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Zvesda B737-800


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Yeah, I now own four of them with a pair to follow.

Overall very nice.

On another forum a *well known* person has been gushing over the kit and threatening to release a few more decals from his range - I will keep an eye for these. 

On 2 of mine one of the main wheel side struts has been damaged, one can be repaired the other has snapped. Not a big issue really. 

20170430_115738_001.jpg

 

And

 

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There are a couple of areas where I think the RV kit has a few advantages but that's just close study and small details that most probably won't care about/ notice.

If you can accept the Revell kit issues and have a few lying around spare, then using the winglets or split scimitar from the Zvezda kit will go a long way on this one. Use the Braz models resin engines to solve the other glaring problem with the RV kit. 

 

There are a few in box previews of the kit. If you've got any modern Zvezda airliner kit (A320 or 777) then you'll know what to expect.

Funnily enough, over the years and owning double figures of the RV kit, I've only ever built one completely and have one currently stalled. Now with this kit, I'm looking at my stash of aftermarket decals and taking some out as possible next projects. 

 

Jeff

 

Edited by pinky coffeeboat
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I took delivery of a brace at the end of last week but I was tied up at the Scottish Nationals all weekend so I've only managed a cursory look.  I know it's trivial but it's annoyingly difficult to get the inner box out of the outer box without tearing the latter!  Basically I'm with Jeff - it's very nice but not as jaw-dropping as some others would have us believe.  The one I've opened also has at least one broken side strut so it looks like an endemic issue.  

 

It will be interesting to see if decal manufacturers re-size decals they've designed for the oversize Revell winglets.  This particularly applies to Nazca - I recently had fun and games trying to re-size their winglet decals for a Fiji B738.

 

I still have several Revell kits in the stash and I'm certainly not planning on getting rid of them even if I only use them for conversions

 

Alastair Lees has posted an eye-catching Nok Air Zvezda build over on the Airliner Hobby Model World Facebook page.

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I thought I was being weak with removing the inner plain brown box, but nope, Dave has confirmed the outer wrapping is a very tight fit!! Not a deal breaker at all and hardly worth commenting on but in your excited eagerness to open and view this new wonder model, it can be all bit frustrating!!

 

It is a nice model and re-reading my comment above it seems as though I've tried to talk about the Revell kit only. Nothing like that was intended.  Overall, in future I will buy the Zvezda kit and no longer watch eBay for some sensibly priced RV kits (which must surely follow as the Zvezda kit becomes more widespread), what I had meant to infer was that although the new kid on the block is indeed very nice and goes a long way to correcting the issues with the RV kit - mainly engines and choice of wing tips (cabin windows being a whole fraction of a mill too low can be corrected with decals - if noticeable at all) - there are still a couple of areas where the RV kit is a little bit better, the same way I felt when the A320 kit was released. But, I've bought quite a few more Zvezda Airbuses and continued to buy the Revell kit so each has its place. The Revell kit is still a nice effort for a kit that was produced in 1999.

 

The Zvezda kit scores in wingtip options (original, winglet and split scimitar - pity they didn't do the same with the A320), finesse of panel line detail and overall "feeling" and engine accuracy. And it's cheap.

Areas where it fails are the lack of ECS exhausts just in front of the main wheel bay (included on the Revell kit) and...

 

THE INCREDIBLY STUPID DESIGN DECISION THAT PLACED THE 2 PART HORIZONTAL TAIL PLANE JOINT ACROSS THE ELEVATOR HINGE LINE. (capitals intended).

 

Whoever agreed to that needs a good kick for stupidity - kind of nulls out the upside down Revell tail planes.

 

Anyway, I quite fancy a 737 in American Airlines current colours, Delta, Air China,  KLM retro, Spring Airlines, Norwegian....

 

 

Edited by pinky coffeeboat
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Gentlemen thank you both mine arrived yesterday Impressive enough at first glance so many schemes but probably go with Ruinair  if and when the decals become available.

 

regards

 

Eamonn

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  • 3 weeks later...

First one arrived at my stash last week.Pretty happy with the Zvezda kit,altough I also still have 2 Revell -800s still waiting to be built.

Another Zvezda -800 is on the way with a 3rd on option and I am planning to do the Series 600 - 900 with them ore the Revell ones.

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  • 1 month later...

Somewhat late, but maybe still of help.

 

From Zvezda's website: http://www.zvezda.org.ru/en/distributors

 

Quote

 

Representative of ZVEZDA Co. is HOBBY PRO MARKETING GmbH (Austria). Please turn to this company with your request. There you can make an order and get all information you need.

• Address: Am Leonhardbach 7, A-8010 Graz, Austria

• Phone: +43 316 323 400

• Fax: +43 316 323 119

• E-mail: [email protected]

 

 

It was using the contact details above that I managed a couple of years ago to obtain a replacement for a faulty canopy from Zvezda's Su-27 kit. All it took was an e-mail to the shown address with details of the kit, where and when I did purchase it and [in my case] pictures of the problem. An e-mail reply came in a matter of days with an estimated time frame for solving the problem and, indeed, five weeks later the replacement sprue arrived at no charge.

 

Cheers,

Niki

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  • 5 weeks later...

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