1:200 Hasegawa Boeing B777-300ER Airliner - Painted in Cathay Pacific livery

[Columbia20713]

My third full airliner build so far, and probably the first one that I'd be able to say went together as planned (more or less). The subject depicted is one of Cathay Pacific's B777-300ERs, registration B-KQY, an aircraft which I was on last July, which I snapped a few photos of and later used as references for this build.

 

 

 

Anyways, on to the build itself - It was painted with just Tamiya acrylics and Mr. Base White. I used a ratio of 1 part XF-23 to 10 parts X-2 for the underside and engines, 1 part XF-23 to 8 parts X-2 for the stripe (though this turned out to be too dark so I overcoated it with X-2 later on) and 1 part XF-19 to 4 parts X-2 for the wings and engine pylons. For the decals, I printed my own and they were relatively easy to make as I had made them before for a 1/144 build and just had to resize them, change the registration and fix some of the previous issues of the decals (from experience), with some of the decals being used from the Hasegawa kit's ANA decals (which were plentiful and useful).

The kit itself is very easy to build and simple as with all Hasegawa airliners; I find that the fit is better than on their B767 and the build went relatively well assembly-wise. Watch out for the fuselage seam and the connection from the wings to the fuselage though - The fuselage seam is difficult to deal with especially because it extends for the length of the entire fuselage, and the plastic slab on the wing that connects with the fuselage isn't enough to guarantee a good dihedral angle and is also weak as a connection point. Take your time to test fit that area, and use strong adhesives so that you can minimize the gap, or fit the wings on early into the build so you can fill in the seams left behind. It's a very easy build, though; I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a quick build or those who want to get into airliners and practice first before moving on to the bigger 1/144 kits. I'd also advise getting some aftermarket decals for the cockpit window or printing your own; The geometry on the Hasegawa clear part is off and so is the window decal provided with the kit. I decided to print my own and size it similarly to the Hasegawa decal which I think looks somewhat better than the kit decal.
 

Now for the image spam: (My lightbox is pretty small, so a lot of the shots had to be highly cropped or have borders visible. Sorry about that)

 

And as a bonus, a few pics I took of the real thing back in June:

 

 

I definitely don't consider the build perfect (If anything, really, a close look at it reveals a plethora of flaws) - The nose decals distorted weirdly on me and some of the thick decal borders are visible, some of the X-22 used as a gloss coat left an orange peel finish and some of the door decals are off (To recreate the white door borders on Cathay Pacific's planes I adapted the decals that came with the Hasegawa ANA B777-300ER kit I was using and trimmed some of the door decals with white to fit; On others I had to make do with cutting tiny strips of white decals and lining them up on the door). This build was more of a test to see how well I can build a relatively simple airliners and test my abilities before moving on to bigger projects. It's also something nice to look at in the display case of die-casts and snap-fit models. Despite the flaws, I think it worked pretty well somehow..

Edited November 17, 2018 by Columbia20713

[Columbia20713]

Added a few new images to the title thread as well as some opinions on the kit itself to the original thread.

[Alpha Delta 210]

Great result on my favourite big twin.

[Columbia20713]

On 11/17/2018 at 2:44 PM, Alpha Delta 210 said:

Great result on my favourite big twin.

Thank you! The triple-seven's one of my favorites also. One of the most graceful looking airliners in the sky that are still flying in my opinion.

[stevehnz]

I like that. Seeing this in 1/200 makes me think it might have been a better idea than the 1/144 one I bought to do the Cathay one my son & I flew to the UK in 4 years ago, its quite big. 1/200 sounds like a better idea. Especially if they can come up like yours.  

Steve.

[Columbia20713]

On 11/20/2018 at 6:48 AM, stevehnz said:

I like that. Seeing this in 1/200 makes me think it might have been a better idea than the 1/144 one I bought to do the Cathay one my son & I flew to the UK in 4 years ago, its quite big. 1/200 sounds like a better idea. Especially if they can come up like yours.  

Steve.

Thanks for the comments! IMO even though 1/200 might seem limited in detail, I think it's great especially given how unwieldy 1/144 can get if your space is limited, and they make for a very relaxing change making it easier to turn out a good model. It's also a good canvas for testing out new techniques and practicing before moving on to more expensive airliner kits. If you do get around to building that Cathay B777, I'd be interested in seeing it posted! 

[stevehnz]

8 hours ago, Columbia20713 said:

If you do get around to building that Cathay B777, I'd be interested in seeing it posted! 

I'll post it here for sure, just don't hold your breathe, things a bit slow on the modelling front just now & likely to be for a bit yet.

Steve.

[Gimme Shelter]

looks brilliant - and I do so love these fantastic loveliner200's which have always been my favourite civil kits. They have the Japanese look and feel of quality and are a great scale for such large subjects compared to 1/144 which is limiting once you have built more than a handful if you don't have an understanding Mrs to share her life with them!

 

Thanks for the notes of build guidance too - I have just started 2 of these kits (a -200 and a -300ER) intending them to wear 2 different BA liveries (Chatham and Waves of the City) - I see what you mean about the very long edge of the -300 fuselage and the wing root attachment pegs too. Looking at your model, I note that those 2 whopper GE bad boy tools sit very close to the ground in 1/200 so I will take extra care to ensure the angle of wing angle attachment is spot on rather than end up with 2 pairs of floor sitting upended Gen Elec dustbins !

 

Once again - top marks and I hope to see another Loveliner200 from you again soon

 

John

[Alex1978]

Great work.

I love those Hasgawa airliner kits,I have a large collection in my stash and I use them as in-between builds to destract myself during some more difficult builds.

And as you said,they are nice objects to get some more experience for bigger projects.

Looking forward to see more airliners coming off your assembly line