on large areas of its fuselage. I used a milling cutter from my Dremel and scribbed it by hand. The kit looks quite nice but lacks details in many areas. On the rear for sample some panels and the ECM-antennas are missing. Some other parts need to be changed for the early H-modell. That´s it for the beginning, hope you like it so far. Daniel

Hi all, I enjoyed so much the first GB that I joined the list for this one immediately after it was proposed! Again I have too many fitting kits to start, this time I made a decision to enter first an airliner, maybe this will be easier to finish and give me additional time for a second entry. So, my plan is to build the much cursed Minicraft B757 (not Zvezda, I still have to buy it) because I have it in my stash and this is a good excuse. Perhaps I will do some shape improvements, but we'll see. For sure the livery will be this: I made a return trip on it in 2006 for a holiday in Minorca. I have very good memories and the plane was quite comfortable compared to the run of the mill Airbuses and B737s. Cheers Fabio

To released by Easter Express a 1/144 Boeing B707-720 - ref. EE144163 Source: https://ee-models.ru/ee144163-avialajner-b707-120/ Box art V.P.

I am currently planning/collecting models/parts for building 3 (make that 6 now. Update; 8 now) Revell 747s. The first is a 747-400 in Gulf Air livery, second a 747-600 conversion in BOAC colours and thirdly a 747-8i in an Air NZ completely black scheme (airlines have been updated). Here's my first question, should I fill the panel lines as they are quite obviously too deep? I have on the go... 1. 747-400 Gulf Air 2. 747-600 BOAC 3. 747-400Y British Airways Landor 4. 747-Xstretch Thai Airways 5. 747-8i Air New Zealand 6. 747-8i Alitalia And a hankering for more Update 7. KC-748 tanker. Possibly Iran Air 8. VC-25B Airforce One 747-8i

Hallo After watching some videos on YouTube of the Flight Channel, I watched two types of aircraft manufacturers. Airbus & Boeing. For my interest were all videos, which showed flights without physical damage as fire or collision with another aircraft. Some clues out of it. To my perception there is a pattern of incidences which dominate: · Unclear reading of instruments, because of similar showing two different meanings · Unclear maintenance instruction, without giving proper reasoning for doing so · In electronic circuits: Putting some algorithm behind to detect not reliable inputs with a certain logic, which is absolute absurd! · Not limiting input amplitudes, so they can overstress the aircraft and result in a fatal crash. · Unspecified minimum distance of an aircraft before haven taken off to avoid wake turbulence. · In some other cases: To install a unit preventing the aircraft from motion until all instruments are up! · On the other hand it showed, that flying skills in stall situations are at low level. Private aerobatics could improve this deficit. If an aircraft type is about 20 years in the operative field, many of this flaws are corrected. Not all of course. Some automatisms are contradicting itself. Automatic voices vs. real air controller! Who is the source to follow! Or thinking about a check system, if all external probes are working properly! Not damaged, hole free of foreign objects or water or ice! Happy modelling

A long time ago on a modelling forum far, far away I started a project I am determined to finish and due to me having trouble posting pictures on said forum I decided to bring this project across to where all my other crazy ideas (they just might work!) are. so to begin the 747-600 if built would have been the longest 747 ever at 279 feet long with a wingspan of 250 feet. This means stretching the fuselage by 100mm with a 40/22/38mm split and the wings by 48mm each. As you can see I have elected to keep the stretch to a minimum by removing as little as possible from the SUD and upper section while still achieving the same stretch as the first time below hopefully I will start assembling the two sides of the fuselage and get some pics with my standard 747-400 for reference. A long time ago I decided to build a 747-700 as well but I must admit (defeat) that I have come to my senses as that is not going to happen (unfortunately). But i am now building a (poss. Thai Air) 747-8i and a Cargolux 747-8F to go with my old school Thai Air 747-400 and Gulf Air 747-600.

I've got hold of an old Revell Super Guppy kit, and accidentally started it. You know how it goes. I'm sanding all the seams down in advance of assembly of the main areas, and have come across the blobs of styrene that are the exhausts. I've managed to find a slightly hazy pic of them online, which shows that they're basically cylindrical, with a small fairing under the lower edge, and a separate "nib" under the wing. I've also noticed that on the example I was looking at, there were also some additional "streamlining" fairings either side of the nacelles, closely fitting to the wing surface, as shown in the pic below: This photo of Aeroscopia is courtesy of TripAdvisor I've got got plenty of tube around for the exhausts, but could do with some larger pics of the areas, and confirmation whether those side fairings were a standard fitting across the range. I'm looking at modelling the last flying Guppy in NASA service, after watching a documentary about it the other day on t'telly. Any additional detail pics would also be welcome, as I don't have much in the way of info, other than a few pics that I took years ago of a rather delopilated one at Brunty.

Hey, This is my first post and first model, please don´t be too hard to me. I will build a Beoing 777-300ER in the livery of Air India. My Camera is damaged , so picture will follow in future. Yesterday I mad my first airbrush layer, some mistakes included, but I think I will figure it out how to improve my airbrush skills. Decals: 26 Decals Kit: Boeing 777-300ER Zvezda Colours : Humbrol Gloss Ivory 41 Xtracolor Canadian Vodoo Grey x150 Red: I am still trying to find the best match

B-17G Flying Fortress Dinghy (4414 for HK Models) 1:48 CMK by Special Hobby HK Models’ new medium-sized 1:48 B-17G, not to be confused with their own gigantic 1:32 kit has been around for a while now, taking over the mantle from the old Monogram kit. The Flying Fortress often flew over large tracts of water, and like most WWII aircraft it had a dinghy pack oboard in case it went down far away from land. Being a tad larger than a fighter, and with 9+ crew, a larger dinghy was required, which was housed in the raised cockpit portion of the fuselage behind the mid-upper turret on the port side. CMK resin sets arrive in a clear clamshell pack with a yellow card insert behind that protects the parts within and keeps the instructions free from harm. There are three parts in the pack, all on their own casting blocks. Installation is simple, requiring the modeller to remove a small rectangular panel in the port side of the fuselage, which is picked out in pink on the instructions. The dinghy bay slots into the aperture from behind, then the packed-up dinghy is sides inside, making sure to paint the bay green and the dinghy yellow before you do. The bay door is wafer-thin, and attaches to the pour block along its hinge edge, with little clean-up needed there, or for that matter on either of the other two parts, which have their contact patches hidden away after construction. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Good evening everyone! I hope you're all keeping well? After almost 5 weeks of work (and more money than I should probably admit to) I've finally completed my rendition of an American Airlines Boeing 777-300ER in 1:144 scale: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I could write a lot about this build (and I have on the Work in Progress thread), but I shall try and keep it relatively short and sweet. Just over a year ago I took my first flight, in an attempt to get over my fear of both flying and heights. In the space of 2 weeks I'd been on 6 flights and it was on the 7th flight that I had the pleasure of flying on the Boeing 777. We were originally supposed to fly back with British Airways but delays caused by the weather meant we ended up catching an American Airlines flight the next day. The flight was incredible- there was very little turbulence, the views were unbeatable, the crew were friendly and the flight was empty (so plenty of opportunity to move around). The thing which captured my attention about the 777 was its size. It's comparatively gargantuan! Although we flew on a 777-223(ER), I didn't fancy modifying the Revell 1:144 -300ER kit dramatically- except for doing a bit of scratchbuilding and using Pas-Decals decals for the AA scheme. On that note, many of the lumps, bumps and antennae are placed as per the instruction sheet and are likely not 100% representative of where they are on the real thing. But despite this being my first airliner kit in a long while, and my first real attempt at using rattle cans, I really enjoyed this build. Look at the size of it! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So there we are then. The base is only temporary, as I'd like to have something a bit more structurally sound than a cardboard box, but hey it works. As I said previously, this build has been an immense amount of fun to work on and although I'm pleased with how it's come out, I am even more satisfied with the skills that I've had the chance to develop along the way. I had planned for this to be my last project prior to starting back at university (again!) but naturally the situation has since changed and I should be able to get away with commuting. The next project might just be a certain venerable workhorse that had (until recently) served with distinction as part of the British Airways fleet... Thank you so much for following along, and dropping by to have a look. See you on the next one! All the best, Sam