Nomore Shelfspace Posted April 15, 2016 Share Posted April 15, 2016 I've been taking photos of this one (using a new Fuji camera), so I thought I might as well post them here to show what a plop this kit is. Once pride of the mighty Airfix Sky Kings series, now the only good thing about this is the decal sheet. The moulds are so worn practically nothing fits without sanding and filing like some early 90's short-run. I have posted about this before, noting the inaccuracies of the original, but I decided I wanted a model on the shelf, not my usual months-long mess on the bench, so I "got on with it". I fitted the windows - these are going to be filled in later anyway. Clamp everything and leave it for about a week. The wings, once you've filed the slots a bit wider, fit with the right dihedral, but with a bit of a gap. the tailplanes fit the same way... Most of the assembly is done! ... but not all the sanding. I drilled out the backs of the jet nozzles, but that was it for detailing. I found the best way to re-cut sanded out panel lines over the fuselage top was to "rock" a straight blade to make a raised groove that matches the existing raised lines. The soft plastic helps... Sanding still to do. Even breaks I will fill with Perfect Putty then just wet smooth it. The "closed" undercarriage doors are not depicted in the instructions! I am going to mount the aircraft on a stand. That's all for now! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessica Posted April 15, 2016 Share Posted April 15, 2016 It's a beast, but for so long it was the only "intercontinental" 707 kit available. I'd love to take the whiners and moaners who complain about modern kits and slap this one in front of them and say "This is the way we used to build them, when it was uphill both ways and we loved it!" Now, where did I put my cane? I need to shake it at these kids today. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nomore Shelfspace Posted April 16, 2016 Author Share Posted April 16, 2016 It's a beast, but for so long it was the only "intercontinental" 707 kit available. I'd love to take the whiners and moaners who complain about modern kits and slap this one in front of them and say "This is the way we used to build them, when it was uphill both ways and we loved it!" Now, where did I put my cane? I need to shake it at these kids today. Indeed, this is "crafting" rather than building! Hopefully I will end up with something more like one of those nice desk models... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snapper_city Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 Watching with interest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex1978 Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 Having this in my stash too waiting to be built. From the first look into the box I expected it to be a huge amount of work to turn this kit in a halfway decent looking 707. So I will follow this build with interest as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nomore Shelfspace Posted April 16, 2016 Author Share Posted April 16, 2016 Having this in my stash too waiting to be built. From the first look into the box I expected it to be a huge amount of work to turn this kit in a halfway decent looking 707. So I will follow this build with interest as well. It IS a lot of work (one reason I decided to build this one straight...) - you can see where I marked some parts up where I thought there were some shape issues - the fin is too short as well apparently. I'm also not sure about the raised details on the upper wings. Best leave this one to the experts...! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nomore Shelfspace Posted April 17, 2016 Author Share Posted April 17, 2016 OK, last assembly update, the engine nacelles. I can see what the Airfix master mould makers were getting at back in the day, the pylons are supposed to slot into the wings and lock, making a self-aligning join - most ingenious - only trouble is, the mould is kernackered and that no longer happens... so as you can see by the lower example, next to the file, a lot of material has to come off! Here's one of them in place. Looks good once it's all done... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted April 17, 2016 Share Posted April 17, 2016 Nice progress! I have this kit scheduled for my annual holiday build in a couple of months, so I am particularly interested in how you get on with this. I have to say I am a little unsure as to how the Airfix decals will fit the kit pylons as I feel the pylons look a little under nourished at the front. Perhaps someone could enlighten us on this point? Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phildagreek Posted April 17, 2016 Share Posted April 17, 2016 Looks good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nomore Shelfspace Posted April 22, 2016 Author Share Posted April 22, 2016 Regrettably (?) I decided to ditch this project - I've seen a very nice resin 707-400 by Authentic Airliners and am fairly sure the Airfix decals will fit it... but I can see all this one is going to be is sanding, filling, repeat ad infinitum, just like the old Revell 747 I did years ago, and I have a box of excellent kits waiting here which will actually be enjoyable to build! So it's going to be mothballed. Sorry 707 fans, concert cancelled...! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex1978 Posted April 22, 2016 Share Posted April 22, 2016 Oh sad... Word of advice;Check the fit of the Airfix decals first before applying it on the Authentic Airliners kit.They are designed for it and I am not sure about the measurement accuracy of the Airfix kit to the original 707-400. As Kurt's kits are very accurate in scale,a pre-fit with a copy of the Airfix decals could save some trouble Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nomore Shelfspace Posted April 22, 2016 Author Share Posted April 22, 2016 Oh sad... Word of advice;Check the fit of the Airfix decals first before applying it on the Authentic Airliners kit.They are designed for it and I am not sure about the measurement accuracy of the Airfix kit to the original 707-400. As Kurt's kits are very accurate in scale,a pre-fit with a copy of the Airfix decals could save some trouble I did have that in mind! However the whole project is on hold now, thanks for watching. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andre B Posted December 24, 2018 Share Posted December 24, 2018 (edited) Got this kit as well. Third time building it. First time was in the early 70-thies and then the kit was moulded in an Hard silvery plastic. One almodt didn't have to paint it and it did fit well then what I remember. Today... ...well it's sad Airfix reissued it. This kit is bad albeit the decals looks fine. For sure it's gonna be an h-ll to build. Better to be avoided... Cheers / André Edited December 25, 2018 by Andre B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Mc Posted December 25, 2018 Share Posted December 25, 2018 (edited) It is actually more accurate than many other Boeing 707s - especially those released by other manufacturers of that era. My advice would be to go for issues of the kit from pre 1981 as those earlier releases went together fairly well. The 707 was one of the kits Airfix messed about with to turn it into a "Snap 'n Glue" kit. As a result, the moulds were altered, supposedly to make the kit easier to assemble and to minimise the need for polystyrene cement. It was a bad move as it actually made the kits harder to assemble, not easier. A few years ago I built their modern release of the Saturn V. The Saturn V was also turned into a "Snap 'n Glue" kit and still retains the oversized lugs that were added to make it a "Snap n' Glue". The best policy is to remove these lugs completely. It makes a world of difference. Why should someone avoid this kit? If you want a 707-400 series, the alternatives are either more inaccurate (Minicraft) or extremely expensive (Authentic Airliner). I doubt very much anybody will ever release an accurate 707-400 because, of all the main 707 variants, it was a fairly rare version and only used by a small number of airlines. Edited December 25, 2018 by Eric Mc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andre B Posted December 25, 2018 Share Posted December 25, 2018 (edited) As an experiensed modeller with tools etc ok, go on building it. It will take some hours to clean up parts and lots of filler to sand away plus rescribing but one will probably end up with an nice 707-400. But for an non experienced I say avoid. The wingparts don't fit go together and dont fit the fuselage. There are better kit to spend money and time on... /André Edited February 3, 2019 by Andre B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vlamgat9 Posted December 25, 2018 Share Posted December 25, 2018 I do wish someone like @Colin @ Freightdog Models would do some 1/144 Conways for the 707-400... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil1 Posted December 27, 2018 Share Posted December 27, 2018 good progress mate. will be watching with interest phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andre B Posted February 3, 2019 Share Posted February 3, 2019 (edited) My build att IPMS Stockholm with a few pictures so far. https://www.ipmsstockholm.se/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=10504 In fact, it doesn't need that much filler. But there are hours to do cencerning cleaning upp parts, cutting and dryfitting and lots of wetsanding. Most works are with the wings and engines. There are also problems with the decals as they don't fit rather well. For example those BOAC decals for the enginepylons has to be trimmed on place. Be prepared to use a lot of Micro Sol... Cheers / André Edited February 3, 2019 by Andre B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andre B Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 (edited) As my own build slowly goes forward I wonder i anyone knew if the underside of the BOAC 707-436 fuselage was painted in silver ("wiessmetall" RAL 9006) or if it was in nmt (polished aluminium). Cheers / André Edited February 23, 2019 by Andre B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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