On the Apron: 747 Redux

[DMC]

I’ll be posting any work I’ve done on the 727, VC10’s-10 or 747 under the “On the Apron” title rather than start a separate thread for each airliner build.  It’s been a pretty slow month as far as modelling goes but I have managed to get a good start on the 747 P&Ws.  It was recommended that I get the BraZ RRs to replace the P&Ws but I like working with styrene so I thought I’d see if I could clean up the kit offerings first.

 

Much of the painting has to be done before the casing/cowlings can be cemented together.  That little locator peg is a nuisance to fit the turbine onto so I’ve worked out how I could cement the cowling halves together and insert the turbine body in from the front.  Making the business of painting easier.  First, however, I turned down the central part — it tapers to the rear a bit — by chucking it in a drill and thinning it down a little to increase the gap between the cowling and turbine. 

 

I have a couple of additional photos to add to this thread but for some reason Village Photos won’t let me insert text between the photos and can get confusing so I’ll them in a bit.

 

Thanks for your interest.

 

Dennis 

 

[DMC]

Part two of refining the kit engines involves cementing a sleeve on the front of the turbine to hide the seams and provide a surface that will enable the the assembly to be painted and inserted from the front.  I tried plunge moulding the sleeve but that didn’t work out so I vacuum formed it and that did the trick.  

 

 

 

[Skodadriver]

Good to see you back Dennis, particularly with such interesting ideas. Did you make the vacform machine or is it commercially available?

 

Looking forward to the next instalment.

 

Dave G

[DMC]

26 minutes ago, Skodadriver said:

Good to see you back

 

Thanks, Dave.  I made the vacuum forming rig out of a gift box I bought in a shop named the “Works”.  They stock books, cards and craft stuff.  That sort of place.  The perforated metal I bought on eBay.  It fit exactly on the box.  Perfect size for small stuff.

 

Part three: so, now the ring cowl.  Also tried to plunge mould this but, even with .060 styrene, it was too thin.  Ended up punching out .040 x2 and .030 rings and sandwiching them together.  Turned them to the correct shape to fit the cowling and insert. Turned out pretty good.  Only three more to go.

 

Thanks for your interest.

 

Dennis

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DMC]

 

 

Well almost anyway.  The whole point of this exercise was to make the painting and assembling of the engines a little easier.  Took quite a lot of fettling but I think they turned out ok.  They can be painted up completely and then assembled by just touching a bit of cement around the unpainted sleeve and cowl.  

 

However, I see that I’m going to have to up my pre-painting preparation, especially with NMF finishes,  if I’m even going to come close to some of the results I’ve seen over on RFI.  Every scratch is glaringly obvious.   Also will need to realig and close the gap around the cowl ring.  Needs repainting also. 

 

Not or sure about scribing any panel lines.  I have an a4 size reference blow-up of a jt9d and the cowl separation lines aren’t much more than hairline cracks.   Still, they would maybe look too smooth without a little scribing.  I’ll have to mull that one over some more.

 

Thanks for your interest.

 

Dennis

 

 

[DMC]

I’ve done quite a lot of modelling since I enlisted in BM, scratch building, plunge moulding and the like.  But I have done precious little painting and decaling, however, which it seems to me airliner modelling is mostly about.  I have an antique Badger 150 that I bought back in the middle ‘80s and I’ve been getting reacquainted with over the last few days.  Acrylics are my chosen medium for their quick dry and easy clean up.  And Vallejo my brand of choice.  I’ve used aluminium over Tamiya rattle-can primer on the kit engines and am pretty pleased with the results — top right — but still need a lot of practice in getting the correct paint/thinner mix.  Vallejo Model Air is supposed to be airbrush ready but I add a few drops of thinner as well as drying retarder.  

 

I thought I had the cowl rings faired into the cowlings okay but with the aluminium paint on them I saw that they needed a little more work.  

 

The fans were were supposed to be a drop fit into the sleeve but after a few attempts — difficult to seat correctly —I realised another approach was needed.  I cemented a length of rod into the fan back and sharpened the free end.  The pointed end fits into the exhaust cone and the fan is centred in the sleeve.

 

Scribed one of the engines — into the paint only — but I’m not sure about doing them all.  The scribing is fine enough but I handled this one before the paint had really cured and it shows.  More practice needed obviously but I’ll get there eventually.

 

Thanks for your interest.

 

Dennis

 

 

[DMC]

 

Engines are almost done so I thought i’d take a break and tackle the cabin windows.  The usual strip styrene backing — .020 —  and rectangular strip for the plugs.  Eighty-eight windows on the port side.  Each one takes a 1.5mm plug, after finishing, 2 mm before.  Theoretically, I should need only need 20cm per side, with some left over.  Theoretically, that is.  Doesn’t take long to do a side, before finishing.   A little Mr Surfacer will fill in any gaps if the strip isn’t a good fit.

 

Angled clippers work best as the strip would interfere with the straight-on type.

 

Thanks for your interest.

 

Dennis

 

 

 

  

 

[Jackman]

Another way to fill up those small windows:

 

 

 

Watch from 2.25 onwards.  You may want to silence the volume ( that anime voice is annoying. )

 

 

 

 

 

[DMC]

 

Thank, Jackman, enjoyed that clip — very neat work — and, as suggested, did mute the sound.  Using Milliput is indeed a popular method of filling airliner windows.  I had intended to do it on an Airfix 727 but what little I had was way past its sell buy date and took days to cure. Rather than buy more, I tried using styrene and found it easy enough so I’ll stick with that method. 

 

Cheers, and thanks again for the link.

 

Dennis

6 hours ago, Jackman said:

Another way to fill up those small windows

 

Airfix 727-200

 

[DMC]

I was pleased with the condition of the mouldings in this old kit but a trail fit of those lengthy fuselage halves indicated a bit of fettling  would be required to get the halves to match up.  The only other kit I’ve ever made with a similar length was a Monogram B-17 about 25 years ago and I probably struggled with it a bit.  So, for this one I taped the halves together and drilled a few holes several inched apart along the seam.  The idea being to hold the capillary action of the cement and do one section at a time.  I worked back to front and top to bottom and, using Humbrol cement, gave each cemented section a good squeeze.  Better modellers than I would probably not done it this way but it worked okay for me and the halves are matched up very well.

 

To plug the holes I used tapered stretched spru.  Also finished filling in the cabin windows.

 

The LG bays gave me a real problem when fitting the fuselage halves together.  Could not get the piece to rest properly on the pegs so I left it out and will remove a little styrene — one half done — and insert the piece from the outside.  The bay is much too shallow but it’ll do and also strengthens the area where the wings attach.

 

I made a pattern to fit the windscreen and used it to make a .030 plug to fit.

 

Much to my frustration, I had a real senior moment and concentrated so hard on fitting the fuselage together I completely forgot about adding weight to the nose.  So, cut out a piece of the nose and filled it with Milliput and sinkers which really wasn’t much of a problem, just took a little time.

 

The Milliput I used was probably about 5 years old.  I took this photo 4 days after I used it and it still hadn’t cured completely.  I reckon that stuff has a use by date and it’s why I didn’t try using it to fill the cabin windows.  

 

Thanks for for your interest.

 

Dennis

 

 

[DMC]

Last year I got a pretty good start on a Revell 747/Shuttle, without the Shuttle.  Then, I went (Schneider  cup ) racing and the 747 was consigned to my model equivalent of the Pinal Airplane Park  However, what with the recent build threads of @Back in the Saddle and @neilg I was inspired to dust the old gal off just to see how far I’d been able to get with the build.  Not that far as it turned out.  Plugged the windows and refined the engines and not much more.  See above.

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8327011/Hundreds-planes-parked-Arizona-desert-giant-boneyard-airbase-remain-storage.html

 

Anyway, so I’ve got it in hand and start thinking “what if I just did this and maybe a little there”,  just for a change from endless tapes on the Camel’s wings. First up were the horizontal stabilisers.  I made a template from a set of planes I’ve enlarged, thinned the trailing a little and cemented them in.  On the starboard side just above the stab are a few rivet? that aren’t on the port side .  Not sure of their purpose.

 

 

 

This hump has to go apparently.

 

 

The windscreen needed, and still does, a bit more refining.  I have studied quite a lot of photos and note a flattish area centre front just befor each side curves around the sides.  

 

 

26Decals are of the Negus scheme which are appropriate for my first flight to the UK on a 747 back in 1983.  They do look pretty good

 

 

Thanks for dropping in.  I was helped immensely by several BM members last year when I started this thread.  And I shall edit the links in, with thanks,  after I get this posted.

 

Dennis

 

[neilg]

25 minutes ago, DMC said:

On the starboard side just above the stab are a few rivet? that aren’t on the port side .  Not sure of their purpose.

 

 

 

It looks like this is where the intake of the APU is:

 

[DMC]

Many thanks for the BM members who contributed their knowledge and suggestions in these links.  I bookmarked the links hoping that someday I’d be able to get back to this build.  Not that much more to do actually: wings, wheels, paint and decals.

Shamefully, I am easily distracted so .......?

 

Thanks for dropping in

 

 Dennis

 

 

 

[Back in the Saddle]

Good to see this one back on the bench - I shall follow with interest!👍

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

Nice to see you going back to this one Dennis, I have also been inspired by Neil (@neilg) and Matt's ( @Back in the Saddle) threads.

 

I have 4 747s started and in various stages of work. The most further along s a 747-412F which needs some painting after a lot of filling and sanding and priming.

 

So I will be following along with your build as well! I might even find my very old build thread and add to it.

[DMC]

6 hours ago, Romeo Alpha Yankee said:

will be following along with your build as well! I might even find my very old build thread and add to it.

Thanks,Ray, nice to have you on board.  Four, yikes, I can barely handle this one without knocking it into the lamp an stuff.  Yes, please do track down that WIP and post it.  Always ready to learn from from someone else’s work.

 

Dennis 

[DMC]

The tip of the tail has a hole in it but there doesn’t seem to be part to fit in it.  I’ve a couple of photos of the 1:1 and it appears to be, perhaps, radar or some sort of warning device.   But doesn’t appear to be a light.  Someone knows out there.

 

 

I’m not a big fan of Milliput but do have to use it occasionally.  @tomprobert suggested raising the roof, albeit on a -400, a little so I did so with a thin oval of the stuff.  Only about a mm or so but looks okay.  

 

 

Thanks for dropping in

 

Dennis

[Dave Swindell]

1 hour ago, DMC said:

The tip of the tail has a hole in it but there doesn’t seem to be part to fit in it.  I’ve a couple of photos of the 1:1 and it appears to be, perhaps, radar or some sort of warning device.   But doesn’t appear to be a light.  Someone knows out there.

It's the APU exhaust, stick a bit of tubing up there blanked off at the forward end. the exhaust pipe sticks out a bit beyond the end of the tailcone

https://aerosavvy.com/auxiliary-power-unit/

[tomprobert]

Good to see another 747 project and I’ll be interested to see how the cockpit mod looks. I have this kit but haven’t examined it that closely - the -400 version certainly needed it!

[71chally]

Lovely work going on here, very thorough. The engines have turned out very nicely.

I may have missed this, but is this the Revell 747-100 kit?

Just out of interest, where did you find the scale plans?

 

As said above, the hole in the tail is for the APU, I have got close ups if needed but basically an exhaust tube sticking out the back, the intake for it is the bit mentioned by Neil earlier.

 

[DMC]

On 8/18/2020 at 7:13 PM, neilg said:

looks like this is where the intake of the APU

Thank, neilg, believe I’ve been clued in on the APU now.

On 8/18/2020 at 10:42 PM, Back in the Saddle said:

Good to see this one back on the bench - I shall follow with interest!👍

Thanks for that, plenty of room.

9 hours ago, 71chally said:

Lovely work going on here

Thanks, James. It is indeed the the Revell 747-100 issue, the one with the shuttle.  Re the plans, I trawled through Bing 747 blueprints/plans until I found something that looked like it might do for enlarging.  Couldn’t get it all on one sheet of A3 so it is fragmented.  The images are not exactly to scale.  Sorry I can’t give you any more then that.  It was over a year ago.  

 

Thanks again guys

 

Dennis

[DMC]

James, sorry neglected to thank you for the photo.  All squared away now regarding APUs.  My vision not so hot and I misread this photo. Enlarged, I can make out the exhaust pipe.  An easy mod.

 

 

Removing the small bump small bump behind the big cabin hump.  Softened a strip of .040 styrene and wrapped it around a jar. Drilled and carved out the bump.  To be replaced with an oval plug.

 

 

And, large, 560x760mm poster in September Airliner World.  BOAC, Negus, Landor an Chatham Dockyard livery. Goes on the wall.

 

Dennis

 

[71chally]

I did these quickly this morning, so I'm determined to post them 😄,

DSC_8188 by James Thomas, on Flickr

 

DSC_8072 (1) by James Thomas, on Flickr

 

Note these are on a -400, I think there might be small detail differences to the tail cone on earlier versions.

 

I will search for those plans as they look pretty good.

 

Nice work correcting the humps Dennis.

 

Edited August 20, 2020 by 71chally

[DMC]

Excellent photos and, yes, there appears to be some differences between the -400 and the earliest classics (correct for the -100 etc.?).

 

More than you need, or want, to know about the APU:  

http://www.b747classic.co.uk/auxiliary-power-unit

Photo near the bottom of the page.

 

Let me know how you get on with the plans.  I can send you copies of what I have for you to piece together.

 

Dennis

 

Edited August 20, 2020 by DMC
Spelling

[71chally]

2 hours ago, DMC said:

More than you need, or want, to know about the APU:  

http://www.b747classic.co.uk/auxiliary-power-unit

...at least I know how to turn them off now , for when the racket gets a bit much!