Timo Posted February 24, 2017 Share Posted February 24, 2017 Something a bit different – an Airbus A330-200F, the cargo version of the A330-200 passenger aircraft. It’s quite rare to see an A330-200F as only 36 have been built to date. Apart from the main deck cargo door, the most visible difference from the passenger version is the distinctive hump under the nose. The passenger variant has a marked nose down attitude while on the ground, so the freighter’s nose gear has been lowered into a fairing beneath the front fuselage to lift the nose so that the main cargo deck is level when on the ground to help loading/unloading. I’ve converted Revell's 1/144 scale Airbus A330-300 into an A330-200F. This is quite a straightforward conversion – the front and rear fuselage shortened, all windows filled, together with fitting a new shorter tail fin and RR Trent engines (both from Braz Models). The nose gear fairing was made by mounting the kit’s nose gear bay in the lower position and sculpting the fairing using Milliput. The open main deck cargo door and crew door are scratch built. The Turkish Cargo decals were home made inkjet printed, with some of the kit’s original decals being used for the detail. I thought that this cargo version would look far better with doors open, so I’ve included some ground crew and equipment: > the cargo loader and pallets were scratch built > the passenger steps are from a Dragon 747 kit > the aircraft tug and towbar are from an Eastern Express aircraft tugs set > the people and transit van are N-scale railway accessories A few more pics below. Hope you like this conversion and cargo apron scene. Thanks for looking Tim 27 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitchem Posted February 24, 2017 Share Posted February 24, 2017 That's very impressive Tim ! Lovin' it. mike 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bzn20 Posted February 24, 2017 Share Posted February 24, 2017 Great job and dio. Really is. Always wondered why the bulge on the nose leg. Did you use the cut out fuselage part , the door, or make a new piece? I was also surprised to learn that the A330-200 gets a shorter Fin, if anything I would expect either the same size or bigger area with a shortened fuselage. 2 things learned today! Thanks for showing and info, it's ace. Well done ! .................The pan/Apron is a bit clean though ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbofan Posted February 24, 2017 Share Posted February 24, 2017 Hi Tim, This is great! Only this morning I was thinking we haven't seen many airliners recently. I love an apron diorama and it's nice to see you've gone the extra mile and opened up the passenger/crew door as well. I agree too it's a bit clean, but lots of nice detail. I wonder who the foxy lady is at the top of the stairs? Cheers, Ian 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airbus320 Posted February 24, 2017 Share Posted February 24, 2017 Super work Tim! Love the open cargo door and the overall paint job. I am biased though - out of the aircraft types in my logbook, the 330 is my favourite! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Widow 65 Posted February 24, 2017 Share Posted February 24, 2017 Very nice! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stringbag Posted February 24, 2017 Share Posted February 24, 2017 A great result Tim. Makes a nice change from the usual two-legged cargo Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aircraftkit Posted February 24, 2017 Share Posted February 24, 2017 Excellent work there, Tim, and an interesting subject beautifully presented. Don 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Alpha Yankee Posted February 24, 2017 Share Posted February 24, 2017 Looks great, especially posed with all the GSE. I know someone does the nose gear hump as an aftermarket piece, I thought it was Braz as well. Your home made part looks great as it is Tim. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bell209 Posted February 24, 2017 Share Posted February 24, 2017 Great work! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timo Posted February 25, 2017 Author Share Posted February 25, 2017 Thanks everyone for your great comments, much appreciated. 14 hours ago, bzn20 said: Did you use the cut out fuselage part , the door, or make a new piece? I used the cut out fuselage to make the cargo door and crew door. Unfortunately the largest (forward) fuselage cut was 21mm whereas the cargo door is 26mm wide, but nothing a bit of glue and sandpaper couldn't fix. Thanks again Tim 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hurricane39 Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 Outstanding work. Boggles my mind to think you did this to 1/144 scale. Kudos. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skodadriver Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 Absolutely fantastic Tim. Excellent and original conversion and superb display. I've just been doing battle with a set of BraZ Trents. I suspect I got a slightly duff casting and I had problems that I don't normally expect with BraZ products so it's encouraging to see how good the finished items look on your model. Dave G 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonbru1 Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 Superb aircraft and diorama...brilliant. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timo Posted February 26, 2017 Author Share Posted February 26, 2017 Hi Ray Thanks for your great feedback. On 2/24/2017 at 10:45 PM, TrojanThunder said: I know someone does the nose gear hump as an aftermarket piece, I thought it was Braz as well. Your home made part looks great as it is Tim. You're right. Contrails make a very expensive conversion kit, but I honestly didn't think it was worth it as the conversion is so straightforward. I crafted the hump using an Airbus drawing as a template (see below) and from pics on Airliners.net. I just scaled the drawing to the kit's fuselage size and used it to position the kit's nose gear box in the right place (on the blue lines). Add some Milliput, job done and a small fortune saved. Thanks again Tim 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viking Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 Fabulous work, and I love the loading scene. I too never knew about the nose 'lump', so I've learned sometihing too! Cheers John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex1978 Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 Awesome job you have done. Looks absolutely fantastic and the airport scenery just adds to it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BerndM Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 ....and its quite rare to see this aircraft as a scale model. Fantastic build ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMCS Posted February 26, 2017 Share Posted February 26, 2017 Brilliant 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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