Boeing 720 'Led Zeppelin' (Caesars Chariot)

[Neil]

Based on the Roden 1/144 Boeing 720 kit,  I have so wanted to build this particular aircraft for quite a while ...... and no prizes for guessing who one of my favourite bands are (or should that be 'were' ??).     

 

I have already commented on this subject in the Civil Aircraft (Classic) section, so initially I will more or less just copy and paste some of what I have said there for the first few paragraphs, just to get things under way, then take it from there.

 

 

The basic kit is quite nice, but as others have said, there are issues which could be remedied, such as the panel lines,  overscale engines etc. Also, the passenger windows are a little on the small side and there are the wrong number of them on both sides of the fuselage. The real 'Caesars Chariot' had 38 on the starboard side and 49 on the port side, the kit has 42 on the starboard side and 48 on the port side. The overwing emergency exit over the starboard wing is a little too far rearward, needs moving forward by a windows distance.

 

However, the decals are rather awful. The circular 'Icarus' winged man emblems (my Avatar pic) on both sides of the fin/rudder are terrible, quite honestly, with a vague non-descript 'messy' looking image, and the only cheat-lines included in decal form are the Brown ones lined with Yellow, on both sides of the fin. The lines along the fuselage sides which surround the windows, which fade from Brown to Yellow, are not included in the kit and will need airbrushing on. The same goes for the band along the fuselage sides, which fades from Dark Blue into Light Blue.

 

Also, the serial number included in the kit is wrong, in all of the photos that I have collected of this aircraft the serial number should be 'N7224U' on both sides of the lower rear fuselage. The incorrect kit serial is 'N7201U'. The decal placement on the instructions for the horse-drawn chariots, on both fuselage sides, is also wrong. The horse and chariot on the starboard side could be moved forward by maybe a windows distance, and the port one needs moving forward by about six windows distance, so that it is much closer to the forward-most passenger entry door which is just behind the cockpit.

 

 

To start with, here are a couple of side views of the real aircraft, and also a pic of the circular 'Icarus' (winged man) logo on the fin/rudder sides.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thinking about it, this may be the first airliner that I have built on these forums actually (built plenty of other stuff over the years!) so something of a departure for me  in that respect I guess. 

 

 

[Neil]

This is a relatively simple kit with a fairly low number of parts to it, so nothing challenging regarding assembly. The plastic has a slightly rough texture to it and I thought it was best to give the assemble parts a light rub down with some 1200 grit wet n' dry abrasive paper, which smoothed the surface nicely, so no big deal there. I will not be using the fuselage window transparencies, the windows will be achieved by using Kristal Kleer to all the opennings once the model is painted, decaled and finished.

 

 

 

With the fuselage assembled, I left the cockpit transparency off so that some weight could be added inside the nose, because the model is a tail sitter without it. The instruction sheet indicates that 10g needs adding in the nose to counteract the tail heavy nature of the model, although in truth you could probably get away with half that amount. Another of my hobbies came in handy here, for the nose weight I placed six or seven  .22 lead air rifle pellets inside the nose, fixed in place with a few drops of superglue. Worked out nicely, that was more than enough weight to keep it sitting on it's nose wheel, and they were panted Black before the cockpit transparency was finally fitted.  

 

 

 

 

The assembled undercarriage units, no problems there other than the fact they are a bit fidly as they are tiny in this scale!  Tailplane units were cleaned up, and here I did add a small modification. The moulded-on locating spigot on the tailplanes is very small and it did cross my mind that once the model was assembled and finished, there was the possibility that the tailplanes could be quite fragile and easily broken if accidentaly knocked slightly. I added a short length of 1.5mm diameter metal rod into holes drilled on the fixing surfaces of the tailplanes, which then locate in holes drilled into the tailplane mounting points on the rear fuselage. Should give them a little extra strength.

 

 

 

[Graeme H]

That undercarriage is quite a bit better than I though it would be, will look great

[Neil]

1 hour ago, Graeme H said:

That undercarriage is quite a bit better than I though it would be, will look great

 

Actually, as you mention the undercarriage, I have a possible question if anybody out there can advise one way or the other. I read a review of the kit ages ago (unfortunately I cannot remember where, now, or who wrote it ....) that stated that the wheel diameters in the Roden 720 kit were too large because they may of been based on the 707 wheels which apparently are bigger than those on the 720.

 

From what I can gather (and I hasten to add that I am NOT any kind of expert on the 720 or 707 in any way, or airliners in general for that matter .... !!) the wheel diameters on the 707 were 46", and those on the 720 were 40".  So a 6" diameter difference probably would be noticeable, if true.

 

In 1/144 scale, a 46" wheel would measure 8.1mm in diameter, and a 40" wheel would measure 7mm in diameter, which visually probably would be noticeable on a model.  Having measured the nose and main wheels in the kit, they both come out at (approx) 7.1mm, so maybe the kit wheels are scaled correctly?  

 

Just wondered if anybody had heard/noticed any sizing issue with the kit wheels (not a great issue, in the whole scheme of things I guess, just curious!).

 

 

[Neil]

The most obvious issue with this kit are the overscale engines, quite simply they are too big in relation to the airframe. Decided to remedy this by making my own engines, cast in resin.  I have posted these pics elsewhere, but they are relevant to this build so I will post them here too. The first pic below shows the comparison in size between my resin engine, at the top of the pic, in relation to the hastily assembled kit engine below it, the size difference is quite noticeable. My engine is shorter in length and smaller in diameter. 

 

 

 

 

Four of the resin engines, still attached to their casting blocks.

 

 

 

 

The kit engines are simply cut away from the pylons, a few lengths of plastic rod are added to the underside of the pylons to aid location of the resin ones, once a few appropriately located holes are drilled into the resin engine upper surfaces.

 

 

 

 

The new resin engines in position.

 

 

 

 

[exdraken]

Great!

Thanks for building it here!

[Graeme H]

Well done with the engines, they are looking great,

 

I did know about the wheel size difference on the 720, and now seeing yours up on its gear I can see the nosewheel really look a bit too big, I know that Brengun do a set of resin wheels for a 727, wonder if they mi9ght be the answer, although I have no idea what the size of the 727 wheels are in relation to the 720, 

I could try digging all mine out and doing a comparison, but it's going to take a while as I'm in the middle of a stash reduction and everything is a mess, and no idea where stuff is.

[Neil]

10 hours ago, Graeme H said:

I did know about the wheel size difference on the 720, and now seeing yours up on its gear I can see the nosewheel really look a bit too big

 

Yes, I have to agree with you on that, the kit nose wheels are too big. I think the main wheels are ok in size, but I will definately reduce the diameter of the nose ones before final assembly.

 

I found this pic, and even though the main wheels are in dark shadow, it is obvious that the front ones are smaller in diameter, even simply by putting a straight edge across the screen when viewing it on my laptop!  

 

 

 

[Neil]

There are too many windows on the starboard side, the farthest forward and rearmost ones are too close to the front and rear fuselage entry/exit doors. Easy way to fix that is plug the front and rearmost ones with plastic strip and sand them flush. The overwing exit door above the wing root (drawn in on the fuselage side in fine Black pen) is also a little too far rearwards, it needs moving one window forward. Simplest fix is to fill the recessed door outline and sand that fush too, no real point scribing it back on because that door outline is in decal form anyway on the finished model. 

 

 

Front and rear windows plugged and overwing door highlighted in pen.

 

 

 

 

Sanded flush with the fuselage.

 

 

 

 

[Graeme H]

I'm liking your window counting, seems spot on, doesn't surprise me they have the Emergency Exit in the wrong place, much more common than most realise

[Neil]

The only decals in the kit for the livery scheme are some rather poor ones that go on the fin, none whatsoever are included for the fuselage sides which is a bit of a cop-out in my opinion. So, they will all be airbrushed on, including the fin ones (I will not use the kit decals for the fin). Fortunately most of the colour scheme is mainly just straight lines so masking those will be relatively easy, the only curved lines, as such, is the rear fuselage to fin junction.  

 

To achieve the correct curvature for that area, masking tape is applied at that point and the curve can then be carefully drawn on and the tape then laid flat on a cutting surface. This curve will not be 100% exact of course, but it does give a guide to achieve the correct one. The drawn on tape provides a reasonable template. A compass cutter can then be set to the appropriare radius (a little bit of trial and error will be involved of course) and the correct curvature can then be cut on a fresh piece of tape, offering it up to the model to gauge it's accuracy. If it does not quite line up, simply cut another piece with the compass cutter until a good fit is achieved .   

 

 

 

Tape applied to rear fuselage/fin area and curvature drawn on.

 

 

 

 

Using template as a guide, correct curvature is made with a compass cutter.

 

 

 

Edited April 2, 2019 by Neil

[Neil]

22 minutes ago, Graeme H said:

I'm liking your window counting, seems spot on, doesn't surprise me they have the Emergency Exit in the wrong place, much more common than most realise

 

There are four too many windows on the starboard side (for this airframe anyway!), so I guess my elimination of two of them gets it a little closer to what it should be. 

 

 

[Orso]

Yes one need to count the windows on the plane one is building.

I am doing two. One has  39 windows on the right side and 49 on the left.

The other one had 41 windows on the right side and 49 on the left.

Both have two emergency exits on the wings. The size of the windows are different. One should have larger windows than the other and I have forgot which as I failed to add this to my notes.

Quote

 

 

[Neil]

6 hours ago, Orso said:

Yes one need to count the windows on the plane one is building.

I am doing two. One has  39 windows on the right side and 49 on the left.

The other one had 41 windows on the right side and 49 on the left.

Both have two emergency exits on the wings. The size of the windows are different. One should have larger windows than the other and I have forgot which as I failed to add this to my notes.

 

 

Absolutely, it is always worth checking small details regarding the exact aircraft being modelled. There seem to be so many small details and specification changes to any individual airframe type.  

 

 

[Neil]

Right oh, the pretty stuff needs airbrushing, the colour scheme begins. As stated earlier, absolutely no decals whatsoever are included for the fuselage livery/colours, which is disappointing to say the least ( ......  ) so these will be airbrushed and masked, along with the fin/rudder. The instructions in the kit call out specific colours in the Vallejo acrylic paint range, however, I do not use these paints (I am not a great fan of acrylic model paints in general, only in certain circumstances) so instead I will be basing the scheme on paints in the Humbrol enamel paint range. For airbrushing these paints I thin them with Cellulose Thinners, and not Turpentine or White Spirit. Usual practice is to start with the lightest colours first (White) but this time i will start with the central band along the fuselage which surrounds the windows, does not really make a huge amount of difference at the end of the day.

 

 

 

All colours Humbrol enamels. First three colors applied: rear fuselage is sprayed Brown (a mix of four parts No.10 Service Brown to one part No.9 Tan), which blends into No.9 Tan on the mid fuselage/wing root, which then blends into No.69 Yellow on the forward fuselage.

 

 

 

 

Fuselage band around windows, rear fuselage and fin areas masked off. Circular mask on fin/rudder was cut with the compass cutter. The REALLY awkward part to mask off was the canopy/windscreen, it is so small and fidly!

 

 

 

 

The three blues airbrushed on. Rear fuselage is No.15 Midnight Blue, which fades into No.14 French Blue on the mid fuselage/wing root area, which blends into No.47 Sea Blue on the forward fuselage.

 

 

 

 

Masking tape removed from the fuselage. There are narrow Brown and Yellow 'pinstripes' to be added top and bottom of the central Brown/Tan/Yellow stripe later, but these will be added using thin strips of sliced decal film. The circular 'Icarus' logo will also be added to the fin/rudder, which I am currently trying to print onto clear decal film.

 

 

 

 

[stringbag]

That's one hell of a paint job Neil.  You have captured the blending really well.  Coupled with the tremendous work on the replacement engines, this is on track to be a real eye-catcher.

 

All the best.

Chris.

[Neil]

9 hours ago, stringbag said:

That's one hell of a paint job Neil.  You have captured the blending really well.  Coupled with the tremendous work on the replacement engines, this is on track to be a real eye-catcher.

 

All the best.

Chris.

 

 

Thanks Chris, I just wished they had included at least some of it (the Brown/Tan/Yellow fuselage band for instance) as a decal, it would of saved an awful lot of aggravation to be perfectly honest!  

 

 

[Neil]

Getting there ......

 

Blue areas and fuselage stripe masked off, ready for a coat of White on the fuselage top and underside.

 

 

 

 

Easy bit this .....   White sections sprayed in Humbrol No.22.

 

 

 

 

One of my favourite bits, having removed the masking tape.

 

 

 

Quite pleased with how it is going so far, I may actually apply all the decals to the fuselage at this stage, to get that completely out of the way, then concentrate on the wings and tailplanes. There are lots of fidly, narrow decal sections to apply on the fuselage which is going to involve alot of handling and holding of the wings to get them done. If the wings are painted at this stage (they will be sprayed in Alclad) there is a possibility all the handling of the wings could damage the Alclad finish. I shall see ......

 

 

 

[Alan P]

Nailed it. Clean as a whistle!

Given the amount of drying time, that's a great bit of paintwork.

 

Alan

[Neil]

4 hours ago, Alan P said:

Nailed it. Clean as a whistle!

Given the amount of drying time, that's a great bit of paintwork.

 

Alan

 

Using Cellulose Thinners as a thinning agent with the Humbrol enamels is a huge bonus, I have used that for thinning them when shooting them through an airbrush for several years now, they spray really nicely and drying time seems to be reduced also. For brush painting enamels, I still use Turpentine or White Spirit though, it gives a much more useable amount of time to apply them, brush painting enamels that are thinned with Cellulose would be pushing things a bit, they probably would start to go off too soon.

 

 

[Alan P]

25 minutes ago, Neil said:

 

Using Cellulose Thinners as a thinning agent with the Humbrol enamels is a huge bonus, I have used that for thinning them when shooting them through an airbrush for several years now, they spray really nicely and drying time seems to be reduced also. For brush painting enamels, I still use Turpentine or White Spirit though, it gives a much more useable amount of time to apply them, brush painting enamels that are thinned with Cellulose would be pushing things a bit, they probably would start to go off too soon.

 

 

That's a good tip. I've been using Colourcoats enamels for several years, using a 50/50 mix of white spirit and cellulose thinners mixed 1:1 with the paint. I would highly recommend this, as long as you have a mask and extractor 😉

Edited April 3, 2019 by Alan P

[Dave Swindell]

34 minutes ago, Neil said:

 

Using Cellulose Thinners as a thinning agent with the Humbrol enamels is a huge bonus

Works very well with Xtracolor as well.

Very nice work there on the Chariot Neil

[Neil]

3 minutes ago, Dave Swindell said:

Works very well with Xtracolor as well.

 

Oh yes indeed, Xtracolour enamels work really well with Cellulose as a thinner. Great minds think alike, Dave  ....  

 

My 'Fairey Albacore' in the 'Ready For Inspection' gallery is a case in point,  ....ahem ....*cough* ...... ahem ........ *cough* ...... 'search-function' ...... *cough* ......

 

 

 

I must get that cough seen-to sometime ........ 

 

 

[Neil]

This is where things get complicated......

 

The Brown/Tan/Yellow bands sprayed earlier, that surrounds the windows along the fuselage sides and up the fin, has, for the want of a better phrase, so-called 'pinstripes' above and below the entire length of them. The Yellow section of the band has Brown 'pinstripes' above and below it, and the Brown section of the band has Yellow 'pinstripes' above and below it (see ...... I told you it was complicated ...)

 

Grabbed a decal sheet with various thickness Yellow stripes on it, the correct thickness Yellow stripes I need have had the ends sprayed in No.9 Tan, to blend into the Tan section above the wing root. I could not find a decal sheet with the correct Brown shade for the 'pinstripes', so I sprayed a section of clear decal sheet with the Brown mix from earlier, with the ends sprayed in No.9 Tan so that they also blend into the Tan section above the wing root. This clear decal sheet, sprayed with Brown, can then be thinly sliced into the correct width 'pinstripes'. 

 

Got that??    How hard can it be ......? 

 

 

 

Yellow decal stripes, with ends sprayed in No.9 Tan, and section of clear decal sheet sprayed in Brown mix from earlier, also with ends sprayed in Tan (although admittedly it is a little difficult to see that the ends of it are sprayed in No.9 Tan. You will just have to take my word for it!).

 

 

 

[stringbag]

16 hours ago, Neil said:

Thanks Chris, I just wished they had included at least some of it (the Brown/Tan/Yellow fuselage band for instance) as a decal, it would of saved an awful lot of aggravation to be perfectly honest!  

 

I'm sure it will look every bit as good a decal when finished if the progress to date is anything to go by.

 

Chris.